> My Little Universe: Season 8
>  by EquestrianKirin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Happy Birthday To You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So things sure had been a bit different over the summer, had it? It was difficult to say at first on just what were to become of both Earth and Equus, but as one were to look around today, it didn't seem like it had too much of bad effects on it. Sure, bad stuff happened one way or another, but just like the seasons themselves, time was making it's own amends to everything. Well, that, and adding some new things as well.
Much of this activity too came up over by the Barn this time, which itself had remained a bit unaltered despite how much had happened. Even so, the barn was going through some bit of alterations now that much of both the Crystal Gems and Mane Six were there and working out a few decorations for the place. Some bows along the rimming, a picnic table with some balloons tied to it, and a good sized banner stretched out across the barn door itself, good and big so anyone and everyone could see. The two words up there said it all.

Happy Birthday.

"I can't believe today's my Birthday," said Steven, as he was working over some of the décor for a little bit alongside Amethyst, who herself had just finished up the banner itself.

"You better believe it, birthday boy, times been flyin," said Amethyst, playfully fluffing his hair. Steven couldn't help but chuckle. A good old fashion birthday, something they've not really gotten into on schedule for … well, a while. But a good thing things had calmed down enough to actually make this work. Many of them did work out decorations, but Amethyst and Steven were the only ones hanging out by the barn for the moment to get their last bit of stuff together.

Amethyst gave Steven his present already, him having one of "Rose"'s own trinkets in the form of a necklace (no gems harmed in making of said necklace). Amethyst and Steven went over to the table, which by now they also had a open book showing all sorts of dessert ideas.

"Ok, sport, what cake are you craving this year?" Amethyst asked, as the two started looking through some of the pages.

"Gee, I don't know. My tastebuds been leaning between Apple cake, and maybe carrot. But I've been thinking on trying a little different flavor," Steven said, the last three words he made sure to sound fancy for.

"NOW you got me interested," Amethyst said, licking her lips, "So how about one of those German chocolate cakes? I heard they've been in good stock."

"You mean they were in good stock," Steven said with a knowing smile. Amethyst shrugged with one of those "guilty yet not regretting" smiles on her face. Take a wild guess where those cakes went.

"How about A … Chiffon Cake?" Steven said.

"Which one's that?" Amethyst asked, eyebrow raised.

"I. Don't. Know. But it sounds good right?" Steven said.

"Steven anything sounds good to me when it comes to food. Come on book, give it to me, where's that Chiffon Cake at?" Amethyst said, skimming through the pages alongside Steven. Honestly though, so long as it wasn't a dull-tasting cake, any cake would work for this party. But as they were skimming through the pages, they were unaware that someone was coming up behind them. Silently until …

"Surprise."

"AAHH!" and Steven and Amethyst stumbled onto the ground, only to look up to see Star Quartz standing there with a small box. One of the many Crystal Gems they got on retainer, and as well just as willing to give a good gift for the birthday boy.

"Geesh girl, you need a bell or something," Amethyst said as she and Steven got up to their feet.

"What do you got there, Star?" Steven asked, looking to the present. The present Star Quartz had with her looked pretty promising: the wrapping paper fancy and sparkling like stars. Steven readied to have it, but Star Quartz held it up and out of reach.

"Is that for me or not?" Steven asked.

"Yes," Star replied. So Steven tried getting it, but whenever he got close with his hands Star would yank it and hold it differently. Steven even tried jumping for it, only to miss … and launch a good ten feet off the ground.

"WHOA!"

"Steven, watch your jumping remember?" Amethyst called, jumping up to get him, and grabbing him. With the added weight, Steven was slowly brought back down to earth, both Gem and half-Gem settling down right next to Star Quartz. With the new world came some new stuff to get used to, which included Steven's "low-gravity" ability. Which apparently he still needed some control over. He didn't want to be up by the planes on his birthday.

"Maybe I should wait until the flyers come by before I jump like that, huh?" Steven figured.

"OH YEAH. Can't have cake way up there," Amethyst replied. Star Quartz went over to the table and placed her present down by it. They were for sure (or hoping anyway), that the presents will pile up for him.

"Hey, have you seen the others yet?" Steven asked Star. Star Quartz looked to him and shook her head.

"No. … But now I do," Star replied, pointing off to the distance a bit. It was always hard to really figure out Star.

*honk**honk*

Call in the squad! Steven and Amethyst looked off towards the country road to reach the barn, and they began to see someone started to drive on up, in his signature van. Steven and Amethyst knew that van anywhere, especially with the "universe" word right along the side as it always does. The van parked with its back turned to them, but that didn't bother them all too much.

"YO, Greg, you made - … it?" Amethyst went right up to the front, but for some odd reason, there wasn't exactly Greg in there. In fact, no one was in the driver's seat for some reason, yet the driver's wheel did look like magic WAS controlling it somewhat with the aura on it fading slightly. So they had some logical explanation for a self-driving van.

"OK, looks like the van's alive or something," Amethyst shrugged, walking back to Steven and Star.

"Really? Wonder what stories it could tell me?" Steven wondered, but Star knew what was going on here a bit more than these two. Star glided over to the side of the Van, and then went on ahead to knock on the side about three times. A personal signal, and both Amethyst and Steven waited for what would happen next.

"Happy Birthday, Steven!"

Those were the three words that echoed in the air the second after the door opened up. A little special surprise entrance from Crystal Gems and Mane Six alike. It was amazing that so many could even fit inside the, but Twilight's own brand of magic made that a bit easier, releasing them out of the van in a sort of "explosion" of friends in a way. This was accompanied by a flurry of confetti, streamers, and balloons, making the introduction even more dazzling for Steven to see. Steven was super excited to see this, stars in his eyes and a big smile on his face.

"Oh, you guys!" Steven squeaked. He can clearly tell that this was Pinkie's idea. Only the pink mare in party mode can come up with such a awesome "Happy Birthday" entrance. Steven was soon met by a variation of hugs by a number of his friends, and the greetings by others.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Birthday Gem boy!" beamed Pinkie Pie, having Steven in one of her constricting signature hugs. It was impossible to break out of one of those. Steven then felt himself get picked up by someone, looking down to see Bismuth putting him on her shoulder.

"Come here, Mr. Universe, how's this for a view?" Bismuth said.

"Whoa, great!" replied Steven. Nice to be this high without just floating aimlessly. But then his face turned "serious" for a brief moment.

"So, you got the goods?" Steven asked.

"Oh, I got gooder than the goods," assured Bismuth, before turning to Jasper. "Hey AJ, let's not keep the big boy waiting!"

"Already on it," AJ replied, already working with Jasper to get it out from the back of the van. And what did she pull out to show Steven for his birthday? A pocket-sized Gem boat! … well, pocket-sized in relevance - it was big enough to hold in the whole back of the van.

"Ta-da!" Applejack said.

"No way!" Steven gasped, hopping down to have a better look. The Gem boat itself was one of those Sloop boats with a single sail, markings looking like that of a gem pattern, water marks flowing along the rim of the boat. It was a basic gift, but having a personal Gem Sloop was just the thing to give a smile to Steven's face.

"Wait. How'd you all fit in the van?" Steven then asked once it crossed his mind.

"How do you think?" asked Bismuth, before she started to alter her body and shrink all the way down to just a literal gemstone with arms, legs, and a head. A pocket-sized Bismuth. Well that explains that.

"We all made our own contributions to making this for you Steven," said Pearl, "Jasper and Bismuth did the frame work, - obviously -. Peridot, Twilight, and Fulgurite worked out the interior mechanisms, and Rarity, Connie, Lapis, and myself helped in working the design."
Steven could easily tell where the work was put in for each part, though as Steven looked over the Sloop, he began to wonder something else.

"… It looks very exquisite but … something's missing."

"Huh?" Connie asked.

"Hmm … AHA!" Steven suddenly bolted off at Pinkie Pie speed back to the table, getting some marker and duck tape to work with. After some quick writing, he went right on back and got it taped right on the side of the boat. "Harmony Gems" was now the label right on the Gem Sloop.

"There. NOW it's perfect," Steven confirmed.

"The Harmony Gems? Don't you mean Crystal Gems?" asked Fulgurite, pointing to the name.

"Well, we can still call ourselves the Crystal Gems. But we've been through so much these last five years, I thought we could go for a new name. Something that tells this team for what it truly is. Besides, gotta include the Elements of Harmony in the name somehow. It's like a fusion, but with two groups," Steven said, namely meaning the ponies nearby.

"Harmony Gems. Not too complicated of a name change, but I like it," confirmed right Rutile.

"I'll second that," said left Rutile.

Steven then felt someone's hand rest on his head, him looking up to see a notable fusion.

"Did I say how much I love you Steven?" Garnet asked. Steven thought a little bit.

"I don't think you did today."

"Then we need to fix that: I love you, Steven," said Garnet, even kissing her favorite human a kiss on the cheek. Garnet did find it simply adorable that he would put the team's name on his birthday present, and she couldn't help but love Steven for it. Garnet straightened up just as Greg showed up.

"OK, move over, Garnet, I was his best friend first. Happy Birthday!" Greg beamed, hugging his kid in a good strong hug. After that he placed his kid down.

"Ok, let me get a good look at ya."

"Dad," Steven said, a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, it's just … oh boy, it feels like yesterday that you were just a baby, and now you're sixteen years old."

SAY WHAT?!

"HOLD ON A SECOND," Pinkie declared. Suddenly she had a glass of water on her hoof, and she gobbled it all down … before spewing it out in complete shock on the revelation. Spit Take has been deployed. "STEVEN! you're sixteen?!"

"... Yeah? You didn't know that Pinkie?" Steven said, actually shocked this little detail eluded her. PINKIE PIE, who practically knew everypony no matter how impossible, somehow didn't know Steven's exact age by now?

"Nope, I knew, I just wanted to do the part when someone is super shocked and has to spit out their water."

"But I didn't!" Connie said, "S-Steven, you're older than me? That means you should be in high school by now, but you look like a middle-schooler!"

Now that she pointed it out, Steven did look like he was no older to be in at least the 6th or 7th grade in school, not 10th grade! That two grade schools apart from eachother!

"Eh, no offense Connie, but you're one to talk. How old are you now?" Tiger's Eye asked.

"I'm fourteen and three quarters. Yeah, I still look a little young for my age, but Steven … I-I can't believe it!"

"Hang on, I got it. Good thing I brought this baby," Greg said, bringing out a small book with Steven's name on it, and his signature star. Any parent would have a portfolio of birthdays in the past, and for some good proof now would be a good time to show it.

"You have a book, Greg?" Lapis asked.

"Oh, sure. Not all humans have as good of memory as yours Lapis, so I got this for each birthday. Here, check it out," Greg replied, opening the first page. The first picture showed little Steven as a tiny little baby, still with his pacifier and wearing the birthday crown and cape of the day's birthday king, with a tiny cake with the number one for the candle.

"Ohmygosh, STEVEN YOU LOOK SO ADORABLE!" Lapis squeaked, trying to hold back herself with her hands covering her mouth. Steven blushed.

"Yeah, most babies are," Steven said.

"See, here's Infant …" said Greg, as he then turned to the next page. It showed Steven slightly older this time, still with his outfit as he curiously looked to his cake, now having a Two for the candle instead of one. His second birthday.

"This is Steven as a baby …" then he turned the page again, now showing Steven's third birthday, Steven smiling cutely to the camera. He even had a gap in his teeth.

"This is him as a toddler …" Greg then turned the page to what looked like Steven's eighth birthday, Steven just standing there smiling to the camera.

"Here he is as … um, what's it called … Adolescent," Greg said.

But, this was when things got a little weird.

"... Adolescent. … Adolescent. … Adolescent. …"

Each page Greg turned, and with them all checking it over, it almost looked like the exact same picture each and every time. The only difference between shots was the Birthday Cake for it. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Each one of those years almost looked like the same but with a different number. and Steven looked exactly the same each and every time.

"Looks like you've gone a little stagnant there, buddy," said Greg.

"What, no, no, I couldn't have. Here, let me see," Steven said, looking over the pictures again. But sure enough, they were all the same again. He grew just fine for the first eight years, so why did he just stop? After EVERYTHING he had gone through over the last five years, and he hadn't aged up physically once?

"You sure look youthful to me," said Fluttershy. But then the book was placed back on the table.

"Here, let's not worry about that now. It's your birthday, let's have some fun with it," said Twilight. The Alicorn then brought out the next little bit to their surprise for Steven: a good sized, Cookie Cat Chiffon Cake. Garnet made sure it was a Chiffon Cake, by the by. Twilight also levitated out what looked to be Steven's birthday cape and crown, which were up in the front seat (there was just so much room they could make in the van before it got crowded).

"Thanks, Twilight," Steven said, taking the cape and crown. He was probably sure they still fit since his last birthday. And the one before that. And before that. Well, with this revelation in mind, he went off into the barn to get ready, as the others handled their own preparations for the birthday. Finishing touches and extra presents, stuff of that sort.

"Hey, guys? Can I … Talk to you for a second?" Connie then asked, soon as Steven was in the barn. They could probably already guess what this was about.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it's about Steven," commented Tiger's Eye.

"So … he's not gonna grow up," Connie said. Not a question, but more on the subject either way.

"Well, I'm not sure really. I mean, I've known the Gems since I was 22, and they didn't change much, but Steven's not like the others he's half human," said Greg. This sort of subject did give a bit of a shiver down Pearl's metaphorical spine, her own memory going back a little bit.

"Eh, l-let's do us all a favor and try not to touch on the subject too much, please," Pearl suggested.

"What for, Pearl? Anymore secrets about this?" Rhodonite asked suspiciously. Pearl quickly corrected herself.

"No, not that, it's just … well, let's just say last time Steven thought about his age, it kind of went … out of hand."

"Steven almost died on us," Garnet said bluntly.

"Yeah, what else is new?" shrugged Rainbow Dash, "Steven nearly kicked the bucket at least a dozen times, and he's ALWAYS sprung back from it. What's different about this?"

"Because whether he died or not fully depended on Steven," Garnet answered.

"So what does this mean? Is Steven going to grow up or … not grow up?" Connie asked.

"Not sure, Connie, but look at it this way: Even if he doesn't you probably won't either. You're half-Gem too, remember?" reminded Fulgurite. Connie realized her point, hand over her heart. She had grown a bit used to being Half-Gem overtime, with much of her Gem abilities a normality at this point. But she had never considered Gem longevity being done for her as well.

"I don't know if it works like that. Steven was born a half-Gem, and I just … happened. I think I still have a normal human body. … I think," Connie said, though her age did look a little bit prolonged lately now that she thought of it. But then again this didn't last over five years, so who was to really confirm that?

"OK too much deep thinking, cake time now!" said Amethyst, bringing out the delicious looking cake again. This was a birthday celebration, they didn't need to actually get this worked up over it all. But as they were going off to get their minds on this, there were some that did notice a set of peering eyes and ears right by the barn door. And who to catch this better than Starlight and Lapis Lazuli.

…….

Naturally the two would go in and check on Steven himself with the subject in mind. The barn house was pretty quiet with only Steven inside, looking into it. He had yet to put on his cape and crown, leaving that over by the door as Steven was left to contemplate on things. No doubt in their minds that he overheard what they had said.

"Hey, Steven. Ready to come out?" Lapis asked. It seemed they were catching him off guard because Steven was quick to turn around on hearing the voice.

"Uh, in a minute," Steven said. He hoped they would go out, but Lapis and Starlight went into the barn instead.

"You okay, buddy?" Lapis asked, landing over by him.

"I-I'm fine," Steven said, a little too quickly.

"You say your fine like you're about to panic, Steven. Come on, what's wrong?" Starlight asked. Well, Steven didn't think that lying would be the best idea, so he just went on with it, turning around.

"Am I not gonna grow up?" Steven asked. Lapis and Starlight weren't sure exactly how to answer that at first.

"What? Of course you will, I mean, *pfft* come on!" Starlight said, waving it off with her hoof. As much as this was good intentions, Steven didn't look as reassured.

"Are you sure? I've known you guys for years and I don't remember you changing that much. W-what if I don't change? What if I live to see Crying Breakfast Friends season 50? How am I even gonna COMPREHEND that?!"

"Whoa, whoa, Steven," Lapis said, hands on his shoulders, "Steven, look at me. Everything's gonna be fine, ok? You may be half Gem, but your half Human, so you have to grow up somehow, right?"

"... I guess so. But I stopped growing at eight years old," Steven reminded. Then Starlight had an idea.

"That's not entirely true," Starlight said. She then walked over to one of the barn's wooden beams, and made a slight mark in it, like a line. It wasn't the most complicated method for figuring it out, but it would give Steven some sort of confirmation.

"Ok, so if you did stop growing at eight years old, then you would be only about this tall on average. So Steven, if we put you right here, then -" Starlight levitated Steven to be placed right next to the line. However, when compared to the line, the only thing that made him taller was his hair, adding just a inch to his frame. … Some help.

"Well?" Steven asked, though they could probably tell he knew the answer already.

"Uh … well, you grew about an inch taller! That's something … right?" Starlight said sheepishly. Steven didn't find this any helpful though, and just walked off a bit, laying on the ground with a headache. Before either could go much further on this though, both Gem and Unicorn began hearing their names being called outside.

"We'll check back on you, Steven," Starlight said. Starlight trotted on outside, but Lapis Lazuli needed a minute before joining her. She wished there was something she could say or do to get Steven to stop worrying about this, but without much concept of age herself, she didn't have much in mind either. Soon, Steven was by himself again, just laying there in the barn with a bit of a headache going on. Hi mind began to go into a brainstorm, as he looked to his limbs a bit and then looking to the cape and crown. What was a magical boy to do?

He had a choice to make.

…….

"K, Steven, you can come out now!"

It was a bit of effort, but everyone else had plenty more surprise waiting for the birthday boy, much of his friends up and waiting for another big "surprise" announcement. And yet, despite this, it wasn't Steven that was gonna be receiving the surprise next, especially in the second Steven opened that door.

"SURPRI - *gasp*!"

So it began. Out stepped Steven, this time full of smiles unlike earlier. However, there was something different about this birthday boy. It wasn't his outfit persay: his standard star shirt, blue pants, sandals, and the addition of the crown and cape. It wasn't his behavior, which was cheery and happy as usual. But when it came to physical appearances, Steven actually looked bigger. Taller. Older! Just earlier this morning he was Twilight's height, but now he was as tall as Lapis, his shirt no longer covering his signature Diamond Gemstone.
This just happened so suddenly, none of them really knew what to say at first, taking in this sudden newly-sized Steven. Steven himself started to walk on out to join them, one step at a time to handle his new, longer legs as the others went to check him out. It was the same Steven, just looking older, a true sweet sixteen Steven.

"Wait. Steven? Are you feeling alright?" asked Rarity. Steven gave a stretch of his new limbs.

"I feel great," Steven replied, his voice sounding a slightly lower-pitch than normal thanks to age.

"Huh. You look good, Steven," said Garnet.

"Oh, thanks Garnet."

"Dude. Your neck!" said Amethyst.

"Oh. Uh, what about it?" Steven asked, touching his neck.

"You HAVE ONE!" Amethyst exclaimed. It was a bit hard to tell before, but now there was no doubt in her mind he indeed had something between his head and shoulders.

"So what happened in there? You just "grew" all of a sudden?" asked Connie, very confused as she and Twilight looked Steven over.

"I had a magical growth spurt. Cool, right?" Steven said, feeling pretty good with himself. It was a bit weird that they were just talking about Steven's age, and here he was now looking older. But magic is what magic does, and by the looks of it, that was what seemed to be.

"Super! Come on everybody, let's get this party started!" Pinkie announced.


~~~~~~


And so the party began to get underway, and first order of business was the birthday gifts. There was a bit to say about the present count, since every Gem and Pony had gotten Steven at least one little gift for him (they got more than just a Gem boat of course). Steven had gone through a few of them already, the open boxes off aside, and a place for his gifts along the picnic table. Steven's birthdays seemed to grow bigger with each year when it came to presents, and this year it wasn't too different in such regards. Each year always seemed to add one more gift to the pile, and who knows just what other item Steven was gonna get here, especially now that the group had a ton of money to use from Greg's tab.

"Me next, me next!" said Peridot, giving Steven her present. Steven took the gift and opened it right up, much to Peridot's glee, only for Steven to find a metallic item inside. It looked like a diamond piece, rotation included, and it shown a nice shine of steel to it.

"Wow, cool," said Steven.

"Yeah, I know. I even got time to get your name in there," Peridot said with pride. and indeed she did, the name "Steven" engraved on the platform underneath the diamond. It was a simple piece, but a pretty good one regardless. Peridot felt glad Steven liked her meepmorp (as she came to call them). Next present coming up was Tiger's Eye, showing a very nicely-striped present for Steven. Steven went and opened it up, and found … nothing.

"Um … Ok, I think I missed a step, huh?" Tiger's Eye admitted.

"I made that mistake too the first time I did it," Star said, comforting Tiger's Eye as it was Rarity's turn, who had a dazzling box for Steven to unwrap as per usual.

"Here you are, Steven. I've worked a fortnight to make it work," Rarity said. Steven could probably guess what present it would be, but opened it anyway and found (you guessed it) some dazzling clothing. Namely, a pink shirt with a pink diamond lining along the rim and sleeves. Rarity inspiration was pretty clear on this one.

"A pink shirt - my favorite color," Steven said with a smile. Of course, naturally he went to put it on. The sleeves fit nicely, but when it came to buttoning the short, Steven just couldn't seem to exactly do so. It was just too small for him.

"Oh. Uh, sorry Steven, I guess I didn't -"

"It's alright. It fits fine just like this," Steven said, throwing in some chuckles for good measure. K so he couldn't get it to fit, it was still wearable and that was just fine by him. As nice of a gesture this was, they didn't really noticed the concern glances Lapis and Starlight were making to eachother close by. Something was up with Steven, but what exactly?

Well, they'll find out soon enough.

After many of the presents were unwrapped and seen, it was off to the party games. As with presents, there always seemed to be something extra year by year. This time though things had downgraded a little bit to that of simpler party games (as standard as Pinkie would even allow). In this case, it was a game of tennis, with the bird going back and forth as the two teams went at it. Steven working with Twilight and Lapis, as Connie was working with Rainbow and Starlight. It was a basic set up of ground, magic, and flying members really. A good crowd watched on from nearby, each one waiting to see what will come out on top.

"Alright, kiddo, eyes to the sky!" warned Starlight, rallying up her next hit. Spinning her racket, the bird went flying off into the air with one good hit. The bird went flying up into the air, but Rainbow Dash got it handled pretty quickly with a whack of her wing. Connie slid to knock the bird back up to the sky. A good hit on her part, but nothing that Steven couldn't get as he jumped high into the air, hitting it well at a good twelve feet skyward. Good thing the flyers were there to help Steven back down, otherwise they'd have to deal the rest of the birthday up in the sky.

And the birdie they were playing with ended up WAY off into the nearest tree.

"You hit it, you get it," said Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, be right back," Steven replied, going off to get it.

Steven hardly took much time to get to the tree in question, and Steven didn't need much more time to actually get the birdie out of the tree either. All he had to do was jump up and grab hold of one of the branches, the shaking just from that enough to knock the birdie out of the tree.

"Ok, there we go. you maybe a bird, but you belong on the tennis court," Steven said. Some birdies don't belong in the wild, no matter what the case may be. With the length of the swing, he ended up pretty far away from most, much of the group not even noticing him right away. Which was probably good with what happened next.

Just before Steven would start going back, he suddenly started to feel a bit of strain in his body, namely the same arm the birdie was being held with. It was enough to make him drop the birdie onto the ground, but his arm started to glow a slight pink, before it suddenly started to shrink on him! Steven looked again and found his arm was no longer as long as his other arm, leaving it looking a bit stubby.

"Oh no!" Steven stuttered. He began to put a lot of focus in his arm, his gemstone glowing a similar pink color as his arm glowed pink again. It took a lot of willpower and a bit of grunts escaping his gritting teeth, but eventually his arm popped back to the "correct" length to his other arm, like nothing happened at all. A good relief for him. Once that was handled, he reached down to get the birdie, only to look back up to find …

Lapis Lazuli. Oh boy.

"What're you doing?!" she gasped.

"W-Well … what're you doing?" Steven asked, trying to pretend like nothing even happened. But Lapis and her keen eyes in the sky already saw what he did, yet she confirmed something was wrong for quite a while since he showed up like this. And even worse, Lapis wasn't alone.

"Have you been stretching yourself all morning?" Amethyst asked.

"NO, my arm was just … sore," Steven replied.

K, he was not fooling anyone.

"Why're you doing this, Steven? This isn't like you," Lapis asked. Well, might as well get it over with. 

"Because, I can't be a kid forever!" Steven answered, looking off towards Connie from a distance, "When Connie grows up and becomes president, what does that make me? First boy?!"

"Steven, you can't keep this up forever. If you do it for too long, you can really hurt yourself," said Amethyst, remembering a LONG line of shapeshifting experience herself. She would know the best on how that would work, but Steven was willing to call bull on that.

"Seriously? Amethyst, have you ever been in a form you really wanted to be in, and you didn't want to change back?"

"Yeah, and after hours, I collapse and feel like I wanna kill myself! Steven, I'm up for pushing the envelope, but this isn't safe."

"Well you know what, maybe it's different for me! Mom stayed in a new form for over six thousand years, so why can't I?! We'll just have to wait and see, right?" Steven snapped. A fair argument, considering Rose quartz was the identity Pink Diamond somehow kept for so long without breaking down until the night of Steven's birthday. Lapis sighed.

"How long are you planning to do this, Steven?"

"I don't know, uh, forever? At least until my next birthday when I can grow older," Steven replied.

"Steven, that's pretty naïve thinking," Lapis admitted.

"No it's not, I'm too old to be naïve!" With that being said, Steven turned and went off on his way back to the others to continue their game. But for Amethyst and Lapis, they got some things to work out before going on.

"Well, Lapis. Got any ideas?" Amethyst asked. Lapis shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe Steven has a point. Rose did keep her form for thousands of years."

"But Steven's not a diamond. Kind of." 

"We'll just have to wait and see, I guess," Lapis decided. Though as they watched Steven go back to the others, they would need to keep an eye on him and keep it quiet. At least until Steven was ready to actually tell them what was up.

…….

So as the day went on by, the party continued on as it should be. Or at the least, as good as Steven tried to make it out to be. Lapis Lazuli only told Starlight about this little revelation, but for his sake this information was kept amongst her, Starlight, and Amethyst. The others were kept out of the blue, but whether or not they would actually know already was anyone's guess honestly. They continued on with a good amount of party games for the afternoon, but it seemed that every single one Steven was having more and more difficulty with.

For instance, there was one point when the group began to do a good dance party with Pinkie Pie cooperating good ol' DJ PON-3 for some dance music. Many of the ponies and Gems had a ball with it (no fusion dancing this time), but while many of them had their fun with their own kind of dance, Steven looked a bit stiff in his movements. His arms and legs going up and down, back and forth, as if he was a sort of robot or something. A minor detail, yet not many really noticed this. Lapis even made sure to dance with him just in case, giving Steven a wink as she cut in during the dancing.
Next up was a little bit harder: having some cake. Many of the Gems left the cake untouched for the most part, Steven having the honor of blowing the candles. Candles were easy enough, but when it came to eating the cake he was given, that was just a little bit difficult to keep his form AND put effort into eating. Amethyst had to handle this department, and when she had an opening gobbled up Steven's slice of cake for him. Steven made the signature signals of a good meal: thumbs up, licking lips, that sort of thing. A little sketchy, especially after Amethyst had a burp escape her.

After this, then came a more calmed down activity in looking towards the dawning stars. They've survived the afternoon, and dusk was coming up on them just enough for the stars to come out. At least HERE Steven didn't have to move his body all that much, and got comfortable enough to just look up to the stars and that's it. … Oh, and think of names for fake constellations, that was something they were doing.

"That one is … Canis Helicopterus," said Connie after pointing it out in the stars. It was a bit vague, but putting some suspension into disbelief and they began seeing Dogcopter.

"Oh yeah, I see it! K, my turn," Pinkie said.

"Ok, but promise to make it reasonable this time," asked Pearl. Pinkie focused her mind on the stars above, and …

"I see a party pony elephant with one eye, one horn, playing with a big bouncy inflatable castle!"

"She said Reasonable," reminded Rainbow.

"Hey, don't hold that baby back, that's bad parenting. Here, let me take a crack at it," Emerald said. Well, Emerald went on up onto Fluorite's back for a better look at the stars. It took him a little bit to figure it out before he got something in his head.

"OOOHHH, I'm seeing a rock god up there."

"You do?" asked Flint quizzically. Emerald landed by him, trying to aim his gaze for the constellation in question.

"Yeah, check it out: there's the guy right there, and if you follow that star, that's the rim of his guitar," Emerald explained, pointing it out in his explanation. It still was a bit vague to Flint, but he could still see how it would look like that.

"I'll take your word for it. Hey Garnet, what do you see?" Flint asked. Garnet looked up to the stars, taking off her shades for a bit for her three eyes to examine the night sky. This took a little longer for her to work out, but she eventually raised a pointing finger to the sky.

"I see two figures. On the right is a beautiful princess, and on the left, a noble fighter, standing side by side and holding hands."

"... Ok, Garnet, you just described yourself," bluntly stated Twilight.

"U-Uh, I like me," said Garnet, blushing a little bit. The others couldn't help but laugh at that response, but none of it was for ill intent. They knew Garnet basically loved herself, given she was made from love of Ruby and Sapphire. The rings on both her ring fingers more than proved it.

"Well, I don't know about you but I see a battle royale of the Ursa Major in combat with the Great Lion, and above them observed by the Bird of Ziz," said Peridot, pointing out both the giant bear and lion in combat with one another on their hind legs, swatting at one another with their mighty claws and both roaring at one another. Lion specifically approved of this, easily seeing himself in the Lion's place.

"OOOOO, look at you making stuff up on the fly," joked Emerald.

"Well when you've been on space expeditions for thousands of years, it tends to be a regular pastime in between trips. Plus it's pretty creative," Peridot replied.

"I like all the mythology in that one," Starlight said, "Sounds like something straight out of one of the old texts of Starswirl or something."

"Well, not gonna lie, that might be some inspiration."

"Figures," Starlight thought.

"Hey Steven, you've been awfully quiet. what do you see up there?" asked Fulgurite. Honestly Steven was hoping he would go unnoticed in all this chitchat, just staring up into the sky. However, he was too focused on keeping his body together to really think properly.

"Uh … s-snake constellation," Steven said. Not the most creative thing ever.

"... O... K ... you ok, Steven? You look like you're gonna hurl," asked Fulgurite. Steven tried to play it off, but it was a lot harder than it looked this time.

"I'm fine, never better," Steven said. 

"I predict that things will start turning awkward," said Padparadscha. Anyone with eyes could tell Steven was NOT okay: sweat down his face, one eye even squinting. Lucky for Steven, Lapis Lazuli was right next to him and brought out one of her water wings to gently wrap around him, much like putting her arm around someone to help them relax.

"He's fine, it's just all day of all those games uh … worn him out. Right Steven?" Lapis said. Then she started to work the water in her wings to ease Steven's muscles a bit, so he could better concentrate on them without the will straining. Fulgurite took a moment to look them over.

"...…. Alright," Fulgurite concluded. Pinkie Pie's party games usually were a bit nutty, and they got a LOT of them done today. Steven was given a break for now, and thanks to the comforting wing of Lapis Lazuli, it made it easier to work out his mind on working a better constellation while keeping his body in tact.

"I think I see … I think … I think I see Q flying up there," Steven said, pointing to a particular constellation of their winged serpent, wings spread open in the sky. Lapis looked up and she began seeing the serpent herself. Connie nearby was seeing Steven's trouble, the problem itching in the back of her mind. CLEARLY something was wrong, and Steven was not telling anyone.

"Feeling better, Steven?" Lapis whispered.

"I'm much better, thanks," replied Steven quietly. Lapis knew this wasn't a permanent solution, but it would suffice for now. … At least, they thought so.

"Hey, Steven, I got another surprise for you," Connie suddenly said, getting to her feet. A bit quick, but Steven had to play along somewhat.

"Oh? Well, what is it?" Steven asked, hoping this surprise was either right here, or could be brought to him.

"Come on, I'll show you. We'll be right back," Connie said, getting Steven up to his feet, and out of Lapis's comforting wing. Lapis removed her water wing, but immediately felt a little concerned as Steven was on his feet and being moved off away.

"Steven's so happy," commented Twilight.

"We know how to throw a good party," said Garnet.

"AHA, you know it," Pinkie agreed.

…….

Steven and Connie were soon on their own now, away from the rest and off back to the barn. It was getting late by this point, but Connie didn't mind that. Steven though was in a bit of a mess-up in his mind. One hand, he didn't want to upset Connie, but on the other, he wished she would hurry up with this, whatever it was. Steven just stood over by the table, and waited for what Connie had in mind for him. For Connie, she was working out a little hidden surprise from inside the barn.

"Ok, Steven. Close your eyes," Connie said. Well, he got nothing better to do, so he just went and did so. Connie didn't want to keep him, so she went on and got the present to him lickity split. When Steven opened his eyes, he was met with a pretty special kind of present. … Or rather, Star Quartz's present.

"Ok, so this isn't my surprise technically, but Star did say this is for me to give to you, so … here," Connie said bashfully.

"Huh. So that's why she kept it from me," Steven figured, taking the present. He was a little stiff-jointed in working the present, but he did manage to get the present open, popping off the top of the box. And what was inside of it for him? Well, nothing he could figure out by looking at it.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much what I thought when I saw it too," Connie said, as Steven pulled the object out. It was a pretty fancy object, looking like an instrument really. It was lined in a stripe coloration, a few holes along the rim like a flute, or clarinet. But instead of an opening at the end, it showed a diamond symbol with each side a different coloration. The shape of said diamond matched a particular Pink Diamond.

"So, what is it?"

"It's a Diamond flute," Connie said, going off of what they told her about it, "The ponies and Gems got this together for you along with the Gem boat. I … really don't know what it does, but no time like the present right? Try it out!"

Well, it couldn't hurt to try a little go at it. So, Steven brought it to position, and gave it a good blow. Turned out this made the gemstone on the end of it glow good and strong for a moment, but mainly that was just from him blowing into it so hard. Steven blushed.

"I guess I need a little bit more practice with it," Steven said, placing the flute down.

And then the background music started to play. Though, this music in the background was a bit more romantic than the party music they were listening to. Connie and Steven began to put two and two and two together and they got the memo. So, since no one was around and it was just them two, Steven and Connie moved out to the dancefloor in front of the barn and began to dance together in a embrace. Nothing like a slow dance to make the night a little more magical.

"I still can't believe you're sixteen now. Maybe you can sneak me into a teen-rated movie sometime," Connie said as they danced.

"Huh? Y-Yeah hehehe," Steven said, a bit nervously. But Connie then chuckled.

"Just kidding, I won't ask you to break the law. … But, it's funny that I have to look up to you now though. Literally," Connie said.

"Uh, funny good, or funny bad?"

"Funny good," Connie replied. The dancing stopped for a brief moment, and she actually rested her head on Steven's chest. Steven felt like he was captured now, unable to even move an inch. Connie though felt happy with him. The two had gone through a lot through the years together, and perhaps it would be time for Connie to have some more alone time with him while she can.

"C-Connie?" Steven shuttered, getting very nervous.

"... You know Steven, when your dad showed us those pictures, I was a bit worried at first. But now, I just wanna say now … I'm happy I get to grow up with you."

That did it. Steven's willpower in that brief moment was finally broken. Steven just felt so meek in this game of his. So little. So small.... And Connie began to feel Steven suddenly start to shrink. Connie stepped back as Steven seemingly began to disappear into his own clothes! Next thing Connie knew, the boy she was just looking up to was gone completely, leaving only a lump where Steven's shirt is. Connie felt like pinching herself, to see if this was just some weird dream climax twist or something. And when she found Steven?

"S-STEVEN?!" Connie gasped. There was little, little Steven. Now a tiny little baby just a year and a half old. Steven looking at his arms and legs and realized what happened, his body small enough to be completely covered by his own shirt. Steven only had one thing to say.

"WAAAAHHHHHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

…….

"He turned back into A BABY?!"

The blunt yet real question the second Connie came back with little baby Steven in her arms, baby Steven still crying his eyes out as to what had happened to him, now in front of everyone. He tried so hard to make this all work, but not even a boy with Diamond abilities seemed to do everything to its full potential. And now, Steven couldn't even talk properly, tears from his eyes. As for everyone else, this fun day went south REAL quick.

"I-I don't know what happened, we were just talking," Connie said frantically, as lost as the others were. The only ones that were in the know about at least what caused this was Lapis, Amethyst, and Starlight, who felt guilty both in seeing this, and for keeping quiet about it all day. Something that didn't go unnoticed by a few in the crowd.

"Dude, I told you: stretching yourself for that long is NOT good for you," said Amethyst, now holding little Steven. Steven tried to speak, but he only made a bunch of babbling like a infant would do. This line though did turn some heads.

"Wait, how long was he doing this?" asked Fluttershy.

"Um … all day," admitted Lapis, "We tried talking him out of it, but -" she was quickly quieted when Steven wailed and cried again. Guess Steven didn't want her to finish and wanted to say it himself. You know, if he could speak.

"Ok, ok! Uh, here Flint, you know what to do," said Amethyst.

"Wha - no I don't!"

"You don't? Flint, you're the smarter one here!" Tiger's Eye said.

"I work with politics and mysteries, not kids! Eh, here Pearl, you take him - you knew him longer than me."

"Oh no, no, don't give him to me!" Pearl said hesitantly. Garnet then stepped in.

"Let me see him."

"Well, ok, here you go," Amethyst said.
Garnet then held Steven in her arms, holding him out in front so he had a good look at her face. She had all her eyes closed, but soon she started opening one eye at a time. And then she stuck out her tongue. Funny face? …

"Wwwwhha? WAAAAHHHH!"

"My powers mean nothing to an infant," she sighed. Clearly the Gems had no idea how to properly handle this kind of situation, so perhaps the organic creatures might have a better idea on what to do. So, next up was Rainbow Dash.

"Hold on, let me try," Rainbow said, taking the kid and placing him down on the ground. Rainbow Dash tried a similar method, but a bit more energetic for some good measure: her tongue out as she shook her head first, then sounding like a bwah-bwah trumpet while pulling down her eyelids, and then putting her hooves in her mouth as her cheeks puffed out. But that didn't really accomplish anything, Steven just looking confused more than anything and just crying again.

"Will you two stop it, you're just freaking him out," Jasper said firmly. She may not know much about babies but if the method didn't work, it didn't work.

"You got a better idea?" Rainbow asked.

"Alright, this is my department. Come here, Steven," Greg then said, going over to the little fella and picking him up.

"You sure you know what to do," Rhodonite said nervously.

"Don't worry, I got this."

"Hey, I'm gonna tag along too if that's alrigh'," said Applejack. If there was anypony that would know how to take care of younger characters it would be her.

"If you want. Come on, let's get you home," Greg decided, bringing Steven over to the car, joined by a few others.

"Is it wrong that I was waiting for something bad to happen out of this?" Tiger's Eye asked.

"With our track record … not really," Flint sighed. Then he turned to Connie.

"Connie, look, let us take you home. We'll call you back once we get all this sorted out, ok?"

Connie didn't answer, and just watched as Steven was brought to the car. And the rest of the day went so well too.

…….

The ride back home did not do it so well either, and Steven was simply miserable. The whole ride off back home was with Steven still crying a bit, as the others tried their best to calm him down. Greg drove on towards home, a relaxing drive with one of his more somber songs playing on the radio. Applejack joined him in the front seat, Star Quartz and Starlight were side by side with him, Lapis Lazuli and Peridot in the back, and Amethyst was shaped into a baby seat, seatbelts included. And yet, none of them seemed to be working. Star tried shaking the Diamond Flute in front of Steven's face, it giving off a little glow, but that didn't seem to do much of anything either.

"I don't get it, how could the Gems not know what to do here?" Starlight asked.

"You think they knew the first thing about raising a baby? That was all me! But I don't get it, this always used to calm him down," Greg said, as they continued going on home.

"Wait, I got an idea," Lapis said.

"Well I'm up for anything at this point," Amethyst murmured. She then brought out some water from her gemstone, but instead of some wings, she brought out some little water orbs, shaping them into cute little animals and stars. Lapis then brought them in front of Steven, making the cute little things dance a little bit. Steven paused briefly, but went right back to crying again. Clearly THAT wasn't working.

"Maybe it's something else, y'all," said Applejack, looking back to them.

"Like what?" asked Peridot. Applejack took a moment to think.

"You think he …"

"NO he didn't, I would know by now," Amethyst said before AJ could finish. She knew where AJ was going, and they can jot that off the list of possible things. But all the crying wasn't suiting well for some.

It took them a while longer for them to get back to the Beach House, but even with them all there, they still were having trouble dealing with all of this crying and all this noise, which while calmed down slightly, was still ringing out. They placed Steven back in his bed, the little sprout still crying up a storm at this point.

"UGH, find something out and make him stop, PLEASE!" groaned Peridot, covering her ears at a point. All this crying was really a pain to her ears, as with any newbie baby parent.

"Ok, let's start from the beginnin'. Anybody know what even happened to him?" Applejack asked.

"He turned small," answered Star.

"No, no, I mean earlier today, the whole story. Starlight?" Applejack corrected. Starlight glanced up towards Steven and she began to rub her hoof.

"Well … he might have been stretching himself all day. You know, to look older," Starlight admitted. This time Steven's crying didn't cut them off, and they overheard everything.

"Why would he bother? He's still sixteen," Star wondered. …

"Oh Ponyfeathers."

"What's up, AJ?" Greg asked.

"I know what's goin on: Steven heard us gibbering about his age this morning, so he did this all day to look his age until … well, this," AJ concluded, pointing a hoof to Steven who was still whimpering in bed. The plan was out, and Steven … well, it was bound to come up eventually, but it didn't make him feel any better.

"Ok, well, how do we change him back?!" Greg asked.

"I don't know. I could try an aging spell."

"NO!" everyone suddenly yelled.

"... Or. Not."

They stopped talking when Steven started crying again. With no magic fixing this problem, and with many other sources not working too well, the only option they got now is to let him sleep. Applejack and Star Quartz decided to work together for this part.

"There, there sugarcube. It doesn't matter what age you look like, we still love you no matter what," Applejack reassured Steven, him stopping his crying for a moment. He did try to speak again, but that didn't do so well in translation either.

"It's getting late, so why don't you get some sleep? Everything will be better in the morning. Star, you mind watching him, and make sure nothing happens to him?"

"Ok," Star replied.

"Thanks. And, one more thing ..." Applejack said. She didn't need to finish, so Star Quartz nodded, and as she gently placed a soft hand on Steven's head to calm him down, Applejack then started to speak again, this time having a little lullaby for him. And she sang this as the others quietly started to go on out to not disturb him.


Hush now little pony, you're loved by all you know
you'll never lose their friendship know matter where you go
there ain't no call to worry, so don't you cry or fret
a little trait won't change you, no matter what you get.


After all that was said, Applejack joined the others on outside, quietly closing the door to let Steven fall asleep comfortably without interruption. Just one night would work out just fine.


~~~~~~


It was just enough: Steven, under the soft words of the farm pony and the Gem's calming aura, was fast asleep in his bed to let dreamland figure out what to do with him. For the next couple of hours into the night, Steven was staying well asleep, and Star Quartz silently kept her visual over him. Star kept quiet and sat down by the foot of Steven's bed, not keeping her gaze away from the boy for even a moment. She was supposed to watch him, and that was what she was doing. Steven never did have to handle with someone watching him sleep outside of Pearl, or perhaps someone else if it did come down to that, but baby Steven couldn't tell her to go away even if he was awake.
Star meanwhile rested her arms and head on the bed itself, watching the infant with what could only be described as a thousand light year stare. Which was a normal look for her, really. Good thing Gems didn't need sleep otherwise it would be a pain for her.

"Do Humans always start off this small?" she wondered, moving closer to Steven. He was still murmuring in his sleep, but the sounds this time were not as bothersome as the crying beforehand.

*knock**knock**knock*

A bit late at night for any visitors to the beach house. But it wasn't loud enough to wake up Steven again, so that was something good. Taking a moment off of Steven, Star Quartz went downstairs and went right over to the door. Was it a pony coming by? A human? A Gem maybe?
Well, no. Standing out in front of the doorway was what looked like some sort of small animal, no bigger than a dog. It had many of the features much like that of a dog, but it looked very skinny with very large ears and eyes more like a rabbit, or even a bat. Something like a mixture of coyote and hare. And one other detail is that the thing looked very nervous, with an arched back and tail tucked between its legs in submission. For a moment, Star just looked to the funny looking creature just standing in front of the door.

"U-Uh, yeah hi. … C-Can I come in?" the creature asked. Star Quartz glanced back to Steven and, not seeing the harm in it, stepped aside to let the creature inside. The creature hesitated at first, but did end up scurrying inside once it knew for sure it was safe.

"What's your name, sir?" Star asked.

"M-Me? They call me Stubby," the creature replied, though he didn't expect that question to come up so casually. At least there was only one to deal with. Stubby started looking around, looking as if he was walking on glass as he scurried around a bit. Then he caught scent of Steven.

"Is that uh … who is that?"

"That's Steven," Star replied, as she and Stubby went up to the sleeping infant. Stubby got onto the bed hesitantly, sitting down and looking to the baby. The infant was fast asleep and didn't wake up from any of the conversation.

"... This is Steven?"

"He had a bit of trouble earlier today. Now he's stuck as a young infant," Star explained. Stubby moved a bit closer to the baby, his nerves on edge just in case he were to wake up, but Steven was silent as can be.

"Uh … C-C-Can I take him?"

Forward.

"Take him?"

"J-Just for a little bit, please? I'll bring him back," Stubby reassured her nervously. Star Quartz went over to him, but out of impulse Stubby immediately bolted back a few steps.

"Are you doing anything with him?" Star Quartz asked after thinking. Stubby shook his head frantically.

"Nononono, I-I'm not gonna do anything at all with him."

"... Well … ok."

OK? That's it? That was all it took? Stubby couldn't believe it at first, but as he slowly got Steven off the bed, holding the sleeping baby by his shirt, Star Quartz didn't do anything except for watch. She didn't attack him or anything. It wasn't easy carrying little Steven, but after some maneuvering, he had Steven's shirt much like a wrapped up bag, Steven's head poking out and still sleeping. With his eyes locked onto her, he began to move back down the stairs, slowly going back to the door. Star Quartz still wasn't doing much of anything other than watch this all go on. Stubby tried getting the door with his tiny paws, but being a canine it wasn't really easy to do. Star Quartz then came down and actually opened the door for him, and waited patiently for him to go. With a very small whimper coming out of him, Stubby continued walking in a way so he kept his eyes locked onto her, expecting Star to jump him at any second. But even when he got to the bottom of the porch stairs, Star Quartz didn't do much of anything to him but watch.

The stress was real.

Stubby kept looking to Star Quartz at the front porch until he felt his paws touch the sand. Only then did Stubby turn and bolt away as fast as he could, leaving nothing but dust behind. The canine kept running like mad as fast as the thing could go, not even remotely stopping himself until he found a good spot down the beach, hidden behind some large rocks and out of Star Quartz's sight. Sweet relief …

Until he saw her sitting on a rock nearby, watching them again.

"W-what the?! But you - I mean there - I-I saw you -"

"I'm supposed to watch him," Star Quartz said. 

Stubby got a bit freaked out, before snatching Steven and bolting for it again like lightning, again leaving nothing behind but dust. Star Quartz was left a little confused, but not too fazed.

For such a small animal, he moved very quickly on his stick legs, the baby in his short snout still not exactly waking up despite the scream. Guess Steven must've been a heavy sleeper. With the baby, he went into Beach City - the only spot other than the beach to go to. Night time, lucky him, was with many a person was fast asleep so no one was around to bother him as he bolted into town. Once a good distance, he stopped just by an alleyway, checking up the road to be sure Star didn't follow him again. All he saw was just some lights off the street, so he felt pretty good he got away. For the next three seconds.

"You move very fast," said Star Quartz, standing down the alleyway.

"G-Get away from me!" Stubby shouted, before snatching Steven again and bolting for it. Star Quartz walked out of the alleyway, but the creature was long gone already. Well, an alleyway wasn't gonna work, and Stubby had to try something a bit more creative in getting away from her. Eventually, he found a hiding place in the form of a dumpster behind the Big Donut. Not the most creative, but heck it was something. He took one more look around before he got himself inside. Probably good too that there was no garbage inside, otherwise he'd get his fur all jacked up.

"Okay, that should do it. You're coming home with me," said Stubby. Somehow, Steven was still sleeping.

"Huh. Heavy sleeper?"

"My aura's keeping him quietly resting. He had a long day," said Star Quartz.

"Oh thank y - AAAHHH!"

In a loud bang, Stubby shot out of the dumpster with Steven in his teeth, and bolted off yet again, Star Quartz coming out of the dumpster where Stubby was just hiding in.

"This is a weird game," Star said, before coming out of the dumpster herself and strolling off again. This really wasn't too much for her, even if Steven might be in big trouble during this whole crazy event. Besides, as long as she was watching Steven and can see him, then things should be alright.
In his desperate attempt to get away, Stubby went straight away from the Big Donut, and off across town right over to the Beach City Funland. Nothing was on and operating right now, so perhaps Stubby could get a break getting in this place and hiding out for a while. He stopped only for a moment once he got passed the front gate, glancing back to be sure Star didn't follow him this time before running off into Funland. He had to pull off the stops this time - somewhere he KNEW she won't be able to get him.
This time Star Quartz was a little bit late, but not by too much as she walked into the seemingly quiet Funland. Stubby and Steven didn't seem to be around anywhere this time, which did seem like a bother since she was supposed to be watching him. Everything around Funland was not in operation, leaving a sort of "abandoned" feeling in the air as Star walked along to try and figure out where Stubby had gone off to this time. The only sounds around was Star's own feet, and the summer wind. Star seemed to stand out like a sore thumb, her glowing body making her easily seem by whatever would be around anywhere.

"Where'd he go now?" Star wondered curiously.

"WAAAHHHH!"

"No no no nonononono!"

A distant noise, but it was good enough for Star Quartz to hear them. And by the sound of it, Steven was finally awake and obviously freaking out at whatever was going on. Star followed the noise, looking around for a little bit until she finally found the source's destination. Just in time too, as off nearby one of the booths, a light from the Portal Key began to make an appearance, and soon Star's friends (Rainbow, Applejack, Starlight, Lapis, Greg, and Connie) rushed out to find Star Quartz by herself.

"Oh, star, thank the cosmos we found you - … where's Steven?!" Peridot gasped.

"He's around," Star replied.

"Around where?! You said you were gonna watch him!" Greg retorted.

"I am watching him. I watched him go … up there."

And then she pointed to the most terrifying place for an infant to be by himself. They all looked, just to find the Ferris wheel. And Stubby had somehow managed to climb all the way to the top with Steven by him, both measly creatures stuck up at the top cart. Stubby peeked down in fear, and they all heard the faint sounds of Steven's crying.

"AAAHHH!"

"Something named Stubby came by and wanted to play a game I think. But he said he wasn't gonna do anything with Steven, so it's alright."

"Him running off with Steven IS DOING SOMETHING, STAR!" Peridot yelled, freaking out.

"Oh ponyfeathers, come on. Steven, we're comin!" Rainbow Dash called, as she and Lapis Lazuli raced up to the Ferris Wheel. Starlight and Greg went right over to the controls, but Stubby thought ahead and already ripped off the lever to make the thing work. Lapis and Rainbow Dash were right on it though, flying straight up to the top riding cart, Stubby freaking out from seeing both Gem and Pony around him with Steven crying.

"Well this is simple," Lapis said, going in to grab Steven. Stubby though wanted to get his prize and just leave, so he grabbed Steven by the shirt, pulling back a bit. This of course didn't last too long as Rainbow Dash forced him to let go. Steven was safe, and Stubby tried once more to grab him … just to fall out of the cart.

"Oh boy," Stubby muttered, before falling straight down to the wooden floor bellow. The others went back together, as Stubby actually fell through a hole in the floor, getting into the water underneath. Well, he was off lucky, and all Stubby could do was scurry away.

"Star Quartz. You and I need to have a talk," Peridot said, dragging the confused Star Quartz away. Well, Star wasn't going to be watching anyone anytime soon. Guess the concept needed better understanding.

"Geesh. Alright, let's go and get him home," Greg decided. Steven started to murmured and cry again, but this time it was Connie who wanted to talk to him.

"It's okay, Steven. Listen, it doesn't matter to me what age it seems like you are, I'm going to hang out with you no matter what. I'll keep an eye on you when the others aren't around: Greg still has the carwash, the Gems have to do missions, and the ponies have to do their stuff. After training with Pearl, I can visit you then too. Doesn't that sound fun?"

And for the first time, Steven stopped crying on his own will, as he smiled and gently held Connie's finger. Everything will be better in the morning.


~~~~~~


Since they almost lost Steven that night, Connie decided to stay at Steven's place instead of running off home. It was probably better for them since Steven was going to probably be in trouble otherwise (plus Star wasn't put on watch anyway). And it worked pretty well, as nothing else unexpected happened throughout the night, and onward into the morning. The sun of a brand new day was now onto them, and Connie woke up a bit groggy but feeling a little bit more content knowing Steven was alright. It could've gone a lot worse if they didn't decide to check on them on the night of.
But even with this all that, there was still one more little problem to contend with as Connie woke up and looked over to Steven's bed, only to find his shirt and nothing else.

"Ohmygosh. D-did he just get smaller? He's turned microscopic! He's reverted back to a zygote!" Connie said in complete panic, grabbing Steven's shirt to try and find him. But there was no sign of him anywhere! She was ready to get up and bolt out to find the others, but there was one thing that stopped her from completely panicking - the sound of the bathroom door opening and closing.

And Steven walking out.

"Look. … It fits now," Steven said humbly, showing his brand new pink shirt. He no longer looked older or younger than when the birthday had even started. Connie didn't care about the shirt though, her mind now happy and with joy to see her friend back to normal again.

"S-Steven, you're back to normal!"

"Yeah. … I'm very sorry about what happened yesterday, and making everything a disaster. I-I wanted to look older for you," Steven admitted as Connie went right up to him.

"I don't care about that Steven, it's okay," Connie replied, not even remotely thinking about the party at the moment. Steven, who still felt at fault for how much trouble happened at the tail end of the birthday celebration, still wanted to at the least give his apologies. After all of this, it was time to come clean.

"I … heard what you all said back at the barn. About how I probably won't grow up, and don't age like you do. … Is it okay if I don't age like a human?" Steven asked.

"Steven, of course it's okay!" Connie replied, "I love you just the way you are. I wouldn't ask for anything different," Connie said, and soon Steven and Connie were in a hug with eachother. Sometimes a hug was more than enough for someone to forgive an apology, and Steven, red-faced a little, returned the gesture. It was hard to stay mad at Connie. But then Steven realized one tiny thing in that statement, and seemingly Connie realized it too.

She said "love". Not like. LOVE. Connie clamped shut, and her face turned deep red on this realization.

"I … Uh I … I-I …"

Steven returned the hug himself.

"... Me too …"

Well. After everything, it was finally out there. And about time too. Both kept the hug going for a little bit more, but as sweet and nice this hug was, it wasn't really something that was gonna last for too long.

"Uh, Steven I … think something's going on with the Diamond Flute," said Connie.

The Diamond Flute was left along in the Beach House since they dropped Steven off, but it wasn't until now that this Diamond flute was starting to come to life on them. There was a slight glow to it, but apart from that there didn't seem to be that much else going on with it.

"Oh boy. Should I dare? …"

Whelp, he dared. With a good strong blow, he blew into it as strong as he could. The light on the end of the flute glowed bright and strong, as if it was kicked well into overdrive. But nothing really seemed to happen at first.

… You know, until the sun started to get blocked out over their house.

*THUD!*

"What the?! What was that?" Connie gasped.

And boy did they get their answer when they stepped on outside. Steven had gotten a Gem boat for his birthday, and a Diamond Flute. But there was one final piece of this gift that they just were speechless over: a large pink spaceship shaped like a pair of legs and also shaped like heels. Throughout the ship's legs, light pink lines are present and create square shapes in different parts of the exterior.

Pink Diamond's Diamond Ship.

"... BEST. PRESENT. EVER!"
> You'll Play Your Part
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan was all set. With the trip ready to go, much of the groups were out and ready to see Steven and company off on his trip to Homeworld. Hard to really say just how long he would be gone for, but after some time to discuss it (and the fact they would be getting the idea itself after finding said ship right in front of their temple), Steven would be wanting to go off on this spaceship if he could.

"Ok, that's snacks, a diamond line to call you, some games, my Gem boat and Diamond whistle … you think I should bring a gift? I am dropping by unexpectedly," Steven asked, thinking about it some more. He hadn't seen nor heard of Blue, Yellow, or "Pink" Diamond ever since the wedding, so he might as well present something to them when getting there.

"I think just showing up in Pink's ship would be more than enough," said Pearl.

"Y-You sure you want to do this?" asked Rhodonite, "I-I mean, just going off to Homeworld so suddenly like this because you got the ship … boy, hope I'm using this phrase right. You're going right into the Lion's den!"

"That, and we don't know what could've happened there for months now, so who knows what's going on there now? If you want to stay here, no one's going to blame you," Flint added.

"Cut it out, I'm not staying here when it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to Homeworld - literally!" insisted Steven, "I've been meaning to try and check on Blue, Yellow, and Rosebud and how they're doing back home, and now I finally have a way to do that."

"Rosebud?"

"You know, Pink Diamond," said Bismuth, "I mean, you can't call two Pink Diamonds the same number."

"Isn't that was Steven Universe is for?" whispered Rhodonite, to which Flint shrugged. Steven's logic to some things did elude him before, but that was the least of their worries.

"Listen you two. I get it, you're worried about him going off to Homeworld. But he isn't gonna be alone: he's got me, Pearl, Peridot, Sapphire and Lapis. Homeworld may be the Lion's den, but we got our own pride of Lions."

"Wait. Sapphire? You mean Garnet, right?"

"Sapphire and Ruby decided to part ways for a while," explained Steven, "With them being married, the idea of splitting up isn't as scary anymore."

"Speaking of which, where is Sapphire? She's supposed to meet up with us by now," Pearl wondered. However, Bismuth smirked and leaned against the ship, arms crossed, and having that look that said she knew something they didn't.

"They won't be too long," Bismuth said.

And before they could say much else, they all heard the door open up from the Beach House, seeing Ruby and Sapphire come out to catch up to them. Seeing them though, Steven was quick to blush and cover his eyes when he noted a very few marks on their faces.

"Sorry to have kept you. We just had some extra work to do before I could go," said Sapphire. Emerald and Fulgurite couldn't help themselves.

"Oh we see," said Fulgurite, "Is that Coral Blue semi-gloss, or Glimmer veil #7 you used?"

Ruby immediately flustered up, realizing what they meant. Lipstick was a bit harder to wash off than much else. Some of the others laughed (hard not to), as Sapphire got the lipstick off of both herself and Ruby. They were gonna be gone for a bit, so they were making up for lost time basically.

"So … you two really deciding to split up this time?"

"Yep," said Ruby, before turning to her beloved, "Don't take too long there, ok babe?"

"I promise, sweetie," Sapphire replied, giving Ruby one more kiss on the cheek. Ruby turned just a slight bit redder, though it wasn't as extravagant (with what they did earlier). As Sapphire left, Emerald just had to go and ask one little question to play around with her.

"How'd she taste?"

And just like that Ruby was steaming up a storm, covering her face. Some didn't get it, but for those that do (Ruby and Fulgurite obviously), it was a bit of a bold move. Jasper though picked Emerald up and tossed him aside like an annoying little pest, him getting caught by Fulgurite. Pushed a little bit much.

"You guys able to hold the fort until we get back?" Lapis asked.

"Don't worry about anything," said Jasper, "You all go and have fun, we'll make sure nothing happens here."

"Thank you. Is everyone ready?" Sapphire asked. Steven nodded.

"Alright. Let's go to Homeworld!"

It'd been a long time since they heard those words come out. With that all finally said, the team went on inside the Pink Diamond Gemship as everyone else waited just off outside. Twilight personally felt a bit rough around the edges, but it wasn't her place to question the map. And as she said, if it said she wasn't gonna go, then she wasn't gonna go.

The exterior of the ship was a very nice piece of work, yet it took the group a bit of time to actually get to the main room of this ship. The interior of the ship's room appeared almost circular with a pink ceiling, red walls with violet red symbols of the original emblem for the Diamonds. A triangular window was present in front of the ship, them able to see the ocean in front of them, two giant seats flanked the main walkway, and the doorframe coming in was shaped as a triangle. With some guiding from Pearl, Steven found where he was supposed to go: a footboard in the center of the walkway. Soon as Steven stepped onto the footboard, the ship started to activate itself again, this time making what looking like a hologram, forming a pink pair of legs wrapped around his own.

"That's a good look for you Steven," Lapis said.

"Thanks. Now how do I start this thing?" Steven wondered, looking to the holograms. He didn't budge much from the spot, just in case something were to happen. Especially when right next to the Gem Temple.

"To launch, just get a good running start," Pearl said, simplifying the process. Sure sounded simple enough, but this was a bit of a risky procedure.

Boy was it harder than it looked. Everyone outside of the ship began to see the Gemship start to react to Steven's movements inside, one leg being lifted up. They figured it would be a sort of simple walk, then run, then takeoff … just to find the ship move as if it was either drunk or spazzing out. Oh joy. As it went out towards the open water, each step was like walking around on eggshells.

"You got this, Steven!" shouted Pinkie. Though, many of the others didn't feel the exact enthusiasm as they watched the rather troublesome "kickstart" Steven was giving it, Rhodonite and Flint probably the most bothered as Rhodonite hid behind him. Just in case.
Even with all this odd moving, the interior of the ship didn't feel too much swaying. But that didn't mean they weren't too troubled about Steven's moving themselves. Yet they didn't really say much of anything, not wanting Steven to just trip over his own feet just to get themselves going. Soon, the awkward walk turned into a more typical run after Steven got himself together.

"Three. Two. One. Blast off!" he shouted. And the Diamond ship, after getting enough speed, made a spring jump off of the ground, rocketing into the sky. It took far less time to get that off into the sky than they would have with the Galactic Ray, or Ruby ship for that matter, as in just a few short seconds they were already up into the stratosphere, and right off into space. The launch was a bit clunky, but they were off on their way.

"I bet when mom did it, it was more graceful huh?" Steven said to Pearl. Pearl simply smiled.

"No. Not really."


~~~~~~


It'd been a pretty long time since any of them had gone off into outer space since the Warp Pads were closed off, and with the great Gemship moving off so fast much of the stars rushed on by them. Unlike warpspeed though, none of them felt any strong gravity pulling them down, so they could still move about freely. Except for Steven, who was stuck standing still on the footboards. Someone had to stay on the controls while they were flying around. Even if the others could move around though, they decided to just stick around with Steven, some sitting in the giant chairs by the platform while others stood alongside the controller.

"Wonder how Yellow and Blue will react when we show up like this?" Steven said at one point, "I mean, they know my mom was Pink Diamond and all, so, seeing me bring home her ship might make a bit of a strong impression."

"I don't think it's them you should be thinking about," noted Bismuth.

"Huh? But why, I'm a Diamond right?"

"I think she means the rest of Homeworld that will see you come in with Pink Diamond's ship," Pearl said. Steven didn't realize it up to this point.

"Oh. … OH! Oh yeah, how will Homeworld handle me? I should've phoned in first before taking off," Steven said. Pink diamond news had its effect on everyone, to the point in splitting up the entire Crystal Gem group for a while. If it could do that, it was just a matter of what will, not could, happen when Steven ends up landing there.

"Everything will be okay, Steven," said Lapis, "I mean, no one will have any problems with five Diamonds of the Diamond Authority right?"

"Yeah, guess so. Hey, thanks for coming with me guys."

"No problem, sport," said Bismuth, hand on his shoulder, "The second we heard you got that ship, you were bound to run off to space with it. Pun intended." and she then fluffed Steven's hair. Not a typical Bismuth pun, but heck it was good for Steven.

"Oh you guys," Steven chuckled.

"Anyway Steven, we haven't seen Homeworld in over a year. It'll be nice to see what's been going on there without us," Pearl added, eyes closed and thinking on it humbly. Homeworld was her home, no matter if she was there, or on Earth, or Equestria, or wherever else.

"Yeah, and I can show some of those other Peridots some of my fighting techniques and my expert metal-bending prowess," added Peridot, levitating some cans in a circular motion as if they were the touch stubs on her limb enhancers.

"Let's try and get everything settled first," suggested Steven. "I want to see Blue, Yellow, and Rosebud before we do anything else. Catch up with eachother, maybe share a soft drink together."

"We don't have to wait for long," Sapphire said, looking on ahead to the front.

"Whoa, we can't be there already!"

And so everyone on board did so, and sure enough, after what felt like only an hour of flying through the cosmos, there was the Homeworld planet! Right there! They knew the Gemships moved pretty fast, but that was just simply ridiculous. The planet itself though looked … rough, to say the least.
As the ship continued towards the destination, passing by flying chunks of space rock, they all could see the state Homeworld was currently suffering over. Earth and Equestria may got their own problems, but homeworld was having far more dangers than they could've imagined. The planet was literally barely keeping together. The crust of the planet was hovering away from eachother, leaving the entire world of Homeworld cracked open and split! The whole planet too, which was the second most unsettling thing about this whole situation, was covered in a ominous pale white glow.
The group took a bit to take in what they were seeing, Sapphire moving the hair out of her eye to make sure she was not just seeing things.

"Oh, oh, here we go," Steven sighed.

And off they were going. Any Gem, no matter their own stand on Homeworld's philosophies, would be left in complete shock at such a sight of their home planet on the brink of simply, well, being gone. Something big must've happened, that was all they could think, and Celestia help us all, they were gonna end up right into it. No matter the case though, Pink Diamond's ship went on into overdrive, and into autopilot, as it turned itself into a landing position with the feet aimed towards the planet. They went in fast enough that the feet started to burn slightly from G-forces alone.
As the ship continued into the planet, the skies ahead turned from darkened black, and turning more into a brighter hue of tan (not a typical color for the sky). Pink Diamond's ship went through the cloud layer, and found the landing platform all by itself, landing right on its feet much like a cat would typically do. Once it straightened out, the ship finally went still, and everyone from inside the ship paused and got a good look around from the window. Not too much to be seen, not much sight of the Diamond castles from their position, but still got sight of plenty of Diamond City and its sea of buildings. For a planet literally in pieces, the city didn't look too bad for what it was, many of the buildings still standing at the least.

"Ok, is everyone ready?" Steven asked.

"We're right behind you, Steven," reassured Lapis Lazuli.

"Wait. What's that sound?" asked Peridot.

The sound was faint, but indeed they were hearing something else without the ship running. With them being in the city though, and in Diamond City no less, it was a pretty darn good guess what that noise actually was.
The group of Harmony Gems took their leave, and went out of the Diamond Gemship in little time at all to see what was going on. If it could be summed up though, they now had their idea what the reaction of everyone on Homeworld would be. So many different types of Gems, from the aristocratic to the mundane were present for the ship's arrival, all cheering as if the grand queen herself had graced them all with her presence. Which, considering what they know about Rose at this point, was actually pretty accurate to consider.

"Maybe we won't have any problems after all," said Steven with a smile, as Peridot jumped onto Bismuth's shoulders and waved to the crowd. It always felt good to be admired.

"I'm not so sure," Lapis said. A hero's welcome was all fun and good, but the way that this was all set up was more than a little sketchy. Different Gems were in their different groups, lined up in a row, and depending on which Diamond they belonged to prior was where they were placed. This made a literal diamond symbol of all the Gems present, with Pink Diamond's symbol being right in front of them, Yellow Diamond to the left, Blue Diamond to the right, and White Diamond being straight across.

At least Homeworld was happy to see them.

"Well, they sure got themselves organized for our arrival," Pearl noted.

"Yeah, but … I don't remember them doing that before. At least not like this," Lapis said.

And suddenly the crowd went silent. All at once.

"W-What now?" Peridot wondered.

And they got their answer. Just off in the sky, a round white orb started to come their way ever so slightly, landing right next to them. Whatever was going on it wasn't gonna wait for them to figure everything out, or anything out for that matter. Bismuth stood in the way between the orb and her friends, hand turning into a pickaxe at the ready. A white orb like this had little other idea on who it might belong to. Bismuth was ready to jump at it as the bubble disappeared to show another Gem, but this gem wasn't your typical standard fighter.
She had a monochromatic color scheme, with white skin, black and grey clothes, and pale grey hair, which was twisted into two, Princess-Leia-inspired buns that are held to the sides of her head. The outfit on her was black and white in overall scheme: a black top resembling a barlette with grey sleeves, a white tulle skirt, and a pair of black boots with grey stockings. Her most prominent feature was the atypical scarring over her left eye, lined with cracks that extend to the chin, hairline and hair bun of her physical form, completely covering the eye. Her gemstone was located on the upper part of her navel and was an unfaceted oval-shaped cabochon, much like their own Pearl.

"A … Pearl?" Steven said, humbled and confused. What kind of Pearl could silence all of Homeworld just by showing up?! Of course, White Pearl didn't look too natural herself. Just standing there on her tip-toes, arms spread out, and gaze seemingly staring off into the distance passed them. She had a smile, but this smile didn't look natural at all, if anything on her were considered natural.

"Pink Diamond," said White Pearl, "So nice to see you've come to visit. The Diamonds wish to see you."

"T-They do?" Peridot asked. The White Pearl didn't really answer her, still keeping that same expression on her face.

"... Well, we were here to see them anyway. Come on guys."

"Only Pink Diamond's presence is needed," White Pearl said. She started to "float" towards him, but the others weren't going to let her try anything fancy to him, going right to him. Pearl, Sapphire, and Bismuth surrounded Steven, but it seemed it didn't faze White Pearl that much at all. Lapis and Peridot didn't get the chance to catch up before another bubble suddenly covered them!

"Come back!" shouted Lapis, but the bubble didn't listen and started floating away. Lapis grabbed Peridot, and began to fly right on after it, the bubble moving fairly quick, Lapis having to fly fast to keep up with it. Lapis was so focused on the bubble though she didn't exactly see where they were going until -

"Steven!" - *bam!*

"Ouch."

Right into a wall. The bubble fazed through it just fine, but Lapis and Peridot don't exactly phase through objects, leaving both of them planted into said wall, and peeling off moments later to land on the ground. They'll find their own way in.

As for the others, the bubble didn't bother them. As soon as it completely got out of the wall, and into the next room, the bubble was removed, and White Pearl slipped away back into a nearby wall, fazing right through it. Not even a moment to actually talk to White Pearl (not that it mattered), and they were all left in one of the many buildings of Homeworld. The question was though; where were they? Hard to really find any exact clues inside the building, as it was lacking in any sort of pigment or clue.

"Well that happened. Where're we now?" Bismuth asked.

"I'm … not really sure. I don't remember seeing this room last time we were here," said Pearl, looking around a little bit. Must've been made during their year of absence, but Pearl was still left a bit shaken up by White Pearl.

"That pearl …"

"What's up, Steven?" Pearl asked.

"I don't know, it's just … something felt … familiar."

And suddenly Bismuth looked on ahead.

"Save that for after the fight, LOOK ALIVE!" Bismuth shouted, armed up all of a sudden. The others followed her gaze, only to find -

"Pink! There you are."

"W-WHITE DIAMOND!" Pearl gasped.

"Hello there, Starlight, you surely gave everyone quite a scare. They're all just thrilled to see you safe and sound," White Diamond said. Boy was there a bit different about her. The titan of a Diamond was in the same stance as her White Pearl, her form still the same as when they last saw her with Flint last winter. And it didn't seem she had recovered all that much either.

Out of all the Diamonds they could've seen, they had to see the most bitter one first.

"Uh. Hi?" Steven said humbly, his mind and soul not ready for her yet. He and the others may have met her before, a number of times, but this just blindsided them enough they didn't know what to exactly do for the most part. Sapphire was caught off guard too, actually keeping behind Steven a bit in White's presence.

"You surely pull quite the game on everyone, sweetheart. Was it good for you too, or do you still need another thousand years to work everything out?" White asked, her hand reaching towards them.

"Keep your hand away, you -" Bismuth couldn't even finish as Steven was plucked out of the crowd, Pearl desperately grabbing hold as they were lifted up.

"P-Put us down!" Steven yelped. White Diamond did, but only into the palm of her hand. Both Pearl and Steven were now on eye level with White Diamond.

"Speaking of which, Starlight, thank the stars it's over. Did you have fun? Get everything out of your system?" White then inquired.

"I -"

"Good, good," White cut in, gently placing both of them down back onto the ground, where Bismuth and Sapphire quickly grabbed them and pulled them away from White Diamond's grip.

"Everyone is so relieved. Welcome Home, Pink."

And just like that, Steven and company were trapped in a bubble again. White would've put him in a lone bubble, but the others were too close to do that so she did what she did anyway. The bubble started moving again, the others not having the slightest clue where they were going now.

"NO! Wait, don't leave me in another enigma!" Steven shouted. But like White Pearl, White diamond didn't hear him. And again, like it mattered much.

The bubble itself moved on only for a little bit more, and eventually the group found themselves in yet another room off somewhere on Homeworld. This time though, the room had some more familiarity to it (at least for Pearl). Since the room was pink in color instead of White, they could at least say this room was away from White Diamond's sight and grasp.

Pink Diamond's old bedroom.

"... What just happened?!" Steven gasped.

"White's controlling Homeworld, that's what happened!" Bismuth concluded, "The white aura on the planet, those Gems outside, White being here to begin with! The one time we come home and it's turned into a slave camp all over again."

"Maybe, but m-maybe not! Remember Blue, Pink, and Yellow? Maybe they can explain what's going on here," Pearl suggested. They can surely use some sort of answer at this point.

"You're right. They ruled over Homeworld, they have to know what's going on. But, where're they?" Steven wondered. Pearl took a moment to check around them to get her memory working. It'd been a while since she went through these halls. Pearl began going over to the door.

"Considering this is Pink Diamond's original room on Homeworld, my guess is they shouldn't be too far away. All we got to do is find one of the Diamond castle in either Yellow or Blue Diamond City, and work from there," Pearl figured after some thinking. Well, IF White Diamond didn't mess with them beforehand, but that was something she didn't want to bring up. Before any of them could start going off though, they all began to hear some footsteps just beyond the door.

"Arm up everyone," Bismuth said, but Sapphire felt a bit more ease this time.

"Wait! It's not White Diamond this time," Sapphire said, feeling relieved as the door then opened right up. The sound did seem urgent, and quick, but who they saw come up next was someone NOT ready to shatter or manipulate them into another enigma. She saw White Diamond's bubble leave one area of Homeworld (wherever that was), and had to get to Pink's room before White could come up with any other ideas.
Yellow Diamond. Her with Yellow Pearl by her side. She may look a bit more formal, but they could sense that she was a bit on the edge about what's been going on as of late. Who could blame her? Yellow Pearl reacted first, giving a breath of relief.

"Good, you're still here," said Yellow Diamond.

"Yellow Diamond!" Steven said, happy to see her, "Uh, sorry for just coming by like this, I-I just -"

"No, no, it's fine, Pink -" Yellow quickly corrected herself, "Steven. It's just good to see White didn't decide to lock you away. Sorry about the "welcoming committee"," Yellow Diamond said, Yellow Pearl nodding in agreement. Nerves weren't as on edge now for the group.

"Yeah. Before this enigma can go on, can you please tell us what happened? What happened to Homeworld?" Steven asked.

"Look, I know this is out of nowhere. Just follow me, and when we meet up with Blue and Pink, we'll explain everything to you."

"THANK YOU," Steven thought.


~~~~~~


Oh stars, there was a lot to take in. Not even a half an hour on Homeworld, and they were jumping around all over the place. White Diamond, the planet being split, the eerie behavior of most of the Gems, it was all just going on by a little bit fast for them all to handle so quickly. Well, with Yellow Diamond, at least they got a chance to catch a breather and actually calm down and process what was even going on. Far as they knew for the moment, White Diamond had control over Homeworld, but plenty of questions were still left a bit hung up in the air as they went along, following Yellow Diamond on her way. The most obvious one being what happened to their planet?! No normal enemy, or occurrence, could make an entire planet crumble and break open like an egg like this. If there was one bright side, the Gem species was still very much thriving with how many they saw earlier, but that was entirely precarious.

Yellow Diamond too had a bit to think about with this situation. Ok, the planet was getting very crumbled up, yes, but she didn't plan on the true Pink Diamond to just suddenly come around back to them, especially at this time. The whole "Pink Diamond being Rose Quartz" thing they were still trying to wrap around, though it did seem according to the crowds they saw earlier, Yellow at least told them about the news already.

"So … how have things been? Yellow?" Steven asked.

"I don't think I need to tell you how things had been, Steven, you can see for yourself," Yellow said. Steven got quiet again as they continued. Maybe a question slightly more on the situation perhaps?

"How's Blue and Pink?"

"Blue and Pink are doing alright, considering. They should be waiting for us in the main chamber," Yellow replied.

"Main Chamber?" Sapphire questioned.

"There had been some changes to Homeworld. … Well, aside from White, of course," Yellow said. Steven would ask, but he felt he would be given the answer to that one in just a bit.

Eventually, the group reached the next main door, which Yellow Pearl proceeded to open up for them as they all went on into the next room. When Yellow said changes were made, she wasn't exactly kidding about it. Far as they remember the throne rooms for each Diamond were split into their respected city, but this room had hints that they all were beginning to share the same roof over their heads. The room was simply massive, wide in expanse of the tiled, brownish floor, smoothed out as glass. The walls were a little hard to tell, but with the many columns of pure, and VERY thick crystals, not to mention the smaller crystals jutting out of the columns like branches, it did have a sort of "magical forest" kind of feel to it. The thrones for each of the four Diamonds were within the same room as well, shaped of course in the matter of the Diamond insignia: White's giant throne floating up top, Yellow and Blue's thrones floating side by side, and Pink's throne at the bottom (and of course the smallest one). They recognized Yellow and Blue's thrones from their respected castles and palaces.

And another good sight too: Blue Diamond, Blue Pearl, and Pink Diamond were also present there waiting for them to come in.

"Steven!" gasped Pink Diamond, jumping up from her throne to go and see them.

"Pink!" Steven replied, both meeting up with eachother mid way for a hug together. Blue Diamond was pleased to see them all too, coming over to them as well alongside Blue Pearl.

"It's so good to see all of you again. I was starting to really worry," said Blue Diamond.

"It's good to see you too, my Diamond," said Sapphire. Pink Diamond and Steven stopped the hug for a moment, but Blue Diamond, pleased to see that White didn't do anything to them, got them all wrapped in her hug. A bit tight, but it just showed that she cared for them same as any.

"Easy there, Blue," said Yellow, "We need to start explaining to them before things get too out of hand."

"Oh yes, of course," Blue Diamond said, though she still held the warm hug for a few seconds more before letting them all down. Blue, Yellow, and Pink went to the throne, as the others followed.

"So what's going on here? White Diamond's here, Homeworld's almost destroyed, everyone's acting kind of freaky. White didn't take over Homeworld while we're gone, did she? Please tell me, I don't want to be left in more guessing games," Steven asked, worried. The other Diamonds got settled in.

"Well, Steven, there's been … a lot happening since the last time you came to Homeworld."

"We can see that," Bismuth said. How could any of them NOT see that?

"Indeed," said Yellow Diamond, though she didn't sound all that amused. "We've been making a few changes over the last year as you might've noticed; the Diamond cities had been made into one place as requested by Pink here, and we've been trying some new … what's the word you used again, Pink?"

"Activities," Pink replied, "and I thought bringing the cities together can make us feel closer."

"It sure looks that way. I like the architecture, by the way, has a nice natural charm to it," said Pearl, seeing the columns around the room.

"You think so? I got the idea from the Everfree Forest, but it's hard to show the trees -"

"AHEM," Yellow cut in. They didn't have time to be talking about design, at least for the moment.

"Anyway, we've been going through this development, but then we had an unexpected mishap when we got our uninvited guest. Next thing we know our planet is barely keeping itself together."

"But who did that?" Steven asked.

"What do you mean who?! WHITE."

Some reason this answer was more shocking than finding White Diamond herself. Alright, White Diamond was there and was taking over Homeworld again, but WHY would she try to destroy it?

"White Diamond did this? But why would she destroy her own planet?!" Steven asked.

"We're not sure. Lately, she's been acting bit … unpredictable," Blue Diamond said.

"I can only assume she did that, AND used her "magic" to keep the planet together as a sure way to conquer it. If she goes, Homeworld goes, and we can't do anything about it," Yellow Diamond concluded.

"Sounds like something she would do. Now that she can do that," Pearl quietly confirmed. Working with White herself, she had some idea of how her old Diamond operated.

"Did any of you try talking to her?" Sapphire asked.

"Believe me, we've tried, one way or another, but nothing 's getting to her. It's like something's missing in that evil head of hers," Pink Diamond said.

"Yeah, I think so," said Steven after thinking about it a bit, "Before she was crazy, but had a lot of mind games. Now she's just crazy. … Uh, no offense."

"We agree," said Blue and Yellow.

*beep**beep**beep**beep*

"I-It's White Diamond on the line," Blue Pearl said, now scared a little bit. Speak of the devil. However, then what happened next caught much of the Harmony Gems a bit off guard. Blue Diamond brought her hands out, and like cutting a board, her hand "split" the team up. Bismuth and Sapphire were cut away as Pearl and Steven were lifted away and brought over to Pink Diamond's throne.

"What're you doing?" Steven asked.

"Just stay here, please, it'll only be a moment. Pearl, here with me. Bismuth, Sapphire, stay out of sight and don't say anything," Blue said urgently. Blue Pearl went over to her, and the other Gems stood well back. Yellow Pearl stood closely by her Diamond, and Pink Diamond sat in her throne too, Steven sitting on her knee and Pearl standing close to him. And then the screen came up, revealing White Diamond there with that same unnatural smile on her face, and rather bright light.

"Afternoon, White," Yellow started.

"Why hello there sisters. And servants. How nice to speak with you again. You enjoying the family reunion, Pink?" White said. Pink Diamond would answer, but she had the feeling White wasn't referring to her.

"Uh. Y-Yeah, it's nice. I -"

"Great to hear," White cut in. "We haven't been properly acquainted from our previous engagement, and since how you ALWAYS loved being together Pink, I've decided to come by and see all of you once I'm free tonight. doesn't that sound fun?"

"What?!" gasped Blue.

"Now wait a minute!" shouted Yellow, but White had already made up her mind.

"Don't wait up for me.~"

And just like that, White Diamond cut off communications before they could even remotely say a thing. The act was over, and White didn't suspect anything odd at all about any of that. However, Yellow and Blue were more than stressed now, Yellow groaned, and her hand over her eyes. The others relaxed once the screen was gone, and Bismuth and Sapphire were allowed to come back.

"What just happened there?" Bismuth asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Yellow Pearl, "White diamond explicitedly stated -"

"Not that, I meant that act there!" Bismuth corrected, "We met White before plenty of times, why're we hiding now?"

"Oh. Well it's simple: Everyone has to stay where they belong. And Bismuths don't belong in the Diamond throne room! … No offense."

Bismuth decided to let Yellow Pearl off easy and not bother answering back.

"Where they belong. But I thought the rules weren't as strong as they used to be. You guys did try to be more flexible with those rules, right?" Steven asked. It was something mostly "hinted" on over the years, but when it came to the rules of Homeworld itself, Blue Diamond at the least had them a bit less threatening.

"Ever since White returned home, the rules of our caste system had been far more enforced than they used to be. If she saw Sapphire and Bismuth just there, she wouldn't have it. Not to sound mean or anything, Sapphire but … it's very good you came by yourself."

"Yeah. Good," Sapphire simply said, but inside she was fuming (or freezing in her case). She thought Homeworld would be better with Garnet, but apparently White made sure she wouldn't be allowed to stay as Garnet if she would ever return here again.

"And NOW, apparently," added Yellow, "we have her arrival to expect by tonight."

"Well … look on the bright side: at least she told us this time. Now we have time to get ready for her," Steven said. Pink Diamond nodded in agreement, though admittedly that was probably the only good thing to possibly come from this.

"Yes. Thank you, Steven."

"He does have a point there," said Sapphire.

"Sapphire, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bismuth questioned.

"If any of us try to get away, White will only find us and put us back here. I don't see any future telling us otherwise," Sapphire replied.

"So. So we can't go back home?" Steven asked, getting off of the throne and going towards Sapphire.

"You can't leave yet!" Blue gasped, getting up, "If White finds you missing again, she'll destroy Homeworld, and keep it that way! I'm sorry, but, we can't afford to make her upset when she has the entire planet in her power. Let's all just get ourselves ready for tonight's visit."

"Good thing I planned an overnight trip," Steven stated.

"Come on, Steven, I'll help you freshen up," Pink decided, holding Steven by the hand and bringing him along. Well, it was clear they were sticking around, and if the rules were going to be a bit more forceful on them as to before, it probably would be best to try and keep it as such. The only ones unsure where to go were Blue Pearl and Pearl. As they began to disperse, Blue Pearl turned to CG Pearl.

"Welcome back."


~~~~~~


"AND done. I think I did pretty well!"

Pink Diamond's room again. This time with only Pink Diamond and Steven present, as both of them were getting themselves prepared for White Diamond's arrival. It was a little bit weird for him, being in the exact same room his mother was in (and in some weird turn of events, his "mom" handling his preparations), but he didn't bring it up. They were more focused on working out the outfit for Steven, getting himself together for the upcoming visit. Well, he did say he wanted to visit the diamonds for a gettogether anyway, so perhaps this was just a different way of doing it.
By the time Pink Diamond had finished, Steven was in a … completely different outfit. Rather, just a miniature version of Pink Diamond's outfit, resized to fit his human-sized body.

"You just made me look like you," Steven said, looking himself over in Pink Diamond's mirror.

"What's wrong with that?" Pink asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I guess mom would wear this," Steven said, not wanting to upset Pink Diamond. The mirror Pink had in her room wasn't exactly as Diamond-sized as one would think, the full body mirror not too big from one for Earth. But it still got the job done, and both honorary diamonds checked eachother over.

"So, White thinks you're the real Pink Diamond Steven?" Pink asked, striking a conversation with him as she went over to the bed (which was still giant as the real PD would normally be).

"Guess she does," said Steven, "I don't think she's convinced I'm Steven yet."

"Yeah, she's been having trouble lately. You actually know what happened to her, by the way? Any idea? You did find her before the wedding before any of us saw her," Pink asked. Not everyday does a form of a Gem become as extravagant as White Diamond was. Steven went over to her, as Pink hopped up onto the bed.

"Well, that doesn't mean I know what happened to her. Do Gems have "glowing" phases, or something, Pink?"

"Hmm … I don't think so. Sorry," Pink shrugged. Technically speaking, Pink Diamond was just about two to three years old, so this kind of thing was still slightly sketchy, even with her memories of the pervious diamond still going on in her mind still. Steven was offered a spot on the bed, but when Steven jumped up, he rocketed right up to the ceiling! Pink cringed when Steven hit his head on the ceiling, and caught him on the way down.

"You okay?!"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Steven muttered, rubbing his head, "Just one of my new powers acting up again."

Pink Diamond found this interesting, as Steven settled down on the side of the bed with Pink.

"New powers? Really?! That's so exciting - like what?"

"Well the only one I found so far is me jumping really high, as I demonstrated," Steven said, feeling his head getting sore from the hit. "And I think I can do "out-of-body experiences" now, but I still don't know how that works."

"Out of body - oh, astral projection!" Pink realized, "I think I remembered doing that a few times before … or, I remember Pink Diamond doing that before."

"Huh? … Oh yeah, you have Pink Diamond's memories!" Steven remembered. Pink Diamond didn't bring this up all that much, nor did she do that all much during her Equestrian stay (too busy doing all sorts of things to bring it up). Pink diamond took a short breath, resting her head on her hand.

"Are you feeling okay about that, by the way?" Steven then asked. Pink Diamond laid down on the bed, staring up to the ceiling.

"I'm uh … still working with it. It doesn't bother me anymore, me not being Pink and all, but, a part of me wishes I actually did those things, you know what I mean? Instead of just imagining it, or get dreams of it," Pink explained. Steven laid down next to her, looking to her.

"Well ... at least you don't have that much of a name to live up to," Steven said. Pink Diamond turned her head to see him.

"You think so?"

"Well I'm her son pretty much. I thought I had a lot to live up to while she was Rose Quartz, but now I have a lot more of that to think about. You don't really have the Gem War hanging over your head, like I do."

"Oh yeah, your mom was in the war, wasn't she? I could only remember just before that point. … Though, maybe that's a good thing, huh?"

"Probably," Steven replied. Both honorary Diamonds took some time to think on it a bit more, looking up and drifting off into imagination for a little bit. Their lives were a bit busy to be thinking about such things, but with this one moment they did have a bit of time to go through those kinds of memories. Steven remembered one point Yellow did say Pink Diamond's memories were technically right next to him after all …

"... Hey Pink? Anything you wanna tell me about this room? I think this is the first time I've been in here," Steven asked. Pink sat up, and got off the bed. Steven hopped down with her, making sure to fall instead of jump this time.

"Oh, sure! Well, let's see … it's my bedroom, and I think … yeah, this is where Pearl performed her swordsmanship for me. Er, for Pink. You get the point."

"I bet she was very graceful," Steven said.

"Amazing," Pink said. Fake memory or no, it still was one she cherished somewhat. Though, that might be for the fact she was still a bit nice to remember some of the fun stuff. Speaking of fun stuff, something came into her mind.

"Oh! Steven, come here, I wanna show you something else," Pink Diamond said, going over near the bed, and moving up the bed sheets to show the rims of her own bed. Steven wasn't sure where Pink Diamond was going with this

"You ever wonder how Homeworld makes its furniture?"

"Hmm. No, but I am now. How?"

"Look in that hole, and you'll see. Go on," Pink said, a little excited, pointing to a small hole in the side rim of the bed. Well, curious is as curious does, and Steven looked to the hole in question. The hole could only be viewed by one eye, and Steven took a good look inside the tiny thing, and actually found something moving around in it. They didn't really notice Steven at first, though whoever did wasn't gonna say much of anything.
Little, teeny, tiny Gems. No bigger than mice. And there was a lot of them going about in there. The bed rimming itself almost looked like another part of the castle's passages, including stairs platforms and walkways for the tiny Gems to go about the place. These Gems were the simplest in design: gray bodies with various shaped heads, rounded stones half the size of their own bodies, wearing tiny teeny clothes. Some of these Gems even mending some of the old foundation: fixing cracks in the furniture, and strengthening the pieces.

"Awwwww, they're so cute," Steven said. He just couldn't help it, his eyes sparkling as he stepped back.

"I know," Pink said, sharing his enthusiasm, "They're called pebbles."

"Pebbles? I've never seen them before. Are they new Gems, or no?" Steven asked. Pink diamond leaned in, bringing her hand out as if ready to share a secret.

"Actually, they're found all over the place, and they make their homes in every building all over Homeworld. And this is just a rumor, but they might be the first Gems to exist."

"What? You serious?"

"I have no idea. But it sounds amazing, doesn't it?" Pink asked, hands together and smiling. Steven glanced over back to the bed, which he knows now was probably teaming with Pebbles going about their own day.

"Yeah. That is kinda -"

"Steven? Pink?"

And then Pearl arrived into the room to see them both. She had what Steven brought with him in his bag (how she got them was a miracle to think about later).

"Hey Pearl. So, how do I look?" Steven asked, showing himself to her. Pearl cleared her throat.

"You look just fine Steven. Ok, I'm here to drop off your things … and according to the Diamond laws, I'm one of your things."

"Geesh," Steven sighed. Pearl will have to deal with the past for some time now, and Pink Diamond took a look to Steven's bag, which Pearl placed on Pink's bedroom table.

"This all you brought with you, Steven?"

"Just for an overnight stay. But, maybe I should've brought a bit more," Steven said, Pink diamond pulling out what looked to be a PBnJ sandwich, and one of Pinkie Pie's specialized cupcakes. Just a few things to tie Steven's own hunger over for the time being.

"Where's Sapphire and Bismuth?" Steven asked.

"They're both getting ready in their own way. Sapphire's with Blue Diamond, and Bismuth is … well, she won't be coming. Bismuths don't attend such things unless they're called for."

"Double geesh," said Pink Diamond.

"On the bright side of things, none of us got into trouble yet. Let's just work out our roles until White Diamond leaves, and then we can work everything out from there," Pearl concluded.

None of them, huh? …….

Oh clod!

"Wait. … AAHHH! Lapis! Peridot! I completely forgot them, they're still outside!" Steven gasped. All this crazy hubbub and he forgot his beach summer fun buddy AND green Dorito buddy back at the entrance platform. Steven bolted to Pink Diamond's window, looking outside for any sign of them. However, despite given probably the best view of Homeworld, he didn't see hair nor gemstone of either Gem around the place.

"There's more with you?" Pink Diamond said, Pearl feeling nervous.

"Oh boy, we must've left them back at the ship. Come on, before White takes them away," Steven said, rushing for the door. Who knows what Lapis and Peridot are going through while outside right now?! Pink Diamond though got to him before he could reach the exit.

"Can't that wait, Steven? White's gonna come here, and if you're not here -"

"I can't leave them out there. I'll only be for a bit, just let me check back at the ship, and I'll be back before lunch time," Steven insisted. Unfortunately, fate wasn't going to give him the chance to go out, because just as he was about to exit, the door already opened up. THIS time it was Yellow Pearl standing there, hands in the diamond insignia symbol with a slight bow to the diamonds present.

"Steven Universe. Pink Diamond. My diamond has requested your presence in the extraction chamber."

"The what chamber?"

"Oh … you know. The "sauna"?" Yellow Pearl tried to say the word correctly, just enough for Steven to understand it. Steven felt a bit confused, but did knew what the word was.

"A Sauna?" Steven asked.

"J-Just follow me!" Yellow Pearl insisted, starting to walk on her way. But this time Steven stayed focused.

"I can't right now, I have to find my friends first. Just tell Yellow Diamond I'll be right back," Steven said, his voice a bit urgent in tone, and him wanting to just go. Yellow Pearl felt a shiver run through her.

"W-where're you going?! You can't leave now!"

"Steven, I'll go and try to find them for you," Pearl cut in.

"You will?"

"It won't be as bad if I'm not there with you, Steven. You go and meet with Yellow Diamond, and I promise I'll meet back with you before White Diamond comes back," Pearl promised. Steven wanted to go off himself, but with the situation at hand, it would be better for Pearl to go instead of him. As much as it was bothering him.

"Thank you, Pearl."


~~~~~~


With a flash from the interior Diamond warp pad (which they had freshly installed in recent years since merging the castles together), Yellow Pearl brought Pink Diamond and Steven from the bedroom, and towards the "Extraction Chamber". It was a good thing Yellow Pearl explained what the chamber really was, because the name sounded VERY sketchy to him, to say the least. But then again, birthing grounds for Gems were called "Kindergartens", so, who was he to judge anyway?
As for the chamber itself? Steven took a moment to take in just what he was looking at. Shocking too how it could even be possible. For one thing, the bordering "walls" of the room were lined with a display of waterfalls, crystal clear water pouring down to who knows where. The floor underneath was smooth like glass, but slightly moist thanks to the mist left by the water around them. But what caught Steven's attention the most was the sauna's front door and display. Specialized markings and figures lining the giant yellow door just screamed a Arabic or Egyptian hieroglyphic style. Two large figures with a sort of spear-like weapon stood side-by-side. And with the great yellow coloration on most of it, Yellow diamond must've had some involvement in it. Blue Pearl as it turned out was standing just outside, waiting for her diamond to finish up.

"Whoa," Steven said in awe. "This looks amazing! You design for this too, Pink?"

"Actually, Yellow did most of the work on it. She REALLY was interested in Humans from the desert, and all their designs. Don't tell her I told you," Pink said, winking to him with a smirk. Steven smiled, but then Yellow Pearl stopped briefly, standing over by Blue Pearl, and signaled them to go on in. However, Steven noted that Yellow Pearl kinda kept her eyes covered, so …

"Ok, respect. Respect their privacy," Steven thought.

Pink Diamond and Steven then went on inside. The door opened up when they sensed their presence, and both Gems were allowed to come in. Pearls seemingly didn't have that kind of privilege to go in and see the Diamonds like they are. They both immediately felt the hot steam hit them as they stood there, the door closing behind them. The room was very big, to accommodate all the diamonds at one time clearly. warm water came out of a few statues off in the back, with steam coming up around them to warm up the room just like an Earth Sauna. Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond were already in there, with Blue diamond in a one piece outfit much similar to Yellow Diamond's original outfit. Must've gotten too hot under that dress she usually wore.

"Pink. Steven," said Yellow. Pink nodded, but then felt someone bump into her leg, just to find Steven standing there, his hands covering his eyes.

"... What're you doing?" Yellow questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Don't worry, I will keep my respect for your privacy the whole time we're here," Steven promised. Blue Diamond chuckled.

"It's okay Steven, you can look. It's decent," Blue Diamond reassured. Steven was a bit hesitant at first, but he did eventually peep through his fingers, just to find them all clothed enough so it wasn't indecent for anyone. A crisis avoided before it could begin. Now a bit more comfortable, Steven went over and stood by Blue Diamond, as Pink sat down by Yellow.

"So what's up?" Steven asked.

"I wanted to discuss the current situation in private. That, and you need to look cleansed enough for White's visit," Yellow Diamond said. Steven glanced to his gemstone, which already was getting some water droplets from the steam.

"I can't believe White Diamond is actually going to come here now. Oh stars, I only hope she's not going to do anything rash," Blue Diamond said in a troubled tone.

"Why wouldn't she do anything rash, Blue?" Yellow pointed out.

"Wait, wait. Maybe she wants to come by so she can actually talk to us more casually? Maybe?" Steven suggested.

"We're lucky to even get a word in, Steven. I'm more wondering how we're going to get our planet back. We were doing so well and White comes in and takes control over everything," Yellow said. Blue, Pink, and Steven weren't entirely sure how to really approach this subject, especially with what she did to the planet already. Steven began to think a bit more intently about this. White Diamond had gone through a bit of grief in the past, including losing her life's work thanks to them and essentially her whole space station.

"Well, telling her to just leave is out of the question," Pink Diamond said.

"Yeah … maybe there's a way we can all live here together without any trouble."

"Like how?" Yellow questioned. Steven started to get his thinking cap to work, pacing back and forth a little bit to try and figure this out. White Diamond was essentially, and confirmed to be, the first true Gem to exist (if Pebbles don't count that is), leaving White Diamond to work everything out herself. Then Steven got an idea.

"We can at least try to make friends with her. We did kind of ruin her life's work before."

"She tried to forcefully fuse us, create Pink Diamond "how she wants it", and tried to kill you. HOW can we befriend someone like that?"

"Several of my friends tried to kill me at least once before, but we're pals now," Steven pointed out. "If she can't leave Homeworld, we should try to make a good example for her to follow."

"That is a nice thought, Steven. But, White's usually just done her own thing for the longest time. She wouldn't listen to anyone else overall," Blue Diamond said gravely.

"Well maybe that's because she grew up by herself! None of you ever grew up alone, and White Diamond is the first Diamond to exist, that means she had to grow up all by herself. So, that makes her an orphan pretty much."

"An … orphan?" Pink asked, not ever hearing that word before.

"That means basically someone grew up without a mom or dad," Steven replied. While "mom" and "dad" were slightly less familiar words to a Gem, Blue Diamond did start to consider something about that.

"Now that you say that, I don't recall her mentioning anyone she ever looked up to. No one to really guide her, or give her moral values growing up. … Oh White."

"Blue, don't you start crying over her," Yellow Diamond stated, already feeling a hint of sadness creep into her as Blue Diamond started to consider the idea. Imagining a young, lone Diamond all by herself without ANYONE to even guide her, teach her, or anything like that. Blue at least had White while growing up, and had SOME idea of being alone, but not entirely.

"Ok, think about it this way: if she likes us, she wouldn't want to manipulate us anymore. She wouldn't treat her friends as badly as her enemies," Steven pointed out. Yellow Diamond still found this very sketchy, but he did have a point. Why would White Diamond torture someone she liked? … That sounded like a very dumb question to think about.

"We are talking about the same White Diamond, are we?"

"Yellow, I'm serious!" Steven retorted, "How is she supposed to know what's right and what's wrong if she never really had anyone to tell her what that is? We can show her what's good and what's bad, and we'll all live happily ever after."

Yellow groaned. "Do you hear yourself, Steven? White Diamond never had any grasp on value outside of physical use and gemstone rarity in all her existence, what makes you think she'll just start doing that now?"
And just like that, Steven started to have doubts about his own decision. After all, compared to his sixteen years to White Diamond's … boy, how long was she around for? Well, anyway, compared to that, Steven was just a blink of the eye to White Diamond, so maybe her life might've given her more than he might've thought.

"We could try!" Pink Diamond said, "I've seen it happen before back in Equestria, a chance to befriend and make someone happy can save an entire world. Let's try and show her someone does love her!"

"You're talking about multi-colored fantasy horses who overall don't have a strong grasp on reality," Yellow said.

"And we're literally talking rocks with magic powers, what's your point?"

Yellow was about to respond, but suddenly she found herself running empty.

"Perhaps we should at least try to make things better with her," Blue concluded, "She doesn't have her work, or her space station right now. No matter what the case is, she's still family."

"Now you're getting it," Steven said, giving Blue Diamond a thumbs up. Yellow Diamond looked to them for a bit more, and tried considering the options here. If she does leave Homeworld in some form (unless she herself would fix it), then Homeworld will break apart completely. That, and they've had more than enough trouble with her in the past in some form.

"Will your actual friends be okay with this? Not that it bothers me too much, but I'd imagine at least your Flint might be against this idea. … A lot."

"I know we can do this, just you watch," Steven reassured, feeling confident in this more than ever. Yellow found herself beaten three to one.

"……. Good luck," Yellow finally said. They would probably try to do this with or without her anyway, so what was the point in fighting them now? At this point, Blue Diamond got up.

"Oh thank you, Yellow," Pink said, "Hey Steven, why don't we make the place look fancy for White? I got some lights to hang up."

"Decoration mode engage!" Steven said with a big smile. Pink Diamond and Steven, cleansed and ready to go, went on out of the sauna and towards their destination. Soon after they left, Blue Diamond went towards the door herself.

"You coming, Yellow?"

"In a minute. I need some more time in here," Yellow sighed.

"Alright. I'm going to rest up if you need me."

Understanding, Blue Diamond went off on her own way to get herself ready for the time ahead. White Diamond would still be a while, but that didn't mean they couldn't make things ready. Soon, Yellow Diamond was all by herself with her own thoughts.

"Ok, Yellow, take it easy. You can handle this," Yellow told herself, as she sat by the rim of the sauna's bath. so far this meeting with White Diamond was going a little bit roughly at best. If they REALLY wanted things to be amended with White again that WON'T end up killing everyone, Yellow had to figure something out and quick before the whole thing could end up just collapsing around them. White's new form didn't really help the situation out too much either. White looked so distant. So foreign to everything … so darn bright!

As Yellow Diamond sat there, the warm air bringing out water droplets on her, she failed to notice something start to scurry out from the mist and up towards her. Glancing off towards her left, she was expecting Yellow Pearl, or Steven perhaps coming back, but instead it was a scrawny, little coyote.

"Eh … hi."

"... And what are you?" Yellow questioned. Her voice alone made the creature feel very spooked, recoiling to almost a tiny ball of fur.

"Uh, I'm Stubby," the coyote replied in a stutter.

"I can see that."

"N-No that's my name … but yeah, I'm very stubby," Stubby said, giggling nervously. A diamond was the last thing anyone would want to tick off. Seriously she could crush him with her pinkie if she wanted to, or just blow him away like a fly. Yellow Diamond groaned.

"I don't know how you got in here, but be lucky I got enough on my mind to deal with you," Yellow groaned. Cautiously like a timid deer, Stubby moved right up to Yellow Diamond's side, having a seat by her. Stubby then went on to speak again.

"SO. … I heard something's been uh … bothering you? I-I mean, it's not my business or anything -"

"Then shut up," Yellow Diamond bluntly instructed.

"Aaaaa - ok," Stubby said, clamming up. Silence hung in the awkward air for a bit before Stubby spoke again.

"I … I think there's something you should know. If that's ok?" Stubby said, flinching when Yellow looked him down like the coward he was. Yellow Diamond didn't know what harm this mutt could do to her or anyone else.

"Really?" Yellow questioned. Stubby gulped nervously.

"Eh, yep. Just uh if I …" then Stubby tried to climb up her for a bit. Yellow Diamond was in no mood for a little leech to climb up her, so she made him back away with a nudge of her hand.

"Just tell me already before I call the guard."

"EEK! Uh, ok, ok, ok but uh … it … might be better if I was by your uh … ear?" Stubby asked. Yellow raised a suspicious brow.

"For a coward, you're very picky. … And when you tell me this message, then will you go away?" Yellow commented. Stubby nodded quickly, and again tried climbing up her. Yellow Diamond was not amused by this mutt's antics much, but this time she didn't stop him as he got onto her shoulder. Not exactly the best dog to climb a human body. By the time he got there, he was panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Well?" Yellow asked, though at this point she really didn't care what he had to say.

"W-Well. This is just a rumor, but … White Diamond's planning your downfall right now."

"What else is new?" Yellow sighed, brushing this off. Stubby was … quiet. and weirded out.

"... huh?"

"Me and Blue had a rather rough relationship with White Diamond. She already tried to force fuse us before."

Well Stubby was … well, stumped. His information had a flow to it, and hearing this kinda made that a little bit odd now. But, might as well get to the next point anyway.

"Ok, but did you know Blue Diamond is in on it?" Stubby asked. Even if this was coming from a skin and bones mutt, Yellow Diamond's eyes shot open on this idea.

"Blue? Working with White? I find that hard to believe."

"B-But it's true, every word I'm telling you, you got to -"

"NOT SO LOUD. You're right by my ear," Yellow groaned. Stubby had to duck as Yellow's pinkie dug into said ear, as it was ringing from Stubby's yelping. Stubby quickly corrected himself.

"Right. A-Anyway, I heard White make a deal with Blue that she will turn Earth into a sanctuary if she get's rid of you first. … Something about you being too rough and tactless to preserve anything."

"Excuse me?" Yellow inquired.

"I-I'm just saying what I heard!" Stubby quickly said, covering his eyes as if "blocking" some attack. Yellow diamond pondered for a short minute about this. White Diamond did consider Yellow as a more headstrong diamond at times, and Yellow was "forceful" in the past before, but Yellow never would consider herself too rough and/or tactless. But she had one more thing to check.

"And you're telling me this. Because …"

"B-Because I'm one of White Diamond's experiments and want her stopped before they could do anything rash. You keep homeworld in line better than any other Diamond," Stubby replied. Well, not far from the truth as far as Yellow was concerned, and she could tell he was just flattering her. But that didn't mean he would make a good liar, judging by the look of this thing. So, Yellow diamond picked up Stubby by the collar like someone would pick up a wet towel, and flicked him out the door.

"That would be all," Yellow simply replied.

"OK! … owch."

Stubby wished he didn't have to exit the scene so roughly, but at least the message was given. Whether Yellow Diamond believed him or not wasn't really too important. Besides, he didn't have too much time to even regather, as he began hearing someone coming. He bolted well out of sight.

…….

Blue Diamond was next. She did have another little guest coming into her room, whether she wanted it or not. Not too long after she went off to sleep, Stubby found her sleeping chamber. It would be suicide to go and bother her right now, but Stubby was seemingly too stupid to realize the danger this time as he cautiously went in. Blue Diamond didn't notice Stubby sneaking in, and the little mutt felt this one might be easier since Blue was sleeping. Always better to talk to a sleeping creature than one that's awake. So, checking once more to close the door and be sure he was all by himself, Stubby snuck right up towards Blue Diamond's bed, and climbed up to it as best as he could. It was actually harder to climb up than Yellow Diamond since there wasn't much to even grab.

"Oh boy, this is higher than it looks," Stubby panted once he got to the top. His tiredness turned spooked as his ears shot up, hearing Blue Diamond stir ever so slightly. Stubby clamped his muzzle shut, not wanting her to wake up just yet. Besides, direct talk probably won't be as effective anyway. So, Stubby moved himself up and over towards the blue giant's ears (which were easier to reach by the way).

"Yellow. … Yellow is out to get you …" Stubby whispered. There was a trick to this method, he just had to make his words out right for it to take effect. Blue murmured a little bit.

"White wants her to get you. … You don't want her to get you."

"Noo … no …" Blue muttered. Stubby was doing the job right, and he scurried over to her other ear, going around her head as best he could.

"They made a deal against you. … White will return to corrupted Gems to normal for her ONLY after they kill you. … They say you're too emotional and strung to stay alive."

Blue Diamond murmured again, but she then turned her body. The movement accidentally knocked Stubby off of the bed, and onto the ground. Not too graceful, but if it did it's job, then perhaps it would make things work better for him. But did she even hear him? Well, no matter, he got the idea in her head anyway.

…….

Stubby had an easy time with Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond, but this final part was gonna be a pretty tricky mess to tackle. He wasn't sure either if White Diamond actually noticed him come in or not. The room was so bright to the animal, it was hard to really make out her face in full. The eyes and lips were prominent, but that was about it. And she simply stood there, arms out stretched like a statue or trophy.

"H-h-h-hello? H-Hello?! Can you hear me up there?!" Stubby called, as loud but as quiet as he could (if that makes any sense). However, it seemed that White Diamond didn't even hear, or acknowledged the tiny critter now inside the room. His eyes squinted a bit trying to better see her, though the light itself was like staring into a flashlight's beaming ray, and Stubby had to turn away a few times so he won't end up seeing as many sunspots in his vision. White Diamond didn't say anything to him, but her gaze was locked onto him so she knew he was there.

"Hello?! White Diamond?! I have something to tell you!" Stubby called again. Still nothing. Stubby sat down, bizarrely not as worried. Yellow and Blue at least did something, but he had to wonder if this was really White or just some statue he was talking to.

"Huh. Is this even her, or just some statue or something?"

"YES." said White Diamond, utterly freaking out the creature all over again. Guess White was just playing with his mind and emotions.

"Y-You're real! Ok! Oh crud!" Stubby stuttered. All of a sudden, before he could do anything, a silver bubble suddenly wrapped around him. The bubble lifted him up, and next thing he knew, he found himself in the palm of White Diamond's hand. Stubby stuttered on sight of the leader of all of Homeworld, his eyes locked with hers. White Diamond looked to him some more, making the creature even more worried on what she'll do.

"There you are, my little troublemaker," White Diamond said, her finger gently stroking Stubby's head. Stubby felt a shiver run through his back.

"You looked like you were having fun earlier," said White Diamond, "You enjoy playing around with my sister's heads?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. I-If anything, you're the one in danger!" Stubby said, trying to regain himself a bit. Now, he waited for White diamond to bring him closer and listen to the rest of the message, but instead, White Diamond smiled.

"Nothing new."

"Yeah, and - wait. N-Nothing new?"

"Yellow, Blue, and I had a little bit of a tiff before now. Some attempted murder, hybridizing, you know. Nothing too troublesome, mind you. I'm to assume they are the ones behind this "danger" of yours? Hmm?"

… Whelp, crud. Stubby thought he had everything together, but apparently not. Yellow and Blue at least let him continue the message so they got an idea on who was the one at fault, and by now those two were suspicious as ever. White wasn't even giving him the chance, and wrapped up his own message before he could even say anything. Not to mention the attempted murder and all.

"Y-You call attempted murder nothing troublesome?"

"Attempted murder, don't forget. No one died that day, and that's fine by me," White corrected. No that didn't help him at all. Stubby gulped nervously.

"O … K … but d-do you at least want to know -"

"They're probably still a bit bitter with me from my attempts to hybridize them, as all. Wanting to have Pink that planet Earth for her sake, hehe … That what you were gonna say?" White figured. Stubby thought he would collapse from shock at any moment.

"Uh … I-I-I uh … huh?"

"What's this? Not following your little script?" White Diamond said, knowingly, as her finger gently stroked Stubby's head again. After a little bit, White diamond brought Stubby up closer to her, close enough to the point that Stubby could touch her nose if he wanted to … and probably go blind with how bright she was. Just a white shape with eyes and a mouth.

"Script? W-what script, I'm -"

"Just the little messenger, I know."

"Y-You … you know. …"

"And I also know," continued White, "that any messenger can easily add a little extra details to their messages to see what could happen. Isn't that right my little troublemaker? I mean, you did keep changing the story after talking with Yellow and Blue. And I bet you were going to give me a different story too … you're adorable."

"AAAHHH!" Stubby thought. Well she had him there, and he got nothing left. Stubby finally snapped, and tried to get away, rushing up her arm and racing down her body. He lost his grip half-way down, rolling down her leg and onto the floor. White simply pointed a finger over by the door, and it slammed shut before Stubby could get out. She also made sure the door shut on his face as a way to toy with him just that much more. All he could hear was White diamond chuckling behind him, her voice sinister, yet sweet like a demonic vixen. All Stubby could do was cower and cover his face with his paws, as if that was going to do anything. But instead of White Diamond that stopped in front of him, it was actually White Pearl. But that barely made this any better for Stubby.

"Don't think you're the only one tasked in being the spy here," White Diamond said. And all of a sudden, Stubby now saw what actually happened, as White Pearl floated over to him. Her one-eyed gaze with her smile were disturbing enough, but when Stubby looked up, the light made this smile more of a killer's crazed yet calm grin.

This pearl will happily kill him, and that face would not change in the slightest.

"NO NO, I-I can help you if you want! I'll tell you anything you want, just don't hurt me!"

"What? You want me to kill you rather than hurt you? I'll make it painless," White Pearl said, her hands reaching down towards him, grabbing him by the throat.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Stubby screamed, as White Pearl's grip tightened. She was only stopped when White Diamond cleared her throat.

"Not just yet, Pearl. I'm sure he will be more than willing to have a little chat with the others at our gettogether tonight. Sound good to you?" White said.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure, whatever you say," Stubby stuttered.

The player had just been played.


~~~~~~


The hours ticked on by, coming a bit close to White Diamond's visit to the main palace. Lucky for Steven, Pearl was successful in finding Lapis and Peridot, the whole group meeting up over in Pink Diamond's bedroom (which technically was Steven's room as far as White was concerned), and Steven explained the main idea to them. The main response?

"Are you tumbling our rocks?! WHY would you try and befriend White Diamond of all things?!" Bismuth asked.

"Because she's technically part of my family," replied Steven, "And it would mean everything for the people of Homeworld if she can try and see things like we do."

"Steven, miracle work may be our forte at this point, but seriously. WHITE DIAMOND?" Peridot asked again, "We might as well just turn ourselves in!"

"Come on guys, think about it. If this works, we'll have the entire diamond Authority our friends, and we won't ever have to worry about Homeworld again. Besides, I don't think White Diamond ever had a true friend before," Steven explained. The idea was a nice one, but just how far of a longshot was this idea exactly? Pearl decided to go over to him, hands on his shoulders.

"Steven, we know what you want to do, but she isn't like us, she isn't like them, not anymore! We may have run into her a number of times before, but trust me Steven. As someone who's worked alongside her longer than anyone else on our team, you have no idea what she's truly capable of."

"Pearl, it's risky I know, but it can't hurt to try. Even if we did something bad before, we still managed to work it all out," Steven said. But he wasn't done talking just yet, as he started pointing out examples. Good thing he had every single one of them right there with him.

"Lapis Lazuli. You were left cracked, and on a rampage with Jasper as Malachite, but you worked passed that and we all made sure you were safe back at the barn, and we never gave up on you even as you froze yourself inside. Bismuth, literally on the second day you came out of that bubble, you nearly killed me, Amethyst, and Peridot because you thought we were spies for Homeworld, but we explained everything to you and now you're one the best Bismuths the Harmony Gems could ever ask for. Peridot, you didn't tell us about the Cluster even after years of staying with us, and yeah they got mad at you, but after weeks of working to fix that, we all saved the Earth and all is fine and good again! And Pearl, you didn't tell any of us about what REALLY happened to Pink Diamond for thousands of years, but even after all that time, when it finally came out we all came back together, and everything worked out in the end!"

Each example he explained began casting them doubts on their own reluctant, each one feeling a little guilty somewhat for their past mistakes. Steven wouldn't be so blunt before, but sometimes bad things needed to be brought up in order to show what someone really meant, and to bring the point forward.

"Don't you see? We all had done mistakes before, but we managed to make it work. White Diamond may have been awful to us, but I think that's because she doesn't exactly understand what friendship and harmony actually is. If we can show her what that is, even a little bit, then maybe all of Homeworld will be friends with Earth and Equus. And besides, White Diamond's been out for Earth, so, maybe she won't have to go after it if she understands this. It's our home, all our home. Isn't it worth fighting for?"

Pearl and Sapphire looked about ready to cry, but it was Sapphire who spoke first.

"O-Oh my … S-Steven. I'd be honored to help you." And she brought her hand out. Steven knew what this meant and placed his hand down on hers.

"OH STEVEN!" Pearl cried, her tears heartfelt as she brushed them away, as she brought her hand forward. "Ok, ok, you talked me into it, I'll help you do this!"

"And me," added Lapis, also putting her hand in. "It'll mean everything to all three of our homeworlds. Heck, White might even make Earth a Gem sanctuary if she cares about it enough."

"HEY, I didn't even think of that, that's even better!" Steven said, now more excited as Peridot then placed her hand into the circle.

"Alright, don't think you're leaving me out of this," Peridot said, enthusiastic about the whole thing too.

Only Bismuth was left. Out of all of them, she was probably the most reluctant about this.

"Bismuth?" Steven asked. Bismuth was a bit quiet, and mixed feelings on this. On one hand, she did vow that she had their back, no matter the adventure. But on the other hand, she too had her own opinions on things, and this one was just a tiny bit bothersome … okay, a LOT. The memories of White Diamond's cruelty and wickedness went through her mind for a little bit. …

"I can't join a Diamond entourage!" Bismuth suddenly said, "I get what you're doin, I know why you gotta do it, but I'm not going to lay my Gem on her anvil."

"Anvil? But - no Bismuth, it's not like that -"

"It's okay, Steven," Sapphire cut in. The others turned to her as she said "It's her choice. If she wants to join us, let her decide that. … Besides, there isn't much time for her answer. It'll be seconds until White Diamond arrives."

"Wait, what?!" gasped Peridot.

And then the door opened. They thought for sure it would be White Diamond, but instead it was Blue Pearl who showed up at the door. She looked a bit nervous (how could she not).

"... She's here."

"H-Here? a-are you sure about -"

"Starlight.~" a voice echoed from the halls. It sounded friendly, but VERY eerie, like a ghost was calling for Steven's name.

"... Nevermind. Come on, let's go," Pearl decided at last. Bismuth's answer may be a bit forward, but considering they weren't leaving Homeworld at the moment, they needed to at least give her some time until they were allowed to go. Steven though still turned to Bismuth.

"Ok, I'm not going to force you into doing this with me. If you don't want to, that's okay. We'll meet with you after this visit's over, and we'll catch up on it later," Steven decided. However, before he could go and join them, Bismuth went over and placed her hand on his shoulder, kneeling down to his level.

"Steven, listen. Let me put this in Earth terms for you: you are about to enter the Lion's Den, but luckily you're a Lion too. You got to roar at them in their language and if you really want to start this up, then you're the one that has to do it."

"I got it. I will show them that I mean Bismuth," Steven said. Bismuth couldn't help but laugh at the pun, but the point was still there. Bismuth simply stood there and watched them go off towards the "get-together", and since Bismuth wasn't allowed to even go into the place anyway, she simply stayed put. What else is she supposed to do?

Here's to hoping for the best.

…….

"Now remember, everyone stays where they belong," Yellow Pearl reminded.

This was it. Steven didn't waste anymore time, and from Pink's room he went right to the throne room where everyone else was waiting for White to arrive. Blue Pearl did say she was there, but not right in the throne room just yet. Sapphire and Lapis Lazuli took position by Blue Diamond, standing at attention. The respected Pearls present kept themselves lined up in a row nearby the thrones, once again keeping themselves in position. Peridot … didn't knew where to go. Peridots don't usually stay in the throne room with the Diamonds, but she wasn't gonna ditch out of the scene for the sake of principal.

"Peridot, get into position! Please, White will be here any moment," whispered Blue.

"What position?!" Peridot asked. It'd been too long since she'd been around here, and she was rusty on where Peridots would go. Heck, she barely knew the rules were even active again until now!

"This is gonna be a disaster," Yellow groaned.

"Everything will be fine, Yellow, just you wait and see."

"Be realistic Steven, we'd be lucky if she ever speaks to us again after this. She knows your the real Pink Diamond, so that would make the last thousand years of war another galactic embarrassment. …"

"Another?" Steven asked. Yellow was in NO MOOD to keep talking about past flops.

"If you don't want to be bubbled for the next millennium, I suggest you let me do the talking," advised Yellow Diamond.

There was little more time to actually discuss what they should do next, because the minute they were done talking with eachother, the doors leading to the Throne Room opened up good and wide. Peridot had to think fast, and all she could do was bolt and hide behind Pink Diamond's throne for the moment. Normally there would be someone to present White Diamond, but she really didn't need it. Hence why White Pearl stayed quiet as White Diamond presented herself in all her glory.

"Such presentation, my Diamonds. So nice to see you," White Diamond said, eerily cheery in tone as White Pearl just moved over towards the other Pearls with that same smile on her face. White Diamond moved forward a bit, but her "prisoner", Stubby, her to keep himself hidden very close to her, as to not get caught by anyone else.

"Good to see you too. White." Yellow felt like snapping her own neck for saying that, her hands gripping the arms of her own throne.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Blue asked, though she too felt a little bit uneasy herself. What pleasure was there exactly? White didn't answer right away, then seeing little Steven by Pink Diamond.

"Why so shy, Starlight? You look a little bit pale there. Or is everything out of your system yet," White inquired. Well so much for keeping quiet. For some reason, seeing her here made her a bit scarier than seeing her in her throne room. Perhaps it was her knowing look in her eyes, or maybe it was her being here at all, but Steven found that his mind was scrambled up.

"O-K, Steven. Ok, remember, you're a lion. You're a lion," Steven thought, looking up to White Diamond again. The others could see he was having more trouble, even moreso when White Diamond kept her smile and gaze locked on him. Geesh, it was the trial all over again! His eyes looked around to the others around him, all waiting for Steven to say something to her. Steven took a deep breath, hand to his heart, and exhaling he brought his hand out. He can't collapse with her right there.

"It's good to see you too, White," Steven said.

At least White was letting him finish talking this time.

"Oh, how sweet. Sorry we couldn't talk that much during out last chat, but I had some work to catch up on. You know how it is, being a diamond and all that noise." and White even put in some chuckles after that statement, like a jolly old Gem. Steven tried to keep himself together.

"So … is that a new Pearl?" Steven asked, looking to White Pearl.

"Oh, I've had her on retainer for a long time, but she's just been too busy, have you old girl?"

"Yes, my Diamond," said White Pearl. The other Pearls didn't know what kind of "busy" White Pearl had to do, but they didn't want to think about it too much with the scar on her face.

"Well, that aside, how has it been with you, sweetheart? Having fun catching up with your sisters today?"

"It's been fine. Really like the new castle, and the sauna too," Steven replied. White Diamond brought her hand to her mouth, covering some bit of her smile.

"The sauna? Oh you. Did you see anything intriguing in there, by chance?~"

Steven grew very red on that question, and quickly shook his head for no.

"W-White!" Yellow gasped, just for White to laugh.

"Oh, just joking dear, I'm sure it's nothing you're not familiar with already."

"Yeah … ok …" Steven was struggling here, and many of his friends really didn't have that much of a clue on where this conversation would go. Though, that answer became a bit more clear when White Diamond brought her finger out, and both Steven and Pink Diamond jumped when a white bubble popped up behind them. White diamond brought out her other hand, and the bubble popped just to see Peridot in it.

"P-Peridot!" Steven murmured.

"...…. Hi," Peridot simply said.

"Hello there, my little green jewel. You don't have to hide from me, I'm not going to kill you all," White Diamond reassured, petting Peridot on the head, the green Gem knowing White Diamond could crush her at any moment.

"White, can you put her down? … Please?" A bit forward, but Steven didn't want Peridot hurt. Still, White did so and dropped Peridot down nearby Pink Diamond, who went on to catch her.

"Ok, sorry to keep you all wondering. Here I am rambling again," White said, "You want the point yet or do you want to keep chatting?"

"The point would be good, White. You wouldn't just show up for no reason," said Yellow Diamond, keeping her tone respectable as much as she hated to. White Diamond smiled, but before she could begin explaining, Sapphire suddenly caught future sight of one particular scenario, and tried whispering this to her Diamond and friends as White began talking.

"Ever since reclaiming my home planet, I've been noticing a lot of tough work. I mean, let's not be naïve here: you three had been working way more than you should for a Diamond. It's as if you can't rely on your own Gems anymore, for stars sake! Diamonds don't typically have to do anything, yet everyone's as jumpy as a shooting star."

"I wonder why," thought Pearl. For the sake of performance though, she didn't dare say it allowed. But then ...

"Ladies? How does a little getaway around the cosmos sound to you?"

Did they hear her right?

"... what?" they all asked.

"A getaway … you mean like a vacation?" Pink asked.

"That's about right: a few weeks perhaps, exploring the vastness of this great universe of ours, stopping at a few planets. We could use the fresh air and exercise, and some time to reflect without getting ourselves in another pinch. What do you think about that, my little starlight?"

"AND pointed out again," Steven thought. But however, this idea started to come into his mind a little bit more …

"Hmm … actually, that's not a bad idea. Yeah. Yeah!"

"No!" shouted Yellow, finally losing patience, "White, you nearly shattered your own planet, and Homeworld's trying to recover, and you suggest we all just leave and take a "vacation"?! You can't even leave anyway without Homeworld collapsing!"

There was a bit of silence, as everyone waited for White Diamond's reaction.

"Huh? … OH, that aura! No, that's just for looks, and to remind who's really in charge of Gemkind. I've used my own magic to permanently keep the planet from breaking up more than it has already."

"... WHAT?! B-But you said -"

"That's just so you wouldn't kick me out of the castle when I arrived in the first place. I got you, didn't I?" White chuckled, even giving Yellow Diamond a wink. What a sick and cruel joke to make her stay.

"Wait a minute, maybe this won't be such a bad thing," Steven said, "As long as we don't enslave any races or wipe out planets while doing it. We can spend some more time together and - whoa!" White suddenly had Steven again, but this time letting him stand on her hands, and White gently cuddling him.

"Oh alright, Pink, I'll hold myself back for your sake. It's been far too long since we all had such a fun time together," White said. Well, Steven might as well go with this. It could give him time to teach White Diamond some moral values anyway.

"W-White, wait," said Blue, "It does sound interesting to do, but I don't think now's such a good time. You and St - er, Pink, can go and do that if you want, but we have to keep track of what happened here, at least until it's more stable."

"Is that what you think you're going to do?" White asked, still smiling to them, "We have a little diamond here! And a sweet little Diamond like my little Starlight deserves a fun ride with her family. Besides, we don't want another "incident" like that one around six thousand years ago, do we?"

"You wouldn't!" Yellow said, jumping to her feet, just for White to laugh again.

"Oh Yellow, you can be so gullible I swear. But really though, we'll be there to make sure nothing bad happens to her, and I know she wants to have a family fun time for one in her thousands of years."

"I-I don't think she's joking, Yellow do something!" Blue said in a frantic tone, quiet and in a whisper of course. Yellow kept trying.

"White, think, if we just leave Homeworld now, who knows what could happen to it while we're away. We might not even have a Homeworld by the time we -"

"What's this? You're saying my little Starlight doesn't deserve having a break? After that "war game" we all played, all that work she did to make Earth and Homeworld friends again, even making friends with that Equus planet? And after I kept Homeworld in tact, agreed to leave Earth alone for it to grow for a bit, even letting you recover Homeworld in the first place? Is that what you're saying?"

OH GOD her manipulation was a killer all itself, but the fact she agreed to leave Earth alone was questionable at best. All that time at odds, why would she just stop everything now?

"No White, not at all, we don't!" Pink Diamond said.

"Excellent. Because, to be honest, that was an order not a request. ALL those present within this room are invited to the vacation too, and yes that includes your Bismuth. I know how much you LOVE my little sweetheart," White said, specifically pointing out Pearl with her eyes. Pearl couldn't even look at her, her white face turning blue.

"... Wow … Thanks?" Peridot said, VERY perplexed and confused.

"No trouble at all. Now here's your Diamond and, Starlight, I'll even let you pick where we go. There's a lot of planets on our star maps, you know," White said, placing Steven down gently. Nice gesture, but Steven didn't forget about the others back on Earth.

"Huh. Thanks, White. But, you think I can call in my uh … colony? I think they'll freak out if I'm gone more than one day," Steven said, using terms White might be better familiar with for the moment.

"Oh, of course Starlight! I know there're some that can be so clingy," White said. "Everyone get ready, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning. Tata~"

And with that, White Pearl and White Diamond both left the company. Everyone kept silent for a bit more, and just moments after those doors closed …

"Steven Diamond Universe, are you out of your mind?" asked Yellow Diamond.

"No I'm not! I want to teach her friendship and harmony, what better way to do that than on a family vacation? You, me, Blue, Pink, and everyone else going around in the cosmos. And this way, it won't bother anybody here, Earth, or Equestria," Steven made clear.

"Hmm … he does have a point," said Blue Diamond, "And White did say you can choose which planets to go Steven. Oh, I've been wanting to show you around the galaxy."

"Really?" Steven asked, "Well as we say on Earth: killing two birds with one stone!"

"I think a stone can kill a lot more than just two "birds" if White commands them to," said Yellow Pearl.

"It's just a saying. That means we're getting two things done at once."

"How beneficial," said Peridot in glee, "And don't worry about location Steven, I've been traveling the cosmos for most of my existence, so I can help you choose different planets if it's all the same to you."

"Perfect! You guys tell Bismuth, I got to phone back home, tell them what we're doing."

"You want me to talk to them, Steven?" Sapphire asked, her Future Vision probably giving a bit of a warning on that part. This whole decision was, while beneficial for their goal, a bit sketchy and out of nowhere too.

"Don't worry, after I explain everything to them, they'll understand."

…….

"WHAT?! YOU MUST BE JOKING!" snapped Flint from the otherside of the projector screen. Very nice to have an ENTIRELY supportive family, isn't it?

"But Flint, I know I can make this work."

"There's nothing to work! Steven, it's WHITE DIAMOND you're talking about - she's nearly killed you, several times!"

"So did Jasper, Bismuth, Lapis, Starlight, and a few others. I'm used to it. Besides, won't it be better if White Diamond wasn't after everyone anymore?" Steven admitted. The others from the other end were overhearing the conversation.

"Well, I suppose so. Even if it means going away from communication … off to strange worlds with strange things, facing danger which you might never return! DON'T GO STEVEN!"

"I gotta go, Flint, White Diamond kind of made the order for the diamonds to go on this vacation."

"How's that any better?!"

"Are you done screaming, Flint?" Jasper said, "This is Steven we're talking about here."

"Jasper, don't be stupid, you should recognize the danger here!"

"I'm not stupid!" Jasper retorted, before taking over the screen for a bit. "Steven, watch yourself with her while you're out there, ok? Keep that Portal Key at the ready if things end up going downhill."

"Oh, of course. Get ready guys: Steven's class for friendship is in session! … Tomorrow."

"You got this, soldier. Good luck."

"Love you guys!"

With the message now given to home, Steven and Earth were cut off.
> A for Effort
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning came by a little bit quicker than they probably would've liked, though mostly because White Diamond made sure they were all awake bright and early, whether they wanted it or not. Everyone "invited" was at attention, though of course there was some resentment when all was said and done. Even with Homeworld still in a state of disarray, this news was enough to bring most of them out and into the limelight to see them off, as if it was a celebration once again. The ship they were taking, which was Pink Diamond's ship as it turned out, was up and ready to go. Steven though was the last one to actually show up, him coming out with his bag, it looking a lot bigger than it was before (and a bit heavier too).

"There you are Steven, what kept you?" Peridot asked.

"Sorry, I had to do some last minute packing before we could go off," Steven said, setting the bag down by him and looking over some of the contents inside the frontal pockets.

"Ok, let's see here: we got our cooler for drinks and snacks, some movies in case we get bored. Hey, you think they like Sci-fi movies, or just stay with action films?" Steven questioned, looking at a few of the movies. A rather dumb question honestly, but at least he was considering a few things.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Yellow groaned, looking down to Steven.

"It's not like we had much of a choice Yellow," said Steven, "Besides, let's just think of this as a family outing. At least White's not trying to kill us this time, and if this all works, everyone will be happy."

"You and Blue said that at least thirty times straight now everytime I brought this up!"

"And now it's thirty one," said Steven, giving a thumbs up as he checked his bags again. No, Yellow didn't feel much better about it.

"Gems, say something to him, snap some sense into him or whatever you do," Yellow instructed the Harmony Gems.

"Sorry, Yellow, but we're all just as into this as he is," said Lapis Lazuli, "She'd done a lot of bad before, but that doesn't mean she won't change now. The least we can do is try."

"And if the worst comes to the worst, what then?" Yellow retorted. Lapis flew up to Yellow Diamond's head, and slyly showed her what looked to be a particular Portal Key, this one belonging to Steven as the key winked to her. Yellow sighed.

"So you're not completely incompetent today."

"Did you really think we were gonna do this without a plan B?" Lapis asked knowingly. Yellow Diamond didn't answer her, but Lapis knew better. No way she could forget their last encounters with White Diamond, and she knew the risks involved. In fact it was her who suggested the Portal Key in the first place. As they were going over that, Steven and Peridot were going over their own conversation as they began heading to the ship.

"Ok, I took the time with Sapphire to work out a few of our options on where to go. She was a bit peculiar on some of these choices, but she felt it was worth a shot," Peridot explained, bringing out a written list for Steven. He was no big universe navigator, so this could give him a hand in what to do. However …

"Alright thanks. … Um … 7. Kee uh, kee- Kihar …"

"It couldn't print Human English, sorry," Peridot admitted. "I'll explain them to you when we start heading out, so just put the coordinates into the autopilot, and the ship will do the rest."

"Thanks. But, you didn't pick any planets not family friendly, did you? I don't think going into war's the best idea for a vacation."

"No, of course not," said Sapphire, "But it'll help our mission a lot more. You can go to whichever you choose, it doesn't matter the order."

"Guys, the mission's important but that's not the only reason we're going. We're getting to know White, have some fun, it's not just a working task," Steven reminded.

"You know, you've been treating this rather … what's the word … naively? You're acting like she never met us before," Peridot pointed out.

"Steven had some experience lately," Sapphire simply said. Peridot didn't get it still, but then again there was a few weeks of time she couldn't even reform, leaving Steven alone in the world of Equestria so perhaps that did give Steven a more open mindset.

"Yeah, I have. I know we haven't been best buds the last two times we met, but I want to give her a chance. ... I just wish she didn't have to drag Bismuth into it though. She could've at least let her decide that on her own," Steven quietly admitted, looking back to the admittedly peeved blacksmith. Making it perfectly clear she didn't want to go into a diamond entourage, and here she was basically doing just that.

"I don't know what you're expecting from White Diamond, Steven, she's controlling everything else," shrugged Peridot.

"True blue, Peridot," Steven noted, checking the list of coordinates again. Without a picture to go off of, it was a little bit hard to say where he'd want to go first. Guess they'll have to figure that out inside the ship. Speaking of which, White Diamond eventually turned to the others.

"Having some problems, are we?" White asked, looming over them all. Even if White didn't say she'll not hurt them, Peridot still kept behind Sapphire just in case.

"Just finding out where to go," Steven replied, showing the list to White so she could read it over. White Diamond smiled.

"Good, good. And Peridot, do try to keep your bravery together. I already said I'm not going to kill you."

"E-Excuse me, but I don't know after everything else," Peridot said, but kept behind Sapphire for protection. White just giggled.

"Ah yes, that time you called me a clod I believe. That's hardly much of an insult to me, dear. In fact, I'm most impressed you were willing to bring a word out of retirement just to try and defy me. You can be so cute.~"

"I'm NOT CUTE! Steven, tell her!" Peridot insisted, but it was kinda hard to say that and be cute doing it, intentional or no. Steven actually had to turn away. The pouting anime face was just too much for him. Then White actually picked up the green Gem, holding her by the collar. White looked to the rest.

"Come along, children, the galaxy awaits all of us," White Diamond said, feeling oddly cheery about things.

"I liked her better when she hated us," Peridot quietly murmured. It just felt so weird seeing White diamond act this comfy around them. But it probably was best not to question this kind of fate, and she didn't really break down on seeing them acting more like them selves yet so that was something.

It took some time for them to get themselves inside and all settled, though the more reluctant ones out of the group namely narrowed down to Bismuth and Yellow. The two were the last to get themselves in there, as reluctant as they were to even do so. Yellow Diamond may have her reasons mostly paralleling Homeworld, but Bismuth was more on herself. White Diamond's treatment to them shouldn't be something they can forgive so quickly. At least she won't yet.

"So, you're doubting this whole plan too?" Yellow Diamond asked. Bismuth crossed her arms.

"Honestly, I didn't even wanna come on this trip. After everything she did to us, I'm not willing to give up my gem for her," Bismuth made clear. It didn't matter if White heard her or not, she was making sure that was well known.

"I don't blame you," Yellow replied. Guess this was something the two could agree on, as they too started to go onto the ship. This was a plan the two simply had to just roll with, namely because of White Diamond and the fact Steven might lose his head over this.
With the rest of homeworld overall keeping watch at their diamonds heading into the ship, everyone amongst the group were soon into the main room. Well, most of which, except for Steven himself, who needed to hang on behind as everyone else went on into the main control room. Steven stayed put off down the hall a little bit, until he was absolutely sure that the doors were shut up so none of the other Diamonds could see. White Diamond wouldn't appreciate what extra trinkets he had brought with him. Then he unzipped the biggest part …

"Are we aboard?"

"You got it, Connie," Steven replied. Connie took a moment to stretch, her arms and head poking out from the backpack. Thank the stars for very elastic bindings, otherwise this plan would never had worked.

"Sorry for the accommodations on our flight," said Steven, "This vacation kinda took me off guard, so I had to make due. You need anything? A snack? Maybe a beverage?"

"I'm good for now, Steven, though to be honest a pillow won't hurt."

"Got you covered," Steven said, opening another compartment and pulling out a pillow for Connie to rest her head on.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Wish I knew this would happen, maybe I could've made this easier. And maybe brought you in the first place," Steven said, as Connie got the pillow just right so she could lay down easier.

"Steven, it's fine. Soon as I heard you're going to be stuck here longer than overnight, I was gonna come up regardless. You're not gonna get rid of me anymore, no matter what you do," Connie reassured with a wink. Connie and Steven were not going to split on their adventures if they could help it, and Steven was fine with that. Steven smiled.

"Jam buds for life," said Steven, both he and Connie holding hands.

"Jam buds for life," replied Connie.

Good timing to finish that too: they both then heard the door open up from behind them. Quickly, Connie dove down into the backpack again, and Steven zipped it up as if there wasn't any stowaway inside that backpack. For some good measure, he also held a communicator, just to be on the safe side in case they heard him talking.

"Steven Diamond. My diamond insists that you hurry up," Yellow Pearl instructed, a hint of impatience and annoyance in that last bit of her voice.

"Ok, ok, just checking in one more time. Be right with you," Steven said. Yellow Pearl went back to report what Steven said, as Steven got the backpack on and brought it with him, precious cargo inside.

Hope the others back home weren't getting into trouble.


~~~~~~


"Here Twilight, got the last box of books right here."

"Careful, careful."

And with a thud onto the floor, Twilight's remaining books were finally brought in. The weeks had come and gone for Equestria, and for Canterlot specifically. And for today, as requested by Twilight, she was getting some of her personal items from her old home in the tower, and making a new place of stay within the castle itself. As she was the princess of Equestria now after Celestia, things needed to make amends and some things needed a few changes. Twilight got plenty of help in getting this all ready, with some of the Gems and ponies coming by to give her a lending hand and hoof. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief once the books were completed (which were the longest part).

"Thanks again for helping me move, you guys," said Twilight, "It would've taken me all day to get these altogether."

"Think nothing of it, Twilight. I mean, you being the new princess of Equestria, you were bound to move in eventually," Jade said, as she was getting some of Twilight's personal trinkets hung up along the wall. Jasper, Rainbow Dash, and AJ did a collaboration work in bringing in Starswirl's hourglass, placing it down in the correct spot. With the sudden drop, Rainbow quickly had to push on the object to get it back into place. Jasper took a breath.

"Why're we moving all of this again? This is literally exactly like your old tower," Jasper pointed out. And indeed, it surely seemed to be. The structure of the place had a similar look to it as well. 

"I know Jasper, but Luna says it might be better for me if I live in the castle instead of the tower," Twilight explained, as she, Spike, and Starlight were bringing the books onto the bookshelf. Jasper shrugged.

"Eh, guess so," Jasper said. "By the way, this in the right spot?"

"The hourglass? Hmm … put it to the left," Twilight said. Ok, nothing too bad. So Jasper and Rainbow helped move it over a bit. However, as they were doing so, Twilight spoke up again.

"No, no, wait, too far, move it to the right!" Twilight said. And so they did …

"Hmm … uh, back a little."

And they did so.

"... Ok, maybe to the -"

"Twilight!" snapped Jasper.

"Uh, I-I mean, perfect."

Geesh. Why be so picky about placement? Well it was a good time to pause the work anyway, because soon as they were done with that, they then heard the door open up, and showing that a pair of the guards had arrived into the room. One of the unicorns had something rolled up in a scroll for Twilight.

"Morning, princess, uh, hope we're not intruding," said one of the guards.

"No, it's fine, we're just making the finishing touches," Twilight replied, levitating some of the books onto the shelf. One of the said guards went over to her.

"Well then, here's the schedule for today," said the guard. Seemed like a simple process, and as the guards went off and left for their own work for the day, the others paused for a bit and went over to Alicorn Twilight.

"Well, I don't have to write the schedules anymore," said Spike.

"Looks kind of big, don't you think?" noted Starlight. Twilight didn't really think too much of this though, waving it off with her hoof.

"Come on, this is nothing to me. My morning routines are just as big," Twilight said. Spike as a witness can easily vouch for that.

… And then she unraveled it. She had her magic holding onto just one end of the list, so everything else rolled on down from one end to the other, stretching out in a rug-roll effect. Jade and Spike were victims to the rolling paper, and only Jasper was strong enough to grab it before it could roll out the window. The catch: it was across the room, and only half the list. Spike scrambled a little bit before getting themselves out thanks to Rainbow Dash.

"Wow. Got your work cut out for you, huh?" Starlight said. Twilight just stared on for a little bit, before she looked onto the list in question. Twilight … needed a minute to contemplate this list of to-dos. Twilight took a deep breath, hoof to chest before bringing it forward.

"O.K. what's the first thing on our to-do list?" Twilight wondered, checking it over. Well while it was nice to have a pre-made schedule to be written out for her, it probably would've been nice for her to write this sort of thing out instead of just being given a random list by the guards. Well, what was she to expect anyway? She gave it a bit of a lookover.

"Hmm, let's see … Make a few public appearances. … Settle a worry over timberwolf issue. Have a discussion with the Dragonlord. Check the regrowth of Appaloosa ... And THEN have lunch?!"

"We'll help you out, Twilight," offered Jasper. Though, Twilight quickly covered up the trouble. sure it was a lot to take in right away.

"No, no, I'll be just fine. All part of being the princess of Equestria and all," Twilight said.

"You sure now?"

"I'm fine! You go, and I'll just stay and here and handle these princess duties. Thanks again for helping me get settled in. Just you watch me now," Twilight replied, as she went on and trotted out the door.

(several hours later)

*THUD*

"Told you," Starlight sighed.

That really summed up how Twilight felt once the list was FINALLY done, throwing herself onto the nearest comfy bed in her new room. Meetings, public appearances, educate, problem-solving, it was all bottled up for ONE DAY, and Twilight was exhausted. Her entrance did not go unnoticed by Starlight and Spike of course, who for the most part was handling some housework to pass the time among other things … and apparently figured she would push it a bit too far too.

"Rough day, huh?" Spike asked.

"Rough day? Seriously, I had to put in what I do in a month into ONE SINGLE DAY! That's three meetings, six checkups around the countryside, settle at least four different monster issues and worries just after lunch, AND make a total of twelve public appearances all over Canterlot. My jaw's ready to fall off right now, I smiled so much," and Twilight collapsed again into bed. She'd be very proud of getting so much done all at once if she wasn't so tired.

"Twilight, it's alright. That's a lot, but think of it this way: soon as Equestria gets it's hooves settled, things will slow down and it'll flow a lot better. Besides, you did so much in one day, that's amazing even for you," Spike said. Twilight calmed down and looked over to him and Starlight Glimmer.

"Yeah, I know it is. Just didn't realize just how much was left in disarray since Celestia -" Twilight couldn't even say it right away, the image flashing through her mind as her mouth clammed up, and a shiver ran through her body as if someone placed ice on the back of her neck. "... passed on. Equestria's lucky to have made it, and there's so much to fix."

"Well, it should be a great thing that you're helping everybody out," Starlight said, hoof on her shoulder, "I'd bet Celestia would be very happy to see just how much you've done since she left."
And Twilight felt that same shiver run through her again, strong enough for Starlight to feel that same shiver run by her. It had been a few months still since Celestia lost her life in the Netherlands, but the effect of her passing still hung in the air around the Alicorn. Not just in extra work, but a bit of mourning as well.

"Yeah. And it does feel good for helping other ponies with their friendships too. And help them be good too," Twilight added. Starlight knew what she meant by that and nudged her playfully. both shared a chuckle.

"Ok you," Spike said with a smirk, "the princess of friendship doing her magic work." a joke still, but it still was a nice one, as Twilight went on for her next pastime: reading a good book. She levitated one out of one of her shelves. The others relaxed a bit too, Spike also finding a good book, along with some fancy choice of words.

"It's kind of funny, ain't it? Ponies now asking you for friendship advice as if you knew it your whole life?" Spike said.

"What's so funny about that?" Twilight asked, pausing her reading for a brief moment. What Spike said next was probably something not supposed to be brought up.

"You know, because you were famous for being such a bad friend. And then off to Ponyville, and next thing we know here you are -"

"Spike, what're you talking about? She had great friends before I met her," Starlight cut in.

"I know, I mean before she met them. You know, during her filly days, while she lived in Canterlot."

"Oh. … Huh. I … didn't know that about her." Starlight pondered a bit on this, as Twilight spoke up next.

"Spike, I had great friends in Canterlot, you know that."

"Come on, Twilight! Look at your pictures: you see any of them before you moved to Ponyville? and look at you now: the Princess of Friendship and now of Equestria," Spike pointed out. The pictures Spike was pointing out were of different moments throughout her time as Celestia's student, many of which had her with her friends for company. Some were just the mane six, and others down the line included the Crystal Gems. Twilight walked over, and looked on to one in particular depicting a particular wedding party, thinking on it just a little more, until it struck her like a train.

"OH MY GOSH, Spike you're right!"

"And that two points of me over Starlight's one," Spike said, smugly. Starlight just sighed, rolling her eyes at that comment, but -

"This is a disaster!" Twilight shouted, starting to pace in worry, "I got so caught up, I just flat out left what friends I had here in Canterlot! I can't even remember their names right now. You really think they thought I was a bad friend?!"

Oh boy, what did Spike do? Starlight was pretty much left in the dark about the details, not sure what to say. It was hard to give support to something she knew little about.

"I-I only meant that you've come so far. You're a great friend now and -"

"Oh, I feel terrible," Twilight stated, cutting Spike short, "Hard enough I've been going through all these changes, but here I am living in Canterlot for over a year now, and I didn't even bother with any of them!" Twilight ended her statement when her head hitting the wall. Now Starlight went over to her.

"Twilight, you're a princess. I mean, who's gonna blame you for being so busy anyway with these meetings, world issues, and boy, paperwork."

"But I left Canterlot in such a complete mess when I first left. Just like my last friendships," Twilight paused for a bit, thinking back on it. How long years had gone by since Twilight had seen or heard of any of those ponies? Years? How could she even forget them after moving back into Ponyville for easily a year now? The alicorn then made her decision.

"That's settles it: I've just got to make it up tooo …" Twilight suddenly stopped herself cold when her mind went a bit blank. Good thing Spike had his good memory with him to help her out.

"Oh! Uh, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moon Dancer," said Spike.

"Right. Thanks for that Spike. You two can do what you want, I got some plans to make," Twilight said, galloping off away … only to come back and add "[Uh … make a list of their names for me so I can remember, please?"

Twilight bolted off to handle just that, leaving Starlight Glimmer and Spike alone in the room to contemplate Spike's little mistake of bringing that up. Starlight took one glance over to Spike.

"And now the score's all tied up," Starlight said, Spike losing one point for starting this problem in the first place. Spike just groaned.

"Me and my big mouth."


~~~~~~


Next morning couldn't have come soon enough for Twilight Sparkle. As Starlight Glimmer and Spike were off doing who knows what, Twilight Sparkle woke up bright and early and before any of the guards could give her any schedule (she left them spinning in a daze, she raced by them so quickly), Twilight was off on the town. As she went along, Twilight kept the list she had on her of her friend's names for some reference, and Spike even made sure to put in some pictures of each pony to make sure Twilight didn't screw up.

"Ok, Twilight. The first stop: Minuette. She should be right around … here," Twilight told herself, her eyes finally finding what looked to be the right place. The house Twilight stopped in front of was notable amongst the other houses thanks to the big hourglass mark on it. If the drawings were right, Minuette's cutie mark would be exactly this. Twilight went towards the door, hoof going right on to knock the door. Her thoughts started to wander on her has she waited for the pony on the otherside of that door. What sort of life was this pony going through while she was off doing who knows what? The pain and turmoil they must be going through for when she left them like that. Twilight tried not to show it too much, but it was a rough thing to contemplate.
Well, all the same, she still had to confront her past somewhat, so she kept herself calm and stood there waiting as the door began to open up. Soon, out came a female unicorn pony with a Maya blue coat, periwinkle mane and tail with a pigment blue streak, dark blue eyes, and a cutie mark of an hourglass.

"... Minuette?"

Three. Two. One. …

"Twilight Sparkle! You ol' so-and-so, what're you doing here?!" Minuette asked in glee. … In glee. Well, ok.

"Minuette, hi," said Twilight, honestly taken aback by this … surprisingly good behavior. Minuette was quick to see the wings Twilight Sparkle had on her, and then got an idea, her magic pulling out a camera.

"Look at those wings, huh? Hey, think we can take a picture together? I tried telling my co-workers we used to be friends, but they never believed me!" Minuette was mainly saying this all in good vibes, but hearing that just reminded Twilight what the main problem was in the first place. Still, Minuette was still going a little bit quick for her, already posing for the camera with a big smile on her face. Good thing she rested her cheeks from smiling yesterday, otherwise she'd probably break those jaws of hers as she smiled here. Luckily for her, it was just one picture, so she didn't have to keep that smile for very long.

"Oh, that's a keeper!" beamed Minuette. Twilight still needed a minute.

"Well … Minuette's treating my absence better than I thought. Still, let's get on with it," Twilight thought, knowing what she had to do. As Minuette put her camera and photo away, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Oh yeah, right. So what're you doing here? I mean, you're here ALL the time, but you never come to see me!" Minuette asked kindly. Twilight Sparkle needed to get this out there, and after a sigh she didn't hesitate. 

"... I came to apologize."

"For what?" Minuette asked.

"Before I first left Canterlot, I never truly appreciated my friends. You, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Lyra. I didn't know how important friendship was, but I've learned so much when I moved to Ponyville, and what it means to be a good friend. I've never been a good friend to any of you, so for all that … I'm sorry."

And then … Minuette laughed.

"Don't worry about it, it's totally fine! Yeah, you left in a bit of a hurry, but hey, water under the bridge. Besides, you've been busy with all sorts of stuff, being the new Princess of Equestria and all, so who can blame you for that?" Minuette said with a smile.

… Just like what Starlight had said. Twilight heard Starlight's words repeat in her head after Minuette gave that word of reassurance. But as with the conversation so far, Minuette was just a little bit ahead of Twilight, and soon she got an idea.

"Hey, I just got the greatest idea! I was just about to head off to see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine at the donut café. Wanna come by and say hello?"

"Of course!" Twilight beamed. How could she not miss this chance to see them all? Not only does this make finding them easier, but she could get reacquainted with them all right away too. That, and getting a bite to eat wouldn't hurt.

"Fantastic! I cannot wait to see what they think when they see ya. come on, let's fly! Get it?" and Minuette laughed as she trotted on ahead. Twilight thought this would be a bit harder to deal with, but in a way she breathed a sigh of relief. At least Minuette wasn't as "traumatized" as she figured of it, and she trotted off with Minuette to see the other two.

…….

Twilight and Minuette made it to the donut café off in town in no time at all. It was a cozy little place in the city of Canterlot, notable from the sparkling donut sign up front. Even with the shortage lately, the donut place was still going along fairly well for what it was, with a decent amount of customers enjoying their morning donuts (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). Twilight and Minuette got a seat at one of the round tables, and sure enough Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were joining them there. Both mares looked similar in appearance, though with different coloration: Lemon Hearts was a light yellow coat with a blue-tinted mane, and Twinkleshine with a goldish grey fur color and light pink mane and tail.
It took less than five minutes for the four mares to get into a good conversation.

"It's true!" continued Minuette, "Twinkleshine spat out her oats when she heard you became Equestria's new princess."

"We saw you at your first coronation," added Twinkleshine, "That was some shindig."

"You saw me there?" Twilight asked.

"Sure we did. We see you all the time, doing all sorts of things. Guess you were just too busy to notice."

"Yeah. Guess I was," Twilight said. She had already apologized to the other two after first seeing them, and their reaction was about the same as Minuette, though it still was a slight burden to carry over her head. At least it felt like it.

"You remember our old friend Lyra right?" asked Minuette, "She lives in Ponyville too. We're always visiting her there, or she's over here visiting us."

"Hmm … Lyra, Lyra - oh, I think I saw her actually yesterday," said Twilight, thinking a little bit on the name (or picture rather).

"You did? How's she doing over there? Last time I heard of her she's been trying to build up her house again," said Minuette. Twilight took a bite of her donut.

"Well, I saw her with the construction crew actually. I didn't really have much time though. To talk to her, I mean," Twilight admitted. Most of her time in Ponyville was helping out AJ with the farm, regrowing what crops that weren't lost from the mutated Parasprites way back when, but that didn't mean she was completely blind to everything else. Lyra took the time to help build some of the houses back up by the sound of it, but as with Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts, Twilight didn't had time to talk to her so details were a bit vague.

"It's not easy being a princess, huh?" said Twinkleshine.

"A LOT harder than I thought it was, especially nowadays since Celestia's -" Twilight only paused as a shiver went through her, but she didn't want to show those feelings this time "... passing," Twilight admitted. Hard to say since the schedules didn't begin until yesterday, but that was something Twilight will have to get used to, one way or another.

"Well, it's great to see you now, Twilight," said Lemon Hearts, making Twilight smile. "You must be up to your horn in work now."

"I'll say. but nothing I'm not used to much. What about you guys, what're you up to nowadays?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, nothing too fancy: I've been checking out some of Starswirl's literature," said Minuette, "Though there's this one time I sponsored for a toothpaste product."

"No way, that was you?" said Lemon Hearts, "I thought somepony just made her mane to look like you!"

"Nope, that was all me," stated Minuette.

"Congrats, Minuette. What about you two?" asked Twilight.

"Me and Lemon Hearts had been in the baking business together," said Twinkleshine, "We've been collaborating with Sugarcube Corner since Ponyville's been stuck in hard times. Pinkie and Velvet are helping in our company too."

"Great to hear, you guys. I could go on about what I did, but I think that would take all week," Twilight said, putting a joke into the conversation herself. Such a big history she could write an entire book on it. Maybe several seasons worth by now of the years she had with the others.

"We got all the time in the world, so it's fine," said Lemon Hearts. Twilight then started to realize something else with this group. There was Lyra Heartstrings, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette, but there was just one pony missing she had to apologize to. However, none of them even mentioned her just yet.

"What about Moon Dancer? What's she up to?" Twilight asked. Most of the conversation had been pretty smooth, but this question got the talk to a bit of a halt for a brief moment.

"Hmm … eh, any of you heard from Moon Dancer?" asked Lemon Hearts.

"Oh yeah Moon Dancer. Yeah, we know her. Wonder what she's up to?" added Twinkleshine.

"Yeah," said Minuette, "I always liked her. We just kinda lost touch with her after you left."

"Really? Where is she?"

"Hmm … I think she's living by the stadium. Right? Wanna go check?" Twinkleshine asked. However, Lemon Hearts took a glance off out the window, and actually got a pleasant surprise.

"We don't have to, look!" Lemon Hearts said, pointing off out the window.

What kind of luck do they have? Twilight looked outside with the others, and sure enough they soon found sight of another pony going on down the sidewalk, just passed the donut café and towards her own destination. This was also a unicorn like the other three, though this mare had a look more matching Twilight if anyone. Her mane and tail was a sort of purplish red, with violets striping through it. Her main coat was more of a yellowish grey though, her eyes dark purple like Twilight. In fact, one could argue it was just Twilight with a different color to her. Course it wasn't a true exact copy of her: her mane was tied in a bun, and she wore a wooly sweatshirt, her eyes showing off some reading glasses as well. Well, there was no time like the present.

"Hold my donut," Twilight said, as she got up and went on towards the door. She made her apology to the other three, and Lyra will be done in due time, but with Moon Dancer just outside, why would she wait any longer for it?

"Here it goes. ……. Moon Dancer?" Twilight said once she got closer. Moon Dancer didn't even notice her at first, her nose deep into a book of hers. However, Twilight was a bit more persistent, and teleported so she was in Moon Dancer's way.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to get to the library," said Moon Dancer.

"It's me, Twilight. You're old friend," Twilight said with a smile … only for Moon Dancer to levitate her, and walk right passed her, hardly even breaking her stride as she continued to the library. WOW.

"Yep, that's Moon Dancer alright," said Minuette. "Always focused on her studies. Hey, just like you were!"

"... Yeah. That's exactly how I used to be. Was she always like this?" Twilight asked. The trio took a minute to think back on it.

"Uh … well, she was shy, but she did try to throw a party once. You know, to put herself out there, but since there she kinda just stopped. We tried asking her a couple of times, but she kept refusing so we just stopped," explained Minuette.

"A party? …" Twilight needed to work her memory way back on the clock on this one. These were friends she had before she even left Canterlot, let alone all that other stuff she did. She thought a little bit longer than she should, but then …

There you are, Twilight! Moon Dancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?

The reality hit her like a freight train.

"Oh clod, the party! That's the same day I left Canterlot altogether! Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that was so important to her. I've got to make it up to her!" Twilight decided. It was a quick decision, but she had to do something for her. She trotted off a bit but then turned back to the other three.

"It was a fun visit, girls, we'll meet up later," Twilight promised. and with that, she galloped off to catch up with Moon Dancer.

"... Clod?" asked Lemon Hearts. Twinkleshine just shrugged.

…….

"Did you hear all that?"

"Every word! … what did they say?"


~~~~~~


Twilight Sparkle kept her more than quiet watch over her former friend, as Moon Dancer moved off from the donut café, and over towards the library in question. The whole walk was a little bit odd for Twilight, not even a word spoken as she went along. But in a sense, this was a blast from the past to how she used to act before the whole friendship thing sunk in. Moon Dancer didn't notice the other shadow of hers, nor did she really bother all too much as she entered the Canterlot library. Twilight knew what she had to do, and she wasted little more time in going into the library to see her. By the time the alicorn came into the building, just the act of closing the door echoing around the library, Moon Dancer already had quite her share of books along her table.

"There she is. Ok, think Twilight, how do -"

*SSHH* said some of the other ponies. Twilight buttoned her muzzle, but the task was still at hoof. But first thing's first: how to approach this? Moon Dancer easily was gonna be a little bit more difficult to get to, especially now that Moon Dancer actually knew she was there.
Quietly, Twilight began to go and approach the busy mare, trying not to be too bothersome in her approach, and soon the alicorn was a few seats away from Moon Dancer, close enough to be next to her, but not too close so it was invasive. Moon Dancer tried to keep her focus on her book.

"Hi, Moon Dancer? Can I talk to you for a -"

*SSHH!* said Moon Dancer. However, this shush was alone this time, no one else hearing them. Moon Dancer looked around and found that Twilight had made a sort of bubble around them.

"What's this?"

"A bubble of silence," Twilight replied, "I haven't seen you in a while, Moon Dancer, so I thought we can … catch up?"

"For what purpose?" Moon Dancer questioned, looking back to her book. Twilight kept her calm.

"... Because we're friends?"

And Moon Dancer popped the bubble right away, the sound alone bringing another round of *SSHH!* to the alicorn. Moon Dancer didn't look like she wanted to talk, but Twilight didn't want to give up. So she kept her voice down and …

"... I'm sorry about the party," Twilight whispered, the voice actually making Moon Dancer jump a little bit. Another barrage of shushing coming from the others again.

"What party? Look here, Twilight Twinkle -"

"Sparkle."

"Whatever. You got the wrong pony, I don't DO parties, ok? And right now, I need to do some studying, and you're not helping me," Moon Dancer made harshly clear, as her eyes went back to her book.

"But you did once before. And I was too busy in my own studies to take your feelings into account," said Twilight. Moon Dancer tried acting like she wasn't listening, her hooves covering her ears. Twilight needed to try and rebuild something with this, and didn't want this conversation to end on a bad note. Then her eyes looked to the book …

"...…. So … you working to be a scholar?"

"No."

"Oh … how about a scientist?"

"No," Moon Dancer groaned.

"... So you're just … studying?"

"Don't you have any princess stuff to do?" Moon Dancer snapped, before slamming her book shut, another barrage of shushes echoing again from annoyed ponies. So studying just for the sake of it. Twilight felt that Moon Dancer might be in a worse boat than how Twilight used to be, but then again if Twilight hadn't found friendship important, then this probably would've been the end result.

"Moon, please, is there anyway I can do to make it up to you?" Twilight asked once more.

"Look, the last thing I need right now is for ponies wanting to be friends all the time and keeping me from studying. I've tried friendship, and it's just not for me -"

"But you're not studying for anything!" Twilight suddenly cut in.

*SSHHH!* the library echoed. again. Twilight cringed once again on the shushing, and Moon Dancer had basically about enough of this. So, she got her books, and started to walk out.

"Moon Dancer, wait," Twilight said, rushing outside to see Moon Dancer now at about ten feet away from the library. Moon Dancer still stopped on that voice, glancing back once again to see the worried Twilight standing there.

"Listen to me, please, I was a very bad friend before, but I'm willing to make it up to you now. Just tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it. Please," Twilight insisted. Moon Dancer adjusted her glasses again.

"Twilight, stop it. You don't have to do anything to make up for anything. Besides, you got bigger problems."

"I do?"

"Princess!"

The call made Twilight jump and turn around, just to find those same guards she ran passed earlier. The two guards looked frantic a bit, and they were trying to find Twilight all day so far.

"Princess, there you are! Where have you been, we've been worried sick," said one of the guards.

"Sorry for running off on short notice, but I had some old friends to get to," Twilight said, looking back to Moon Dancer, but the Unicorn didn't seem too fancy on this idea. However, the schedule was then presented to Twilight, this one not as big as yesterday, but that was only because Twilight missed a few things. ONLY because of that.

"Your schedule's been far too delayed, princess. Nothing personal, you understand, but a princess needs to keep to her duties," explained one of the more experienced guards. Moon Dancer rolled her eyes.

"Well, looks like you have your work cut out for you. You handle what you have to do, I'll just stay out of your way," Moon Dancer said, before walking away like she planned to do anyway. Twilight wanted to say something, but the guards seemingly weren't giving Twilight much of a chance to reconnect with Moon Dancer, the schedule needing to be done. Not able to stop her, Twilight sighed in defeat.

"... What'd I miss?" Twilight asked, looking at the schedule in dismay. A princess's job is still a requirement.

She'll try Moon Dancer again when things weren't so hectic.

… As Twilight was getting to her schedule again, all of this conversation was observed by the notable figures hidden off just out of sight. The donkey did feel a bit humbled on the news to some extent, but all the same, pretty intriguing news to hit this mule's ears. His companion, which looked less like a pony and more like some odd human-like bird, was also peaked with interest. Both went off away into the darkened alleyways (surprisingly dark for daytime), and the two sneaky spies didn't have to go off too far into the place to take sight of their own quarry as they slipped into an abandoned basement of Canterlot.

And he was keeping to the shadows himself. It was hard to tell what this was specifically, or what race he was, as his whole body was covered up in the shadows, the only thing visible for the moment being his red eyes, and yellow from something around his neck. The donkey cowered slightly on seeing him, the bird hopping off of him.

"Bray. Budgerite," the figure warned, "I want the report. All details."

"Y-Yes my almighty king," said the bird Budgerite, her hands placed as a sort of shape on impulse. "T-Twilight Sparkle. Uh, that's the purple Alicorn just outside, uh, SHE'S the new princess of Equestria."

"Yeah, I heard too," said Bray.

"That all?"

"No! You're not going to believe this," said Bray. He was very skittish himself, and he took a deep breath before saying boldly "Celestia is dead! Done! Six feet underground!"

"... Celestia? … Dead?" The shadowy figure then stepped out into the limelight. The figure was hoofed of sorts, but not equine at all. A bit like a ram perhaps, but with a goblin-like face, the lower jaws jutting out sharp teeth in his grin. His coat was a prominent blue, his huge curving horns darker in tone along with his diamond-hard, cloven hooves. Budgerite felt that it might need some more convincing, as the tone didn't sound too much as convinced.

"Bray, I told you to get some evidence before coming back here," she peeped.

"Wha - no you didn't! When'd you say that?!" retorted Bray. But luckily for both of them, the Ram laughed.

"Well lads. The great and mighty Celestia herself. STONE. DEAD. What a piece of luck for us, eh?" and then the ram went back to chuckling again, finding glee in what could be argued as Equestria biggest loss since, well, ever. The laughing stopped when he looked to the bird-human hybrid.

"What did we come here for, eh? Budgerite?" A quick question Budgerite was not prepared for.

"Huh? Here? We uh we uh, whatdidwecome - OH! pfft, that's an easy one! We've come to take over Equestria," said Budgerite, feeling much better that she thought it out right away. The ram nodded.

"Right. And who's patch was Equestria? Bray?" asked the ram again.

"Eh? … It's Twilight's patch. Her. Outside," Bray answered. But the ram didn't care for that answer, growling menacingly as Bray cowered, him putting his hooves over his head.

"Twilight is NOT Equestria's queen, and you know it. She hasn't been given that title yet, and according to the laws of royalty … say it …"

"T-That means she's t-t-technically not in charge. Queens and Kings are," Budgerite stuttered.

"Exactly," said the ram, "Even with the wrong title, that Alicorn buck Celestia somehow duped every creature into think she was the rightful ruler of this place, even King Sombra. And by all rights, it should've been him in charge!"

"But didn't he get banished to the icy north or something?" Bray asked, sitting back up. The ram got a toothy grin on his face again.

"Which leaves takeover all the easier. And with Celestia stone dead, what's going to stop us from making it our patch from now on?"

"Luna? The Elements of Harmony? The Crystal Gems? … The royal guard?" Budgerite said, putting in some reality before he could go over the edge … just for the ram to shove her right to the nearest wall, his horns pushing her in.

"You questioning me?"

"No no nonononono, I-I'm just thinking there's still trouble! Don't shatter me, please!" she pleaded. But the ram did eventually step back, that move more of a warning than anything.

"Doesn't matter. Canterlot's the central hub of Equestria, and soon as we take control here, we got the whole world in our hooves. And who's gonna stop us, eh?!" As the ram laughed on the idea, he swung his front hooves up, which accidentally knocked Bray back. He didn't get his footing in time until he found himself falling into some barrels. When the ram, and Budgerite turned and looked, Bray was head first inside one of them, his back hooves flailing as he tried to get out. The ram just groaned.

"Get him out, somebody," said Grogar.
> Heiligdom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was hard to say how long they exactly were going through space, but then again how could anyone truly tell time when there wasn't anything to tell them that? Pink diamond's ship continued it's course through space, which for the moment wasn't exactly anywhere all too much, as Steven didn't coordinate anything precise in just yet apart from setting off to space. Good thing there was plenty of rooms inside the ship, otherwise they'd all just be sitting in the one spot and doing little to nothing.  Blue, Yellow, and White had a bit more restricted movement around the ship, if any, thanks to their size compared to everyone else.
And honestly, this was probably for the best, at least for the other Gems and White Diamond specifically, as they can do their own thing for a bit. For Connie and Steven, this meant some time to figure out the friendship lessons for White Diamond. Connie, not to mention, finally got some stretching room now that they were alone. Connie and Steven got one of the Pink Diamond screens (something the ship had installed) to work with for a list of essentials.

"If we're gonna teach White Diamond friendship, maybe we should start off strong," suggested Connie. "... How about teaching her partner values?"

"I don't think White's ever had a husband. Or wife," Steven replied. "Hmm … what about racial understanding? That sounds like something White should know."

"That sounds very controversial … put it for number four," Connie said. Steven placed that for number four (on a twenty bulleted list), just underneath "neutral respect", "helping others", and "make someone happy". The essentials of friendship.

"You think teaching her about family relationships is important? I mean, Yellow, Pink, Blue, and you are her family after all," Connie pointed out.

"You're right! Here, give me a second," Steven said, quickly scribbling in that part of the friendship importance right above everything else. Since this was pre-made, he had to improvise and even scribble in a extra dot above number one.

"Ok, I think we got a good start. Helping others shouldn't be that hard to do, so maybe we should try that first," Steven figured. Helping others was a concept done practically every day for anyone, so perhaps it would be good to start small and work up.

"Sounds perfect! … Uh, by the way Steven, when do you want to tell the others about me? … You know, being here?" Connie asked, rubbing the back of her head.

"I promise I'll tell them when we get there. I just had to hide you away from White Diamond on the takeoff," Steven reassured. There was no possible way he could keep Connie a secret the entire trip, unless Connie was VERY patient and very nimble. Steven looked outside of the room to check and see if anyone was coming their way, and sure enough, he saw glimpse of someone coming towards his room.

"Connie, dive maneuver - code White," Steven quickly said. Good thing for them, Steven opened up his backpack big enough for Connie to work with. Connie nodded, and in one well-coordinated leap, she landed right inside the backpack. Steven just got the bag zipped up JUST before more company got into the room. Good timing too, as the visitor was White Pearl coming in.

"Pink Diamond. Your opinion is requested: which location do you wish to arrive to?" White Pearl asked, her tone as monotone and as creepy as ever. Steven kinda had to push the list with his foot, trying to hide it from this pearl just in case things were gonna end up downhill.

"Locations? OH yeah, give me a second," Steven said, going back into the bag himself, making sure that the main part of the compartment wasn't completely unzipped. As he was doing that, Connie actually spoke again.

"S-Steven. Steven. I have the list in with me!" Connie whispered. SERIOUSLY?! It was a little bit harder when White Pearl moved up right behind him, keeping rather close to Steven - uncomfortably close, awaiting for his answer. He better find that list and fast.

"Uh. Pearl? Can you back away please?"

"Which location do you wish to arrive to, Pink Diamond?" White Pearl asked. Steven wasn't sure if White Pearl could see Connie in the bag or not, but he didn't want to take any chances, starting to push White Pearl away.

"OK, Pink Diamond wants some privacy right now. Stand WAY over here, and I'll get your answer," Steven instructed, before hastily rushing back to the bag to look. Steven only had a short window of opportunity to do so, as White Pearl didn't stand still for too long, starting to slowly move back behind him! Lucky, Connie got the list in hand already, and quickly gave it to him just before he zipped up the bag completely, and just before White Pearl could notice anything. THANK GOODNESS.

"Aha! Here it is! Ok, uh, let's see …" Steven took a look at the options that he had before him. Peridot already went over what each planet was to some degree, so, Steven had a easier time figuring out which planet to actually stop by.

"Ok, which one was it? … Eenie. Meanie. Miney. You!" And Steven's searching finger landed on a planet that looked a bit lush. Like earth in a way, but a bit smaller and a bit more lushful to him. White Pearl took quick notes of the planet Steven picked, and then nodded her head.

"I will notify the Diamonds at once," White Pearl said, before "floating" out of the room, the door closing behind her. Steven felt a wave of relief come over him, collapsing onto his rear. Connie peeked out from the bag herself, also relieved they were still okay with everything.

"That was WAY too close," Connie sighed.

"Let's try to get to the planet soon," agreed Steven.

"Steven!"

Connie quickly ducked back inside the back on the second voice, just in time as someone else came into the room. THIS time though it wasn't any malicious person coming in, but instead of Homeworld being interventive, this time it was Lapis Lazuli and Pearl coming in to see him.

"Lapis! Pearl!" Steven said, happy to see some good company today. Connie wanted to come out too, but, it was still too risky with White Pearl and White Diamond not too far away from earshot, or eyeshot.

"Thank goodness. We saw White Pearl come in here, did she do anything to you?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. She just wanted to know where we were going that's all," Steven replied. both Gems were glad it didn't go any further than that.

"How's everyone else, by the way?" Steven then asked.

"Well, Peridot, Sapphire, and Bismuth are keeping their distance from the control room, on account of you-know-who. Blue and Yellow are … tolerating White Diamond as they can't go around the ship all that much," Pearl explained. Tolerate would be the right word for those two.

"Oh boy. Well, we got our destination, so they won't have to deal with this for much longer," Steven reassured, showing the planet list in question. Pearl and Lapis looked at the planet Steven picked out, Steven pointing it out. Lapis and Pearl weren't really space travelers, but they do know how to read Gem writing, and the name of this planet sounded just like a place Steven would want to go to.

They're on their way to Heiligdom.


~~~~~~


Twilight. The sun on Heiligdom just began to grace its life-filled planet, the native plant life starting to come to life just as the heat of the sun began to grace their "leaves and stalks". Some of the plants started to spread open like blossoming flowers the moment the sun reached them, getting as much as possible. Even on Heiligdom, life's just as competitive as ever, even with plants. But with plant life, so too were the grazers. One of the local aliens began to slowly move out of the forest thicket, and out to its favored grazing spot along the ground. The alien looked like a Sanga bull, mixed with some sort of hadrosaur, the size of a elephant. The world became known of its presence when it gave a mighty bellow, the call echoing across the land.

And this call easily reached the rest of the group. It was fairly easy to find a good park job for Pink Diamond's ship, finding an open area of plain nearby the forest, which by the by was decently thick and expansive for a jungle, kinda like the forests of the Jungle Moon, only a bit more spaced. Finally a moment to reflect, and some time to relax a bit. And another thing too …

"Geronimo!" *SPLASH*

Some actual fun. The landing site they've picked for their stop on Heiligdom had a bit more to it than just a simple jungle, as they actually found a sort of hot spring spot within the thicket, a few jungle pools scattered in the area. One that was exceptionally huge too, big enough for all the diamonds to fit in comfortably (if White Diamond was there, that is). The group got comfortable around the hot spring, Steven keeping the bag (and Connie) over nearby the edge of the spring. After the first splash from Steven into the warm water, he soon found some land in the form of Blue Diamond's knees. Lapis and Peridot also got comfy there too, Peridot getting an extra jump into the water. Even Yellow Diamond was feeling pretty relaxed.

"Finally I haven't felt this relaxed in -"

"WAHOO!" shouted Pink, taking a good jump into the water herself, and making Yellow Diamond tense up.

"And it's over," Yellow sighed.

"This is a great idea, Steven. I don't think I've ever seen Heiligdom ever since Homeworld found this planet," Lapis Lazuli said.

"Thanks. Honestly, this has a lot more life on it than I expected," Steven admitted. A gem-controlled planet and organic life, far as he was aware, didn't entirely mix.

"I'm gonna bet Pink Diamond made that happen," said Peridot, once she breached the surface. Blue Diamond chuckled, and looked to Sapphire.

"Actually, it was my idea. But Pink Diamond had a bit to do with it too. I know White wouldn't agree, but this planet is just too special to just turn into any simple colony," Sapphire said. Could be her future vision saying it, or just the life itself, but Sapphire did find something good enough here to keep it around. Much like Earth.

"It isn't like we could've made a colony here anyway," remarked Yellow Diamond.

"How come?" Steven asked.

"Lapis? You were there when those chernobyls arrived back to Homeworld way back when," said Blue. Lapis Lazuli thought about it for a little bit more, but then the memory came at her in short time.

"Oh yeah! Steven picture this: just a day after coming back from Heiligdom, the scouts coming back to report. Oh stars, they looked like a complete mess, and guess what happened to come out with them? Go on, guess?" Lapis insisted. Steven thought of what could have happened, though possibly an alien from Heiligdom might've done something to them.

"Hmmm … I'm gonna put my bits on a fluffy alien?"

"Very close actually. Here, take a look," Lapis Lazuli said. 

"Wait, perhaps you shouldn't," Yellow insisted. Too bad Lapis was caught up in the moment to listen. She got her water magic to work, and manipulated the water to look like a gemship, with a few gems standing off nearby just about to open up the door. Having a good of memory as Lapis Lazuli meant a perfect representation. This also included Yellow Diamond standing nearby for a report. Soon as they opened the main hatch? …
*FWOOMP* out popped out what he could only describe as a giant, adorable teddy bear! The chernobyls popped out with the alien on top of them. Yellow had such a dumbfounded look on her face seeing this thing just pop out like that, and when Steven saw that, he could barely hold himself, both hands over his mouth as he tried to hold back his laughing.

"So kawaii!" Steven said. Kawaii was a new word, but it had to be a good word with Steven looking to it. Yellow Diamond was flustered.

"To be fare, it was reported a lot smaller upon extraction," Yellow stated. Pink Diamond came up to the surface after a bit, seeing what was happening. She was just laughing at this too.

"I remember that! Oh Yellow, your face!" Pink said. Yellow Diamond ignored her, but they then heard even Blue diamond giggling.

"We get the point, stop laughing already!"

"N-No, not you I-It's - hahahaha - w-who's doing that?! - hahaha!" Blue laughed, almost to the point of tears, enough for Lapis, Peridot, and Steven to get knocked off into the water. Everyone was either swimming nearby or standing by the bank, so none of them could be doing anything to Blue Diamond to make her laugh so much. However, when Peridot was underwater (upside-down albeit) she did actually catch sight of something swimming underwater thanks to the enhanced visor sight of hers. And whatever was underwater was swimming rather quickly, sliding its body against Blue Diamond for a bit before finally stopping upon seeing Peridot.

"EEP!" Peridot yelped underwater, as the creature bolted extraordinarily quick towards Peridot, like a darting fish. Lucky for her though, the alien didn't want to hurt her, and just zoomed passed her and leaping onto the nearby bank right next to the Pearls. Now on land they got a better look at this creature. It's skin was purely white like snow, its eyes black yet glossy, and it had a sort of body design like that of a seal, though the "fingers" on the fins were more prominent than a seal's fins as if they were just large hands being used as such.

"Peridot? what is this overly-adorable creature?" Pink Diamond asked, she and Steven staring starry-eyed at the creature. Peridot got back up, a bit dizzy.

"tttthat's a Sssssphettr." Peridot said in a daze, before coming to her senses. Peridot would not confuse a Sphettr with anything else. The Sphettr took a moment to rest before jumping back into the water, the silhouette of the alien bolting all over the hot spring, before leaping out of the water, and extending the fins to glide off to a spot further away.

"Can we vote that being the cutest alien on Heiligdom?" said Pink.

"Agreed. The motion is carried," said Steven. Both ended up chuckling on the idea, Blue Diamond relaxing more in the pool again.

"Oh, Steven. You and Pink are just as she used to be. So silly. So smol," said Blue, referring to the true Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond and Steven swam back to Blue Diamond.

"Well, I don't know about Pink but I'm still growing. I don't think I'm gonna catch up to you and Yellow though," said Steven. Blue smiled, and began to reminiscent a little, thinking back a bit more.

"Pink. Remember back when I let you name that patch of Pyrite? Fool's Gold! hahaha, White was furious," said Blue Diamond. Pink Diamond did remember that, though this was still memories of a Gem that she wasn't, so she only gave a small nod.

"Oh, remember that one game you used to play with us?"

"Which one?" Pink asked.

"We play it a lot when we spend time together on that water planet colony: you'd stand out on the sea floor, right outside the colony's windows singing something. And White, Yellow and I would be inside, and try to guess what the song is. Such a nice memory," Blue explained, memories fonding over that for a little bit. However, this did come across as a little bit surprising to some.

"Whoa, hold up. So White actually used to be a decent Gem?" Bismuth questioned.

"Surprising, isn't it?" Blue Pearl said. Her memory wasn't as strong as Lapis, but it still was something. As they were talking though, the Sphettr began to take notice of something away from the hot spring, and over towards the forest's edge. In particular, Steven's bag.

"Legend has it, that there was once a time when White Diamond actually used to truly smile," Blue Diamond revealed.

"NO," gasped Pink Diamond.

"Yes. Her smile use to be a smile of hope for the future. … She never smiles like that anymore."

"I bet she does, she just does it while killing people," Peridot figured. 

"Probably not far from the truth," Bismuth figured. Since it wasn't much of a stretch, no one was gonna bother her about it. Blue Diamond sighed.

"... When White Diamond was spotted coming back to Homeworld after so long, I was afraid at first. But she seemed so different from last time. … I thought that maybe we could try to reconcile. To get along again. And when you said to teach her friendship, I really was hoping it could work for a better Era 3. White Diamond began Era 1 with me, and I began Era 2 with Pink. And now …"

"I'll finish that statement, if you don't mind," Yellow Diamond said, already knowing what was coming, "And now White Diamond's trying to rush Era 3 and put herself as the result again with "Green Diamond" and her hybrids."

"... I don't want Era 3 to begin with her twisted ideas. But it looks like White did reassure she'll have a control of it. Sounds silly, huh?" Blue admitted.

"That WON'T happen," Sapphire promised.

"... You sure?"

"Blue, it's not silly to be hopeful. The best ideas are from people that hope something will happen, and Era 3 is gonna be the best era Homeworld's ever seen!" Steven reassured her, climbing onto her shoulder.

"And besides, we didn't even try yet. Steven's got his class of friendship ready for her, don't you Steven?" Pink said. Steven nodded, as Yellow diamond pulled herself out of the hot spring.

"Well, if you're ready to begin, I'll go and fetch White. It'd make it easier on everyone if I tell her the situation," Yellow said.

"Very well, but be careful. White can be very … controlling."

"Yeah. … Oh! Wait, that can be a good lesson! Here, I'll go write it -"

Soon after Yellow Diamond and her pearl left, they did eventually notice though was the Sphettr managing to open the bag, its head investigating what was inside. Much to Steven's worry, it was the main compartment, and Connie was trying so hard not to just expose herself to everyone else. Too bad the curious creature was like a hyper puppy, and just as well trained as one.

"Hey, that's not yours!" Steven shouted, quickly jumping towards the animal … only for his diamond jumping to launch him way off in the air. "... DANG IT!"

"Coming, Steven!" Lapis said, flying up to get him. However, before Lapis could reach Steven, the Sphettr knocked over the bag. Connie couldn't keep herself hidden, as the Sphettr kinda dragged her out like a dog would do dragging a garbage bag.

"... CONNIE?!" Pearl gasped.

"Ok, before you freak out, give me a chance and hear me out first," Connie quickly insisted, not wanting them to completely flip on seeing her. Steven REALLY wished he could've done this better, still floating up there as Lapis got to him and helped him down.

"Did you predict this will happen?" Blue Pearl asked Sapphire.

"Let's just agree that we did," Sapphire replied.

… And with them distracted by Connie, a sight of something lurking, and spying, within the jungle made the Sphettr dive back into the safety of the water. These creatures have their target in sights.

…….

As for White Diamond, she did indeed come out of the ship for a bit herself, though while the others were ACTUALLY relaxing, she was handling business of a different kind. White Pearl stood aside, and White Diamond had a open screen leading back to Homeworld, only to open and find …

"D-Diamond?"

"Hello, Stubby. You enjoying your stay?" White Diamond asked. It was a little harder to see on first look, but White Diamond knew Stubby was stuck in one of Homeworld's many prison cells, much to his dismay and disbelief.

"Enjoying it?! Oh, let me think - NO I don't like being locked up! What gives anyway?!"

"Whatever do you mean?" White asked, finding it funny that he was a bit bolder now than he would be face to face. Stubby could only look so threatening when he was in a projection screen.

"I thought you're gonna throw me to the Diamonds first and let me go!"

"Did I say that?" White asked.

"Yes! I may be a coward, but I'm not stupid!" Stubby retorted. White brought her hand to her mouth, as if "reminded".

"Oh dear, I did, didn't I? Must've slipped my mind. Oh, I'm such a terrible Gem, forgetting such a detail o so soon," White sighed, acting as if this was a actual mistake, and even throwing some "Rarity drama" into it by bringing the back of her hand to her gemstone. Stubby really felt he was looking at a troll, not a Gem, but then White's eyes glared down at him.

"I don't like that look - what're you gonna do to me?"

"You'll find out. Now if you excuse, I believe I got class today." and with that remark, White Diamond closed the screen, leaving Stubby shaking in his paws on what she was gonna do to him. However, it wasn't exactly gonna be THAT simple. …

*POOF*

White Diamond turned to the source of the noise, but the thicket didn't make vision all too impressive. What she did see was the moving shadows of a few figures bolting away. It was a very faint sight, but the glean of Yellow Diamond's gemstone was just visible enough. Guess the locals made a sneak attack on the Diamond, and whatever they were, were just strong enough to finish her fairly quickly. They were moving a bit too quick to get caught by White if she did bother to give chase, and they left nothing behind but a bunch of dust. The dust did leave enough of a trail to see where they were actually going, heading away from the forest and over towards some rocky outcrops. One in particular looking like a great tower.

"And the plot begins," White thought.


~~~~~~


"I-I don't know what happened - my diamond just got attacked by something, and next thing I knew I was alone!" reported Yellow Pearl.

That was the main message that got them away from the hot springs, and towards the destination in question (far as Yellow Pearl knew). They had little to go off of, but with one of the Diamonds in their custody, they honestly had little choice. 

"I can't believe this: we haven't been here for more than a few hours, and we already got a problem! Normally it takes at least a day or two before we find a problem," Steven said in dismay.

"Steven, nobody ever plans for these things to happen," said Sapphire, "Now let's try and bring her back."

"Yeah, everything will be fine! It'll be fine … please tell me it'll be okay," Yellow Pearl said, still shaky and looking to Steven. Steven felt bad, but he had to put on a bit of a braver face.

"Hey, we'll get Yellow Diamond back. Now let's find where she is first," Steven reassured, going on ahead a little bit. The tracks the thieves had left were a bit vague in shape to paws, but they were a bit far in between, meaning either they were very far in leg room, or were moving very fast.

"Hey, P-dot, you got any ideas?" Bismuth asked. Peridot took a bit to examine the footprints.

"These footprints are very peculiar in placement. … No, no it couldn't be."

"Couldn't be what?" Steven asked.

"Well, I do have one idea. There' was an alien on this planet called a Nanjarie. But they've disappeared thousands of years ago … I think."

"You think they could still be here then?" asked Blue Diamond.

"Highly unlikely. … But …"

*MRRRROOOOWWWW*

Blue, Pink, Steven and company simply stood there, looking up to the great tower that stood before them. The tower itself was completely made out of the native stalagmites and rocks, and in spite such was twice as tall as Blue Diamond's old palace. One part looked like it might snap off at any moment even so Earth physics would find that a bit impossible, but then again they weren't on Earth, so the "physics" were a little bit different here. Besides, that was the least of their worries. Yellow Diamond was somewhere inside there, either as a gemstone, or as a prisoner, and they got to get her out one way or another.

That noise was coming right at the very top. And the tracks lead directly to the tower.

"Well, I've been wrong before," groaned Peridot.

"This is Blue Diamond of The Diamond Authority!" Blue bellowed, "We know you have Yellow Diamond in there! Come on out peacefully and return her at once!"

Blue Diamond's voice echoed right to the top of the tower. Which when they looked, was exactly where the kidnappers were. They were a little bit tough to make out all the way up there, but they knew something was there since they could just make out four lights WAY at the top.

Of course, the group didn't have to wait very long until these same four started to come on down. Fast. One moment they were way at the top of the tower, and the next, they were right at the front door! Now they were on ground level, they got a much better view of what they got going here. For an alien species, the first thing that came out didn't look very alien at all. In fact, it had the spitting image of a giant black cat. A giant black cat with a human like face, giving this creature a sort of Sphinx look. This alien Sphinx strolled out to see the Gems with a easy going step, in beat to a sort of unknown tune, with such a proud and cocky grin stretched across its face. Four steps into its stroll, another suddenly "popped up" out of nowhere, a exact copy. And after their four steps, another showed up. All having the exact same kind of expressions on their face, as if they were expecting the caravan to show up. They stopped walking when they were right in front of them, but only for a fourth one to catch up to them.
The fourth one was smaller than the other three, about twice as small, but compared to the others, they all were gigantic! If any of them were standing on their hind legs, the smallest one would be well over Pink Diamond's height, and the other three matching height with Blue Diamond.

"Where's Yellow?" Blue questioned. The Big Cats didn't answer, and continued their strut as if not hearing her. Or if they did, they didn't care. Suddenly, the four cats decided to show off a little bit; right before their eyes they started to do some Discord tricks, each one fazing into the other until it looked like one body with four head stacked on top of eachother. Suddenly they were all walking again, but only the smaller one was walking on the ground, as the other three were "walking" on eachother.

"Oh no, four Discords. Hurry, get in while they're busy showing off," Peridot said, making a beeline towards the entrance to the tower, just for the three larger ones to suddenly jump in the way. They weren't gonna let them in THAT easily. Their smiles edged their faces, as if mocking her, and the fourth one started simply strolling along by, making Peridot back up.


(The Black Four Song (ブラックフォア) Jungle Emperor / Kimba Ep 35 JP parody)

4th cat; Bum bum, bum, bum, bum.
Bum, bum bum, bum.
Bum bum, bum, bum, bum bum
bum bum, bum bum, bum

1+2+3 cat; dooooooooo WAH!

The other three made Peridot jump, and just as the Gems got back together, the four Sphinx-like cats disappeared briefly, only to reappear on four columns off nearby, each one sitting on one like a platform for a singer. These jazzy cats were ready for their debut.

Alien Cats; Lurking out in the cosmos
And onto your world.
We are K-Bora!
K-Bora!
K-Bora so doh!

The others tried getting off into the tower again, but the four Ko-Bora jumped in the way again.

"HA!" they shouted, forcing them back. Blue Diamond tried launching a blue aura ball at them, but that easily missed and made the all disappear again. Only to reappear by a cliffside, coming out of the shadows on their hind legs and doing a sort of strut along the wall, sort of like a Broadway act with all moving in unison.

Alien Cats; "It's a, it's a Nanjarie!
Run away back home!

Suddenly the marching stopped when the smallest cat backed up, all four turning into this black ball of smiles and eyes.

Aliens Cats; Before we all come for you.~

The smallest cat then hopped off away, the other three in the air for a brief moment before falling to the ground. The fourth cat was out of sight for a moment, until he suddenly popped up right by Pearl and Bismuth, his big smiling face coming up between them.

Alien Cat 4; And when we get you, you'll be in our stew.

Alien Cat 1-3; WAH!

STEW?! They quickly jumped away from the cat, as the alien feline disappeared again. Pearl shot at the cat, only to miss completely as all cats came back together again, them all on their hind legs and in a sort of eerie walk towards them. A mix of swag and strut, fingers snapping in tune to the rhythum.

"Forget this song. Come on you rocks, let's show em we mean Bismuth!" Bismuth instructed. Rough time for a joke, but they knew what she meant. The Harmony Gems started to make a charge over to the alien cats. If they weren't going to get in one way, they gotta beat them first. Steven was hesitant, but no way was he gonna watch someone be turned into stew!

"Right. Let's go! We're coming Yellow Diamond!"

Aliens Cats; dooooooooo WAH!

Pearl and Lapis began firing what they could do, but the four cats suddenly turned out to be water copies of sorts, melting away as the REAL ones were already heading to Steven's way again. Steven didn't stop this time, shield up to shove them out of the way. Just for one of the cats to just raise a paw and stop him cold.

Alien Cats; You think that you can beat us?
You think you can win?

The same cat picked Steven up by said shield, holding him as one would hold a meal in a dish.

We are K-Bora!
K-Bora!
K-Bora so doh!

He threw him into the air and …

"HA!" in one hit of the tail, Steven went flying.

"Got you Steven!" Lapis said, flying up fast and grabbing him before he could fall. No more fooling around, everyone started to weigh in on the four felines. But these giant cats were harder to hit than they thought, them literally dancing around each of Pearl's spear slices, Bismuth's axe cuts, and Pink Diamond's punches. Not once moment losing beat to their own intro song.

Alien Cats; Cut here! Punch there! You can't win.
You'll hit only air!
What're are you going to do?

Blue Diamond even came in with a strong aura blasting orb, shooting tons of shots at the alien cats, just for the lot to dance around them as if it were just part of their act. The only thing that did hit the cats was one of their own: the smallest one landing on top of the three larger Najaries.

Nanjarie 4; I'll suggest this …

All Nanjarie; GO ON BACK HOME!


And soon as the song was done, the cats bolted for it (one grabbing the fourth one by the tail), just before Blue Diamond's shooting left a big explosion where they were standing. The four Nanjarie rocketed clear out of firing range, appearing on the same four pillars from said song.

"Well well well, our old friends the Diamond Authority," one of the Nanjarie said, "Come for a second wind or for some more pelts for your wall?"

"What, no! We've come here to get Yellow Diamond back! Her Pearl said you stole her just now and brought her back here, so, where is she?" Steven asked.

"On top of our tower, where else? But you're a little late, pudgy," the smaller Nanjarie said, "We already got the pot going for a nice diamond soup, and your gemstone's already boiling in the pot."

"WHAT?! ALREADY?! But how could you -" Steven was on panic mode, but quickly Sapphire got to him to calm him down a little bit.

"Steven. They're just playing with you - it's impossible to boil a Diamond that quickly, if at all. She's still alive in there."

Steven took a breath, hand fanning his face.

"Ok. Ok. Easy, don't be too hasty," Steven told himself, getting a cold sweat.

"Nanjarie! If you four don't return Yellow Diamond, we'll be forced to take her from you," Blue Diamond warned. And she wasn't afraid to use lethal force on any of them either.

"You know how many times you said THAT to us, big blue? And how many times did that even work?"

"Don't you dare say another word, or so help me -"

"ANOTHER WORD!" all Nanjarie roared, and they roared this right in Blue Diamond's ear too. The Nanjarie laughed as Blue Diamond grew furious.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Steven yelled.

"Wish granted," said the smaller Nanjarie … as it grabbed him and threw him away. Next thing he knew, he was being knocked back and forth between each alien cat. He got his shield up, but he kept being tossed around like a great ball, the cats swiping at him with their paws and tails for a good ten seconds flat. This only stopped when Bismuth tackled the smallest one away, leaving Steven rolling off until he struck a few rocky outcrops - a classic bowling ball moment.

"STRIKE!" the three standing Nanjarie shrieked. Steven got out of his bubble, feeling very dizzy and off his footing.

"You alright?" Blue Pearl asked.

"I-I think so. Is the ride over?" Steven asked in a daze, before shaking himself back to his senses. The Nanjarie all laughed at this misfortune, which only infuriated them all a bit more. Not only were these aliens very fast, but ruthless in their games.

"That's not funny, you jerks!" Steven shouted. The Nanjarie started to close the gap a bit, the Gems keeping around him just in case. But fighting something like this just wasn't gonna be that easy, especially when Pearl shot at one of them, only for the head to "retract" into the body to dodge it.

"Eh, Peridot? Are these Aliens organic, or are they just cat-shaped slime balls?" Steven asked.

"I don't know, Nanjarie aren't supposed to do any of this stuff!" retorted Peridot. The K-Bora clan snickered on this revelation.

"You should've updated your journals then, should ya?"

"We learnt a few tricks over the century. Wanna see one?"

"NO!" they all shouted.

"Oh well, if you insist."

And the Nanjarie showed their tricks again. They all were armed up, but Steven didn't want to lose anyone else, and he got up his shield at the ready, up in front. The Nanjarie went back a bit, and all of them jumped into the air: all connecting at the tails. Soon, with some ingenuity, the four Nanjarie had formed what they could only say is a fan blade, or plane propeller. And then they started spinning, huge gusts of wind blowing right at them.

"Everyone, get behind me!" Steven called, expanding his shield some more. They all did so, the force of the wind gusts itself pushing the shield back so slightly. It was a bit of effort to just keep them still, but luckily, Blue Diamond helped in keeping them from flying off, standing right behind them in case they would go flying.

"BYE-BYE!" the Nanjarie called, before one of the Nanjarie broke off, went flat, and like a bolt of four-legged lightning, went straight for them! A single swipe was all it took to knock Steven off his feet, the law slipping just under the shield, and that was enough for Steven to lose focus and the shield go flying off. Everyone felt the wind gusts strike them hard, powerful enough to knock them off their feet, and into Blue Diamond. She could JUST keep herself from falling onto her back, but it still was enough to knock her off her feet and onto her knees. The gusts of wind eventually stopped by this point, giving them all a break.

"Did … did they stop?" asked Connie.

"We got only five seconds," Sapphire shuttered.

"F-For what?" Peridot asked. Sapphire only pointed downward, and it was there where the rest of the Nanjarie were. Only now, instead of a fan blade, the four had flattened down into a disk, just big enough to hold them all.

"Ready for blast off.~"

"Oh gimma a break," Yellow Pearl groaned.

*BOING!* With amazing strength combined with all four of them, the Nanjarie straightened out, and the entire group, including the heavy Blue Diamond, ended up launched clear out of the field! The group was well out of sight, and the Nanjarie turned back to normal.

"Have a nice flight!" one of them called, the rest laughing as they went back into the tower. Yellow Diamond wasn't gonna be given up that easily.

As for the group, it took some combine effort between Blue Diamond and Steven's bubble in order for them to land safely. But with that launch though, that "K-Bora" group had launched them so far away, they found themselves by the edge of the same jungle they started in. This isn't anything natural, alien or animal, but regardless these Nanjarie weren't giving Yellow up.

"Everyone okay?" Blue Diamond asked

"I think so," Connie replied. The giant bubble was removed, and everyone got off of Blue Diamond, a little shaken but pretty ticked at these four giant alien cats. However, not all of them were entirely alright.

"M-My Diamond …" Yellow Pearl whimpered. Very rarely did Yellow Pearl have to strike it alone, but at least when she did she was reassured Yellow Diamond was alright. But not in this case. And it didn't really help that the area where they landed was right over by yet another Diamond, her walking in soon after they landed.

"White?" said Pink Diamond.

"Hello Blue, Starlight. Having some issue?" White asked, the "Starlight" still referring to Steven.

"No, we thought flying like birds would be a fun idea," Pink groaned. … Which actually did sound like fun. You know, if they actually wanted to try that.

"I see. So, where's Yellow?" White inquired. Barely time to give them a chance to regain themselves it seemed.

"Oh White. She's been taken away by some of the aliens here on Heiligdom … and now they're gonna make her into stew," Blue said, her emotions starting to come back up. The others around her began to feel a hint of the emotional barrier, tears coming in their eyes as well (except for White Diamond, that is).

"What is this "stew" you're talking about? I've heard some find it pretty delectable," inquired White.

"Does it matter?! They're gonna shatter Yellow now in their evil dinner pot if we don't do something," Pink said. White Diamond started to ponder a little.

"Oh, this is a bothersome thing. And just before our "friendship class" as well," White said. Well with that remark, they could say that Yellow did give the message (if Yellow Pearl told them that, at least), but now was not the time to wonder about White's mental state.

"Don't worry, White," Steven said, "We'll make your first lesson happen, AND save Yellow Diamond too. Now, where do we start? …"

*KYAAAA!*

Steven almost had his heart skip a beat on that sudden screech of a noise, making him and Connie bolt away. And here they thought they were actually out of trouble. At first, they thought it was those K-Bora coming back for another toy, but this thing didn't look remotely like any cat. 

"What's that?" Blue Pearl asked Peridot.

"I'm … not entirely sure. Local aviary, maybe?" Peridot wondered. It did look like some sort of alien bird, but on an alien planet who was to really say? It was some sort of strange hybrid mixture of a wyvern dragon and some prehistoric pterosaur, but of course some alien influence included at least three sets of eyes, some extra limbs ending in webbed hands, and the wings almost fish-like, like the fins of a whale or dolphin but hollowed out. It also had a long beak, straight and pointed like the prehistoric flying reptile though some teeth could be noted inside the jaws so it was by no means unarmed.

"Are you hurt?" Steven asked. All they got were some non-sensical squawks, which themselves sounded a bit like a mix of a cow's moo and dog's bark.

"Nice try, Steven, but maybe it doesn't speak English," said Connie. Only for the alien to squawk back.

"I vet up, pprity soon!" it shouted, though obviously "pprity soon" wasn't gonna come up so quickly. Not exactly English, but broken English was about as good enough.

"Good enough for me," shrugged Lapis. Seeing this though, while it didn't help with Yellow Diamond much, did give Steven a good idea on his first lesson.

"I got an idea. White, think you can find us some fruit, or find my bags? I think there's some snacks it can have."

"Starlight, I know you mean well, but what even for?" White questioned. The alien tried to go for a tiny alien bug on the ground, but its beak couldn't seem to get it all too much.

"Friendship lesson #1: helping others because it's the right thing to do," said Steven, "He's hurt, and we want to help him. Here, watch me." And so, Steven walked right up to the alien in question, clearing his throat for some "alien language".

"We. Help you?"

"VISH OFF!" the alien snapped harshly. Well, it wasn't gonna be that easy, as the alien tried to steady himself on his legs, one of his wings dropping to the side and one leg a little wobbly. "Vat fer you help me?"

"What happened to you?" asked Connie.

"K-Bora shump me, Nanjarie!" replied the alien. Well they just met the K-Bora not too long ago, so they knew what that was. The alien tried to better balance a little bit, trying to show he was okay, just to end up collapsing onto the ground again. Whatever those K-Bora did really didn't leave him with much to work with.

"Uh, ok uh. We. Take you. To hot spring?" offered Connie, trying the same language approach.

"Go vey," the alien said, "wing no goo, but I walk venty gud." The alien tried again … only to fall over again. "... is long vay?"

"Where you come from?" asked Bismuth, as Steven and Connie helped this alien up and began going off towards the hot spring from earlier.

"From vig! VIG OKAN! My homevin. Vig okan. KYAAA. Kyaaaa."

And as they were moving this alien bird away, White diamond took a glance back towards the tower herself ...


~~~~~~


A quick turn of events. So, they brought their alien "friend" back from the forest's edge, and over into the hot springs from earlier. He found a nice spot to settle down over by the water's edge, dipping his beak to drink now and again, and occasionally going for some of the bugs that fluttered by as the others nearby tried to think on what to even do. It was a nice gesture to help their alien, which at this point they were calling "Cya", but that didn't exactly help Yellow Diamond's predicament. It was high enough odds that Nanjarie were still around, but it was even moreso to have Yellow Diamond of all gems just caught and captured like that.

"Looks like this family trip isn't gonna be so simple, huh?" Bismuth said at a point.

"Since when was it anything simple for us? You'd think we would've learned by now," Peridot said.

"Speaking of learning, what was with those K-Bora? They said they learned some new tricks over the century, do Nanjarie normally do any of that stuff?" Connie asked.

"Not at all. Nanjarie are literally just giant cats from outer space, so unless they got some magic book or something, I don't know HOW they got to do that," Peridot replied. Not a single report prior to abandonment of this colony had said anything about this, so she was just as lost as they were.

"Well it doesn't matter, I'm not leaving until we get Yellow Diamond back. … I just wish I knew how," Steven said, feeling rough about the whole thing.

"Well ok, let's see what we do know," said Connie, "... Well, we know they're very fast, they don't have any bones apparently, and by the sounds of it they've seen the Diamonds before. You think they're the reason this planet wasn't colonized like the others?"

"Hmm … I never thought of that," Peridot pondered. Sapphire may of said the planet was special and wanted to keep it as such, but these Nanjarie did kinda throw a wrench into that story. Some eyes began to look over to Sapphire, who was … actually a bit flustered.

"Sapphire?" Bismuth asked.

"... W-Well, it was such a slim possibility there would be any left, I didn't think this would happen. Sorry everyone," Sapphire admitted. It was a mistake sure, but some of them knew how rough that could be on her so they didn't really push that subject any further.

"It's fine, Sapphire. Now, all we have to do is get Yellow Diamond out of there. Now, how to do it?"

"Don't you have those portal keys?" Blue Pearl asked. The idea seemed simple enough: use the Portal Keys to teleport there and get Yellow out.

"Wait. Oh yeah!" Steven said, readying his key.

"Don't!" Sapphire suddenly said, getting Steven before he could use the portal. This time, her future vision was more on point now, and the possibilities were a bit more focused now they know the Nanjarie exist.

"Don't tell me: they're gonna be waiting for us?" Peridot figured.

"If any of us go there, they'll just ambush us, and add to their dinner. If they can poof a Diamond, how easy for them would it be to poof any of us?"

"WHY is there always a catch?! We can't just stand here, my diamond's gonna be stew-ified or something!" Yellow Pearl said. She REALLY wanted to get this sort of rescue going, but it was just becoming a bit too troubling. Sapphire took a moment to check on the future visions of hers, keeping calm as to not have the visions overwhelm her. As she was thinking, one of their group did eventually come back to them, Lapis simply walking back … and ready to just pull her hair out.

"I. Can't. Take. Anymore."

"Lapis? You ok?" Steven asked.

"Can someone else talk to Cya, please? I had to sit there for half an hour to watch over him, and he WON'T SHUT UP," Lapis said, fingers digging into her own head as she glanced back to the alien bird, who by the point was trying to bite into one of the alien bugs, and chatting away with a Sphettr close by. Whether or not the Sphettr even understood him was hardly a difference to the alien. Apparently.

"You couldn't handle him? But I thought you were used to that kind of thing by now," Yellow Pearl said. As much as Lapis wanted to slap her for saying that, she just huffed.

"Doesn't mean I enjoy it," Lapis growled, before taking a breather by some actually good company. "Peridot, it's your turn."

"What?! No way, I'm not listening to that noise!" retorted Peridot. Still, it was kinda funny that they would bring up Cya now, because Sapphire just finished going through the possible outcomes of their rescue mission. A number of these options didn't bring in any end result all too good, but there was one idea that just might be their best bet.

"That's it."

"What's it?" Blue Pearl asked.

"The bird. Cya. Everyone, listen, I have an idea."

…….

So, with the plan explained, and with some reluctance on Lapis and Peridot's part, some of them began going over to Cya, who at the moment was just about to have a drink. He sure didn't look too hurt now, which was a bit good.

"Hey, Cya. You still aching?" asked Bismuth.

"Hoo hut? I no hut, yo hut," said Cya, as he went back to clenching his palette on the water. They better get to the point.

"Good. Listen, we kinda need some help in getting someone back. Can you help us, please?" asked Steven. Cya stopped drinking briefly on that question.

"Ay, Ay le mi thik abut it. … no."

Well, their alien "friend" wasn't gonna be of much help for them if he wasn't even gonna bother himself. All his squawking, and complaining REALLY didn't suit well for much of them either, but Steven just needed a few minutes as he started looking around …

"Ha on … vere are maet? no big maets?" the alien wondered. Blue Diamond and White Diamond had to kinda disappear from sight for the moment, if this plan was gonna work, and it did seem that the alien was taking notes of that.

"Yes," Steven thought. He FINALLY noticed. The alien got up, a bit wobbly of course, his head darting one way to another, but all he could find is the group of female gems and nothing more. He started "sniffing" around for a bit, his beak touching the ground a short bit. and then …

*KYAAAA! *KYAA - KYAA - KYAA - KYAA!*

"Clod, can you squawk any louder please? I don't think we heard you," Peridot groaned, finger digging into her ears.

"YO STUPID PEBLES! YO GOT VO MAET! VERE ARE MAETS?! VERE ARE CHIIKS! PPRITY TRUBLE FER YO!" the alien shrieked, suddenly slapping Peridot repeatedly in the face with his hand. Peridot had to step back, but this was just crossing the line.

"Why you little -"

"No, no, no, Peridot wait! I think it's working," Steven quietly said, holding Peridot back from just attacking the alien all over again. The angry alien couldn't believe that this colony would have no mates to speak of, or "maets" as he referred to it. And his barrage of insults weren't done yet.

"Yo got vo branes, yo no plant - yo nee big maet fer plant! … Listen. ving betta, I go fy. fy fer yo," and he said this as he flapped his wings, which as it turned out fluttered much like that of a bee or hummingbird. "I fin big maet."

"Wow what an amazing idea!" Steven said, eyes sparkling at this "ingenious" decision, "I'd never thought of doing that, that's diamond-levels of clever! You're such a super smart creature."
They all knew this was just to rub into the alien's ego and all, but so long as he was willing to do it, the others kept their mouth shut. So much as they wanted to give him some choice words for acting so pompous. Lapis Lazuli kinda felt the most bitter about it, because for one she could easily do it herself, and feeding and egomaniac just didn't feel right either.

"Oy, this hurts," thought Bismuth.

"Now, when will you be able to fly?" asked Steven. The cocky grin on the alien's beak swiftly turned to judgement all over again.

"I fy envytine. Stan bak," the alien said, as he got himself ready. Only Steven really followed his advice, and went back until he was by the tree.

"Huen I fy - STAN BAK! BAK! bak bak bak!" the alien demanded, his wing shooing the other Gems away. "I nee voom."
So, unfortunately, they had to comply for this to work and they all went as far back as Steven's tree. This was more than enough room for the alien flyer to take off, but with all this healing, he still needed to check himself first.

"Vings op!" he said. The alien aspect of those wings started to show, as they suddenly shapeshifted from whale fins, to sharp-edged albatross wings with a flick of the muscle, the tips sharp as knives, and gleaning in the sunshine. He checked with his beak to make sure his skin was clean, sleek, and streamline for the upcoming flight. He had to look his best and feel his best to take off into the air.

"Huen i fy, I sooooorrrr … I guiiiiid … I sircle."

And then he started to run. Everyone made sure to stay out of his way as he charged off along the ground, racing at top speed as he could go as his wings stiffened out. It took the alien a few decent attempts to get himself going, but once he was fast enough, he launched himself right off into the air. It took a few flaps of the wings, but sure enough he was airborne in no time at all. Once he was up high enough, his four legs retracted into his body, like the wheels retracting on a airplane, leaving only his wings and his small arms as he flew amongst the skies again.

"... You sure we HAVE to wait here?" asked Lapis Lazuli.

"It's the best chance we're going to get."

…….

But was it though? White diamond overheard everything that happened, and her gaze turned over to the tower. Which, she took note, that Cya was NOT flying towards.

"Helping someone because it's the right thing to do, huh? … Well, Starlight, let me give that a try then."


~~~~~~


The hours ticked by, and they still had no sign of Cya anywhere. It really shouldn't take Cya this long to find the K-Bora, but they probably should've planned ahead on this part in case Cya would just ditch the altogether. And at this point, as the Heiligdom sun was starting to go down, the group was getting a little bit antsy.

"Not that I doubt your plans Sapphire … but this is the worst plan ever," Peridot grumbled.

"Be patient," Sapphire said. They really tried to be, and while it was good that the alien bird wasn't jabbering in their ears, they still weren't sure when he'll come back, if he'll come back.

"Yeah, he'll come back any minute now," Connie said.

"Why're you putting so much trust in this creature? He's probably gone back to that "vig okan" of his," Yellow Pearl figured.

"I don't think so. But geesh, if I knew we'd just end up using him to get Yellow Diamond back …"

"Don't feel bad, Steven, it's the best chance we have," Sapphire reassured.

"But guys, we're just helping him because it's the right thing, not to use that to bribe him. I want to save Yellow Diamond too, but I think White Diamond might get the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea?" Pearl asked.

"White might get out of this that you're only supposed to help someone if you get something out of it. But that isn't friendship if you only do it for yourself, it's to help others and make everyone feel good."

*KYAA!* *KYAA!*

"Cya!" Pink said, now up on her feet. Sure enough, high up in the sky was Cya coming in for a landing. Good timing for the alien bird to come flying in, just as they were having doubts about their own plan. Cya took a bit to steady his flight path, his wings spread out as he brought out his back legs … just for him to crash into the water. Not the best landing they've ever seen, and Cya poked his head out of the water.

"Pefekt ladin." he simply said, pulling himself out of the water. He gave his body a good shake before the others got over to him.

"Cya you're back! Did you find anything on your flight?" Connie asked. Cya nipped off some of the kinks in his wings, retracting them before looking to the rest of the Gems in front of him.

"I fin big maet un fy ovr ere," explained Cya, "GREA MITY MAET!"

"That's great, where is she?"

"Seriously, how're they understanding him so well?" Peridot HAD to ask. The broken English was still hard to get for her, no matter how close to English it sounded.

"Vy vig plan. Oof ere! Too maets fer yo. Heh. Ish Cya goo r wat?"

"Very good, Cya, very - … wait, two?"

"Did I miss anything, Starlight?"

With all their troubles, and they forgot the most complex one. Then again, there probably was a reason that everything was a bit more quiet today. As the trees moved aside, there came in White Diamond and her Pearl coming in. White Pearl was just fine going along, floating over towards the other Pearls, and White Diamond had a little bit of a surprise for them, cradled in her hands like a child.

"Yellow Diamond!" Yellow Pearl gasped. Well, moreover Yellow Diamond's gemstone, but still her diamond nonetheless. White Diamond smiled, and placed the dormant gemstone over by Yellow Pearl, who grabbed it and held it tight in her grip.

"You got Yellow back? When'd you do that?" Steven asked.

"I took a visit by the K-Bora's stronghold while you all were tending to Cya here. Helping others because it's the right thing to do, correct?" White Diamond answered. Steven suddenly felt ecstatic about this response, as White Diamond kneeled down to him. Just one lesson and White's already taking it to heart!

"So, Starlight. Did I do good on my first lesson?"

"You did great! Thank you, White!" Steven beamed. White diamond smiled sweetly to him, straightening up.

"Come along everyone. Starlight, we had plenty of time on this planet, ready to visit the next one?"

"Oh, sure! And I'll make sure to get friendship class started this time," Steven promised.

This all was fine and good, and a good end result for getting Yellow Diamond back, but the way it happened … well, something just didn't feel correct here. White Diamond just walked off, and got back Yellow Diamond even after Sapphire's main plan?

"Wait a minute," Bismuth wondered.

"You're thinking it too?" Lapis asked, Bismuth nodding. As the others were starting back to the ship, the two looked over back towards Cya, who himself was going to go off on his own way.

"Cya, one question before you go," Bismuth said.

"Eh? Wat?" Cya asked.

"Did you happen to see anything else on your flight over here? Somewhere by the K-Bora, maybe?" Lapis questioned. Cya took a little bit to think about that one before answering.

"K-Bora? OOO, K-Bora! Yah, thee gon gud. Vig maet wen too em a - BOOM!"

"Boom?" the two Gems thought. Cya turned around from there.

"Goo luk!" Cya said. And with a running start, Cya went off towards his "vig okan" of his, for real this time. Bismuth and Lapis pretty much got the same idea right then and there. With a nod to one another, Lapis got out her own brand of wings and flew right up into the sky to see what actually happened. Lapis had to fly up pretty high to get a good view of the landscape. She saw the forests and the hot springs, and the plains splitting the place from the K-Bora territory, but she saw something that shook her up.

The giant Nanjarie tower was missing.

Lapis landed right next to Bismuth with the most shaken up look on her face, only confirming their suspicions.

"... We'd better tell Steven," Bismuth said.

"Agreed," Lapis replied.
> Symbiotic Relations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ah. My old enemy. You shall be beaten."

While one team was off and busy in outer space, that didn't mean nothing was going on back at home. Half of the Gems were going about their own business, yet their other half were keeping themselves busy with other things amongst Beach City. For the moment, while some of the Gems were either off on missions or busy studying other things, Amethyst and Ruby, Fulgurite, and Diopside were taking their time off of all that, and were actually busy with another very important task.

Getting the high score off Meat Beat Mania at Funland Arcade.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Ruby told herself, trying her absolute best to keep up with the crazy beat of the game. She and Sapphire had played this game way back in the day, and the rhythmic gameplay was just as catchy and addictive as she remembered, but without Sapphire's future vision to predict where to hit the next pig. She was in competition with Amethyst, who being more experienced with video games was actually doing a better job than Ruby was.

"What's wrong Ruby, keep up with me," said Amethyst, who made it look easy. Ruby tried her absolute, maximum effort in this game of hers, but eventually, Ruby just couldn't keep up with her, and ended up just goofing up one too many times. The screen eventually showed a happy, giddy chicken as the pig slumped off in the corner.

"That's how you do it!" Amethyst said in triumph.

"AUGH, I had that! It's so much harder without knowing what'll come up," Ruby griped in anger. Cheating, yes, but it helps. The red Gem just decided to go and do something else, seeing Diopside nearby handling her own high score on one of those sharp-shooter games of hers. Her Gem eye made accuracy super easy, and she was shooting the enemies even before they could come out, much to the shock of some gamers nearby. Diopside only stopped when she decided that a high score of 777777 was good enough for her, letting the alien jump her, and her getting her prize. Did anyone even need to say how well she did, and deserving that high score?

"Hey, Ruby!" called Diopside. Though seeing Ruby looking a bit pouty, arms crossed and having those "anime pouty faces", puffed up cheeks and all. Cute, but Diopside knew when she would be all ticked off.

"Amethyst beat you again?" Diopside asked.

"HOW is she so good at a game she never played before?! It's not fare," Ruby shouted. There had to be some sort of hacking involved here, but really it was just good timing on Amethyst's part.

"Come on Ruby, no one's ever lucky the first try," said Diopside.

"Hey, you still want all these tickets?!" called one of the gamers nearby. Diopside blushed a bit, knowing those tickets came from her own hardcore gaming prowess, especially since there was a pretty good pile of tickets now along the ground.

"Uh, I'll clean it up in a minute," called back Diopside. Not exactly the best example to follow. As they were standing there, Fulgurite had just finished her own gaming moment, and actually got a prize from the counter with her tickets. In this case, it was just a reporter's hat, which she wore like a crown.

"Hey guys. What do you think of my new crown?" Fulgurite asked, flicking the rim of her hat to show off a little bit. Diopside made one of those slashing motions across her throat, but Ruby heard her loud and clear. Fulgurite, with her quick wit, already got two and two together.

"Still no luck, huh?"

"No," Ruby grumbled, though she didn't like admitting it. If she knew it would be this bad, she'd probably ditch the idea altogether. The yellow speedster Gem took one simple look over towards Amethyst, who was being a good sport about this. Namely because she won. The idea quickly came to her on what to do. Amethyst only noticed Fulgurite when she gave a poke with her electrified hair.

"Hey, Ame! One round, you and me," Fulgurite said, going up to her. Amethyst was feeling a bit smug about it herself.

"You think you gonna beat this beat meat mania, Fulgurite?" Amethyst asked, arming herself up with the "weapons of choice". Fulgurite did the same, not even using her hands to hold them she was that cocky.

"I don't think, I know."

"Avenge me, Fulgurite!" Ruby said. If she can't beat amethyst, perhaps one of her pals could. Amethyst and Fulgurite had been killing it on many of these arcade machines lately, so now Meat Beat Mania was the tie-breaker to see who truly was the top dog in this gaming castle. 

"And … go!" Fulgurite and Amethyst armed up, and pretty soon the game started right up again. Amethyst was doing well with her arms going every which way, but Fulgurite simply rested her arms in a confident cross as her hair did all the work for her. With no bones in her hair, she was just chilling out as Amethyst tried to keep up. The other people in the arcade began to take notice of their hardcore gameplay, but as they were busy with that, Diopside took a bit to take her tickets over to the front counter and get whatever prize that can give her. As she was just about to handle that though, her Gem eye glanced off outside. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but with Diopside's keen Gem eye, the even so slight shine of magic was seen just by the front of the Funland arcade. The flash wasn't much like a camera, but more like a teleportation spell instead. The message instinctively went over to the nearest Crystal Gem (which was Diopside), and while Mr. smiley was contemplating reality in how many tickets Diopside got, the Gem got a rolled up message with a signature Luna symbol on it.

"Princess Luna? Wonder what this is about?"

…….

Over in Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle had been trying so much to make things right with Moon Dancer, but unfortunately the only progress she had made so far since actually talking to her was, well, keeping an eye on her. And even then, that was thwarted time and time again thanks to the work of the schedules given to her by the royal guard.
For that morning, the scenario wasn't all too different: Moon Dancer was going off on her way from her home and towards the Canterlot Library. The ponies nearby her really didn't say all that much to her, if anything at all, as she went right into the library. Though this was the norm for the mare, there was still a shadow with her, in the form of Twilight Sparkle (who at this point was incognito), joined by Starlight and Spike … who also were incognito, insisted by Twilight. The disguise wasn't more than glasses, but it was the best Twilight could think up on short notice. Twilight may be dead set on this plan of hers, but Starlight and Spike weren't all too thrilled.

"Come on, Twilight, it's been three days now: Library, house, library, house, that's it!" said Spike.

"Not a single pony ever talks to her, or says hello, or even smiles to her. It's like she doesn't even exist," sighed Twilight. Seeing Moon Dancer in such a state that, according to Twilight was from her just leaving without a single word.

"She does look pretty invested in her studies. Maybe she's just that kind of pony," Starlight suggested, "You know, like you and me."

"Oh, that fine if she actually was studying for something," Twilight insisted. "She's not putting that effort into anything, or actually putting a goal for herself. The least I can do is try to -"

"Make it up to her, I know. But do you really though? I mean, you didn't decide to make her like this," Starlight butted in, pointing a hoof to the library and by extension, to Moon Dancer.

"But it's still my fault she's like this. Here, maybe if I try again," Twilight concluded.

"Morning princess."

Unfortunately, fate kept pulling her away. The second she took a step out of the safe zone, the guards of Canterlot Castle found where she was. It was a bother at first, but the guards grew used to it after a day or two of this scenario, so they knew at least where she went. Twilight groaned, but put on a smile anyway.

"Morning. What is it this time? Another schedule?" Twilight asked.

"A good guess, but actually no. Your schedule is clear for the day," said one of the guards.

"YES!" Twilight thought. …

"Because you have a day long convocation to attend to."

"NO!" Twilight thought again. If it wasn't one thing, it's another thing. Starlight glanced over to the library, and she even saw Moon Dancer peek out the door, just before stepping inside. Starlight had the idea of what happened, but seeing that was telling the unicorn something else. Twilight was still bummed out, but when she was expecting a scroll given to her, the unicorn guard actually gave her what looked like a envelope. Well, something small for once. Curious, Twilight opened it up.

"Dear princess of Equestria: you are royally invited to attend the Convocation of Creatures this upcoming weekend at Mount Metazoa. We've got word of your state of affairs in Equestria, and imagine it must be extremely difficult, so we thought it would be good for you to take a break from it to come by. Looking forward to seeing you. Signed; Princess Silverstream. … PS: we got lots of games for you to play too."
And the message ended with one of those wink faces. Twilight hadn't heard of this Convocation of Creatures before, though since she wasn't the ruler of Equestria until this point, it was something that probably was more fitted for Princess Celestia.

"... Uh, what's the Convocation of Creatures?" Twilight asked, thinking this to be just some other big meeting or something.

"Actually, the Convocation of Creatures is more of a event held in Equus, where multiple species get together to basically catch up with eachother: see on current events, get reacquainted, that sort of thing," explained one of the guards.

"Wait, really? ALL species are gonna be there?!" Twilight gasped.

"Well, all leaders are gonna be there, with whomever they wish to come along of course."

"Think of it like going to one of Ponyville's celebrations, but with more species. We gave this same invite to the Crystal Gems of Earth, and got your advisor to help you as well, if it makes you feel any better," added the second guard. Well, while she won't be going in alone, and it sure felt exciting to her, there still was the matter of Moon Dancer off in the library. This convocation did sound like a fun thing to do, and a change of pace from all the work she had been doing the past months. But what was she supposed to do here? …

But then a smile came to her face.

"Do any of my guests have to have a royal decree?" Twilight asked. The guards looked to one another.

"Um. Well, no, I don't think so. As long as they have a royalty's approval, anypony can come."

"That's all I wanna know. You get the airship ready, and set up some security while we're gone, I'll be right back," Twilight said, as she trotted away from the group, and over towards the library. The guards understood and galloped off to handle just that, Starlight Glimmer already thinking on what was actually gonna go and happen. If this all works, it could help everybody. They just needed an okay from Twilight's guest, and they were good as gold. With some confidence in this plan this time, Twilight went right on into the library, where as before the last few days, Moon Dancer was still steadily working her learning magic in her own books.

"Moon Dancer?" Twilight asked quietly.

*SSHH* said the crowd. Again.

"Come on, I wasn't even yelling," Twilight whispered in annoyance. Moon Dancer just glanced to Twilight, though unlike before, Moon Dancer wasn't even gonna bother with her this time and kept a good stack between her and Twilight.

"You again? Look, I'm trying to study here, don't you have anything better to -" Moon Dancer was suddenly quiet when Twilight levitated the same invitation to Moon Dancer, telling her of the convocation of creatures just from that alone. Moon Dancer readjusted her glasses, reading it over.

"Listen. I've been given this invitation to the Convocation of Creatures, and the guards told me that I'm allowed to bring some friends with me."

"Great, so why don't you go invite those crystal -"

"I want you to come," Twilight stated. Moon Dancer stopped altogether.

"... Excuse me?" Moon Dancer asked, feeling legitimately surprised at this. Who would invite her to something so important anyway?

"The Convocation of Creatures, I want you -"

"I know what you said, but … why? And don't say because we're friends, because of course you'd say that," Moon Dancer made clear, given Twilight was the princess of friendship and all that jazz. Well, so much for that answer.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that wasn't the case. But just as well, you love to learn about new things. What better chance to learn about the other races from around the world, and even beyond that, than this? So … you want to come?" Twilight was crossing her hooves for a good answer as Moon Dancer pondered about that for a bit. On one hoof, Twilight was giving her the ultimate chance to learn who knows how much, and without any dangers from meeting any of these races. On the other hoof, this would be a strong hit on her reading time. Eventually, Moon Dancer closed her book.

"Okay, fine, I'll go. But only because I got nothing else to do."

"YES!" Twilight beamed, jumping into the air and almost taking off.

*SSHHH!* the crowd said. Geesh, one-track mind these ponies.

"Don't they have anything better to do?" Twilight quietly asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea," replied Moon Dancer.

Well the plan was finally set, and Moon Dancer and Twilight went on out of the library to get themselves ready to go. Twilight sure felt pretty good about this whole thing, FINALLY able to make up to Moon Dancer for her past flop. Moon Dancer … well, she was more in it for the learning bit. Regardless of the case, the two at least were getting somewhere. As the two left though, their actions were all in watch by another set of peering eyes, watching just enough from the upper balcony of the library. Soon as the two were out of sight, she went on and slipped back a bit. In her pocket, she pulled out what seemed to be a miniature Gem communicator.

"This is Budgerite contacting Grogar, come in Grogar, over," Budgerite said, quiet just enough so the ponies won't give another wave of shushing.

"What is it, Budgerite?"

"The cat's gonna go away in the next hour or so, repeat: the cat's gonna go away. Should we commence "the mice will play"? Over."

"First off: stop that walkie-talkie talk. Second: where're they even going?" Grogar questioned. Budgerite blushed a little bit before she answered.

"W-Well. Yes, uh. Twilight said something about a "Convocation of Creatures". Sounds like a really royal thing to me, so I think the princesses MIGHT join her? Maybe? … I dunno, but the guards are gonna be on lockdown while she's gone."

"That leaves us a good forty eight hours - plenty of time to get that throne practically hoofed over to us. You keep an eye on them and tell me within the hour they leave, I got a meeting to check into."

…….

"Way da go Stubs."

Well this was a fine kettle of fish. White sure had him tricked there: thinking AT LEAST he'll be good to go once they were done with their nightly get-together, just to get tossed into jail with the other aliens amongst Homeworld. All Stubby could really do was pace back and forth and contemplate with what just happened.

"You had just one task, ONE job, and you go ahead and screw that all up! What am I supposed to do now that I'm locked up in here? Warp the walls? I bet White's got Blue and Yellow all friendly now," Stubby thought, banging his head on the wall. It sure didn't suit too well for the canine, as he really had little to really handle for himself. He could see other types of creatures across from him, which didn't suit well for him either. Stubby looked across the cage.

"... What're you in for?" Stubby asked. The alien only squawked his way, which Stubby didn't really suit too well for, him slumping and sliding down the wall until he was laying on the floor. Stubby just didn't feel too good with himself.

"Lord, my boss is gonna murder me in my sleep! Think, think, how do I get out of here?" Stubby wondered, stammering as he went back and forth on what his boss was going to do to him here. White Diamond was the least of his problems, but as he kept going back and forth in his cell, his sensitive ears started to pick up on something, twitching ever so slightly to the front of his cage.
A cut, seemingly in mid air. Random for most, including some of the aliens in there, it did show some resemblance in the eyes of Stubby, who now was simply freaking out. Curled up in a ball on the ground, eyes locked onto the cut, as another creature stepped from that cut, and over into the Homeworld prison hold: the Ram king Grogar himself. What were the odds? Grogar took a minute to see the area he was in, his red eyes scanning the area until he found Stubby sitting in the cage, cowering in his presence as he did with practically everyone else.

"... Got caught? Stubby?"

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Stubby kept repeating. Grogar though didn't really want to hear that from a failed problem like this. But then again, Grogar didn't want to use him inside a cage either, so the ram aimed his curved horns right over to the ends of the cell he was in, giving it a good ol' ram. The hit made the entire prison hold shriek as the other aliens started to freak out, but Grogar didn't pay them much mind. At first.

"QUIET!"

And just like that, all the aliens were silenced. Anymore racket, and all of Homeworld would hear them. good thing they did get quiet though, as Grogar rammed the cage one more time, finally disabling the bars and Stubby able to get out. Stubby wasted little time in throwing himself at Grogar's hooves, even kissing them to show who's side he was on.

"You miserable thing. How'd it happen?" Grogar groaned.

"I-It's was that White Diamond - I tried to manipulate her, but she threw it all right back at me!" Stubby said, making it out like it was all White's fault, which in a way it was. Grogar rolled his eyes, stepping back to look at all the aliens the Diamonds had in their custody.

"... Good job."

"Good job? For what?" Stubby asked, not getting it. But then his eyes followed Grogar's eyes, seeing the aliens all locked up. Grogar stepped back, this time his horns actually glowing a little bit in a strong hue of yellow, before he rammed the wall. THIS time, the walls became electrified, and while most of the creatures became shocked a little bit, the cages were all left disabled, meaning all of the aliens were no longer caged.

"Well, my lad, you may have been caught, but in doing so you found a good addition to our group. I'll let it slide this time."

Stubby gave a big sigh of relief, but only to have Grogar get right in his face and add "Don't get caught again."

"Y-Yes, king Grogar."


~~~~~~


After some more time in getting themselves ready, the group was now off and on their way from Canterlot to Mount Metazora. The skies were plenty clear for the royal airship to go through, something some of the Pegesi made sure of as they flew along. Twilight Sparkle was glad to be in some good company for the ride up: Amethyst, Ruby, Diopside, and Fulgurite specifically. Not exactly the leaders of the group, nor the "Diamond" in Steven Universe, but given their track record it was good enough. Besides, the others were too busy to bother much with them on it anyway (at least that was what Jasper said when they asked).
Amongst much of the group though, Moon Dancer kept kinda to herself for most of the flight. Sure, she wanted to check on this convocation and all, like she mentioned, but interacting with the others wasn't exactly something she was as willing to do either.

"So the others won't come?" asked Twilight.

"Nope. Looks like it's just us on this trip," answered Diopside, "... So, what's this convocation about, you think?"

"Oh, I'm not sure, I've never been to it before. I do know that the rulers of Equestria are gonna come together for this event," Twilight replied, mostly going off of what the guards told her.

"Oh boy, so is this gonna be an actual party, or is it just speeches and paperwork?" asked Amethyst. She and Fulgurite weren't up to go to another version of the Grand Galloping Gala. Luckily, Luna got the word out for them on this.

"The Convocation of the Creatures is an event that helps outside races understand eachother, to bring us closer together," Luna explained.

"... So is it just speeches and paperwork?" Amethyst asked again.

"Don't worry, there's more to that than just "speeches and paperwork". My sister told me all about the last one, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Oh, how long has it been since the last one?"

"753 years, your highness," said a voice. With that voice, out came another accomplice on this flight towards Mount Metazora. She had a white coat, a dark brown mane, lighter brown eyes, and a cutie mark of an ink pen and inkwell. Both her mane and tail were up in a bun, and her outfit consisted of a pair of reading glasses, and a collar one would find on a suit.

"Well, doesn't sound THAT long ago," shrugged Fulgurite.

"Thank you, Ms. Inkwell," said Luna. The pony, Raven Inkwell, went on towards them with some papers and forums floating alongside her.

"Hmm … Inkwell. Inkwell - oh! You're Twilight's royal advisor, aren't you?" Diopside asked, scratching her head. The white unicorn nodded.

"That's correct mam. Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, I need some more signatures on these forms," Inkwell said, showing the forms to her. Oi, more forms. Fantastic. As Luna was going over her own signatures, Twilight looked over to Moon Dancer, who was passing the time by just staring off into the clouds.

"So, you excited to get there?" asked Twilight, trotting over to her.

"Sort of," Moon Dancer replied, continuing to look off into the clouds for a bit, as if there was something actually interesting about them. Twilight just sat there and looked off to the clouds. Moon Dancer had tangoed with Twilight for the last couple of days, so, Moon Dancer got the memo on what she wanted. Unlike before though, she couldn't just walk back to her house or the library.

"... So how's princess work?" Moon Dancer asked. The first time she actually decided to talk to her casually. Twilight felt very glad for that.

"Oh, it's been going well, but I've been far busier than I've ever been before: all those meetings and what not. But I always have time for -"

"Princess? The forms?" cut in Inkwell. Moon Dancer was not impressed.

"You were saying?" sighed Moon Dancer. Twilight wanted to slap Inkwell for cutting in like that, but this was just a short little write up, so begrudgingly she went and got her name down on the forms. Course, this chat didn't go unnoticed.

"Uh, Twilight? Why'd you invite her again?" Fulgurite quietly asked. Far as they knew, Moon Dancer was just a pretty boring pony to be around.

"Because I'm trying to make amends with her," replied Twilight. "I just hope this works."
The group took a glance over towards Moon Dancer, the mare feeling mostly bored more than most. There was only so much enjoyment one could have when just staring off into the sky and the clouds. Moon Dancer took a breath and simply ignored everyone else nearby.

But the clouds began to reveal something else a bit more of interest. Something that actually began to perk up Moon Dancer's actual attention, her eyes widening and head lifted up off the rim of the ship.
The clouds, which for the longest time seemed like the only means of interest started to move away, and the land started to become more visible to the group amongst the airship. Just then, out in the distance, a steep mountain began to present itself out in the landscape. The sides of this mountain stood out from the other mountainous land, with angled cliffsides that made it resemble armor. They noted several areas for landing strips, either for airships, hot air balloons, or for some of the flying creatures a place to just fly right into. They saw numerous other types of flying machines as well coming in, each one having their own leaders and representatives from who knows where. And at the very top of the peak, stood a gigantic temple, styled like the Kirin homes, and waterfalls pouring from underneath its foundations.

"The Hall of Unity. Take us in," Luna instructed. The airship's pilot saluted Luna, and began to work the airship from the great skies, and down towards one of the docking stations. Not exactly the ones it could be found over by Homeworld, but still a pretty close second. The ship was tied down with some Pegesi and Bat ponies working the ropes to make sure it wouldn't fly away. With the bridge brought down, the group began to set off towards the main hall.

"So every creature is gonna be attending this Convocation? Dang, I hope the place is big enough to fit everyone," Diopside said.

"Whatever leaders and representatives that could make it," Luna replied, "It wouldn't be THAT crowded, but with how many changes had happened, this occasion's going to be essential to the future diplomatic decisions of Equus."

"Diplomatic - so this IS paperwork and speeches. Well, if any of you need me, I'd be by the food table the whole stay," Amethyst said.

"... You know, why didn't Flint come? This is right up his alley!" Ruby pointed out, only for Diopside to shrug. such mysteries can never be figured out. Though, there was some facts that was probably going to have to be brought up during this talk, and these facts about Equestria was gonna have to be known about during the meetings.

"Your highnesses?" inquired Inkwell, "The event is about to start soon, so we should head inside."

"Of course, Raven, thank you. Come along, everyone," Luna said, taking the lead into the great building. They all began to follow the moon princess, though Moon Dancer had a suspicion that she wasn't gonna have a good time coming in. Twilight was already ignoring her for the moment, but what did she expect really from her?

"Let's get this over with," she thought. If only she brought at least ONE book from her collection to keep herself distracted from this event.

And then they opened the front doors.

"WHOA! We hit the motherload!" Ruby beamed.

And boy did they. Not even a minute inside the main halls of the tower, and already they got the taste of just how much there was inside, both in terms of the building and the guests within. The tower itself was such a gigantic size, the steps themselves large enough to possibly be made by Giant ponies, or by dragons if that imaginative. The main hall was two-stories, with the bottom floor being the main holding point for the second level, which was also just as big. If compared to anywhere, the main hall had the size of the Diamond Authority palace walls, with the dexterity of the Midnight Palace off with the Centaurs and Gargoyles. The convocation was set up in matters of a true convention (which this seemed to be), which included a registration nearby the front door, a buffet table, and some directories to a few other spots amongst the area.
And then came the guests. And there was just SO MANY DIFFERENT SPECIES! There were basic pony races, but they also got a good mix of dragons, griffons, kirins, draconians, Gargoyles, and who knows what else of their respected species and races all under one roof. There was so much activity going on within these halls, with so many creatures from Breezies to Dragons. Excitement and shock was the main reaction shared by the newcomers of the group, even Moon Dancer pausing to take in what she was seeing, wiping her glasses clean to make sure it was the real deal. They could already spy some familiar faces amongst the many crowds of creatures, specifically the royals.

"DAAAANG, look at all this! We got Dragons, Zebras, Yaks, some Deer over -" Amethyst stopped talking once one particular figure started to present himself, the Changeling discussing a few things with the current Dragon Lord. Surprising to find her here, but heck it was a nice surprise.

"No way! K, catch you all later. Yo Ember, what's up?!" Amethyst went right off on her way to check out the crowds around, as the others were basically doing the same. There was A LOT to be had in this place, though Twilight did stop herself when she turned back and saw Moon Dancer still standing off nearby. Twilight flew back over to her.

"Let's have some fun, Moon Dancer," Twilight simply said.

This was gonna be a LONG stay, Moon Dancer could tell. But all the same, she couldn't be too upset at such a sight that befell her eyes. It was almost like this was some sort of dream, seeing so many together all at once. Not too long during their discussion, Thorax and Ember stopped their chit-chat briefly when they saw the others coming their way.

"Oh, Twilight hi!" said Thorax, "Glad you could make it."

"Yeah, us too. Thorax, this is my friend Moon Dancer. Don't worry Moon Dancer, he's a nice Changeling," Twilight introduced.

"Since when?" Moon Dancer had to ask, keeping at least one hoof back from Thorax. Thorax was a bit withdrawn by the question, but kept calm anyway. He expected much.

"It's a long story," Thorax said.

"Yeah, good time for you to show up. It's been getting a bit boring around here," Ember said, a playful punch to Amethyst's shoulder. Amethyst was glad to see the dragon lord too.

"Good to see ya too, your majesty dragon lord Ember," Amethyst said, acting VERY formal, just for the two to laugh. Formal? Yeah, right.

"Good to see you again, Thorax. Not being mean, but, I didn't expect you to be here," said Ruby. Thorax felt a little bit humble, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, me neither. Since Chrysalis fell from power, I've been trying to bring the horde back together with some of my new ideas with friendship. It's not much," Thorax explained. Ruby had her memories of the Changelings still with her, and this news was very great to hear.

"Thorax, that's great! Having the Changelings share love instead of fight for it. How many did you rally up for that?" Ruby asked, excitedly.

"Well as many as I could find after the Pony of Shadows' defeat, so not too many. But I guess that's enough to get a invitation to this convention."

"Convocation," corrected Luna, "But yes, what you're doing is very noble of you. To help your kind even after they turned on you. That is worthy enough of this visit."
Thorax was actually blushing a little bit on that compliment. Not often do Changelings ever really get compliments so freely like that, but at least this time it didn't result in Thorax going ballistic.

"Well it's all good, but I'm NOT used to any of this," said Ember, "Dragons don't do diplomacy, or whatever this is. This is not my element."

"Don't worry, Ember, you're the coolest Dragon I know," reassured Amethyst, "You're gonna make a great show for Dragonkind!"

"Th-Thanks Amethyst," Ember replied. Well Ember and Amethyst were doing pretty good.

"I hope I can make a good show for the Changelings too. We got such a bad reputation already," Thorax said, his holed hoof scrapping the ground. Ruby went to his side.

"You're a very nice Changeling, Thorax, I think you'll make a good word."

"R-Really? You think that, even after I-I replaced you?" Thorax asked. Ruby cleared her throat.

"Lava under the bridge," Ruby simply said. Not exactly the term of use, but the meaning was still there. Why should Ruby hold a grudge on him after he helped her friends out in the end? Twilight looked over to Moon Dancer, who was kinda beside herself with all this information.

"How much did you do while out of Canterlot?" Moon Dancer asked. Twilight blushed and smiled.

"We got a lot to catch up on, believe me," Twilight admitted though she was looking forward to it. Not exactly what Moon Dancer was looking forward to.


~~~~~~


Canterlot was still keeping itself up in arms as best it could possibly manage without Luna and Twilight within the city. The guards, up in arms around the palace. It was hard to find even one spot without any sort of guard somewhere (one of the rare times guards were actually on guard properly). But with all of their patrol, the threat of Grogar still was looming, as the ram took a look amongst the castle, Budgerite and Bray in attendance as always.

"Look at those unicorns," noted Grogar, "crawling all over my palace like insects. I'm gonna really enjoy sending all of them away."

"Oh boy, there's so many. How're we gonna get in there?" Bray asked.

"Don't worry, I got it all figured out," reassured Budgerite, "The guards all keep patrol in pairs, with the front doors being free every hour and a half. Now Bray, if you can just go in from the west side, I can come in from the eastern window while the guards are -"

"Will you shut up?" Grogar snarled, shutting Budgerite up. Budgerite clamped her chatty beak as the ram looked to the castle.

"I got a better idea," Grogar cut in … as he just marched straight up to the front door. OK then. Bray, and Budgerite actually stayed still by their hiding place. Grogar waited long enough, and with the alicorns now away it was his big chance to get himself in there. The front guards only began noticing Grogar after he stomped the ground near them in his next step.

"Can we help you?" the guard asked.

"You can. Help me by clearing out the entire castle before I decide to tear everypony to pieces," Grogar instructed. The guards armed themselves for Grogar just in case. They knew a threat when they hear it, but Grogar barely saw this as a threat. The ram went right up to the spears, and while he sliced one spear end with his hoof, he crunched the other one with his sharp teeth. The ram snarled like a savage wolf right at them.

"Stand back, goat! By orders of the princess we're not letting you pass!" the guard demanded, still standing in his way.

"First off, your princess isn't here. And second: I'm a RAM!" Grogar roared, before he charged right forward at the door! The guards, both unicorns, summoned up their magic shields to keep him back, but Grogar also had some magic of his own, with his horns glowing strong. The hit made the magic fizz out, and it was strong enough to ram the doors off! Both guards were thrown aside.

"WOO! GO GROGAR!" cheered Bray. With the front guards now good, Bray and Budgerite raced in and joined him. Of course, such a crazy entrance was gonna get some attention from the other guards, some even falling over their own hooves just to see what happened.

"Hey you! You're trespassing on royal property! Leave in peace, or we'll have to make you go!" one of the guards warned.

"Why don't you come try and make me!" Grogar roared. The guards aimed their weapons and tried to do just that, but the magic from Grogar's horns made short work of the guards, spears turning to charred chunks, and unicorn guards flying to the walls. As what probably should've been expected by now. Grogar went over towards one of the dazed guards, pressing his large hoof right down onto his armor.

"What's going on?!"

Another unicorn rushed in from the upper balconies. While Twilight was off on her way, Starlight Glimmer agreed to stay behind to keep guard as well, and the second she heard that crash she was rushing in like a madman. The sight of so many guards down left her shivering a bit.

"What're you doing?" Starlight demanded. Grogar huffed.

"Bray? You want to kill her, or shall I?" Grogar offered, freaking out the guard a bit as he desperately tried to get himself up.

"WHOA, ok, you're raising the bar WAY too quickly!" Starlight said, heading down to the same level as Grogar, "Let's start from the beginning: what do you want even?"

"What is rightfully mine, you pathetic horse. This kingdom belongs to me! And with the alicorns not here, who's going to save you now?" Grogar said, feeling like he already won the castle. He already took out a lot of the guards amongst the castle, one other unicorn wasn't gonna be any different. Starlight armed herself.

"Not if I can help it," Starlight warned, her horn starting to glow. Grogar glowed his own horns for what came next, and a large magical beam shot directly at him. His horns took the hit with little effort, and in fact he actually held that power in his horns before shooting directly back at her! Starlight found a fight in her own hooves, teleporting out of the line of fire, before reappearing and shooting again, keeping herself in the air thanks to levitation.

"WHAT THE - Unicorns can't fly! You don't even have wings, pony!" Bray said.

"I don't know who you are, but if you think you're gonna take over Equestria, you got another thing coming," Starlight warned. Grogar responded by another good shot of his horns right at her, Starlight teleporting again.

"You little - BRAY! BUDGERITE! Keep her still!"

"One, two, three!" shouted Budgerite, she and Bray leaping at her. Starlight Glimmer found herself grabbed by both associates; Bray biting onto her tail as Budgerite sat on her back and grabbing her ears. Grogar gave Starlight a sinister smile, as his horns began to glow once more. This will be his new kingdom right then and there … or it would've been, rather. Bray and Budgerite looked behind Grogar, and the two then saw something that made their hearts stop.

"N-N-n-n-n-no way. G-G-G-Grogar?"

"Don't talk while I'm killing, Bray," snapped Grogar.

"What's all the noise?"

Grogar spun around, expecting another royal or guard to come at him, but what he saw too made him suddenly stop cold. … Spike. He was probably more dumbfounded than anyone else there, but when Grogar saw him …

"A … baby d-dragon? … B-But that means ……."

…

"FALL BACK!"

What even happened there? One moment they were willing to kill everypony, but all of a sudden they all were running mad for the door! Bray and Budgerite bolted off first in panic, Bray tripping over one of the fallen guards as he ran for it. Grogar, while still shaken a bit, had one more thing to say.

"Just you wait until you're alone," Grogar warned, before he bit down hard into Starlight's neck, and throwing her at spike before he too bolted for it. Just like that, everything stopped altogether: nothing but a broken door, some charred spots on the walls and floor, and a good bunch of beaten up guards and scorched metal.

"... What just happened?" Spike asked. Starlight got herself back up.

"O … K … I'm just gonna work on a report. Spike, think you can clean up for me?" Starlight asked, but before Spike could finish Starlight was already going off on her way. Spike looked off to the damaged main hall, one flag falling down onto the ground.

"Oh, why me?" Spike wondered. Whelp, time to get to work.

…….

The Diamonds now gone on holiday, Stubby took this time to explore around the palace. He did leave them with their own minds busy, yet without knowing exactly where they were going he can't really follow them at all. Besides, he can put his mind at ease while looking around the place, knowing that the most dangerous beings on Homeworld weren't anywhere near the place. That, and it seemed guards weren't a worry either, as he didn't see any signs of any Gems to keep post. No Jaspers, Amethysts, Citrines, or whatever. Stubby himself did feel a bit small in this place, but that could go without saying. He always felt small in most situations after all.

"Funny, where is everybody? I thought this would be way more dangerous … oh well!" Stubby started to chillax some more, and next thing he knew he was actually prancing around in the halls and large rooms of the castle. Most of his work would end up putting him in the deep end of things, but this time it was more of a simple casual stroll through the halls, and this time without someone over his shoulders to actually make him worried.

"Hmm. Wasn't there a sauna around here somewhere? I could go for some of that hot water," Stubby told himself, following the faint scent of water from the sauna room. Whether it was still active or not, he'll just have to figure it out when he'll get there. Stubby eventually found the hall that lead towards Yellow's sauna (or least it should). As Stubby went on through the hall towards the next room, his big ears started to pick up on something …

Faint voices. Very faint voices. Stubby stopped briefly, and looked around a little bit, his ears twitching and moving to try and pinpoint the noise. However, there wasn't any sort of figure to be found anywhere around him. He got his paw into his ear, cleaning it out a tiny bit to be sure he wasn't just hearing things.

"Oh boy, am I on that level of paranoia now? I could've sworn I've heard someone," Stubby wondered. He went over to the front of the hall, checking once again to be sure no one was even there.

Then he started hearing the voices again, this time from behind him in that same hall. He turned around, but once again there was no one there. NOW things were getting a little bit questionable.

And then he turned around. The temperature suddenly dropped when he suddenly found that he was … not exactly alone. Far from it actually. He'd been seeing the specialized markings along the walls, plenty of them lined up in a row too. At first he thought nothing of it the first time he went through these halls to talk to Yellow, but now … let's just say he should've noticed them the first time.
The walls, or at least some markings on the walls, weren't just there for simple show. There were faces on those walls! And each face had a set of long, and flat arms, each with the same kind of gemstone on their foreheads. Each one of those faces did have a sort of voice to it, but none of them spoke louder than a whisper. Eventually though, one of these … Gems? Is that the right word? Well, one of them did see Stubby looking at them, and all at once they all stopped, arms back into position, and acted as if they didn't move at all.

When one of them looked to Stubby again, it probably had never seen a more perplexed, shocked, and scared face. Ever. His eyes were wide, ears dropping, and jaw opened so wide it could almost touch the floor. A rather faint noise was seeping from Stubby's open jaws, almost like the sound of a deflating balloon, before he himself clamped his jaws shut … and whacked himself in the head.

"Oh … o-o-oh … I. I. G-GROGAR!" And with that, Stubby turned and bolted out, leaving these wall things for the moment. He knew Gems were a different kind of race, but THIS was just something else. One of these things glanced to the one next to it with a confused look, the other which only shrugged on the name.


~~~~~~


It sure was a VERY LONG time during their stay over in the Convocation. Not saying they didn't have their own fun time going about doing who knows what. A full day in this place went by pretty quickly, and there was just so much to be had. The Gems themselves were keeping themselves busy throughout this whole thing too, mostly thanks to Thorax and Ember honestly. Amethyst and Ember were hitting it off and somehow Amethyst avoided a feeding frenzy with the dragons present there (her being a walking gemstone basically), and with Ruby and Diopside's help Thorax was making a pretty good word for much of the Changelings he gathered.
But despite all of this hubbub, Twilight had been trying to get things better arranged and better acquainted with Moon Dancer throughout much of the visit. Too bad the entire convocation was constantly pulling her away from doing much with Moon Dancer. Be it either talking to another royal, checking some stands and booths, or just seeing some forms by Inkwell or Luna, Moon Dancer wasn't really being reacquainted with Twilight too much. If anything, Moon Dancer was taking more time learning of the other races personally instead of dealing with the Alicorn.

Despite all of the fun, there still was the more diplomatic part of this entire visit, and eventually that had to come around to the actual politician discussion for Equestria's future. This year was probably a more important task, considering not only the "incident" months back, but with how many new leaders had showed themselves over the years.

"You don't wanna come, Inkwell? You like the convocation, don't you?" Twilight asked.

"I like the convocation, but more of the actual work, not the ceremony," explained Inkwell, "If I wanted to hear politicians talk for a few hours, I'd stay in Canterlot. I'll leave this to you."

"Hours? PLEASE tell me it's not gonna be that long," Fulgurite said.

"Well, you can't blame them if they got WAY more to talk about this time," Diopside said. "... Eh, by the way. You feeling okay with telling them, Luna?"

Luna took a quiet breath.

"It would be best to tell the world now before we could move forward. If they are gonna be aware of Equestria's situation, they need to know of Celestia's successor," Luna replied. This news of Celestia had gone about, sure, but not to everyone. For the good of Equestria, the truth needed to be known to Equus.

"Good thinking," said Amethyst, "Keeping anymore secrets is NOT gonna sit well. Alright, let's get this hour long talk-fest over with so we can get back to the fun stuff."
And she said this remembering their own experience with big secrets, and how much damage it could do if released at the wrong time, or kept for too long. But as Inkwell was going off, Twilight noticed that Moon Dancer was still just standing there. Moon Dancer strolled away, bored out of her mind, but with the meeting just about to start Twilight couldn't really meet with her now.

"See you after we're done then?" Twilight said. Moon Dancer rolled her eyes.

"Oh sure, can't wait," she said, sarcasm being her form of wit for the day as she walked away. Twilight knew the tone didn't mean Moon Dancer was having fun, but everyone else was already going off in there, and as the princess of Equestria she had to go and do the same.

"Okay Twilight, how long are you going to worry about her? You've been worried sick all day about this," Amethyst asked.

"Well, I've done so much, but … I don't think it's enough," Twilight replied.

"Then maybe you should leave it alone," Amethyst suggested. She could get trying to cheer up Moon Dancer, but seeing Twilight ruin her own fun to do so perhaps wasn't the best way to go around this. Twilight tried keeping this in mind as they began to go into the meeting room. … Or at least, Amethyst did.

"I'll be right back," Twilight said, before trotting off away from the meeting room. Amethyst groaned, but there wasn't gonna be much to stop Twilight here. So, Amethyst just went on to join the others. Moon Dancer soon noticed the Alicorn following her, getting more annoyed.

"This again? Stop bothering me, and go handle your princess stuff already," Moon Dancer said, ready to go off on her way. THAT again. She'd been tangoing with this all day long, and at this point, Twilight was getting desperate.

"Haven't you been having fun?"

"What's it to you? Look, you wanted me to come, and I did, what more do you want from me?"

"I've been trying to make up for my mistake!" Twilight finally said, "I wasn't there during your party, and you're hurt because of it! So please, let me make this up to you."

"And you thought this was gonna do it, huh?"

Twilight suddenly was caught off guard.

"Uh … yes?"

Moon Dancer had reached her emotional limit.

"Oh sure, why wouldn't it? It's not like that party was the first time I put myself out there, and you didn't bother to show up! And then you left town without saying goodbye, even though we were supposed to be friends! And THEN, when you actually decide to come back home, you didn't even recognize I was ever around at all!" Moon Dancer explained, more and more pain in her voice as she was continuing. Twilight almost stepped back on the sheer force of her words.

"I was humiliated! I didn't feel like I was important. I NEVER wanted to be hurt like that again! Those ponies back in Canterlot: Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Lyra Heartstrings! THOSE FOUR finally convinced me that I had value! That other ponies would like me, and want to be my friend! AND YOU! DIDN'T! SHOW! UP!"
And in her fury, Moon Dancer actually forced Twilight out of the way, making the alicorn fall off her own hooves as the unicorn galloped off away. However, Moon Dancer's running didn't last for too long before she collapsed onto the floor, crying her eyes out. Now the truth was fully brought out to the alicorn: it wasn't just her absence at the party that upset Moon Dancer. But the value that was lost with it as well.

She had to make this right. Feeling tears come up from her own eyes, Twilight slowly moved over to Moon Dancer one more time, gently placing a hoof over onto her.

"... You're right. This trip can't mend what I did to you. But please. Don't let my mistake be the reason you can't be friends with anybody else," Twilight said. Moon Dancer, with her eyes still pouring with tears, looked up to the alicorn.

"Moon Dancer … I've faced magical creatures, extraterrestrials, the end of Equestria, all sorts of things. But seeing how my actions affected you … was one of the worst feelings I've ever had. As much as I want to be forgiven for my mistake, that isn't something I can make you do, so … well, I just want you to understand that I'm sorry. … You don't have to apologize if you don't want to."

There was nothing more that Twilight could do here. It was all up to Moon Dancer now, and Twilight Sparkle did all she could now. The choice was all up to Moon Dancer now. Twilight Sparkle turned around and slowly started to head on back towards the ceremony. Moon Dancer simply stood there for a bit, wiping away some of her tears. …

"...…. Twilight?" Moon Dancer asked. Twilight stopped briefly, turning back to her.

"... Uh ……. we can try again. … Being friends," Moon Dancer decided.

It was the best this was going to get.

…….

Back in Canterlot, Grogar, Bray, and Budgerite got themselves far enough from the situation, and managed to elude the now alert guards, which at the point was checking around town wherever they could to find the lot. They got to their hideout, surely, but while Bray and budgerite were shaken in their shoes, Grogar was ticked off more than ever, pacing back and forth.

"I can't believe this! Out of ALL the things that had to appear in Canterlot, It HAD TO BE THAT ONE!" Grogar yelled, his back hooves kicking one of the barrels in the room to the wall, shattering it right above Bray's head.

"IT CAME FROM NOWHERE! Last thing I expected: A dra - a dra - a dra -" Grogar couldn't even finish the very word itself, it was such a scare for him. Bray and Budgerite shared a similar sort of fear, Bray covering his head with his front hooves both from Grogar's anger, and the dragon "menace" that lurked around Canterlot.

"A-a-a-a-a-a … D-D-D-D-D-Dragon," Budgerite finally chirped, shaking so much she could hardly keep still. Who could blame her for being scared of a gemstone-gobbling, giant, flying lizard?

"Huh - WHAT? Where?!" Grogar snapped, frantically looking around as if this Dragon was right in the same room with him.

"It's alright," said Bray gravely, "It's not coming."

Grogar gave a breath of relief on that answer, but unfortunately for him, this also meant something a bit more bothersome for him. His mission to take over Equestria was facing something he just couldn't face.

"Well, that clenches it. No chance for us around here mates. Not with such a - A VICIOUS! Drag - Drag - Drag - … about," Grogar concluded, much to his own dismay. Did he want to take over Equestria? Of course he did. Was he willing to kill himself to do it? No way in Tartarus, ESPECIALLY by a Dragon. Bray tried to calm Grogar down, his mind scrambling to find the right thing to say to his master.

"M-My lord Grogar, it's not all impossible! D-Didn't you just get some aliens from Stubby earlier? Maybe they can get rid of it for us!"

"Against that monster?! We might as well throw ourselves into that thing's mouth, Bray!" Grogar growled, Bray cowering again as Grogar went right into the donkey's face. But the mention of these aliens though did get Grogar's mind thinking.

"... But now that you mention it, those aliens did come from a prisonhold. … Budgerite, didn't you mention before about some rocks controlling that thing?"

"The Diamond Authority, actually, yes. … W-Wait, you're not thinking -"

"I'll check the perimeter," Grogar said. YEP, he was thinking it. Grogar got his magic glowing again, but instead the glow added to his hoof, as it touched what seemed like nothing. The glow on his hoof cut open the very space itself, and sliced open the same portal he used before.

No way this could've been done at a better time.

"G-Grogar! Grogar!"

And just like that, something bolted right through the same portal, and right onto him. Next thing they knew, Stubby was gripping Grogar's throat, shaken and terrified still.

"Oh hi, Grogar. I-I have to show you something!"

...

"This had better be good," Grogar growled. Stubby was pretty persistent in getting the old ram from Equestria, and back to Homeworld with him to present his finding, which for many others would mean a good beating. Since it was Gem stuff too, he brought Budgerite with him just to be sure Stubby wasn't making anything up just to get him here.

"I swear, I'm not making anything up. They should be right over here," Stubby said, bringing Grogar and Budgerite right over to the same hall where he saw those things earlier. However, it wasn't too convincing at first. All of them didn't budge, staring up to the ceiling and staying completely still.

"You dragged me over here to look at some walls?" Grogar questioned. Budgerite felt uneasy seeing them herself, but she didn't chirp up a word about it just yet. Stubby swore he saw them move and talk.

"No, no, I swear! Here, I'll show ya," Stubby said, bolting over to one of the walls, pawing and clawing, trying to get a reaction out of them. But nothing really seemed to happen.

"Come on, Mrs. Wall Gem thing, show good Grogar you're actually alive and possibly save my life, please. Come on, you can do it!"

Much to his dismay, he got nothing out of it. No movement, nor any voice coming out of the things. They would if they could, but they weren't supposed to interact with anything besides eachother by the looks of things. They were walls after all. Grogar just stood there, unamused with one of his hooves tapping the ground impatiently. He was ticked enough thanks to that dragon, now this was just wasting his time. The angry ram, like a sinister tiger, slowly began to move closer to him with his sharp teeth barred.

"N-n-n-now wait a minute, sir, I-I-I know they are Gems er something, i-if you J-JUST LET ME - YOWCH!" Grogar grabbed the skittish animal by his tail, and slammed him against the same wall over and over again. Each hit was like getting slapped in the face, and Budgerite could only cringe on this beating until Grogar dropped him, Stubby in a daze. Grogar opened his mouth wide, and -

"S-Stop!"

FINALLY, one of them spoke. Grogar stopped immediately, bolting his gaze upward near the ceiling, just in time to see one of these things look down at him in worry, just to turn away and mimic the others. This one wasn't fooling the goat though, as he backed away from Stubby.

"... Budgerite, you're half Gem, talk to me," Grogar instructed. Budgerite went over to him, looking up to the Gems.

"Oh! Uh, these are Gems that became harvested, Grogar. It's basically a punishment if a Gem can't do their job, s-so instead of shattering them the Diamonds put them to another use … which is holding Homeworld together. Literally," Budgerite said. Stubby cowered behind her, as Grogar looked over each one of them. His anger slowly began to build up, taking in the idea. Gems may be nothing but rocks at the end of the day, but this kind of existence ...

"Sir?" Stubby muttered. Grogar didn't answer them though, steadily backing up until he felt the opposite wall. Stubby and Budgerite kept themselves away from his path, having a bit of an idea on what would happen next. The one that spoke up suddenly started to put two and two together, but unable to do anything was just able to close its eyes and take it. Grogar, scraping the ground with his hoof, suddenly made a mighty charge directly at the wall! Budgerite was just about to speak up on this idea, but Grogar already made contact with the part of the wall before it could be said otherwise.

"G-Grogar!" *BAM!* "Wait, don't do that -" *BAM!* Grogar's ramming shook up the whole hall, Budgerite rushing out of said hall as the ceiling started to break! Stubby was following her lead, and bolted to safety, Grogar still trying to ram the part of the wall off. Eventually, Grogar did stop to check the progress. Plenty of hits, but this wall wasn't budging. Grogar then saw Stubby and Budgerite off nearby.

"Quit dithering over there, and get these Gems out."

"But Grogar, they're holding the palace together!"

"And what did I just say?"

Budgerite and Stubby weren't being requested here. Budgerite and Stubby joined Grogar, trying to pry the part of the wall out of the palace. Grogar's ramming did make the part of the wall a bit less sturdy, and Grogar needed just a strong yank with his teeth to finally pull the part of the wall out, the Gem falling to the floor, and possibly moved for the first time in centuries. Budgerite looked up to the ceiling, but luckily one part wasn't gonna break the entire hallway down.

"Get this lot back with me, and whatever other harvested you can find. We're getting even more members."
> Family Ties
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She destroyed the Nanjarie?!" Steven gasped.

It was only a matter of time until they managed to tell Steven what was actually going on, or in this case what did happen. The ship had long been in space already though, so, there wasn't much time for them to really go back and fix it - not that it mattered. For Lapis and Bismuth, they had to wait a long while until they got their chance to tell him, straight after Steven was left alone by White Diamond in his room on the ship, with the "friendship lessons" paper in hand.

"I think so? I didn't see their tower standing, so they're either homeless or … dead. One or the other," Bismuth replied. Steven felt like slapping himself, laying down on his back as he felt a cold sweat.

"Dang it, why didn't I ask HOW she saved Yellow Diamond? And I thought she did great on her first lesson too," Steven wondered. And he was so excited when he heard of her "rescue" too. Lapis landed over by him, her water wing wrapped around him. A bit wet, but comforting at least as Bismuth sat beside him as well.

"Well, she did save Yellow Diamond right? I mean, before she wouldn't even bother to do that," Lapis pointed out, trying to find a bright side to this. Steven still felt uneasy about the fact she just wiped away the Nanjarie for it though.

"I guess not, but did she have to kill the Nanjarie to do it?" Steven asked.

"Hold on, kiddo, we don't know if she killed em or not. We just know she got rid of their tower," Bismuth said. But the tone of her voice wasn't exactly ignored, as Bismuth did suspect what actually happened a bit more than the other two did. Bismuth sighed.

"Look Steven, you're dealing with a Diamond that's been doing this for practically all her life," said Lapis, "If you're gonna try to change her, then it's gonna take a bit more than just one lesson to do it."

Good point there. Steven thought about it, working over the lessons he had on hand. White diamond was, after all, a pretty nasty Gem to put it lightly, and since she was willing to at least listen to him this time, he had to kinda put that behind for the time being. He took a deep breath.

"Alright, we just gotta keep trying. So the first lesson didn't go as planned, but doesn't mean it can't get better from here. I better emphasize "don't kill for the heck of it" in the lessons," Steven concluded, getting a pen and circling the lesson down (which was three steps under racial understanding to give you an idea).

"By the way, Steven, it's been about three days. How're the lessons even coming along?" Lapis asked.

"It's been three days already?" Steven asked.

"Eh, in Earth terms. It's harder to tell in space," Lapis replied. Too true that statement. Well, Steven got to looking at the list in hand, though he didn't exactly mark any completed lessons yet. As Lapis said, it's gonna take more than just one go to get it right.

"Actually, White's been pretty listenable lately: she's been on time for class, and I didn't really catch her cheating on questions or dozing off during mine or Connie's lectures. Guess some evil villains still love class," Steven explained. They'd be lying if they said it was expected though. Sure, White Diamond was more science-focused and learn-savvy than the other two, though to think she would actually take the time to listen to him on this stuff was a bit … weird. But then again, White was the one to decide this getaway anyway, so, who knew at this point?

"Yeah. Evil. Steven, you're still on guard, aren't you?"

"I still have my Portal Key, Bismuth," Steven said, and to prove it he pulled it right out of his hair (Pinkie trick), and showed the key to her. Well, at least he was taking precaution somewhat. Speaking of classes -

*beep!**beep!**beep!* went his cookie cat alarm clock.

"Oh! Class time! Gotta get going, talk to you later!" Steven said, as he scrambled to get his stuff together and go off to the next friendship lesson. Steven had a whole lot to carry, so Lapis Lazuli gave him a hand in carrying some of the materials he had with him. Bismuth kept a good smile with her, but that smile didn't last for much longer after Steven and Lapis left.

"Oh Steven."

…….

*BANG!**BANG!*

With this lesson going on, Bismuth took the time to try and distract some of her worries with the main activity she'd been up to for a good couple years now - weapon making. Her room had just the thing to make that happen, including a table, which she was using as an anvil to mold some of the weapons in place, and a pot of lava to cook up the materials she was able to get from the forge before they left on their way.

"Alright, White, what're you up to?" Bismuth thought aloud, as she kept banging the metal in front of her, "No way you would just change sides that fast. What even happened to you to make you look like a star anyway? Stardust? Some Equestria magic? Dang, how'd you even get hold of magic roaming around in space?"

Bismuth basically kept this up throughout much of the process, as it was something extra to keep her mind and body working, and admittedly a bit of her own habit overtime. Long days working in the forge would do that to someone. She became a bit invested in her work, so much so that she didn't even realize someone actually was coming in.

"They do say that if you talk to yourself, you're acting crazy."

Bismuth immediately stopped what she was doing when she heard that voice, but lucky for her, it wasn't White Diamond coming in to criticize her. But it still was someone that Bismuth had mixed feelings on: Yellow Diamond. Her by herself actually, as her Pearl wasn't present this time.

"Hey, my diamond," said Bismuth, though she used that term a little loosely, and Yellow diamond knew it.

"You don't have to use that term if you don't want to. Mind if I come in?"

"Eh, a little actually."

"Thanks."

So as Bismuth continued banging some end of a molten metal for another weapon of hers, Yellow Diamond came in and actually laid down nearby, as if she found herself a bed to lay on for the moment. A bit unorthodox, but Yellow Diamond wasn't in royal company, so, it didn't bother her that much. 

"You recovered," Bismuth said.

"Yeah," Yellow said, not having much better to do. She looked to Bismuth as she was working, her eyes following each hit the hammer hand made.

"So is this what you do?" Yellow asked casually.

"Most of the time," Bismuth replied during hits, "Gets the muscles working, keeps me from throwing my fists at anyone important. Plus it arms us up pretty good."

"I can see that," Yellow replied, though she wasn't too interested in it. Soon bismuth got done another weapon of her arsenal, which in this case was just a small dagger. A bit crocked in the blade, but, it still gets the job done. But since there wasn't a job to be done, Bismuth just tossed it aside, over to a pile of other small weapons.

"So, how're you holding up with madam stardust?" Bismuth asked once finished.

"Barely," Yellow replied, "I still can't believe we're actually doing this. since when does White Diamond ever want to just run off on a family getaway? Homeworld's barely holding it together as it is!"

"Literally. Yeah, anymore damage, and you'll be having a cluster of your own," Bismuth agreed, though the joke didn't suit too well to Yellow. Bismuth got that she just wanted SOMEONE to talk to about this, and Bismuth was the only one who shared some feeling about it.

"Maybe if she didn't try to kill me and Blue first for that "Green Diamond" nonsense, I'd be more willing to come along. Not to mention didn't try to blow up the planet."

"How'd she do that anyway? Gamma ray? Knocking an asteroid into it?" Bismuth asked, as she got some more materials (what little she had left).

"We never found out, but really I don't plan to. ... Really, I don't think this plan's even gonna work, unlike the rest of you," Yellow admitted. Sure bismuth didn't want to go, but that didn't convince her that Bismuth was fully down for the idea. Lucky for her, Bismuth was ready to talk that up.

"Hey, I'm still having my doubts too. I may be made of the most powerful stuff there is, and I get where Steven's coming from, but I'm not as dense as you might think," Bismuth said, shoving her hand into the pot of lava she had, which that too was cooling a bit. Still hot enough to burn the next Gem, but not as hot for her liking, as she brought the materials to the anvil.

"So why did you come?" Yellow questioned.

"You mean besides that giant white pebble ordering me aboard?" Bismuth inquired. Yellow would be insulted if that wasn't her own thoughts about White Diamond, so she just nodded and allowed bismuth to continue. Bismuth sighed.

"Because I promised him that I always got his back. The ONLY time I didn't want to go with him when he offered me to is this vacation right now, but heck, there's a first time for everything is there?"

"Good point. I mean, you lot even got me rooting for you," Yellow Diamond said. Bismuth couldn't help but chuckle as she went back to hammering.

"Yeah, some things catch you off guard," Bismuth stated. Which considering how much went on so far, that was a pretty valid thing to say. Bismuth glanced back to Yellow Diamond.

"Don't you have a pearl with you?"

"Steven needed her and Blue Diamond's Pearl for the friendship lesson today. In fact, I was on my way to check on them, make sure White didn't turn them into puppets like she did with Pink Pearl."

Exposition revealed just enough to make Bismuth stop dead cold, the next swing to hit the molten metal stopping in mid-motion.

"Wait. Pink Pearl?"

"Of course," said Yellow, as if this was common knowledge, "... White Diamond didn't leave her alone for too long, if you know what I mean."

"But she didn't shatter her. She got her, but didn't shatter her," Bismuth said, stopping her work altogether to get this cleared up. Yellow Diamond wasn't the type to really try to soften any blows, so she just went on with it.

"It was a bit of a rough story," explained Yellow Diamond, "Pink Diamond had been nagging me to get her own pearl so much, she actually took one from Melanite's pearl distribution. White Diamond found out of course, and by the look of it, White Pearl there's the end result."

Bismuth wanted to say that was unbelievable, but she'd be wrong if she said she didn't believe that. This was White Diamond, as she kept mentioning, and if she could make hybrid experiments out of her own court, then taking a Pearl with her wasn't much of anything to her. Still, Bismuth felt her fist clench a bit on that, just reminding her what could've happened to any of her friends last couple of times White crossed paths with them.

"That clod," she breathed.

"I know," Yellow Diamond agreed. "... But, the rules say she had to be given a pearl for it to count, and Pink Diamond wasn't given her."

"Always down to rules," Bismuth groaned, "You ask me, White's just making them up on the spot so she's the good guy all the time."

Bismuth went back to hitting the metal, but when she looked to Yellow Diamond again, she found that Yellow was ... actually surprised by that statement. Not surprised in a way she'd be angry, but more of a perplexed one.

"What? Too much?"

"Too much? I've been thinking that for centuries - you're the first to point it out," Yellow Diamond said, surprised that someone else finally said it. Bismuth chuckled, elbow resting on the anvil.

"Trust me, I'm not. Flint back home beat me to the punch years ago, and he's still thinking it."

"Well, he's not wrong. Every time you'd think she broke her own laws, she's always making it out how she's right and she "technically" didn't do anything bad."

"Seriously! How many rules did that clod break: kidnapping Gems without reason, forced fusion experiments, attempted shattering of a Diamond, and heck, nearly destroying Homeworld? Geesh, someone call the gods on her, because she's got a seat down in Tartarus she's not taking."

"I don't think even Tartarus will take her. They'll force her out after a day," Yellow Diamond said, and the two actually ended up laughing. Just imagining even the beasts of Tartarus not standing her, and kicking her out of Tartarus's front door. Eventually the laughing quieted down a bit, and Yellow Diamond got back up. This talk of White Diamond just reminded her what she was doing anyway.

"I needed a good laugh," Bismuth sighed.

"Same. So, you want to check on them, or no?" Yellow asked. Bismuth stopped her hammering for a bit, checking the materials she had. It hardly was much.

"I'm running out anyway. Ok, let's go check on our professor of friendship."

.......

"Thank you for attending students. Or, student," said Steven.

Off in the control room, which itself was the best spot to do this in, Steven was handling another friendship lesson with White Diamond, who herself was having more of an amused look, but still paying attention with a content smile on her face. He had Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl with him, alongside Peridot and Connie who were extra teachers for the lessons today. Normally the others would be there listening, but they were a bit busy to stop by for now. Although not asked to, White Pearl stood right by the other Pearls as a pearl should do. As for Steven's teaching tools, he had a projector screen good and big for her to read and interact with, Steven writing out "understanding" on it. With the lessons so far, it was time to kick it up a notch.

"Happy to attend. Professor. So what is our lesson gonna be for today?" White Diamond said, finding the title amusing.

"Why're we here again?" Yellow Pearl quietly asked.

"Don't worry, it's for the lesson," said Connie. Steven, professor of friendship, cleared his throat to begin the next step of this friendship process. He even had what looked to be a "Gem pointer" - made up of touch stubs on limb enhancers - to point it out as if he was in an old fashioned classroom.

"Ok, now before we begin, some of my staff had told me that you did something a bit ... drastic, back on Heiligdom."

"You mean rescue Yellow Diamond? It may not be in Sapphire's prediction, but I can say it's a good move on my part."

"Well, it is. But I'm more referring to the "how"."

"The how?" White asked, though it wasn't a legitimate curiosity-filled question.

"They told me you destroyed the K-Bora's tower to do it, and possibly killed the Nanjarie doing that," Steven said, which the Pearl felt a shiver on hearing. But White Diamond didn't feel too phased by her own decision.

"Well, the Nanjarie weren't going to just "hand her over" now would they? Especially after they launched you and the others a good mile away. All I did was act accordingly."

"But White, did you attempt to understand them first?" Steven asked. White Diamond decided to humor him.

"Not really." White shrugged.

"Well, okay, there's your problem. Which leads us to our next lesson - " and he said this as he pointing the pointer to the word - "Understanding. If you understand and know someone better, you both can reach a better conclusion that doesn't involve destroying eachother's lives!"

"You don't say?" White Diamond said with a smile, resting her head on her closed hand as she was watching this like someone would watch a fun TV show.

"I do say. Friendship always starts better on knowing someone and the more you know, the closer you and your friends become. Blue Pearl, Yellow Pearl, can you two come here?" Steven asked, getting his volunteers up to demonstrate.

"Yes, Steven?" Blue Pearl asked.

"You two do a whole lot. Is there something you two like doing?" Steven asked. both pearls were a little confused.

"... What do you mean?" Yellow Pearl asked.

"You know, something you like to do because it makes you feel good. I like reading books, and playing tennis," said Connie.

"And I for example, enjoy tinkering with earth machinery and creating Meep Morps time to time," added Peridot, "So, you got something you like to do?" PYellow Pearl and Blue Pearl glanced to one another, but Yellow Pearl's eyes were more towards White Diamond. The rules were still in effect, so she had to act more accordingly.

"Oh, of course not! My feelings are irrelevant," Yellow Pearl stated, almost proudly. This mainly was just because White diamond was sitting there watching the whole thing, able to pummel her at anytime. As for Blue Pearl though ...

"... I like to draw."

"Huh? Wha?!"

"You like drawing? Sounds neat, can I see some of your stuff?" Steven asked, intrigued. Blue Pearl, while shyer than Yellow Pearl, still knew the main goal and wanted to help a bit more.

"Um, here," she said, as she pulled out what appeared to be a smaller touch screen, seemingly coming out of her hand. The drawing she had was actually not that bad of one, albeit just one of those "connect-the-dot" styled drawings, this one specifically one of the Gem wedding they held for Ruby and Sapphire.

"My Diamond allows me to draw during important events. They're nothing much," Blue Pearl said. Guess the first ever Gem Wedding would be a pretty important event altogether. Yellow Pearl though was a little bit worried.

"You can't share these - they're highly confidential," Yellow Pearl made clear, as she skimmed through the drawings a little bit. That was, until she saw one of herself standing next to her Diamond. Here, she was actually getting a bit interested.

"... Hmm ... not bad. Here, try a different angle," Yellow Pearl said, giving Blue Pearl back her touch screen as Yellow Pearl actually posed, one hand behind her head and the other over her gem. Steven chuckled.

"There, see? You like being a model, and you like being an artist," Steven said. The two pearls enjoyed this moment, even chuckling themselves. White Diamond took mental note of this as Steven turned to her and continued saying, "There White, taking the time to understand someone means you can find a lot of fun things to do together. You might even find someone you have a lot in common with."

"And what if this someone has opinions that clash with yours?" White Diamond asked. Not too complicated.

"Well that's not too bad," replied Steven, "Friends can like different things, but can like other things too."

"And what if this something you refuse to accept with them?" White diamond then asked, pretending to be curious about it. Steven felt a little humbled.

"Huh? Well ... oh, we have a saying for that: "Let's agree, to disagree.". And then you go about your day," Steven said. White went on for another question.

"But what if there's no possible way to just disagree with them?" White asked.

"Um ... can you be ... more specific?" Steven asked, a little confused. White was happy to comply.

"Say you're in a situation when any decision in agreement to the opposing party ends in something that will be devastating in the long run. Does that make disagreeing the wrong choice?" White asked. Steven was left in a knot, the others a little concerned about these questions. Luckily Peridot already got some words for her.

"Hey wait a minute! White we talked about this - no brain-washing during class sessions!" Peridot snapped, realizing what she was doing. White looked appalled.

"Brain-washing? Oh no, I was just being curious. Is there anything wrong with curiosity over possible friendship scenarios?" White asked, the "old" White seeping out of her voice.

"... Well no. not when you put it like that," Steven sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Kinda jumping the gun there. Good timing to stop the awkward silence, as the doors leading to the ship's control room opened up and showed Bismuth and Yellow Diamond coming in.

"How's class going?" asked Bismuth, heading over to him.

"Oh hey Bismuth, Yellow," said Steven, waving to them, "We're just about to wrap up."

"Good to know, thanks," said Yellow Diamond, as she went to her seat. Yellow Pearl was very pleased to see Yellow Diamond come in, almost immediately going over to her, standing up to her side.

"It's wonderful to see you my diamond, a-are you feeling well? Can I get you anything?"

"Easy, Pearl, I'm fine. And how did the friendship lesson go?" Yellow Diamond asked Steven, as he was getting his stuff together again.

"It went alright, we just had a lesson about mutual understand," Steven said, closing up the main screen and getting some of his things together.

"Fantastic," Yellow sighed. She did have to wonder though just how much was actually going into White Diamond, and how much was going through her. Bismuth had similar thought, but other thoughts included Pink Pearl, which if Yellow Diamond was right was basically standing right there. But with White Diamond standing right next to her, even she couldn't bring herself to just call her out on it just yet. At least, not until she was sure that was true. Any Pearl can change and look like their masters. Didn't mean she still didn't show discontent when seeing her however.

"Where're the others?" Bismuth asked.

"Oh, they're just doing their own thing," Connie said, "I think Pearl is tinkering for a bit, and Sapphire has been observing the stars for the last two days, and ... did I forget anything?"

"There's my Diamond," said Blue Pearl.

"Oh yeah! And Blue Diamond's been making some reports back to Homeworld. You know, keeping track of things."

"Well she has the right idea," Yellow Diamond commented. Can't say it was shared to the others though, but heck, at least that was something checking on Homeworld one way or another. Then White Diamond realized something.

"Oh, Starlight. Have you found your next location yet?"

"The next planet? Well ..." Steven brought up another piece of paper with the planets on it. He crossed off Heiligdom already, as he didn't really plan on making multiple trips to the same planet. It was the first stop, and there was more to get to. But then, looking over to one of his friends, he got an idea.

"Hey, do any of you want to pick this time?"

"Us?" Bismuth asked.

"Sure! I've already picked the first one, now it's your turn," Steven replied. 

"Hmm … well, if you insist, I'll pick out the next planet of choice," Peridot decided. They were gonna go to all of the planets anyhow, so he might as well give some control to one of the others. Eventually, Peridot decided to give it a lookover, and soon, she did find one planet that caught her eye, and picked it out. Blue Pearl looked over.

"Farid," Blue Pearl simply said. Just enough to be heard by White Diamond.

"A nice choice, my little Starlight, and not too far either. Farid it is," White Diamond concluded, imprinting the controls into the ship.

They were on their way to Farid now, hopefully it would be better than the last planet.


~~~~~~


Time ticked on by for the ship to make it's way through the depths of space, but in what felt like a few more hours of good ol' hyper speed, they did start to take sight of a planet within their midst. One they planned on going on into anyway. A number of star systems passed them by in blurs, with only the planet Farid becoming larger as they began to close in.
Pretty soon, the Pink Diamond ship landed down, and much of the group went right on outside to see where they ended up. Though, Farid had a bit of a different kind of world when compared to Heiligdom. Unlike that planet, which was all lush and green, this planet was a bit more barren, and with some more signs of Gem activity than the previous one had. Sure there were some plants abounding much of the place, but many of these were a bit smaller, and mostly resembling Earth weeds if anything.

"So, this is Farid?" Steven wondered, looking around a little bit as the landscape. The "weeds" around them were far bigger than the weeds back home: a dandelion for example here, was the size of an Earth shrub.

"So why don't you run off and play with your followers, Starlight? White Diamond will handle the ship here until you get back," White Diamond promised.

"I will stay with her," Yellow Diamond immediately stated. Yellow Diamond didn't enjoy the fact of staying with White, but the idea of being stranded was NOT going to fly well with her, no matter what the case was.

"Sure you don't wanna come and explore with us, White?" Pink Diamond asked. But then, it was White Pearl that spoke up.

"My Diamond has more important matters to attend to. Therefore, I will observe in her place," White Pearl decided, floating right over to them. Pearl took one sidestep after White Pearl stopped by her side.

"Have a fun time, my little sweetheart," White said, her voice in a chiming tone as she moved on back to the Diamond Ship. Yellow Diamond could already feel that this was gonna be a bit of a tough time, but she might as well take the burden herself.

"Don't take too long, ok?"

"We'll be fine, Yellow Diamond, don't you worry. Yellow Pearl, you want to -" Lapis was cut short when she saw Yellow Pearl gripping Yellow Diamond's leg, her prized possession in her grasp and she wasn't gonna leave her anytime soon. "... Eh, nevermind."

"We'll be back by tonight, Yellow, I promise. Though, you sure you don't want me to watch her instead?" Blue Diamond offered.

"Blue, it'll be fine ……. don't be late," Yellow said firmly.

So, with that decided, Yellow Diamond and Yellow Pearl stayed behind with White Diamond as everyone else went off to explore Farid. To really sum up the planet in a basic sentence, it was like they shrunk down. Most of the native plants resembled either flowers, weeds, or even grass that had scaled up to gigantic sizes. It was a bit of a surreal idea, especially to Blue Diamond who felt about the size of a rabbit in sight of these plants. She had seen these plants before on Earth and in Equestria, but she could barely hold the plants in her grip. Now when she saw a flower, it was as tall as she was.

"Wow. I feel so … small," Blue Diamond said with a cute chuckle.

"How do you think we feel?" Pink Diamond added in, feeling like an insect in comparison. As they continued going along, Steven took a glance back and saw that Connie was feeling … well, a bit hyper actually. Her breathing on this planet was a bit quickened than usual, panting as if she had just ran a marathon.

"Hey Connie, you feeling alright?" Steven asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. The air's just a bit funny, I think," Connie said. Steven was born a half-Gem, so his lungs weren't the same, but given as Connie had "grown into" being a Gem, her lungs were still the same, and as such weren't used to this air.

"Oh boy. You might pass out if you keep breathing like that," Bismuth said.

"N-No, no, Just give me … a … *phew* oh geesh."

"I'll handle this," Sapphire said. She brought her hands around Connie's head, and soon, she actually managed to get a bubble around Connie's head, and nothing further. Connie took a deep breath of normal air, finally able to calm herself down.

"Nice, instant space helmet! I gotta remember that," Steven said, as Connie felt some steady support on Lapis Lazuli.

"The air must be higher on oxygen than back on Earth, so your body was trying to adapt to it faster than you could handle, and provide the same amount of oxygen intake," Peridot concluded.

"You're not used to breathing here," summarized Sapphire, "You should keep that on you until we return to the ship, if that's okay with you Connie."

"No, this is just fine," Connie replied, "Makes me feel like we're on a real space adventure now."

"Oh! Oh! Give me one!" Pink Diamond said excitedly.

"I don't think you even need one, Pink," said Bismuth, though she couldn't help but smile at Pink Diamond's enthusiasm. It was like Steven in a sense.

*rustle*

Well it was only a matter of time until they would come across something local in Farid. While they had some idea of lifeforms back in Heiligdom, what kind of life would they expect to find here in Farid? At least Heiligdom had more similar landscaping than Farid did, not to mention a similar atmosphere.

"Stay close," Blue Diamond quietly said, bringing her protecting arm out above the others, though some of them did still arm up. The K-Bora from Heiligdom did short work of Yellow Diamond, so they weren't taking chances with this creature, whatever it was.

"What is it? Peridot?" Connie asked.

"I'm trying to think, but I don't see it -" Peridot was cut short with another sound of rustling within the foliage. Peridot's sharp vision peered into the stems of the plants, seeing JUST enough to catch something amongst the shadows. The creature itself looked very small, same size as Peridot herself actually, maybe even smaller though that could be from it slouching or on all fours. The others weren't sure what it was, all either keeping behind or ready to attack, but Peridot felt … well, she wasn't sure, but it wasn't fear of the thing. Something bizarrely familiar was about this figure, though she couldn't put her finger on it.

"There it is. Kinda small though, don't you think?" asked Connie.

"Better safe than sorry, Connie. Now, on three, we go in," Bismuth said. She didn't even need to say anything though, them all hearing some sort of noise from it. A sort of worried squeak.

"Wait, wait, wait, don't rush in!" Peridot quickly said, jumping and hanging onto Bismuth's arm to make her slow her role.

"Why not? That thing could attack us, or inject us or something!" retorted Pink Diamond.

"Just don't! … I don't think it's here to hurt us," Peridot said.

"... Why?!"

"J-Just SHUSH! Give me a second," Peridot said. As much as it would be easier to just go in and finish off whatever was there, Peridot was the expert planet explorer of the group so if anyone would know about Farid's inhabitants it would be her. Peridot began to move in closer towards the odd little creature, taking steady steps as to not make it jump at her right then and there. Still, everyone was armed and at the ready to go in just in case. The only one that wasn't ready to just attack anything there (aside from Steven nd Peridot of course) was Sapphire, who with her future vision found a particularly interesting outcome. In fact, she raised her hand and lowered Pearl's spear as a silent indication.

"Lower your weapons," Sapphire instructed. A bit of an odd instruction, but they did do so eventually. Peridot was just one step away now, the shadows separating her from this creature.  But shadows could only hide so much, and eventually, this same creature began to look Peridot right in the eyes, looking scared. Revelation showed itself when the foliage was blown ever so slightly, allowing the sun to show what was hiding.

And Peridot saw herself staring right back at her.

"A … Peridot?" Bismuth wondered, the group no longer as much on guard as before.

"... Hi," said Peridot, kindly, her hand reaching out to greet her. The small Peridot though was feeling a little bit nervous about this scenario, and upon seeing the gigantic Blue Diamond standing there, the Peridot turned around and made a bolt for it. She didn't run on two legs, but instead bounded off like a bunny rabbit, on all four legs.

"No, no wait!" Peridot called, but the other Peridot didn't stop. And then something told her to follow, and next thing she knew, Peridot was running after her.

"Peridot!" shouted Pearl. But Peridot too didn't stop and was giving chase to her fellow Gem. Steven too took a few steps forward before turning to the rest.

"Come on, guys, let's catch up," Steven said.

"We're right behind you, kiddo," Bismuth replied.

A rather quick turn of events, but soon the whole group was trailing behind Peridot, as their Peridot was trying to keep up with this other Peridot, seeing her scurry through the alien landscape. Peridot tried to keep up with this gem as best she could do, but it wasn't really that easy. The other Peridot glanced back to see Peridot rushing to keep up, yet she only ran even faster. To the other Peridot, the others were just behind them and she wasn't willing to see any of them. The other Peridot rushed through some of the foliage again, bounding as if she just dove into something, but when Peridot got her way through … well, nothing. She was gone.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" Peridot wondered, trying to find her. There was a bit of a small open spot in this odd jungle, but no sign of the other Peridot anywhere. She took a few steps out to try and find out where she went off to. Upon closer examination though, she found that there was something different about the ground. Peridot got closer to it and examined it closely.

"Hmm … this ground's been shifted. What if I? …" Peridot tested her theory, but …

"Peridot!" shouted Sapphire. But it was too late: just one step on the spot in the ground, and Peridot suddenly made the ground under her feet open up. Not exactly in a matter of a cave in, but more like a triggered platform, the hole quickly sliding open and Peridot making a quick yelp before screaming as she fell in! only Sapphire could go in fast enough, but Steven dove forward to try and get her, and the hole closed up just before he could get in, him tumbling like a tumbleweed thanks to yet ANOTHER unpresented diamond ability being triggered. At least this time he didn't have to be grabbed out of the air, since he stumbled into a stalk of a plant to stop himself.

"You can't be series, what was your Peridot thinking?" Pink Diamond asked.

"I don't know! But where'd they even go?" Pearl asked. They barely saw the hole they went into, and Lapis Lazuli got the hole exposed, getting the dirt off of it. What it revealed was actually a sealed up underground entrance. Very small too, a decent size for Peridot to just fall in but not too much bigger.

"What kind of trap is this? Peridot, Sapphire, you in there?!" called Connie, knocking on the metal opening. But they didn't really get any response. Connie and Steven tried to open it up, but it was sealed tight.

"Ok, move over you two, I got this," Bismuth said, her hand already turning into what looked like a flattened end of a crowbar. Steven and Connie moved aside, and Bismuth jabbed her crowbar hand right into the side of the circular opening. With just one swing of the arm, the opening popped off like a sewer cover, flinging off into the jungle. Looking into the passageway, it looked like it went on forever, darkening far too much to see passed twenty feet.

"HEY Sapphy! P-Dot! You two okay down there?! … GUYS!" Bismuth bellowed, and waited for a response from either one of them. However, there was no luck. Wherever they were going, they were going there very quickly at this rate. Still, no doubt on it, they had to get them out of there somehow. But finally ...

"We're okay!"

A very faint voice of Sapphire.

"HOLD TIGHT, WE'RE COMING! Who's going in there?" Bismuth asked.

"What? You're not?" asked Pink Diamond.

"You tumbling my rocks, LOOK AT ME! I can't fit in there even if I wanted to," Bismuth said, as painful as it was to admit she couldn't do it. such a big muscled frame was impossible to fit inside that small hole. Steven though was already on it.

"I'm coming, guys!" Steven said. He made a jump, his arms clapping together above his head and ready to make a ten out of ten dive right into the hole … just to be stuck in the air again when he looked down.

"Can someone give me a boost?" Steven said, blushing a little bit. Pink Diamond actually got the boost this time, jumping up and using her weight to push Steven downward to the hole.

"No, no, no, Steven, wait -" Blue Diamond's words were a tad too late.

*THUD*

"... Oh bother," Steven groaned. He wasn't that much bigger than Peridot in height, but width was a different matter, and he found himself kinda stuck half way in, his legs kicking frantically to try and get himself in. Lucky Connie and Lapis got Steven out after a few pulls, him popping out and all three falling back. Well Steven wasn't going in there, the boy a bit dirty from the attempt.

"Sorry Steven, but even you're too big to fit in there," admitted Connie.

"But what can we do? We can't save them standing out here! Besides, I'm not THAT much bigger than Peridot," Steven said.

"Well you probably can fit in there, but it looks more of a matter of width, not height," Pearl figured, examining the hole a little bit further.

"I've been trimming down."

"Nonononono, Steven that's not what I meant, I-I just mean -"

"I'll go in."

The others then turned towards Lapis Lazuli, who at this point was readying herself. From what she could make out, no one else could actually fit in there better than she could. Connie could probably, but at the risk of losing her vital air supply, and the Pearls were thin enough, but their heads were a bit too big so they won't work.

"I'll make sure they're safe and get them back here before you know it. Don't know about you, but I'm not leaving without them," Lapis promised.

"You? You sure? I mean, Lazulis aren't really known for -"

"Pink, please," Blue cut in. Lapis's weren't made for such work, but Lapis wasn't any normal cut. Lapis Lazuli took a breath, and her body suddenly started to glow a bright light. Her dress was suddenly swapped for a more tomboyish look to her: baggy blue pants toed to her waist and feet, with a white tank top. Her scarf she tied took off and tossed it over to them, Steven catching it.

"Nothing I hadn't handled before," Lapis stated, with a wink. Such a cool line she said just now, they were left without words, as Lapis turned towards her opening. Lapis glanced back once more, giving a thumbs up to them and a smirk. Lapis would not lie to any of them, and with her two friends already down there, she didn't hesitate any further. She took a few running steps forward, and with a good leap, made a dive right to the opening. And she was JUST slim enough to slip right into it. Just.

"Good luck!" called Steven.


~~~~~~


"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

And finally, after falling and sliding so far down the tunnel, Peridot finally reached the end of it, launching out like someone would do in a water slide. Peridot hit the end of her slide, tumbling head over heels a good five feet until finally slamming head first into the dirt. At last the ride was over, though she wished there could've been an easier way to deal with that. The green Gem barely got herself shaken off when Sapphire came out of that same tunnel, her landing a bit more graceful, yet accidentally knocking into Peridot coming in.

"Sorry," Sapphire said. Peridot and Sapphire both cleaned themselves off and got up to see where they landed. The smaller opening opened up to a larger cave-like area, a bit taller this time, and leading off further ahead. Where exactly they weren't too sure.

"Are the others with you?" Peridot asked.

"They couldn't fit through the tunnel. But I think what's more important is where you've landed," Sapphire replied, taking a glance back to the tunnel. Peridot adjusted her visors and took some time to see what had happened.

"Difficult to say, given there's little to no landmarks to signify our location nor any trail to follow," Peridot concluded, hardly even seeing any trail left by her previous Peridot. Did she go down the wrong tunnel? Sapphire went over to Peridot's side.

"You felt something special with that Peridot?" Sapphire asked. Peridot paused.

"Uh, can you be more specific?"

"Like a connection with her. You sure looked willing to follow her, even after seeing her just one time," Sapphire explained. Peridot cleared her throat, but did have a slight blue fluster on her face.

"W-Well … there's something familiar about her, you know? I mean, she's like uh … well, I dunno, something just clicked," Peridot admitted. Sapphire took a small moment before she took Peridot's hand.

"A-Are you just here to psycho-analyze me?" Peridot questioned.

"No. I'm just keeping you here until Lapis catches up."

And just moments after that, they both began hearing some grunts coming from the tunnel passage way. Unlike Sapphire and Peridot, Lapis had to resort to actually dragging herself through the tunnel, since her body was after all still longer than Peridot, therefore making sliding through the tunnel a bit difficult by itself. They both saw two hands grip the exit tunnel, and then Lapis's head coming out, straining slightly before she finally pulled herself out.

"Ok. That's tighter than it looks," Lapis finally said, covered in dust and dirt from moving through the tunnel. Well, at least she was through. When she saw Sapphire and Peridot she gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank the stars. You two okay? No damage?"

"No, we're fine Lapis thank you," Sapphire replied, as Peridot looked down the bigger passageway.

"Good. Come on, let's get back before something else comes up. Come on Peridot, let's go," Lapis said. However, Peridot didn't really follow at first.

"Peridot?" Lapis asked. But again there wasn't a response exactly. She didn't see the other peridot go anywhere else, and if this was the only way to explore, then Peridot had only one way to go. Besides that, with them all quiet, they were starting to hear something further down the pathway. A very faint sound of metal, and other voices. Most eerily sounding like Peridot's voice to some extent.
Peridot began to walk down the tunnel, her curiosity taking over at this point, wanting to see what the noise was all about. Sapphire and Lapis looked to one another, and eventually they both started following her down the tunnel. The larger tunnel they were in didn't stretch as far as the smaller sliding tunnel, and the further they went, the more prominent the sounds started to come out.

And then she peeked around the corner, finding the exit to their larger tunnel. Sapphire and Lapis caught up to her, seeing the green Gem just staring off, starry-eyed and all. What Sapphire and Lapis saw in there around the next bend was probably the last thing they would've expected: a work quarry. At least it so seemed to be. The area resembled that of a widely space kindergarten from other Gem colonies, but unlike most of which they've seen before, this one was very active but not in the same way as your typical Kindergarten. The land was not as "dead" as a typical kindergarten, though holes were evident amongst the rocky walls where Gems did come out. But it wasn't just finding a kindergarten that surprised Peridot the most, but more of what was actually there.

Peridots. LOTS. AND LOTS. Of peridots.

"Holy smokes," Peridot squeaked, in complete disbelief. Were they the first peridots she had seen? No of course not, but so many in one place was simply overwhelming for her to see. Sapphire and Lapis had a similar reaction of surprise, albeit less over-the-top.

"It's like an entire village of Peridots. I don't think I've seen so many in one place before," Lapis figured, watching so many going around doing who knows what. While they were doing plenty of things, the main goal of collection seemed to be their main objective.

"They appear to be Era 2 as well. I don't think Farid was known for making Peridots though," noted Sapphire, seeing how many, if not all of them, were stout like Peridot was. The three Gems were just standing there at first, but Peridot felt something nagging at the back of her mind. Lapis wasn't sure what Peridot's deal was, but Sapphire actually went ahead and whispered something to her, opening her eyes to what was REALLY going on. Or at least, what possibly was.

"Hey, Peri? Why don't we go and say hello?" Lapis decided, snapping Peridot out of her trance.

"Eh, if you'd like we can go down there," Peridot said, trying to sound more professional instead of just flat out begging her to do so. But they knew better.

"Alright professional," Lapis teased, putting in a few giggles as they started going on over. The tunnel did end in a sort of drop, so Lapis helped Peridot down with a few flaps of her water wings, as Sapphire simply floated on down herself. It was pretty hard to say where to begin, as the three started to wander in a little bit. The other Peridots around the area seemed a bit busy to really notice them coming into their workzone, and those that did just looked on with curiosity.

"Where do I even start?" Peridot wondered, seeing so many Peridots going about all over the place.

"Well take your pick, there's a lot to choose from," Lapis said, watching a group of Peridots working with another piece of work. When it came to the work around here, most of the peridots were dismantling old machines and taking parts along their way. The group Lapis saw had one Peridot tossing down rings to a waiting Peridot below, each ring going around her like a game of ring toss. Then a whole bunch fell all at once, almost looking like the Peridot got crushed, just for her to scurry about a little bit. Cartoony, yes, but at least she was alright.

"This is a nice surprise, isn't it Peridot? Finding a whole colony of your own Gem type here in Farid," Sapphire said, knowingly. Peridot sighed.

"Yeah, sure, but something's … different."

"How come?" Lapis asked, also sounding somewhat knowingly as they continued along.

"I don't know, I .. I feel like I should know these Peridots, but -"

"HEY! OUT OF THE WAY!"

AND just like that, came the first shocker of the day. Peridot unwittingly found herself right in the middle of another Peridot's targeting zone, a huge piece being pushed off a nearby cliffside down towards them! Peridot yelped, but luckily Sapphire rushed in and pushed her aside before the item of metal scrap could just crush them.
Guess fate made Peridot pick one. The same Peridot that shouted down at her was now sliding down the same cliffside, landing right by them. This Peridot had a striking resemblance to their Peridot, but of course without the Cutie Mark. She looked a bit scruffy too, with dirt stains on her clothes (which here resembled a miner to a tee, but green). Now if they didn't get the attention before, they sure got it now as numerous Peridots stopped briefly to look their way.

"What do you think you're doing?! One more second and you could've been crushed!" the Peridot snapped, her focus strictly on Peridot in question.

"Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't know that!" Peridot said, getting up. However, the hot-headed Peridot now in their midst was a bit fuming.

"How could you NOT know?! We set up numerous perimeters all over the drop zone, you'd have to have no vison spheres not to see them. Look!" the Peridot said, hand pointing to one of the "warning signs" set up.

"... What sign?" Lapis asked. The Peridot glanced over the same direction, finding the sign not set up. Not only that, but a Peridot actually walking away with it. In fact, it was the same Peridot from earlier. The foreman Peridot - they assumed to be the foreman anyway - immediately got her attention.

"NEWBIE, PUT THAT BACK!" the Peridot demanded. The other Peridot jumped in hearing that demanded, and quickly did so.

"S-Sorry, this was just left here, I thought that it's another part of the scrap heap!" the Peridot said. She grew nervous seeing the same Peridot again, but the foreman Peridot wasn't having any of it and went back to schedule.

"Look, we're running behind a bit. How's this: there's a group about to go off to the mud yards in five minutes, you and her go and help them out," the foreman instructed.

"You and her?" Peridot questioned.

"You heard me! Everybody's working right now trying to salvage this valley, everyone's gotta put in the effort, so come on hop to it. We got two more hours before we're done for the day," the foreman Peridot instructed. Peridot glanced to Sapphire and Lapis, the two kinda lost on where this was going. The newbie Peridot kinda hid behind the foreman, still a bit testy when it came to the only blue gems in the area.

"I think you got yourself confused. I'm new here, I wanted to -"

"Yeah yeah yeah," the foreman cut in, cutting Peridot short, "now if we can get at least ten of those pipes, we can easily make that bridge we've been working on. Make sure they're sturdy too, we don't want any lanky-looking rust ok?"

CLEARLY her mind was somewhere else.

"Should we say something to her?" Lapis asked.

"She'll figure out in a minute," Sapphire replied. Peridot cleared her throat and confronted the foreman, the smaller Peridot scurrying back a little bit like a worried puppy.

"OK, let's try this again: I - still with me - DON'T work here. I literally just arrived two minutes ago from that tunnel over there," Peridot explained, pointing back to the same entrance they came from. The foreman looked to Peridot like she had lobsters crawling out of her ears.

"We just need one more Peridot for the group, but if you're not interested in working there, I think there's an opening over with patrol," the foreman figured. Still not aware yet? HOW?

"Wha - I - did you even hear me?! I don't even know who you are!"

"HEY, watch it! You already almost died from wandering into the drop zone, now you don't even know me?!"

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!" Peridot snapped. Tensions were running high, the Foreman and Peridot now face to face with eachother, snarling like dogs at one another. Lapis was gonna go in to help, but Sapphire move her hand out to keep her from just bolting into the fray.

"HALT!"

As someone was already on it. Both the foreman and Peridot were knocked back, making the other Peridots cringe and hide a little bit. Both Peridots looked up again, only to find another figure standing there. She was the same size as the other Peridots, but her outfit looked less like an alien explorer, or any advanced race for that matter, and more like that of a scarecrow. Her overalls, worn out boots, and buttoned shirt easily match a more rugged and "rural" lifestyle, even included a tattered, torn up "vampire" cape to add that extra bit of spook to her. But what made her stand out the most was that her face was covered up by what could only be described as a Jack-O-Lantern mask. Peridot was shaking in her boots seeing this sudden newcomer pop up out of nowhere, the new figure giving her a side glance before confronting the foreman.

"What's all the noise about over here?"

"Don't blame me, chief! That CLOD won't agree to work, AND she nearly shattered herself walking into the drop zone!" the foreman said, pointing at her. Lucky for Peridot though, this figure was a bit smarter than the foreman was. Or at the least, wasn't as straight-minded.

"To what work? It's clear she isn't apart of our group, can't you see that?" the figure questioned.

"WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" the foreman demanded. The figure grabbed the foreman by the head, and brought her gaze to not Peridot, but Sapphire and Lapis.

"... OOOHHH."

"Wait. NOW you notice us?" Lapis had to ask, just as the other figure dropped the foreman onto the ground … and clocked her head for her mistake.

"Try not to be too angry with her, she can be VERY focused on her work to focus on anything else. Like obvious things," the figure explained.

"We saw," said Sapphire. The figure looked to the other Peridots.

"OK everyone, the performance is over, you can go on your way. I'll handle this," the chief instructed. The other Peridots took a bit, but they eventually went off back to work though some still did stuck wound to see what would happen next. The newbie stuck around thanks to the chief physically holding her, wanting to talk to her.

"These the Gems you told me about, newbie?" the chief asked. The newbie still kept behind the chief for some protection. The newbie just nodded. It wasn't until they were this close that they noticed that the newbie Gem also had a gap in her teeth, whereas through her mask, the chief had sharpened teeth. One tooth actually stuck out of her mouth as she closed her lips.

"Sorry for causing you some trouble. We found one of your Peridots and followed her here. I hope we're not intruding," Sapphire explained.

"I think it's more intriguing about your position. More importantly, what're you doing sneaking around?"

"Sneak - who's sneaking? I just want to see you guys for a bit, is that too much to ask?" Peridot insisted. The chief went closer to her, the gemstone she had giving the mask a sort of greenish glow to it as she looked Peridot dead in the eyes. The glowing eventually stopped a bit.

"What's your reasoning?"

"Because … you felt familiar to me?" Peridot said, no longer as confident in her own reason than to before. The chief looked to the Cutie Mark on her cheek, which itself was a unique feature for any Gem to have, let alone a Peridot. The chief got one idea, but it was a long shot.

"... What's your name? Full name, numbers included."

"Oh! U-Uh Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG," Peridot said, matter-of-factly. Not often did she have to give her full name. This revelation though got the other Peridot's attention, and intrigue.

"Cut 5XG? … You're 5XG?" the newbie asked, now more curious than scared.

"Uh, yeah? And uh, you are …?" Peridot asked.

"Here it comes," Sapphire thought, smiling. the Newbie Peridot began to give a big smile to her, eyes sparkling on this news.

"I-I'm from Facert-2F5L too!" she beamed, "I'm 5ZI! But everyone calls me "Newbie"."

"And I am 2F5L Cut-5XF. I'm referred to as Chief," said the chief Peridot. Peridot froze.

"... Wait, hold on. … Y-You're a five? You're both a five like me?"

"We're all from 2F5L Facet!" said one of the Peridots nearby.

"Nothing but 5 Peridots in this gang!" added another Peridot.

"That's right!" added another Peridot. The CG Peridot just stood there for a moment to comprehend what she had just heard, wide-eyed and slowly realizing why her behavior was bringing her here. ALL Peridots in this group were apart of her cut. All Era-2, Cut-5 Peridots here, and now that included her.

"My family …" she finally whimpered out. Chief Peridot smirked from under her mask.

She didn't know how, but Peridot found her Famidot family. The chief then went right up to Peridot.

"Come back with me, and we'll talk."


~~~~~~


Being better acquainted now, and with a better understanding of the Peridots in the area, Peridot, Sapphire, and Lapis were brought back with Chief to a safer distance away from the work place later that day. They didn't want any repeated accidents as they were getting things done. It turned out, while their valley of work was a fairly big one, they didn't live that far away from the site. The settlements were underground, within a cavern with a waterfall flowing through it to a deep pool bellow. Many of the houses were made into the walls with plenty of metal stairs, and elevators, and each house of the Peridots here were mostly made up of the materials they've gathered from their work station, with the chief's house made up mostly of pre-gathered wood pieces, metal, some chain-link, and other stuff gathered from outside. The interior of Chief's house was spacious enough to hold Peridot, Lapis, and Sapphire along with several other Peridots though only the chief was in there with the unexpected guests. Like curious children, at least five other Peridots were trying to look in from the windows just off outside, curious over the blue Gems inside as they were catching up to speed.

"Any of you want a drink? Plenty of metals in it, so it's good for you," Chief offered, presenting what they could only describe as liquid metal in a cup. Lapis and Sapphire didn't see them as anything appetizing though, nor something they could stomach.

"Eh … no thanks, I'm all good," said Sapphire, though she didn't want to be rude about it. Chief got the idea though, and Peridot herself took the drink pretty nicely. Lapis was a bit braver than Sapphire, and still took the same drink as well.

"I know Gems don't really have to consume anything to survive, but I found this concoction to be pretty satisfying," said Chief, going on to drink up the concoction. Peridot peeked into the drink, seeing her reflection in the metallic liquid surface. Well, if Chief could take it, so could she right? She and Lapis looked to one another.

"Three. Two. One." 

And then they both took a drink of it. Sapphire felt a shiver run through her when she saw them take a drink of it. Lapis did swallow hers but she felt a little bit sick from the taste. Amethyst probably would like it, but she would eat anything given to her so that wasn't a good comparison. Peridot however was actually legitimately surprised.

"Huh. It's actually more tasteful than I thought. I should show Amethyst this," Peridot said, taking a few more sips of the metal drink. Lapis didn't want to say anything, but placed her cup down in front of her. Peridot ended up with a "metal mustache" on her face when she finished drinking, her licking it off. It could be a Gem type thing, but Lapis didn't consider it the best thing she ever tasted.

"So you're all from the same cut from the same facet" noted Sapphire. Chief nodded.

"Basically. I was the second to come out of that division at the time, but we found someone already came out before any of us did. But we never found out where she was … well, until now that is," Chief explained.

"Me?" Peridot said, thinking a little bit, "Huh. I was told I did come out early."

"But where were the rest of you? I don't think Peridot ever mentioned any of you once," Lapis asked. She would know if there was at least one other from her cut if Peridot mentioned it, but it came up empty. The chief sighed.

"I'm just gonna cut to the chase: aside from your Peridot, we were all sentenced to be harvested."

Peridot almost choked on her metal drink.

"W-WHAT?! Harvested, why?"

"Never found out, though some of our cut say it was because we were all "new", and not as useful as Era 1 Peridots. So, we left before we gave them the chance to do that, and we ended up finding this place. We've been living here ever since," Chief concluded, pouring another metal drink for herself. Well it may be brief, but it was just enough to understand where this lot was coming from. Peridot specifically found this a revelation of sorts.

"And they never told me," Peridot simply said.

"Eh, no surprise there. You're lucky they found something useful for you … they did put you up for something outside of harvesting, did they?" Chief asked.

"Actually, I've been placed as a space explorer for Homeworld: with three hundred and two planets explored to date," Peridot answered, including both Equestria and that extra world where Hoppy and Hopper came from. Chief was actually intrigued by that.

"They put you for that job?"

"Well, they did give me Limb Enhancers first, but as you can see I don't need em anymore," Peridot replied. Such a long time since she had those Limb Enhancers of hers, and the idea that she was useless without them now was a joke to her.

"Very impressive. What planets did you do your exploring on?"

"Which ones? Hmm, ok uh … boy it's been so long, let's see …"

"I'll answer it," Lapis offered, clearing her throat, "57 lava planets, 45 ice giants, 43 Ocean planets, 10 Iron planets, 67 terrestrial planets, 39 dwarf planets, 32 habitable planets, and at least one alternate dimension."

"Wait, Hoppy and Hopper's world doesn't count as a planet?"

"Sort of," Sapphire shrugged. she never could figure it out whether it was a different world or just a different "earth".

"... Boy. You really are lucky," Chief admitted. Peridot began to feel a bit good, the other Peridots outside shocked as well on the idea.

"Well anyway, so you all were living here because Homeworld didn't find any use for you," Sapphire inquired, "Have any of you considered coming back? Homeworld has changed so much since you left."

"I'd rather not risk it. Besides, the ship we used to get here is destroyed, so, we don't have a way to leave this planet. Some of us don't even know there're other worlds outside of this one anyway," Chief explained, the last part a bit hushed in tone. Sapphire felt that was a bit unfair, but she couldn't really blame them for it either. The new Homeworld was a rather recent event after all, in Gem years at least.

"So what is it you all do here?" Peridot asked.

"Basic stuff: many different vessels come and go from other alien ships, so there's plenty of new items to salvage time and again. Tinkering, building, go on explorations for new areas, patrolling, things like that."

"So they treat this planet like a garbage site?"

"Hmm … not sure what a "garbage site" is, but if that means places to drop off unneeded materials, then you got it," Chief explained, as Lapis accidentally sipped her drink again, slightly distracted by Chief's talk. She cringed up again, looking into her drink.

"Ok, what's in this?" Lapis asked, no longer trying to be friendly about it.

"it's Metallixer: it's a mixture of oils with liquified metallic materials in it. I always like it with extra silver in mine," Chief replied. Lapis wished she didn't ask that. Metals weren't Gems, sure, but one of her friends was part Flint, and Bismuth too (both more of a metal than a gem), so she just passed on the drink altogether. Sapphire was lucky to not test it herself, but at least Peridot was enjoying it.

"Anyway, I do want to inquire you about something: those other Gems you were with. Newbie told me there was two Diamonds with you. that true?" Chief asked. Lapis, Peridot, and Sapphire found themselves in a bit of a pickle: they would tell her right away, but with what Chief just explained about what was gonna happen to their cut altogether, maybe telling them about a diamond that might've made that decision was not the best idea ever. No ill will on her own family. Sapphire decided to answer for this one.

"Well … there is, but they don't know about this place. But maybe they won't be as upset when seeing you now, and they've been more open to the rule system lately, so even if -"

"Stop!" Chief suddenly said. Next thing Sapphire knew …

"Look into my vision spheres," Chief instructed. Peridot and Lapis stood off aside, as Lapis found herself staring right into Chief's face, the glow emitting from her mask, as Sapphire's hair was moved so the chief could see Sapphire's eye. This moment of staring lasted only about ten seconds straight though, until ...

"...…. How loose had they've been lately?" Chief asked, tone shifting right back to casual as she sat down.

"Loose enough to allow the Crystal Gems back on Homeworld, and letting some Off-Colors live," said Sapphire.

"The Crystal Gems?"

"Oh right, you don't know what that is," Lapis said, "Ok. They Crystal Gems are a different group of Gems that don't follow the strict caste system of the Diamond Authority. But NOW they're pretty good friends with the diamonds."

"Interesting. And THAT'S the Gems that were with you?"

"That's right."

The chief gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank the stars. Just as long as they don't cause any trouble for the Peridots here, then it'll be just fine," the chief decided. Well, good to know they weren't gonna go in a turf war with any of them.

"Uh … Lazuli? Mind telling the others something?" Peridot asked.

.......

As Peridot and Sapphire were getting to know the other Peridots, the rest of the team was still waiting over back by the same entrance way for Lapis Lazuli to come back around. Time went on a bit longer than they expected, and some of them were even asleep by the hole, as others were still anticipating the oncoming return. It took them a lot of patience to not just rush off to look for the three, but eventually some of them did start to pick up some activity again within the same hole.

"C'mon. C'mon," groaned a voice. It was just loud enough for the others to hear, and soon, Lapis finally pulled herself out of the hole enough so the top of her was visible, her legs still in the hole. She'd fly back if she knew the exact way to go.

"Lapis! Thanks goodness you're alright," Blue Diamond sighed, as Lapis took a moment to shake off some dirt from her hair.

"Where's Sapphire and Peridot? Did you find them?" asked Connie.

"Yeah, but I'm leaving them with that Peridot," Lapis replied.

"What on Earth for?!" Pearl asked.

"Ok, there's a lot to explain so I'm gonna make this quick," Lapis decided, since there was a lot to say. Lapis took a deep breath and went on explaining.

"Peridot, Sapphire, and I apparently found this colony of Peridots that just so happen to come from the same Division Peridot came from, and Peridot wants to stay with them for a while and get to know them better."

"... One more time?" Pink Diamond asked.

"That peridot OUR Peridot was going after is apart of an ENTIRE colony of Peridots, all of them from 2F5L, all fives. I'm not kidding you, there's TONS of them there," Lapis explained.

"So Peridot found … her family?" Steven concluded. Lapis nodded.

"Oh yeah," Lapis replied. A nice gesture, but there was some issue with this.

"Lapis, I understand caring deeply about your family more than anyone, but we got a Diamond back at the ship that's expecting our Peridot to be love-free. If she finds out about this, we're ALL gonna be on her anvil," Bismuth warned. Not that she was scared about it too much, but it was more for the family protection more than much else. White will happily wipe them all out if it meant continuing the trip.

"Then we won't tell her."

The group turned over to Steven, who concluded this decision himself.

"You think so, Steven?" Connie asked.

"Well, as good as this could be to teach White about understanding, I think it's too soon. I don't want another K-Bora outcome with Peridot's family," Steven confirmed. Fair enough. As Bismuth and Lapis told him, ONE lesson was not gonna fully sink in, and if these were Peridots from the same cut as their Peridot, he didn't want to break his friend's heart over it.

"So where is this Peridot Colony Lapis?" Blue Diamond asked. Lapis was a little concerned about this part.

"Just down there if the tunnel's anything to go by, but the Peridots are … kinda testy about the Diamonds. Their leader said as long as you don't cause any trouble, then they're fine with you," Lapis said. Blue Diamond paused, but after some thought, she already figured out why that would be. If these Peridots were indeed the same cut as the CG Peridot.

"I understand. Is it alright if I at least tell Yellow though? I'd imagine she would be a bit troubled by now."

"Oh sure, that's fine," Lapis replied. "I think I'm gonna head back to them. They kinda want to stay the night too."

Blue Diamond was just glad her Sapphire was alright in there, along with her Lapis Lazuli. Blue Diamond and Blue Pearl started to go back on their way to the ship, as Lapis just began to move her way down the tunnel once again. Or at least, she would've, before Steven went over to her.

"Think we can go back with you Lapis?"

Well, she can try.


~~~~~~


"Wow, look at them all! It's like Amethyst's family."

"Told you," Lapis said to Steven.

Next morning couldn't had come quicker enough for the group. Soon as they were free to go off and "play" according to White Diamond, those that could went straight off towards the Peridot settlement. A pretty decent time to go in there too, since by the time they managed to find the place many of the Peridots were off and working again to salvage some of the metal. A good time for them to go and check out the settlements with Chief showing them around, but they still had to go through the work yard first. The ONLY diamond-close exception that would come was Blue Pearl, only at request by Blue Diamond so she didn't have to deal with White.

"So, Chief is it? How many Peridots are actually here? A hundred? Two hundred?" Steven asked.

"675 last we've made head count, so everyone's here," replied Chief, fairly quickly too as if it barely took her much effort.

"So you got the ENTIRE division here?"

"Well, NOW we do," Chief replied, referring to Peridot specifically. That final piece in their group was now complete with Peridot.

"And you're the first to come out, Peridot. Geesh, that mean you have 675 little sisters," Connie pointed out. What a concept that is, but to a Gem it wasn't that big of a deal … to Peridot, it's a very big deal.

"Yeah, I know," Peridot said happily, "I've spent all night getting to know each of them. And get this: they all have their own special names for eachother!"

"Isn't that what numbers are for?" Blue Pearl quietly asked.

"What she meant is that we all have a specialized, personal name. Mine is Chief, for example."

"Oh I get it, like Humans do," Connie said.

"Do these "Humans" have their own special names?" Chief asked.

"Sure we do: My name's Steven, and this is Connie, yet we're both Humans all the same."

While Chief had to draw the line at "same", she still saw the point. She nodded.

"You know, there is this one Peridot in my division that would love to talk with ya. She like learning more about this sort of thing," Chief said.

"Oh, which one? Bookworm? What about Stargazer?" Peridot asked, wanting to show them the Peridots she had met over her night stay.

"Both of them are good, but no. Actually, I don't think you and her got acquainted yet," Chief realized, now thinking about it. Peridot met a lot of her own cut, sure, but she couldn't meet them ALL in one night, no way.

"Don't worry. We'll run into her in three seconds," Sapphire said.

One. Two. Three.

*BOOM!*

"Showoff," Chief grumbled. Sapphire just smiled. The explosion, which wasn't exactly too dangerous as it sounded, came over from one of the building sheds not too far away, now with some bit of smoke coming out of the holes in the roof. Well, they might as well meet her. With curiosity and worry mixed in, they went to the door and opened it up wide to have a blast of smoke hit them in the face. A few coughs later, and they found Techy inside.
This Peridot this time was only dressed up in a white tank top and shorts, not even wearing any shoes or gloves but still had the visors signifying any Peridot in this division. This Peridot, kinda like Newbie, was also a tiny bit greener than CG Peridot. Around her eyes were a pair of worker's goggles, which didn't make sense with the visors though they just assumed it was for look. Her body was covered in splotches, a few bruises too possibly from her own work, and for the moment a bit crispy from a fire hazard.

"Don't worry! Just working out a few kinks in here," Techy said, coughing a few smoke clouds a bit.

"I can see that. Here Techy, got some family for you to meet," Chief said. Techy got back on her goggles.

"In a minute, mam, I'm ALMOST done with this experiment," Techy said. The others glanced passed her, and found an "experiment" in some sort of round object. The color of this object, the few stray robs next to it, and the for-the-moment burning controls already told them what this was.

"You're making a robonoid?" Peridot asked.

"A master-type project, I agree, but if I can just make the rods interact with the mechanical magnetism of the Robonoid core, I can make this a functional piece of equipment," Techy explained, not even turning her gaze to them for a moment.

"Sound familiar, Peridot?" Lapis said, nudging their own little techy of the group. Peridot chuckled, remembering fondly of the tinkering she would do in the barn before the Off-Colors got it as their new home. Just for thrills, Peridot sat down by Techy, as Techy got the fire to stop burning up the model.

"Uh, Techy, she -" Chief was cut off by Steven.

"Wait. Let's see how long until she notices," Sapphire replied. Not malicious, but still playful something to try on a techy. Peridot too saw the joke and just rolled with it.

"So, is that a electro-magnetic adaptor your using, or a electrically-charged battery core?" Peridot asked casually. Techy didn't turn to her just.

"It's a mixture of both, though I'm working on an alternative that doesn't need any use of electrical power. Perhaps something solar, or even water-based or something," Techy replied, getting what looked like a screwdriver and continued tinkering with the piece. Connie went to the otherside, Steven there as well and finding a seat. Techy still oblivious to the different Gems present there.

"Maybe solar would be better, since you don't run out of sun," suggested Steven.

"Hmm, yeah. Solar energy is a resource that can easily be gained day by day, and it doesn't even need any cords or plugs," agreed Techy.

"And hey look, I can even see a few solar panels right inside there you can use," Connie added, even pointing to the "panels" that were the Robonoid's hard drives. Techy began to see what Connie and Steven were saying.

"Hey, yeah you're right! They'll make perfect solar panels, and I don't even have to use up any other scrap to do it! Just gotta -" Techy turned (at last), and her gaze suddenly saw Peridot's face. The second she saw that Cutie Mark on her face immediately told her she was in different company. She flipped up her goggles.

"... Who're you?"

"And that's about forty two seconds. That's shorter than usual," Chief commented. Techy turned and saw the numerous other Gems there, immediately freaking out enough to fall off her seat and onto the floor. The others couldn't help but laugh seeing this reaction from Techy. Techy meanwhile got back up to her own feet.

"Hey, Techy," said Lapis.

"Uh … hi. Chief, since when did we start getting new types of Gems in our division?" Techy asked.

"We didn't: these Gems are visiting with our older sister," Chief explained.

"There's a Peridot older than you?"

… Chief just pointed to Peridot, not adding more to that comment of hers. Techy looked at Peridot a bit more closely.

"Hmm … HEY, it's 5XG!" Techy realized. Impressive for her to find that out after just a short minute.

"How'd she find that out so fast?" Connie whispered. Peridot did mention how seeing a particular cutting inside a Gem's hole within a Kindergarten offered a good clue, but given Farid probably wasn't 2F5L off of what Chief and Peridot told them about when they showed up, he was just stumped.

"Yep, that's me. And you're uh …"

"Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5JT. You can call me Techy," Techy introduced. but at this point she began to check the only non-Gems (sort of) standing right next to her. Steven she kinda got the idea since she could see his Gemstone, but Connie was a different factor.

"Ok, so what Gem are you? Don't think any of my cut said anything about any Gem like you."

"Well, I'm not a Gem by birth. I am part Gem, but really I'm a Human," Connie answered. Techy just stood there for a bit at first to think over this "Human" thing. And …

"HUMAN?! Oh my stars - a new species! You look just like us too, I thought you were a Gem for sure, but NOPE! Is there more Humans like you?! How many varieties are there where you come from?! You live on Farid or are you from a whole new world entirely?! Do all Humans need that air bubble around their heads?! Come on, don't leave me -" *BAM* "- … hanging."

With a swift hit from Chief, Techy calmed down, now with a good bump on her head. Her excitement was a bit high up there.

"Geesh Techy, don't overwhelm them. Sorry, Connie."

"No, no, it's cool," Connie replied. "Well if you want to know about Humans, I can talk to you if you want."

"Chief! Chief!"

Well, Connie and Steven were gonna be busy for a bit, so while Steven and Connie were giving Techy some knowledge about Human Beings, the others went off outside to see what else was going on. The group came out of the building, just to find the Foreman coming over to them, looking stressed out over something, as Newbie came up behind her.

"Yes, Foreman?" Chief asked.

"Look, I dunno what you're doing, but I need some extra hands here by the transaction point. And SOMEONE here thought it'll be a good joke to wander off again," Foreman said. The smaller Peridot was worried a little bit.

"Sorry," Newbie muttered.

"She's young, Foreman. Now, what's the trouble with transaction THIS time?" Chief asked. The others peeked passed her as the foreman was explaining the situation to Chief, though they didn't need the Foreman to explain what was wrong exactly. Peridot saw a lineup off not too far away. Peridots heading to the nearby metal pile on top of a tall structure. A bit of metal gathered was already there, but the Peridots were going rather slow.

"The method is a bit insufficient already," Peridot thought. Her eyes started looking around the area a little bit. But then her eyes began to see a few particular Peridots off a ways: one with a flat board, another with a steel pipe. A little thinking was all Peridot needed.

The idea came to her with a snap of her fingers.

…

"Ready? … Jump!"

Simple mathematics and gravity saved plenty of time. On Peridot's word, two other Peridots jumped off from the top of the balcony, landing side-by-side. Normally this wouldn't have too much effect, but while the two Peridots were down on ground level, one Peridot was launched right up to Peridot's level, landing on the level as if she just hopped off the ground. Foreman stood by Peridot's side seeing this result, and she was sure pleased with this seesaw launch method being used to full effect here.

"Wow, all this is cutting work time by sixty percent! Good move, Peridot," said Foreman, smiling in glee and seeing the status. Peridot smirked.

"No problem, sis. Just making sure everything's efficient for everyone," Peridot replied with a confident grin. As Peridot was talking with Foreman, Lapis flew up to her level.

"Hey Peridot, there's some other Peridots trying to get some pipes over there. Mind lending a metal-bending hand?" Lapis asked. Peridot looked to Foreman, whom which nodded and allowed her to go off to do that.

"Alright, take me to em!" Peridot announced. Lapis was happy to comply, and picked up Peridot with ease.

The area this time wasn't too far from the main working station, with a few of the Peridots working with some pipes left by a mud pool. There was at least about four other Peridots working with the pipes, including Newbie as one of them. Newbie was the only one to shy away at first when seeing Peridot come flying in with Lapis.

"Need a hand?" Peridot asked.

"Peridot! Yes please, these pipes are kinda stuck," one of the Peridots said, trying to pull out one of the pipes but with no effort. While standing there, Lapis did eventually see Newbie hiding off by the end of one of the pipes, though she did scurry away a bit more after being spotted.

"It's okay Newbie, you can come out. I won't hurt you," Lapis promised. Newbie though didn't come out right away, worried like a nervous rabbit. Newbie peeked out from the corner of the pipe she was at, but as she was, Peridot got her muscles ready.

"Prepare your launch pads, because this is about to take off. And up!" Peridot said. And right on the button, she started to focus her will into the pipes, arms outstretched in front of her, and hands looking as if they were gripping something. The whole pile began to shake and shutter, though being in the dry mud it took some more effort than Peridot thought. She looked like she was putting a lot of effort, but all this was doing was making her look a little silly.

"I got your back," Lapis said. Good thing she was a water Gem, and with some water from her wings she began to soften the mud underneath the pipes. This make them shake a lot again, but this time it was a bit easier to move about. And eventually, Peridot finally got them all out of the ground, floating in the air like a metal cloud. The Peridots were simply amazed by this display. With a flex of her arms, Peridot tossed them over towards the tower, making them much easier for her fellow cut to grab.

"Ta-Da!" Peridot said smugly. The other Peridots were admiring the display, and Newbie was actually feeling … well, amazed.

"W-Wow … so cool …" she muttered.

But then her eyes drifted to the now empty area, and she got spooked all over again. She yelped good and loud, before rushing right back to the group, getting their attention to what was there. Turned out, those pipes weren't just there for the heck of it, but they were actually a creature's bed. And removing those pipes made it wake up right away.
The alien here, now covered in mud and a little annoyed, looked much like a sort of strange slug. Its head ended in a odd circular mouth, matching the pipes it was sleeping under, and it only had two legs, each ending with some stubby claws. The rest of its body slick yet stocky, yet the creature itself was the size of a large cow, the head big as a beach ball. At first the thing was a bit spooked by seeing its resting spot moved so abruptly, but once it saw the Gems it began to act a little bit aggressive.

"A Clawbog!" gasped one of the Peridots. The alien started to pull itself towards them with its claws, its mouth opening up and beginning to shoot something at them, making the native Peridots scatter out of range. The stuff it spewed out was, to their surprise, a sort of greenish liquid, which actually sizzled on the ground!

"Back off from my sisters you clod!" Peridot demanded. This only made the Clawbog threaten another time. This one was a bit closer to them that they would like. Lapis found this barely much of a danger though, and got the wet mud wrapped around the animal. She didn't want to hurt it, but she didn't want to get hurt either. All she had to do was find a safer place to distance it from them, and she tossed the creature off towards a nearby metal pile with a flick of her finger. Once the Clawbog came to, it simply dug away from the scene, finding another bed in the metal.

"Well. That happened. Ok, let's get those pipe," Lapis said. And no one got hurt, and they went right back to it as if nothing happened.

Steven and Connie only NOW came out of the building and found this process going on, both a little bit worn out by this point, joining Pearl and Blue Pearl who were watching from ground level.

"Welcome back," Blue Pearl said once they showed up.

"You two alright? you look worn out," Pearl asked. Connie and Steven did feel a little bit as such, looking ready to go to sleep even.

"Techy had so many questions about Humans," Steven said tiredly, "The trek through her personal essay was such a mental challenge, Pearl, I'm mentally exhausted. How long were we even in there?"

"A few hours. She didn't make it too hard did she?" Pearl asked.

"She didn't make it easy: climate adaptation, diets, political standings, love life, she had them all lined up like she woke up ready for it," added Connie. Pearl and Blue Pearl both heard "love life" pretty clearly, and were left a bit speechless, glancing to the building as Techy was standing there with a LOT of notes, and a big smile.

"... L-Let's maybe try to keep that information to a minimum, alright?" suggested Pearl. The kids nodded, but Steven then noticed some of the group missing.

"Hey, where're the others? Did they go back before we finished?" Steven asked.

"They're up there, Steven. One of the Peridots said things were getting problematic with transaction - not the right way to use the word by the way - so they decided to help them out. Pretty impressive too," Pearl explained. Steven and Connie looked off to the work Peridot had made up, making express time with the metal work for the colony. They saw Lapis flying with a pipe, and Peridot getting the rest back up to the top, with Sapphire standing over by Chief by the seesaw. Someone has to watch the landing just in case something were to happen.

"How long were they doing this?" Connie asked.

"Since you two spoke with Techy," replied Blue Pearl. The four watched the next set of Peridots jumped down from the top, with one Peridot launching off into the air. However, this time the trajectory wasn't the best and she just went straight up. Luckily Lapis caught her just before she could fall down, bringing her back over to the top platform. Steven went over to Sapphire and Chief. Seeing him looking worn out already told Chief what happened in there.

"Good to see you, Steven. We're almost done," said Sapphire.

"You are? How much did you collect?" Steven asked.

"Hmm. … One way to find out," Chief replied. Chief then made a good loud whistle, one loud enough to reach the very top of the platform. This whistle was specific and Peridot heard it loud and clear. They all looked up, and found Peridot taking a metal plate, and using her metal-kinesis (something she'd been presenting to the other Peridots) to levitate down to see them … just to drop to the ground at about five feet. Not easy to levitate a board to act as a personal elevator. This barely bothered Peridot though, as she sprung back to her feet.

"So Steven, Connie, what do you think of my personal transfer system? I've taken the simple physics of the "seesaw" method, and weight distribution -" Peridot only paused as two Peridots jumped down, and one was launched upward again. "- allowing my fellow Peridots to exchange their gathered contents at a swifter pace. Pretty cool right?"

"Yeah, actually. How much is up there?" Connie asked.

"Hmm. With one peridot per jump, I'd have to conclude about two hundred and … fifty three?"

"Fifty five!" called Lapis. Steven took a look over to the sky, finding that their chat with Techy took a much longer time than anticipated.

"Well sun's going down," said Steven, "We better start heading back for the night before the others start to worry."

"If you say so," Chief replied. They didn't want to get into too much trouble with the Diamonds, so they had to get themselves back there (plus they might go crazy being with White for too long). The group began to go off, but Sapphire took a glance back and saw Peridot was feeling a little bit more reluctant to just go off on her way.

"Uh … I know I already did just last night but, but -"

"Yes Peridot. You can spend another night here if you want."

"WOW, THANKS!" Peridot beamed, hugging Sapphire tight.

Another night without Peridot. Though, they couldn't blame her for wanting to spent time with her family.


~~~~~~


It was a bit of a slippery slope from there. Heiligdom may not have that much of an issue on when they all wanted to leave, no doubt about that all things considered. However, time was getting a little bit slower for them there on Farid - days in fact. Though, how much time actually going by here was a bit unsure, since Farid and Earth were two different time zones entirely, though if counting the days in Farid it would add up to at least three nights following the last time Peridot asked. Clearly Peridot was liking being with her family. The other Peridots were taking their time to get to know Peridot as well, and they were warming up to her almost right away. With their oldest "sister" having a Equestrian Cutie Mark, experience outside of Farid, AND abilities no other Peridot had before her, it was no guessing game with how much they were fonding over her.
As for the others, they really had a tougher time to let White diamond keep them there without any catches. Blue and Pink had no problems, but Yellow was a bit skeptical for making them ALL stay while Peridot kept going to Farid's Peridot colony. The challenge was made only harder since they had to keep this colony out of White Diamond's knowledge.

But, was it working?

…

"Ok, White, last question for today White: with Mr. Waffle and Mr. Pancake arguing over what recipe's better, what do you think is the best option to do?" Steven asked, the chalkboard having a drawing with a waffle and pancake with a "recipe" for strawberry cake. Dumb concept, but plenty of meaning behind it. White Diamond used her finger, her nail acting as said chalk but marking like a brush, as she drew out the next picture. The picture showed the two side by side, with a amazing cake behind them in a Steven style.

"The best option is to work together to create an even better outcome," White replied.

"Correct! So, what did we learn today, White?" Steven asked, once finished with some more friendship demonstrations. This demonstration was being presented outside, White Diamond literally laying on the ground, resting her head on her hand as if she was a kid watching some Saturday morning cartoon.

"The same lesson you've been going on about, Starlight. Running out of ideas?" White joked.

"Oh. Uh, was it the same?" Steven asked, though White read him like a book.

"About understanding others, absolutely. You've been going on about that over these couple Farid days, sweetie," White pointed out. Steven kept his cool, already having a personal explanation when White would say this, in case she caught on. Steven was trying to hammer in the "understanding" lesson a bit more since they were staying, for Peridot's sake.

"Because that's the best part of friendship: understanding others. I just thought we'd focus on that a bit more before we move onto other lessons, you know?" Steven explained, rubbing the back of his head. White Diamond giggled.

"Oh yes, of course," White said. "You know, Starlight, this has been a pretty fun game you've been doing. Though, might I suggest mixing it up, otherwise it might get a little boring."

A fun game? Steven felt a bit shot down when hearing that from White Diamond, his smile disappearing for a brief moment.

"I want you to take something away from this White, please?" Steven insisted.

"I am, Starlight, don't you worry your cute little head," White Diamond reassured him, playfully petting Steven's head with her finger. Steven was starting to wonder if White was actually doing so or not. With the person he was talking to, he just had to take her word for it. White sighed happily, and she looked around by the ship.

"The others had been gone for a while today. Know where they could've gone to?" White asked. This lesson in particular Steven had to risk by himself, the others off by the Peridot colony and the other Diamonds taking a break themselves. The only other Gem that was there was White Pearl.

"They … went exploring Farid?" Steven replied, NOT planning for that question (how?!). White thought about it, naturally.

"Again? Farid must be a very interesting planet to them if they're always doing that. Wonder what they learned today?"

"Maybe," Steven said, "You want me to fetch them for you? It'll only be a second."

"Surely, thank you dear," White Diamond said. There was a pause in her voice, which was enough for Steven to turn and just start to go when …

"But have White Pearl go with you."

"Huh? No, no, it's fine I can go by myself," Steven quickly insisted. Then came that knowing smile.

"You have something hiding from me, Starlight?"

"N-Nothing hiding here!" Steven insisted.

"Then there shouldn't be a problem, Starlight. Why be so worried over nothing? My Pearl will keep you company on your little stroll today, making sure you're alright. I'd hate to let anything bad happen to you," White insisted, as White Pearl floated over to his side. Steven wasn't gonna shake this Pearl away from him, no matter what he would try to do.

"Shall we be going now, Pink Diamond?"

"Please, call me Steven."

"Whatever you say, Pink Diamond."

Oh boy.

Well, with how many times they've came and went, it was kinda bound to happen eventually. So, with cleaning up the lesson for the day, he went off into the Farid thicket to reach the others, White Pearl following close behind as instructed. White Pearl still had that same face on her as before, that same smile and distant eyes the entire time they were going along, Steven leading the way the whole time going. But what was he gonna do now with White Pearl following him there?

"What am I gonna do now? If White Pearl's gonna follow me there, she'll find the colony for sure. Come on Steven, you can do this. Think of something ..." Steven thought. Steven was paying a little too much attention to White Pearl to really notice what was going on around him, and he found himself under a nearby plant (a giant dandelion). The wind ended up blowing a small bit of seeds off, one of which blew towards Steven.

White Pearl acted "accordingly", and with her hands like blades, sliced the seed to dust.

"What was that for?!" Steven gasped, shocked by the sudden reaction as White Pearl stood back to normal.

"That falling object could've injured you, Pink Diamond. I simply acted accordingly."

"Pink Diamond doesn't need THAT kind of protection. Please go back to White and I'll meet with you later," Steven insisted, trying to move White Pearl back to the ship. Even if White Pearl was floating though, it was actually a lot harder to move her than expected.

"But my diamond instructed me to watch over you, Pink Diamond," White Pearl stated.

"I-I'm fine! I promise, I'll be back without a scratch," Steven pleaded. The last thing he wanted was for White Pearl to go on a killing spree for the sake of protecting him. White Pearl though stepped to the side, Steven falling forward onto the ground … or he would've hit the ground if White Pearl didn't catch him by the back of his collar first.

"I'm afraid I can't do that unless my diamond instructs otherwise," White Pearl said as she gently placed Steven back on his feet. Steven felt very uneasy with White Pearl by his side more than ever, but there was still the matter of what to do when they would get there.

"So you're gonna follow me no matter what?"

"Correct."

Steven sighed. "... Well, I guess it's only fare. Just don't do anything rash, please?"

"Very well," White Pearl replied. Just to see another seed fly a little too close to Steven. And slicing it in two. Steven could only hope White Pearl was as understandable as the others, or they'll be in a lot of trouble.

*sniff**sniff* … *grrrrr* ...

…….

Meanwhile, back at the Peridot Colony, business was going along as per usual. With seeing many of the Peridots working about though, there's just as much that were taking their time away from work to see their newfound company. Pearl, Bismuth, Sapphire and Lapis were alright, since they already gotten used to much of the company of theirs, but as for Blue and Yellow Diamond …

"OH MY STARS, it's really them!"

"They really aren't evil anymore!"

"You two are way bigger than I thought you'd be!"

A surprising amount of attention. The veteran Peridots kept their distance just in case, but much of the newer Peridots, some not ever seeing the Diamonds before, were flocking around them to see what they were about. The ONLY exception was Pink Diamond, though this was just because she was not as big (metaphorically and literally) as the other two Diamonds.

"My, look at all your hard work. Did you do all this yourselves?" Blue Diamond asked, seeing much of the activity around them.

"We all did!" replied one of the Peridots, "Settlements, working hours, all made with these hands!"

"How much did you do?" another Peridot asked.

"Us? Well, we Diamonds have big roles in Gemkind: I'm mostly in charge of empire structures, historical documents, and the emotional state of our Gems. Yellow Diamond meanwhile is mostly in charge of planet navigation, job placement, and military strategy," Blue Diamond explained. There were more factors to it, but that was the overall statement of it all.

"What's a military?"

"Just a group of soldiers put in positions to protect their side from opposing threats," Yellow summed up, though she wasn't as into it as Blue Diamond was. Though even she had to admit that, without their involvement, the Peridots did have a decent structure when it came to how things were functioned.

"Even they somehow managed to make this all work by themselves. … Maybe I should start thinking more deeply about what these Gems can do," Yellow pondered. Perhaps diversity between Gems and restriction of jobs between gems didn't have to be so linked together after all. Seeing Peridots handle work more fitting to leader-tough Agates, hard-working Quartzes, even bits of science-testy Fulgurites or Chernobyls, perhaps there was more to this cut than she first anticipated.
Meanwhile, Pink Diamond was kinda left alone. All Pink did was just sit there and watch her "older sisters" get all that attention.

"Why didn't they want to talk to me?" Pink pouted.

"There there, Pink, better luck next time," Bismuth sighed, giving Pink a friendly pat on the head. That didn't really help Pink all too much, as she watched much of the attention go to the other two Diamonds. Pink took a bit, wondering if this kind of treatment was really how the true Pink Diamond felt about things. Treated as second fiddle to the superior siblings and all that.

"Hey Pearl? Did Pink Diamond had to deal with sibling rivalry before turning into a war criminal?" Pink asked. With context it sure was a odd question.

"Well … kind of. It didn't bother her AS much when Blue and Yellow got more attention than her. But maybe that's because she had more of her own court with her to talk to - wait, shouldn't you know?"

"I wanted to make sure from someone that was actually there. And I don't have my own court yet. Yipee," Pink grumbled.

"You don't?" Lapis asked.

"No, I don't. Even after all the work I did making the new Diamond City come together," Pink replied. Sure didn't sound too fare to any of them.

"Well don't let it bug you too much," reassured Lapis, "You'll get your own audience eventually, just like the other Diamonds."

"Speaking of other Diamonds, you think it was a good idea leaving Steven with White Diamond? I could've stuck around with him at least, in case things get testy," Bismuth asked.

"Yeah, or me," agreed Connie.

"Needn't you two worry about Steven. In fact, he's on his way back here to meet with us. He's perfectly fine," Sapphire said. Connie sighed.

"Alright Sapphire, if you say so." Connie trailed off, but she wasn't one to really deny Sapphire's future visions. Sure she would get a little astray, but Connie NEVER had that ability so most of these statements she just had to take word for. Besides, they weren't gone for that long. Soon, Bismuth looked off towards the entrance to the place.

"Speak of the black hole," Bismuth said. The others looked off, and sure enough, there was Steven coming their way … with White Pearl right behind them. Mixed emotions about that one.

"Steven!" Connie said.

"Hey guys."

"Uh, Steven? Not being rude, but why is she here?" Yellow Pearl questioned. Steven glanced to the pearl and just sighed.

"White Diamond assigned her to watch me. I couldn't shake her so here she is."

"Here to keep you safe, Pink Diamond," White Pearl said.

"Steven," Steven corrected under his breath. This was a bit problematic, as White Pearl instinctively floated to position by the nearest pearl. Bismuth felt uneasy once again, seeing the pearl floating there. Pink Diamond didn't have anything better to do now, her eyes looking around until she saw Peridot with two of her sisters off getting some more pipes. out of some mud. The same spot the Clawbog got them earlier, mind you. However, the Peridots working over there soon spotted Pink Diamond, and started to become a little bit curious.

"If you need me, I'm gonna try and get some attention over there," Pink said. Well, it's some form of attention without Starlight and Trixie for company. With Pink Diamond going off to do that, it was time for Bismuth to have a little word with Steven about his company. This fact about "White" Pearl had gone on for long enough, and with White Diamond no longer above their shoulders, now was the only time she could get this going.

"Hey, Steven. Think you and I can have a chat for a moment?" Bismuth asked.

"Oh, uh, ok," Steven replied. Lucky for them both, White Pearl stood still by the other Pearls as bismuth and Steven went off to a safer distance away from them.

"Ok Steven. I know I've put it off long enough, I'm sorry in advance, but there's something you need to know about White's Pearl over there," Bismuth said, firm and slightly urgent, but keeping her voice down in case that Pearl decided to get nosy. Steven glanced back towards White Pearl, who simply looked over to them with her single eye locked on them. Steven took a very deep breath.

"What is it Bismuth?" Steven asked, preparing his nerves for what answer Bismuth might have for him. Bismuth looked over to White Pearl once again before she too got enough of her own nerves together. Though, as a safety precaution, she leaned in and whispered to Steven instead, just enough so only he could hear her. When she finished, Steven had quite the shocked look on his face.

"My Pearl?!"

"That's what Yellow told me. Kinda. But either way, White Pearl's not what she seems," Bismuth replied. Steven looked back towards White Pearl again.

"... I wished I was more shocked about this. Pearl ..." Steven sighed gravely. A veteran to the big surprises like this, the idea of Pink Pearl becoming White Pearl, if he was honest, was far too convenient to be that much of a shock. It was scary, don't get him wrong, but White Diamond demonstrated mind control well before this.

As they were thinking over how to handle this extra situation, Pink Diamond and Peridot were over and busy handling some more of the scrap metal. It honestly wasn't anything too special here, just some talk amongst eachother and Pink Diamond trying to regain some attention. With most of their minds focusing on getting the work done though, it really didn't work that well. Still, there was a bit more going on than with just the main group: Newbie continued checking the area a little bit more, keeping her eye out just in case something were to happen. She didn't want to run into a Clawbog again. Much of the stuff she gathered wasn't too fancy, but as she got some scrap about the place she began to check off to the distance, something especially shiny catching her attention.
Newbie wasn't sure what it was, but as the others were busy, Newbie went off to get it. It looked small, enough to fit in her hands. Nothing too fancy, but it'll work out for them whatever it may be. Step by step, she got more and more metals in her grasp as good as a little Peridot could, though even with her nervous diligence, there was still some things that she couldn't detect.

And it was looming around the little Peridot. A predator watching prey.

"Come on, Newbie!" called Peridot, bringing her to her attention. Newbie quickly got the materials and scurried her way back to the rest, unaware that something was keeping its eye on her and their company. After she moved off to the group, the creature in question began to move in closer to Newbie.

Just one step on some scrap made itself known to the green Gem.

"AAHH! A SLITHERDILE'S HERE!" Newbie screamed, catching the attention of potentially the entire colony, before she made a mad dash away. As for what this creature even was, well, it was far bigger than a Clawbog by far. Its body was as wide as a concrete pipe, its head like a cross between a salamander and crocodile, with a body elongated much like a weasel or ferret. Its legs ended in webbed feet. As for the overall size of this creature, it reared back for a moment to intimidate, and it was almost as tall as one of the Diamonds nearby!

"What's that?!" Connie gasped.

"Who cares what it is, it's going for my sisters! BATTLE STATIONS!" Peridot shouted, and almost blindly rushing in and taking the lead. The Peridots caught in the alien's sights ran for cover in panic, but Peridot was a veteran in fighting so she took to the beast with vigor.

"Head in, soldiers!" Bismuth said. Been too long since she had a good tussle anyway. The large beast found itself in the company of quite a few of the Gems, though its targets were already set in the local Peridot population. The alien reared back on its hind legs and gave a loud word of warning in a hiss, but they weren't going to let this thing get by them without a fight. The alien made its first assault in a basic charge, but Bismuth got it covered with a basic maneuver: dodging the charge, grabbing the tail as it passed, and swinging it into the air! Now, normally that would land it on its head or back, but in a shocking display of agility, the alien actually spun itself upright, landing on its back legs even.

"You're a little quicker than I thought. Bring it on, you naked lizard!" Bismuth said. And boy did it bring it on. It knew it'll have to barrel through the party first, so it made a full charge at them first. This charge was met in force by Pearl and Lapis together, one hitting with her smooth wing, and the other with the blunt end of her spear. The hits struck the creature's legs, making it topple over briefly before getting to its feet. It was a bit of a rough hit, but not enough to knock it out completely. Next one it targeted was Steven Universe, it giving a good hiss and rushing directly towards him. Steven got out his shield, but -

"Hello."

White Pearl was in the way. The Slitherdile skidded to a stop, and even back up a bit as White Pearl raised her hand to make it stop, going bold enough to stepped forward a little bit even. The Slitherdile's eyes locked with the other figure, Steven keeping his shield up and ready for another charge. However, the beast didn't move, White Pearl suddenly pointing at the animal, and moving her arm in a circular motion. Over. And over. And over. And over. …

The beast actually looked more and more dazed. … White Pearl pointed right, and the beast spun right. She pointed left, it looked left. When she pointed to the sky, the Slitherdile flipped over and crashed onto the ground. A strange yet humorous display of control from White Pearl, as said Pearl grabbed Steven and rushed away.

"What'd you do to it?" Steven asked.

"A simple hypnosis, Pink Diamond," White Pearl said. But this "simple hypnosis" barely lasted long as the Slitherdile realized it was much bigger than both White Pearl and Steven together. And just in time to avoid a diving attack from Bismuth too, her hammer arm hitting ground instead of alien flesh. While missing the first hit, Bismuth did clock it in the face the second swing, sending it flying off a ways. It got back onto its feet pretty quickly, only to feel some metal slap its side in rapid fire thanks to Peridot.

"HEY YOU CLOD! FIGHT ME!" Peridot shouted, good and proud.

"You got guts, Peridot. Let me give you a hand," Bismuth said, suddenly picking Peridot up and much to their surprise, throwing her right at the alien! Peridot straightened out, and her foot slammed right into the animal's eye, making it screech and stumble back. No creature liked getting something in their eyes, no matter the animal. Peridot laughed at this display, but the Slitherdile went in for another attack, raising its back foot for a kick. Peridot dodged it easily, and it's foot met with some metal sticking up from the ground.

A little more fuel to the fire, and the animal was hopping on one foot, gripping the other as it yelped in pain. Not the best showing ever, but now it was very infuriated. Steven would go in to try and help, but White Pearl had a sort of strong grip on him, and he couldn't seem to shake himself free.

"Let go off me!"

"My priority is to keep you from getting hurt. Your involvement is a hindrance to that," White Pearl said.

"But my friends need me!" Steven retorted, just as he saw Pearl getting thrown from the fight and to them.

"Your protection is my priority," White Pearl replied, as if she didn't even see her fellow Pearl get wrecked. The Slitherdile saw they were standing still and decided to go for the easier meat, this time running on two legs like lizards do, mouth wide open and hissing good and loud. Steven was starting to panic, trying to at least bring up his shield again, but his arms were trapped in White Pearl's grip.

"PEARL! HELP!" Steven shouted.

"Steven!" Pearl shouted, rushing over to his aid. And just in time too, giving a bee-line kick to the animal to knock it over the two. White Pearl didn't even flinch, but the Slitherdile flew over them both, crash landing into a pile of metal, making a number of Peridots scatter for cover.

"Your protection is my priority?" Steven asked, no longer believing it.

"You're still alive," White Pearl replied. Steven now felt less safe.

The Slitherdile exploded out of the metal pile, metal scrap flying everywhere before launching out after the other Peridots finally. Many of them quickly bolted into the only place of safety, which was the tall structure they've been working with. The Slitherdile crashed right into the side, strong enough to make the entire structure shake and threatening to buckle. It tried to get itself in there with different methods: ramming its crocodile jaws into some of the opening, and trying to knock it down with its sheer power. It then started to feel something grab its tail, turning and seeing Peridot pulling as hard as she could. It started whipping its tail around, swinging Peridot all over the place. The others soon began grabbing hold, and finally made it stand still: Sapphire grabbing peridot, Lapis grabbing Sapphire, Pearl grabbing Lapis, and Bismuth grabbing Pearl.

"Ready gang?" Bismuth asked.

"Ready!" they all answered.

As the whole group of Peridots watched, the Crystal Gems grabbed hold of eachother, and Bismuth's strength was JUST enough to actually move the entire group, including the Slitherdile. Soon, they all formed a powerful chain, with Peridot holding on the hardest to the Slitherdile's tail, the Slitherdile growing dizzy very quickly.

"Diamond, we have liftoff!" Peridot exclaimed. And upon finishing, and with enough speed in the spins, Peridot released the Slitherdile, sending the alien beast flying off into the air! It screeched, still spinning like crazy, and soon as the group landed down, the Slitherdile finally landed off beyond the horizon, the only evidence of its landing being a notable dust cloud. Steven was glad they're safe, though his nerves did calm down and he gave a sigh of relief when he saw the Slitherdile coming back around and walking away. A tough giant animal, but a meal wasn't worth getting swung around like that.

"YEAH!" Bismuth exclaimed.

And then came the applause from the Peridots off nearby. The group was given quite a bit of praise from all of the Peridots in the colony, treated like great heroes. Though, it could be with her being their eldest sister, but Peridot was given the most of this attention by her younger sisters. Peridot sure was enjoying this one way or another, many of the younger and older Peridots giving their praises. Steven (who was finally released after the threat was gone), looked onto the happiness and enjoyment Peridot was receiving.

Peridot truly felt happy to be there.

…….

"So she's spending another night with them?" Sapphire asked after a while, as they were going back.

"Peridot looked very happy with them, I couldn't say no," replied Steven. Though while this was a good thing on the surface, Steven felt a little bit unsure actually. The walk back gave him a lot of thought about the subject though, especially with the alien attack.

"She's really been digging in with her family, ain't she?" Bismuth said.

"Well, it's hardly unlikely. Peridots had always been programed to be together, especially with their own kind. Sounds like your Peridot's simply reverted to type," Yellow Diamond concluded. It was more instinctual than they expected, but Steven was seeing a little bit more than just that, as he looked back to the settlement. Their Peridot was still in there somewhere, probably celebrating or just calming down from their main attack.

"... She's quite at home here huh?" Lapis said at one point.

"Yeah … I guess she is. Being with her family. Taking on the world, helping her sisters out when she can. She's very happy to be here," Steven replied, all the while thinking on family a bit more. The others went to his side, also looking over to the clearing themselves, and to where Peridot was. Slowly, but surely, they all began to reach the same conclusion, beginning with a small tear from Steven himself.

"... It wouldn't be fare. Don't you think?" Steven asked.

"Yeah. She just found her family after all. …" agreed Bismuth.

"And family's the most important thing in the world. Right?" Lapis put in.

"I-It's hard to think of anything more important," Pearl replied, wiping a tear away.

"So … I guess that's it then," Connie said. Everyone paused, but the decision eventually was reached. There was no doubt about it. Steven eventually spoke what everyone thought.

"Yeah. Let's go."

And everyone began to walk away from the settlement. Ready to head on back to the ship for one more night. It was a bit of a big decision, but after they all saw just how well Peridot was with the rest of her cut, it was one that they all felt in their hearts that it should be good for her. After all, when it came to interactions with her own kind, Peridot hardly had any, if at all. The closest Lapis could think of was Blue Peridot in Blue Diamond's city, and even then it was barely anything. This was what Peridot needed, and what she wanted.

And Peridot had a decision to make. …


~~~~~~


Nightfall. And by this point, much of the work had been completed and caught up, much to the relief of the foreman Peridot, and every other Peridot had decided to rest up for the next morning. Many of the Peridots were a bit worn out thanks to the alien attack earlier, so it didn't take them too long to go off to sleep. But even with that, not all of them were as quick to go off to sleep, even with the calming moon giving some a night light to sleep with. Within one of the settlements, as Newbie Peridot was just ready to go off to sleep herself, Peridot just couldn't really go off to sleep. Newbie took a little bit to notice that her roommate was still awake, and laying there with her eyes open, looking outside.

"Big sis? Aren't you sleepy?" Newbie asked. Peridot shook back out of her daydream, looking to Newbie.

"No, I'm fine. Really, I'm okay, you get some sleep," Peridot insisted. But at first, Newbie didn't do that. Instead, she went over to Peridot's side, hopping up onto the bed with her, and looking out the window with her. She thought something was keeping her attention, but she didn't see anything out there except for the stars of the night. Peridot snapped back again.

"I … I'm just contemplating what happened today, that's all. I mean, not everyday you actually beat something that's made to eat you," Peridot said, putting in a few chuckles even so it sounded more convincing. Newbie smiled warmly.

"Oh, that's all? You looked like you were thinking about something more spooky," Newbie said, but it did sound like she bought the idea. Newbie, feeling comfortable about things, went right back off to bed. If only Peridot could just fall asleep like that without these thoughts going through her head.

"... Ok. ……. Ok. Think. Hard. …" Peridot silently looked to her hands, each one representing one side to her dilemma. She had to weigh her options, risk and reward, and of course her own personal thoughts. In one hand she was seeing those she had been with over the last five years or so: The Crystal Gems and Elements of Harmony. Her friends that, while at first she barely had much thought on first arriving on Planet Earth, now had a lot to thank for. Her ability to fight, her metal-kinesis, and her self-worth couldn't have been as well without them.
On the other hand she saw the Peridots she had met and stayed with over the course of these last few days. Sure, it was barely a blink of an eye in comparison, but these Peridots were the family she had been missing for so long. She couldn't remember any time before where she actually had proper time with other Peridots, from her cut or otherwise. It was in her nature to be with a group of her own kind, and she felt most at home in this place than anywhere else in a natural sense.

"I need some air. Er, space," Peridot concluded. She couldn't think straight in here.

It took some quiet maneuvering, but eventually she did end up from her quarters, and off towards outside. It was just quiet enough for Newbie to stay asleep, so Peridot had somewhere to think without someone to bother her. Her eyes looked up to the stars, knowing where her friends would be going by tomorrow morning.

"I wondered when you'll finally come out."

Chief. Peridot turned around fast just to find her on the roof, the familiar glow of her mask impossible to mistake.

"Hi, I-I was just uh … getting some fresh air," Peridot said. Chief got off the roof, going right over to her.

"That what you're doing? Yet we already told you the dangers out this time of night," reminded Chief. With what they fought already today, it was a pretty believable thing.

"Yes. I've had a long day, and with that fight and all -"

"I already know why you're out here, Peridot," Chief said, "One of our patrol already told me what the others had said."

Peridot stopped cold, her gaze glancing back over towards the rooftop, finding the very Gem in question casually watching the conversation from the rooftop. Whelp, that was over quickly, but Peridot couldn't say they were wrong about it either.

"OK, you caught me: I don't know. I don't want to give up the Crystal Gems, but I can't give you guys up. I just met you, for stars sake!" Peridot said, going into a rant almost, "I mean ok, I'm on this galactic trip and suddenly I find that one piece I've been missing ever since I came out of that hole of mine, but what does that mean if my best friends have to leave me here? If I stay here, I leave them, but if I leave them, I lose you - UGH!"

In her temper, which was building more as she ranted on, Peridot ended up finally just falling to the ground on her back.

"This is not fare. Why's fate deciding to make me its play thing?" Peridot wondered. Chief Peridot took a moment before she went on speaking too. Though, Peridot did note that the light was dimmer than before.

"Hey, look at me," the chief instructed. Peridot did, but found that the chief didn't have her mask on this time, showing the face of the same Peridot she used to be, right down to the same gemstone placement. Peridot got off her back and got back up.

"I want you to answer me honestly, Peridot. … Do those other Gems mean that much to you?" the chief asked.

Peridot didn't answer at first, but all she did was nod to her, keeping her gaze down. Chief took a glance over towards the settlement behind her, knowing there were hundreds of Peridots in her care. This feeling was something familiar to her, caring so much for other Gems. Eventually, Peridot found the chief whistling, calling the attention of one of Peridot's closer siblings. Newbie.

"Chief?"

"Newbie, come here for a minute. I got a task for you," Chief instructed. Peridot kept quiet as Newbie came outside to see them.

"What're you doing?" Peridot asked.

"Yes, mam?" Newbie asked.

"Newbie, know that river you like to play at? I want you to take Peridot there for me," the Chief instructed.

"That's it? Okay, chief, but … so late?" Newbie asked. Chief nodded before turning to Peridot.

"Peridot. I want what's best for all of my sisters here in Farid, and that includes you. You want to stay with the Crystal Gems, don't you?" Chief questioned again.

"...…. Y-Yeah … I do."

"... Then go to them, sister," Chief instructed.

"But what about -"

"That's an order, Peridot," Chief firmly stated. Peridot stopped, but she was starting to see what the whole situation was. A tear started to come down from her eyes, which she wiped off soon as it slipped passed her visors.

"... Thank you, Chief. Lead the way Newbie," Peridot said.

"Okay, big sis. This way," Newbie said.

And Newbie and Peridot began to go off on their way, with the chief watching from afar with a content smile on her face. It was a bit sad seeing her older sister go, but she knew that it was the right choice.


"Farewell, Peridot. Good luck."

(Laiya’s Song (ライヤのうた) HD Jungle Emperor / Kimba Ep 7 Trial of Donga JP parody "My Home, I Know")

My home, I know
Is out there calling out my name

So out into the night, Newbie began guiding Peridot along the way. Even with the risk of wandering around at night, the stars and moon of Farid actually make it look a bit pretty. Both Peridots went along side by side, though on the way they still were catching sight of some of the aliens fluttering about in the sky, looking like butterflies but glowed like shooting stars. None of them bothered the two Peridots walking through, which was a good thing. Plus, this did give Peridot some more time to think about things. Namely, memories of her friends.

My home, I know
Will be there, but won't be the same

This memory train began way back in the day, her early days on Earth. It seemed so foreign to her now, that once upon a time she was so distant and uncaring to the world around her thanks to the activity of her Limb Enhancers. Her travels through Equestria still were something in her mind as well - meeting Rainbow Dash, exploring Cloudsdale, all sorts of things.

My home, I know
My family will always be.

Down the line, her memories began showing her time with Ruby next. Oh, the times she had shared with her. Thinking back on it, Peridot had a lot to thank Ruby for: ever since she had lost those Limb Enhancers of hers, it was Ruby who helped her regain herself and learn to be strong without them. And down the line too, she got her Cutie Mark from saving her, evidence still there on her face.

My home, I know
is always there waiting for me.

And then came a rather harsher memory: the moment she found her whole family split apart. It was a sad memory, to be sure, but overtime their bond did become stronger as they all understood. She couldn't recall any time she felt better than the moment she found them all together again.

I don't know where
And in a way, I don't know why …
But I do know
Where my love and harmony lie.
My home, I know.


"Here it is," said Newbie at last. Soon, Newbie and Peridot were now along the same banks of Newbie's river, the waters sparkling crystal clear in the moonlight. Undisturbed.

"Yeah, thanks. Well, let's see, what can I use here?" Peridot wondered. Both she and Newbie looked around a little bit, but a little bit was all they needed before they found something sitting by the river bank. It looked like a large piece of wood, a log seemingly. They weren't sure where it came from, but Peridot found it's convenience a bit too convenient for it to just float to that spot. Both Peridots went over to said log.

"This looks efficient enough. … Newbie?"

"Yeah?" Newbie asked.

"I'm … not sure how long it'll be, but I promise, I'll be back," Peridot promised. It was a promise she was hoping to keep. Newbie was a little confused, but understood just enough that Peridot was leaving.

"Where're you going with those other Gems?" Newbie asked.

"I-I'm needed elsewhere," Peridot replied, "The other Gems. They need me with them for a while."

"Oh. Ok," Newbie said, feeling a little bummed out as Peridot pushed the log out a little bit. Before it could be pushed out enough to drift downstream though, Newbie stopped Peridot briefly.

"Sis? Can I tell you something?"

"What is it?" Peridot asked.

"... Thank you. Thanks for coming by and finally seeing us again. A-And after seeing you fight that alien, I know I can be great too! I wanna grow up and be just like you. So, when you come back, you're gonna see the best Peridot ever," Newbie said, doing some punches, though when she kicked she did fall onto her side. She had a long way to go yet, but the heart was still there. Peridot smiled.

"Sounds great, Newbie. Looking forward to it," Peridot replied. Newbie sure was happy, but she began to feel a little down again, her smile going away for a bit. Next thing Peridot knew, Newbie was hugging her tight.

"... I'm gonna miss you, Peridot."

"... Me too."


My home, I know
Can't always stay here all the same.

Soon, Peridot was on the river. The log, floating gently along the current, began to carry the green Gem off on her way. Peridot looked back to Newbie, who at first was just sitting there by the same spot on the bank. But after a bit, Newbie actually started running alongside the river, keeping up with Peridot for as long as she could. Newbie kept going down the riverside, until a part of the path finally stopped cold. Any further and Newbie would've fallen into the water. Newbie and Peridot looked to one another, Newbie called out to her.

But long as I
remember you calling my name.
I'm coming home. …

"GOODBYE! Peridot!"


…….

The Pink Diamond ship was ready to go. The night for the Gems were a bit restless with their own decision, but that didn't mean they were given enough time. They were leaving that morning, and White Diamond wasn't gonna wait any longer than she had. The group started to head into the ship, but one of them was a little bit unsure still.

"Ready to go, Steven?" asked Sapphire.

"Oh, yeah I'm coming. … I hope we're doing the right thing," Steven said. It still hurt all the same, even if this was what they consider the best for Peridot.

"Everything will be just fine, Steven. It's where she needs to be," Sapphire concluded. Steven looked over to her though, and even Sapphire had a small tear come out of her eye. Even the future seer was feeling a bit emotional about the situation, yet Steven simply wiped away the tears from Sapphire's face. Both took one more look out to Farid.

"Goodbye, Peridot."

…

"HEEEEYYYY!"

The voice was faint, but just loud enough for the others to hear Peridot. Looking off away from the ship, Peridot was running like a madman, tired but grateful to see them not taking off just yet.

"Peridot, y-you're back!" Connie said.

"Come on, what do you think's gonna happen?" Peridot asked, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"But those other Peridots. I mean … we thought you wanted to stay with them. You were getting along so well," Lapis said.

"Of course I got along well with them, they're my cut - my family. I care a lot about them, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna ditch the family I already got. You guys did so much for me: taught me how to fight, made me feel confident in myself without those Limb Enhancers, heck I even got my Cutie Mark thanks to you guys! You're my family too, and I'm not going anywhere," Peridot concluded.

There was a little silence, but Bismuth broke it easily when she picked Peridot up and got her onto her shoulder.

"Then I'll be the first to say it: welcome back buddy," Bismuth announced. The others didn't need to say anything else to welcome back their green friend.
> Emerald's Quest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And with this completion, I'm happy to announce the newest residence of Beach City. Mister, misses, welcome to your new home," Ruby announced. With the declaration made, and with the completion of their new home made from the sand at their feet, Diopside made the honor of placing mister and misses crab over on top of the building. It was a pretty cute sight, seeing two of the crustaceans on their sand castle.

Activity in the temple had grown slightly more lax since some of the Gems had returned from their extra trip to the Convocation of the Creatures. That didn't mean there was nothing to do around the temple, as there always seemed to be something to do for at least one of the Gems. In this case, Diopside and Ruby both were just finishing up some sand house renovation for some of the crabs in the area to pass the time. While they were doing that, Fulgurite was off nearby the mailbox, looking like something important was supposed to be coming around, her foot tapping on the ground with her arms crossed.

"Hey Fulgurite, come check out the new real-estate me and Ruby did," Diopside said, waving to her as she and Ruby came over. However it was pretty clear that Fulgurite was a little pre-occupied, even briefly bolting off to the end of the beach to check for something, just to bolt right on back and wait by the mailbox.

"Still nothing. Hey, one of you mind taking my shift?" Fulgurite sighed, her finger tapping on the mailbox as if it would just pop up there. Ruby and Diopside looked off down the beach, but they didn't see anything or anyone that would interest Fulgurite.

"Shift? You waiting for something, Fulgurite?" Ruby asked.

"It's not me," Fulgurite said, leaning on the mailbox, "It's Emerald. That Gem's got me stuck on guard duty for Jamie while he's off handling "manga shopping"."

"And how long has that been?" Diopside asked.

"Since this morning," Fulgurite replied. she stopped for a moment to go down the beach, just to rush back again after at least ten seconds, the skidding stop getting sand on Ruby. Ruby got the sand off of her.

"But what's he bringing that's so important he needs a guard?" Ruby asked, peeking into the mailbox for anything inside, only to find nothing but the metal used to make the thing.

"That's what I like to know," Fulgurite replied. What she also would like to know is what was taking Emerald so long. Whatever was so important had better come by soon, because Fulgurite was not a Gem to wait around for anything, at least for long. Diopside took a look down the beach again, her Gem eye making focus down the long stretch of beach for any signs of Jamie. It took the highest amount of focus her Gem eye could do, but with that high focus, Diopside could make out a vaguely familiar shape far down the beach.

"Good news, Jamie's just up the beach. Just passing the Big Donut," Diopside replied.

"Finally!" Fulgurite said, bolting off once again to reach Jamie before he could go away. Or before anyone could drag her into another watch, whichever. The bolt was quick enough to kick up a dustcloud of sand. This time it was a bit longer for Fulgurite to come back around, but instead of getting the package, she just brought Jamie, carrying him above her head. Jamie was still holding onto his hat.

"Morning, Jamie pal, how're ya doing? Got something for us?"

"Actually yeah. Can you put me down first?" Jamie asked, a bit humbled from such a speed Fulgurite just got him through. With her speed, he might as well have teleported there. After being placed down, Jamie got himself wiped off and he began to look through the mailbag of his. And what did he have for them after Fulgurite waited for? …

One comic. One single comic for Emerald's favorite manga series, in peek condition inside. Fulgurite just stared at the comic for a bit in disbelief.

"Wait, you serious? One?" Fulgurite asked.

"Yeah, that's the order. Need you to sign this please," Jamie said, presenting the signature for them. Fulgurite signed it with her hair, her eyes still looking to the comic she was made to waited hours for. As she was doing this, they then hear someone start to come out of the Beach House. Speak of the devil, it just so happened to be Emerald coming out after his day of shopping.

"Awesome, it's here!" Emerald beamed, heading right over to them to see the comic. "My special edition release of Sinful Servant, volume 57! Finally you're mine!"

"Glad you like it, Emerald. Everyone and their brother's trying to get their hands on that edition," Jamie said, though he only knew this from the news he picked up after dropping off that same comic to Sadie earlier that day.

"Yeah no kidding. Hey Fulgurite, thanks for holding down the fort for me while I was away, this would've been wrecked if it was left on the beach. Ok, you're relieved of duty, see ya later," Emerald said, heading his way back to the Beach House … Fulgurite hitting her head on the mailbox.

"He made me wait all day just for one comic so it wouldn't get wrecked in the sand? He could've fit that thing inside the mailbox!" Fulgurite said.

"Ok, it's fine, at least it's over now. It couldn't have been that bad," Diopside said to comfort her. Fulgurite was a bit fuming on this dumb task that Emerald said was SO important.

"I know, but that green punk was all "Fulgurite, watch this for me and keep your eyes peeled, my life depends on it!" or something. Depends on what?! So his favorite comic doesn't get a few particles in it?"
Diopside and Ruby weren't as familiar about comics as Emerald, but they did see where Fulgurite was coming from. Plus the comic was sealed in a plastic case anyway, so nothing would even end up going into it regardless.

"Uh, I'll uh just be going," Jamie said humbly, seeing Fulgurite going into a fit.

"Alright Jamie, see you later," Diopside said. But just before they could just go, someone else then came out of the Beach House. This time though it was a better face, this time being Pinkie Pie with their end of a Diamond Communicator projector screen in hoof.

"Yo guys, when you're done playing real-estate come here! I finally got a signal!"

Well that was a pretty good bit of news. So, Diopside, Fulgurite, and Ruby were inside the Beach House. with some of the clean-happy Gems such as Pearl away, the state of the Beach House wasn't as up to shape as before, but not a complete pig sty either, with some bits scattered here and there of snacks. Well that didn't matter all too much, so as Emerald was chilling on Steven's bed and reading the latest chapter on Sinful Servant, the others (which was also joined by Rarity and Amethyst as it turned out) got to the couch and opened up the projector screen. It took a bit, but they did manage to get their connection through.

"Testing, testing, you guys there?" said a good, and familiar voice.

"Yo, Ste-man! We hear ya loud and clear," said Amethyst. Good to see his face again after a couple of days.

"YES! Guys, I got to them," Steven replied. The others started to come in now, the screen seeing plenty of their faces come in now. Soon, Sapphire, Lapis, and Peridot were there on screen.

"Hello everyone. Hey Ruby~" said Sapphire. Ruby blushed. It had been too long since Ruby seen Sapphire's beautiful face.

"Hey! Hey Amethyst, you there? Hey Amethyst!" Peridot said, full of glee, and trying to get the full attention so she could talk to Amethyst.

"We see ya, P. So, friendship soldier, how's the big mission going? What news from the front?" Diopside asked, sounding serious but really she was just joking around. Steven followed suit, stepping back and giving a soldier's salute.

"Mission going swimmingly, mam," Steven replied.

"Wait, really?" Ruby asked.

"Um … ok, we did have a bumpy start, but it's going a lot better now. White hasn't missed a single lesson, but …"

"But …?"

"She's thinking this is all just one of Pink Diamond's games. I think it'll be a bit more time until she actually thinks this is lessons," Steven replied, though he still sounded hopeful.

"No one said it's gonna be easy, sport, just keep at it," Fulgurite said.

"I'm keeping at it, trust me. I'm not giving up on White Diamond just yet," Steven reassured, giving them a wink.

"That's our boy. You show White Diamond you mean business," Amethyst said. At this point Peridot got hold of the projector screen and got the attention focused on her next.

"Amethyst, finally! Listen, I got the biggest news this side of the galaxy!"

"What's that?"

"During our travels around the galaxy, we've took some time to stop on the planet Farid, and … and …" Peridot could barely contain her excitement, "Amethyst. I found my family!"

"Shut up!" Amethyst gasped.

"I'm serious! All six hundred and seventy five of them in one location, and they're ALL from my entire cut too. and in my experience, I even discovered a recipe from my younger sister I think you'll like," Peridot explained, presenting a written out list of ingredients for the Metallixer. As Peridot had hoped, Amethyst found this very interesting, and appetizing.

"Metallixer?"

"Sounds yummy and healthy at the same time," Pinkie Pie said.

"It's a type of drink they've created on Farid, and according to them it's very good," Lapis said.

"Oh sweet. Hang on, let me write it -"

"Already got it Amethyst," Pinkie Pie said, presenting a written down list of the Metallixer for her already. Leave it to the speedster to get this written down in just five seconds.

"According to them, Lapis?" asked Rarity. Lapis kinda clammed up on the question, but Peridot decided to go on and say it.

"Apparently only Peridots find it tasteful. Other Gems seemingly don't think so … which makes little sense, it tastes pretty good," Peridot said. Well, to each it's own.

"Well, I beg to differ. Come on, Pinkie, let's make this happen," Amethyst said, getting up with the pink mare to try and make this Metallixer happen, the others checking in with them.

"Any other planets you went to guys?" Diopside asked.

"Well, aside from Farid, we did stop in Heiligdom but that was about it so far. Think we got one more planet to stop by before we start heading back," Lapis replied.

"PLEASE. You have no idea how it's been over here," said Fulgurite.

"What do you mean? Is something wrong?" Lapis asked.

"I'll give you one guess who's been hogging the communicator the last week, hoping you'll call for a ride home," said Diopside. They didn't even need to answer in order to figure out who that was actually about.

"Oh geesh. Well, tell the policeman we'll be getting home within the next week," Lapis said.

"Will do," replied Rarity.

"So aside from that, what have you been up to?"

"Oh we've been keeping ourselves busy: went to this Convocation of Creatures not too long ago, killed it at Funland Arcade, and wasted several hours of my life because someone didn't want their comic wrecked on the beach," Fulgurite summed up.

"It's called a MANGA, and get mad all you want, I can't get this again for another three months," Emerald retorted.

"That thing could've fit in the mailbox!" Fulgurite said.

"And get a permanent bent in the spine, I don't think so," Emerald said.

"Still a fan of Sinful Servant, huh?" Steven asked.

"How could I NOT be? I've been waiting for this pre-order for weeks, I'm not getting some half-fancy'd comic book covered in dirt," emerald replied, presenting the peak-conditioned manga.

"It's called a MANGA," said Fulgurite smugly.

"... Shut up," Emerald replied, blushing as he went back to reading. Peridot couldn't help herself chuckling.

"So I'd assume the others aren't with you," Sapphire correctly concluded.

"Flint, Jade, and Jasper had really been dealing damage in missions lately though I guess that's to keep them distracted. And the ponies had been working plenty to making Ponyville good again," Diopside explained.

"You should see Ponyville now, Steven. It's almost like it was always there, and we even improved Ponyville since you left," Rarity explained.

"Congratulations," said Sapphire, "Looking forward to seeing all of you again."

"You too. K, we better get going before Flint comes back and takes our turn," said Diopside.

Well, with that said, and with one goodbye from both sides the connection was cut. And just in time too: just as the connection was cut off, the Warp Pad from the Beach House activated once again. Just as Diopside had suspected, there stood Flint, Jasper, and Jade back from their latest mission. Judging from their appearance though, their latest mission wasn't what they would call an easy little stroll, each of them looking like they've went through a bit of a scuffle.

"Oh my," Rarity said.

"What's up," Fulgurite said, seeing them come in.

"Well, we made it home alive, that's the important thing," Jasper simply said, pulling out what appeared to be a decent sized crystal from her hair. Tired, Jasper took a seat on the couch, the others moving aside give her some room.

"What was the Gem this time? Quartz? Agate? Or was it even a corrupted Gem?" Ruby asked.

"It started as a Corrupted Gem, but turned out our runaway corruption was in the same place as this … lord, I don't even know. Some giant, rock shooting mammoth thing," Flint said, still trying to comprehend what that even was about.

"And it took away the corrupted Gem from us too," added Jade. All day trying to find their corrupted Gem, just to have it get taken away, was NOT sitting very well for Flint and Jasper. 

"Oh? It wasn't another Corrupted Gem? Dear, that's the seventh time I think," Rarity said after thinking. With the passing of the Everstorm that occurred sometime ago, these encounters with mystical creatures had become a bit more common than most. This would be fine if it was in Equestria, but Earth just didn't seem like the place for that sort of thing. And THEN they looked over to Emerald.

"Emerald!" Flint snapped, his voice making Emerald almost jump off of the second floor. The green Gem got the comic book off of his head before looking to Flint.

"That's my name, Flint."

"Emerald, where have you been? I told you to come with us on this mission, but here you are reading your comics again," Flint said. Emerald placed the comic back inside the plastic.

"First off - MANGA. Second, it's not that big of a deal. You still got your Corrupted Gem, didn't you?"

"That doesn't remotely relate to what I just asked."

"Ok, ok, I was out shopping. So sue me," Emerald said, getting back up. Without showing much care over this mission, he started coming downstairs with comic in hand, about to head out the door.

"You know, we don't tell you to come with us on these missions because we want your company, you actually had to come with us," Jasper made clear. Emerald didn't seem too bothered though.

"Okay, MOM, geesh. Anyone got the time?" Emerald asked. However, none of them actually had to answer that question, as Emerald looked over towards the clock. … and suddenly, Emerald was up in arms, getting as much of his shopping stuff together.

"Crap, that late already! Ok, we'll catch on this later."

"No, we're not done - EMERALD!"

Too late. Before any of them could grab him, Emerald was already taking off on his way to … well, who knows at this point? Emerald made his quick getaway with one of his hexagons, and by the time they got outside he was already flying off a good thirty feet off the ground, flying off out of sight. Flint felt the rim of the doorframe crack under his gripping fingers.

"Ok, this is getting ridiculous!" Flint said, releasing the doorframe and starting to pace back and forth in the Beach House, "What's that Gem got to do that's so important anyway?"

"I'm gonna guess: probably a big sale in "manga" off in Bayburgh or something," Fulgurite scoffed, not feeling any better about it than Flint was.

"Now, now, you can't blame him for having other uh … priorities," Rarity noted, though the tone in her voice did suggest she was only trying to avoid conflict, but still saw too well what they meant.

"Don't you start that: Emerald's barely done anything since being in this group, and he's ALWAYS gone doing his own thing instead of actually helping us out," Flint pointed out. He may not have as accurate a memory as Lapis, but after some thinking, the point was still there. Rarity cleared her throat.

"Well, be that as it may, I'm sure he's had other obligations than just us Harmony Gems. it's better than him actually fighting us, right?" Rarity said. Flint just groaned.

"Sorry for being speciesist, but I swear, you ponies can be too forgiving sometimes," Flint said. Rarity didn't want this turned into a species-ist argument, so she decided to leave it at that with the exception of a raised eyebrow. The comment was mostly said out of frustration anyway.
Before this conversation could continue, they all then heard the door open up again. This time though, the door didn't open to outside, but the signature sign of a Portal Key being used told them it was to Equestria.

And what's the issue this time?

…….

"Ok, she had a rounded head … about as tall as me, a little taller with her spiked hair, and a beak for a mouth and … yeah."

After a quick explanation from Starlight Glimmer, she and Spike got the description down pretty solidly for the others to try and work with. Fulgurite, Ruby, Rarity, and Amethyst got their drawn out description down as Flint, Pinkie, Twilight, and Jasper observed. Was it a perfect drawing of Budgerite? Well … it really depended on the drawing itself, and who drew it out. First up was Amethyst's drawing, which was literally just some poorly drawn … thing, that kinda looked like a bird.

"I was trying to get a feeling," Amethyst replied.

Well, that wasn't really gonna do them very good. Next one was Ruby, who was in a similar boat, but looked mostly like a fire with a bird head on it, arms and legs. A good sum up, but still a bit poor.

"I think I did too much on the hair," Ruby admitted sheepishly.

Rarity was next, and given how she was a passionate one for design, spent a little too much time working on the design to have it that accurate to the real thing.

"Honestly, I have a hard time handling circles in art," Rarity admitted. A bit hard to believe, but being a fashion designer and being an artist were two different crafts.

Fulgurite's drawing looked a bit hasty though, much of the lines looking like they've been done like slices, cutting to and frow until they got the shape. Hardly much of anything.

"I think it came out a bit well," Fulgurite said. Starlight sighed.

"Well anyway, I think Ruby got it closest," Starlight concluded. not as good, but best they were gonna get on short notice. Still, while this was all fine and dandy, Flint was beginning to get a bit impatient with this development, starting to go to the door.

"We're wasting time. Clearly this Gem's sent by White Diamond, and if she's here she's looking for us," Flint concluded. He wasn't much for coming to quick conclusions, but Budgerite gave little other options for the overall answer.

"Hang on a minute, how do you know?" Jasper questioned. Flint turned back to her.

"Because this "Budgerite" or whoever she is, isn't any normal Gem. I can tell just by that description she's some hybrid Gem, half bird according to the … beak," Flint explained, seeing the closest picture again.

"How do you know that, detective Gem?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie. How many Gems do you know with a beak for a mouth?"

"... Ah. Gotcha," Pinkie replied, seeing the picture again. For the heck of it, Pinkie pulled a marker from her mane, took a piece of paper, and quickly drew out a surprisingly accurate model of Budgerite.

"Well, she's got the prize," Spike said, taking the picture.

"Well, maybe she's from White Diamond, but she's not working with her. She's working for someone named Grogar," Starlight explained. The name surely didn't sound too familiar.

"Grogar?" asked Jasper.

"I don't know, some very angry, very strong ram. And I mean strong, like he just toppled the royal guard in just half a minute," Starlight shrugged. She had never heard of the ram before the encounter, so it really didn't help out the situation all too much.

"Can't be that strong," remarked Jasper.

"Twilight, you have any information about Grogar or no?" Flint asked, "You worked with the princesses, so if anyone should know it's you."

"None of the other princesses ever told me anything about Grogar. I didn't read him anywhere either," Twilight replied. Well that wasn't encouraging. Flint groaned.

"Oh boy, I think you triggered him," Fulgurite said. Flint was not amused.

"She didn't trigger me, Fulgurite," Flint retorted, "It was only a matter of time before someone would try and go for Canterlot since Celestia -" quickly Pinkie jumped in and covered Twilight's ears from hearing the ending of that sentence, but the Alicorn still felt the same cold shiver run through her spine.

"Flint! Language! There're traumatized ears here," Pinkie Pie warned.

"Oh, uh sorry. Well, you get the point: with Twilight now in charge, many of the older enemies might think they got a far better shot."

"Well that's much better," Starlight said.

"Hey, it's true!" retorted Flint.

"Alright, quit it," Jasper said, making them quiet. "Starlight, you fought Grogar, what kind of damage is this threat this time? Give me a level of damage, one to ten."
Starlight paused and thought this over for a bit. One fight doesn't fully specify the level of damage Grogar could do, but it was all she got to work with. She thought about the fight for a bit.

"Ok, let's see. Well, he can use some pretty decent fighting magic, and he's strong enough to make mincemeat out of the guards and the front room so I'd say … four?" Starlight concluded.

"Only four?" Twilight asked in disbelief.

"Well let's be honest, the royal guard doesn't have the best track record," Starlight admitted. Twilight would try and defend, but thinking back at HOW MANY TIMES the royal guard didn't really do their job exactly, at least without the princesses' magical backup … yeah, she had a point.

"That, and they did kinda high-tailed it when I came in. Seriously, that donkey and bird looked like they were about to faint just for seeing me," added Spike.

"K, so Grogar's just some very angry magic goat with a fear of Dragons. … Yeah, you got nothing to worry about," Jasper concluded. Compared to the other deadlier threats they've faced before, Grogar didn't sound like all that much to them.

"You sure? I-I mean, what if he decides to come back for another shot? What if we can't beat him? what if he actually takes over?!" Twilight asked, worried. She had left for only a few days, only to find this report waiting for her. Luckily, Twilight got some sense into her when Fulgurite made a zap to her head with a poke of her hair.

"Thanks, Fulgurite," Amethyst said, before turning to Twilight.

"Twilight, chill out. Think about it: we faced King Sombra, that Osicone, White Diamond twice now, and that CRAZY three-way brawl with Chrysalis, those Tindalos and Pony of Shadows! I mean, compared to that Grogar's just some sort of superhero's villain off of TV."

"She does have a point, dear," agreed Rarity, "And didn't you say the guards didn't find any trace of him since that attack? If he's that scared of Spike, he's probably long gone by now."
Twilight needed a bit to calm down before she could answer properly.

"Yeah, you're probably right. … Sorry, I'm just under some more pressure lately. I mean, at least before we -" Twilight paused to get the cold shiver out before continuing. "... had four princesses."

"We get it Twilight, but don't end up as a paranoid wreck over it alright? If it makes you feel better, Flint will keep watch over things," Jasper said.

"Wait, what? What the heck, Jasper?"

"Weren't you gonna go there anyway?" Jasper questioned. Well, that was a stalemate, and Flint came up to nothing.

"Good point. Alright, if it makes things better, I'll check around for you Twilight," Flint promised. This did give Twilight some more security, a sigh of relief escaping her muzzle as she started to relax. Flint got himself ready for the trek ahead, as Twilight opened the portal to go back to Canterlot with him.

"Twilight, hold on, where're you going?"

"Back to Canterlot," Twilight replied.

"Already? Twilight, you've been working a bit too hard with your task. Maybe you should give it a break," advised Rarity.

"Well, I'm sure I would, but if my schedule allowed me some time off to join my friends in some casual time, or perhaps go off on a vacation with everyone, which would be super amazing now, I'm sure it would've said so." They could obviously tell Twilight was putting a bit more obligation on this task of hers than what was good for her, but before any of them could say anything else, Twilight went back through the portal with Flint.

"Flint, help that Alicorn," Jasper sighed.

"So Flint's gone. Guess we're gonna deal with Emerald?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah … soon as we figure out where he went."

"Eh, that won't be hard," Amethyst said, as she pulled out her Portal Key. ...


~~~~~~


With the others off his back, Emerald continued his flight at a brisk pace, passed the borders of Beach City and over to the countryside. In the direction of his flight though, being more inland than by the shore, his destination wasn't exactly over to Bayburgh as Fulgurite had figured. His fly through the autumn air left him feeling a little cold, but nothing a Gem like him couldn't handle.
As for where he had in mind this time, his target began to come closer to view the further he came into the countryside: the Barnhouse. Not a typical spot for him to stop at, but as apart of his "schedule", it was one of those rare occasions. And good timing too as the residents of said barnhouse were just outside. Down by the door, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins were passing their time with some cloud watching when Emerald came into view.

"Look!" said right Rutile.

"There he is!" added left Rutile. They got up as Emerald landed off nearby as the others got up themselves to see him.

"Hey there guys, your delivery's here," said Emerald.

"Oh look, it's Emerald!" said Padparadscha. Timing late as usual, but no one was complaining too much. Emerald went over to them with the shopping he did, and it turned out much of said shopping was really just some more comics and manga of sorts.

"Okay, let's see. One for you Rhodonite, one for you two twins, and … here's yours P," Emerald said, passing them around. Each of them had their own type of manga enjoyment, as it turned out. Still, there were a few still left in his bags.

"Hey, where's the rest? Tiger's Eye? Fluorite? Lars?"

"Fluorite said to just leave them in the barn. She, Tiger's Eye and Lars decided to go out for a bit," explained left Rutile.

"Well alright, but hope these don't soil up in there. Some of these comics get dirty pretty easily," Emerald said, remembering his own experience as he took the rest towards the barn door. As he did so, he saw Rhodonite looking pretty intently into her own comic book, hers involving what appeared to be a female steampunk soldier, saluting off to the horizon as a flag of her country waved behind her (at least it seemed to be by the cover of it).

"I wish I was half as brave as you, Phlorance. Did you say this is based off an actual story, Emerald?" Rhodonite asked, as she was checking out the pages.

"Eh, beats me. That one the guy said was based on a true story, but I dunno. Looks kinda … sketchy in places," Emerald replied, as he pointed out the "rocket boots" Phlorance was using in one of the pages, taking combat to a robot-like drone.

"I don't know how she does it: just rushing in like that, not thinking about what those drones could do to her. I mean, isn't she worried about that at all?"

"That's apart of her character: she's someone who acts more than she thinks. Look, she's literally ramming that drone with her head."

"But that sounds so reckless," Rhodonite said, feeling a bit unnerved. Being brave and being stupid were two different things.

"It is!" agreed Emerald, "That's the whole point. Just ask Fulgurite or Rainbow Dash, you'll figure it out."

Phlorance did seem to act like those two whenever in battle. As Rhodonite made some mental note of that connection, and what she could possibly do with herself, Emerald continued on and went over to the barn doors. He grabbed the side of the door, but as he opened it be began seeing the telltale signs of some sort of bright light inside. A light and nothing else. Emerald closed the barn door shut, only to have a set of larger hands pry the barn door open, and for Jasper to look through.

"We weren't finished, Emerald," Jasper growled. Emerald jumped back and almost stumbled over his own feet, the other Off-Colors quickly seeing the tall muscle mom come out of her portal. Jasper propped the portal open, leaning on the rim of it, as she looked down to the annoying gremlin.

"Seriously, there needs to be a warning about those portal doors," Emerald said, hand on his chest as if his "heart" skipped a beat.

"I predict Jasper would visit the barn," Padparadscha said nearby, but they all looked a little nervous when Jasper picked up Emerald by the head.

"Now you listen here. You've been in this group for years, but I've yet to see you lift a finger to do anything for us," Jasper stated firmly.

"Come on, it's one mission, no big deal!" retorted Emerald, just for Jasper to drop him to the ground on his head.

"That isn't the point!" Jasper made clear, as Emerald got himself back up, rubbing his head.

"Wait, what'd he do?" Rhodonite asked.

"Oh, hey there. Emerald was supposed to come with us for a mission, but he didn't even show up. Again," Jasper explained, glaring to Emerald.

"Cheese puff, chill," said Emerald, "I may not be up for missions as much as the next cut, but I've made my contribution to the team and you know it!"

"Actually, I don't know. Mind telling me what that is?" Jasper asked, arms crossed and waiting for him to answer. Emerald readied to do just that, but suddenly he found nothing coming out of his mouth to protect him from the Gem. He tried to think about this, but his eyes glanced over to the comics nearby.

"H-Here, check it! I had to rush from the Beach House to here to drop these off to these guys! Look, see?" Emerald said, picking up one of the comics in question.

"So for the last couple of years, you've been nothing but a delivery rock," Jasper restated. Geesh that sounded bad on paper, and Emerald saw Jasper needed something a bit more substantial than that to get this by. Emerald tried to think of something else, but it wasn't fast enough before he heard Jasper's hand meet her face.

"Ok Emerald, I'll just spell it out: We all put in our own effort for this team, one way or another, and if you want to stay here you need to start pulling your own weight. Being with us doesn't just mean free room and board, ok?" Jasper made clear. Emerald quickly turned to his only back up.

"Come on guys, help me out here: Am I really the kind of jerk who just finds a room somewhere and doesn't do anything to help anyone else out? Well?"

"... Is … that a trick question?" Rhodonite asked.

"Thanks Rhodonite. I knew I could count on you," Emerald said bemused. Then the sense of Jasper's gaze came back to mind. Jasper went over to Emerald again, turning him around.

"Emerald. Mission. Now."

"Fine. What do I have to do sergeant Cheese Puff?" Emerald asked. After clocking him for calling her "cheese puff" again, and after he regained himself, Jasper got the item in question and tossed it too Emerald. It mainly was a written list of objectives.

"Here's the location. According to Starlight, some villagers are getting testy over some Timberwolves over there. She said something about the guards supposing to give that to Twilight, but she needs a break so you handle it."

"Wait, you're giving me Twilight's work?" Emerald questioned.

"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST GO?!" Jasper roared, looking ready to kill the bugger.


~~~~~~


"Geesh. Sorry for asking a question. …"

Jasper got him in the right direction when it came to where he had to go, as much as Emerald really wasn't wanting to go, but next thing Emerald knew he was off in Equestria for the sake of Twilight's mission. Or least, Emerald was convinced it was Twilight's mission, and still was thinking that as he kept walking along. He at least had time to make out a written list for his objective today, but ONLY after some long talk with the "cheese puff" to even make it work.
The road Emerald was dropped off at was a bit barren by Equestria standards, with open plains and smaller trees sprouting around him in scattered places. Though, as it stands, this was what much of Equestria was looking like since the Everstorm's passing, and thanks to the numerous Parasprites of course.

"Ok, let's see what we got here," Emerald told himself, checking the instructions, "Hmm. Alright: go to White Tail Woods, dispel rumors of Timberwolves to locals, if Timberwolves are discovered, drive them away. … And WHY can't Twilight do this?"

A flash of Jasper's angry face came across his mind.

"Oh. Right. "You're not pulling your weight"," Emerald said, his voice in a sort of mocking tone, "Seriously, Sargent Cheese Puff and Knight Sir Coal NEED to get a grip. … By the way, where even IS the White Tail Woods? Or ANY woods?"

Emerald stopped briefly to check where he was. Nothing in the area even looked like any forest, let alone any White Tail Woods. Emerald was getting a little bit bugged, but at least he brought something to pass the time.

"Whelp, good thing I got this babe," Emerald commented, before levitating out a pair of headphones, and an iPhone. Putting on the headphones, and clicking his favorite tunes and it wasn't long until he was strolling down the road again, his steps going with the beat. Eyes closed during this, he was getting more into his music than what he really had to do. Or what was going on around him.
All of his dancing about, listening to his own little world of music left him a little more vulnerable than most, especially since his "beat-boxing" could be heard amongst the scattered trees and foliage. One would think in such a place it would be a bit harder to find such animals like a Timberwolf. But as Emerald went on, a few wolf-like spruce started to take notice of this lone traveler along the path. There were only three of them, a standard number for a Timberwolf pack in a place such as this, but these weren't exactly ordinary Timberwolves. A lot smaller actually, for one thing, almost like they were pups to a normal Timberwolf or something.

The three Timberwolves watched Emerald go by in his odd way, eventually coming out. It wasn't until Emerald bumped into something that he actually remembered what he was doing, seeing the Timberwolves come out.

"AH! … Uh, hey," Emerald said. It didn't take long until he actually realized what was there. These were Timberwolves sure, but these Timberwolves were kinda small, about the same size he was.

"... Wait. These can't be the Timberwolves. PLEASE tell me this isn't just it," Emerald said to himself. These Timberwolves didn't even look all that scary either, the Timberwolves acting more like skittish coyotes at best. On one hand, this was feeling like a bit of a rip off and a wonder why Twilight would be called anyway … but then again, he didn't want to do this anyway.

"Well, Cheese Puff never said what a Timberwolf even looked like. Heck, I can handle this," Emerald decided, bringing out one of his hexagon weapons to handled these creatures. He held the hexagon like a disk, or how Steven would with his shield. … And immediately the Timberwolves scattered. That didn't mean he didn't throw it at them though, one being shattered into a bunch of spruce wood as the others ran far out of sight.

And that's it.

"... ALRIGHT, we go home!" Emerald concluded, proud at a job well done as he turned around and started to make his way back in the same direction. The two remaining Timberwolves looked back to Emerald, and despite seeing one of their own get shattered like that they came back out, getting some of the twigs, branches, and leaves from the third. Emerald didn't really notice, busy checking some of his videos and online stuff.

"Okay, that's that. Alright, so got that rendezvous with Bull's Eye Books n' Vids, better get there before the best sales go down the toilet … boy, my views are going down. Well, been a while since I gave the audience something to chew on besides that Brittle Bear Bakery vid. Soon as I get back -" *arf!* "... huh?"

Turning back, he found that all three of them were now back, still following him and almost unfazed by the first attack.

"Ok, what the hay? I just clobbered you to firewood! … and didn't your jaw have a lower half to it?" Emerald's questions were answered pretty quickly, as some of the remaining pieces of wood nearby started glowing greenish, and levitated back to the correct spot on the Timberwolf.

"... Regeneration powers. … Whelp, second verse same as the first," Emerald figured. He then turned to the Timberwolves and got out his hexagon again. But this time, the Timberwolves were just a little bit faster than before, and before he could throw his hexagon, one of the Timberwolves jumped at him and snagged the most valuable item on him before bolting away.

"MY IPHONE! Give that back, all of my tunes are on that thing!" Emerald demanded, but of course the Timberwolf didn't comply. Emerald tried chasing after the animal, but as with any thief with a prize the Timberwolf was racing away from the path and into the wilderness. As much as Emerald tried running after the Timberwolf, it was just running a little bit faster.

"You know what, clod it," Emerald decided, throwing his hexagon right at the Timberwolf again. This time it didn't completely shatter the thing, but it did knock off its legs so it'll stop moving. The iPhone was tossed in the air, and ended up tumbling and bouncing off a bit, landing into a nearby patch of bushes. Emerald raced over to get his iPhone from the bushes.

"There you are! Please don't be damaged, please don't be damaged." Emerald made a quick check on his screen and buttons on the iPhone, but lucky for him, it wasn't really damaged all that much. The worst it got was that it smelt like Timber breath, but that was about it. Emerald sighed, and turned to the already reformed Timberwolf.

"Watch it, Wolfe, or I'll make you into firewood!" Emerald snapped. The mention of fire did cower the Timberwolves, but not enough to make them leave. Emerald was just glad his iPhone wasn't too wrecked by the stumble, SOMEHOW not cracked from it getting bounced around like that.

"OK, that happened," Emerald figured, "now where the stars is White Tail Woods from here? Dang, maybe I shouldn't have ticked off Jasper like that, at least then she'll drop me off at the right place first. But where even is it? And more importantly … why do I keep talking to myself?"
Emerald gave a few light slaps to his temple before walking off on his way. The Timberwolves glanced to one another before they started trailing behind him again. Emerald knew they were there, but what good would fighting them do if they were just gonna build themselves back together again? Emerald did stop though anyway, but not because of the Timberwolves behind him. …

*ahhh ah ah ahhh ah*

"Huh? Sapphire?"

No. no Sapphire was off in space, that couldn't be her. Emerald glanced back to the Timberwolves, and they weren't singing either. Well when hearing any suspicious, and strange noise coming from somewhere one hadn't been in before, the only logical thing to do is -

"Alright, let's see what's up now."

… Anything but that. Emerald had nothing better to do, so he strolled on and followed the noise. The distant sound of the song became slightly more prominent as he went through the foliage. His wandering through the Equestrian wilderness eventually lead him far off away from the road, and over towards an actually thicker area of forest. His walk only stopped once he began hearing some more voices.

"Coming through! Here, let me just roll into your DMs real quick."

Peeking through the next bush, as it was discovered by Emerald and the Timberwolves, the area coming up looked a bit like a scrapyard in progress. And this scrapyard wasn't alone either: Budgerite was on top of what looked like a giant gear and rolled it along like a circus performer would do, as her companion Bray was pulling a statue along as best a donkey could. Stubby was nearby helping Bray out, but his help was hardly any.

"Hold on, isn't that the same mutt that tried to steal Steven?" Emerald thought watching this. None of the three even noticed Emerald or the Timberwolves nearby, and eventually after dropping off some more things, the trio went off to presumably get some more things. With the area clear, Emerald took a moment to check out what was going on here, and suddenly something clicked.

"RNG Diamonds, thank you. Let's give the cast something to chew on," Emerald decided, getting his phone out and at the ready. What chance would this come by again before those three move all of this stuff? Soon as he clicked record, he got things settled.

*click*

"What's up everybody and everypony, Emerald here," he said, his voice a little quieter. "Now, this is an on-site, and unprecedented urban exploration: I was going through … somewhere in Equestria, I was kinda dropped off here by one of my friends earlier today, #SargCheesePuff in case you're wondering who. And look what I found."
Emerald stopped to levitate his phone just above the bushline so the camera could capture the scrapyard nearby. The video also captured the strange singing. The Timberwolves didn't have a clue what he was talking to.

"So, I have NO IDEA what this is all about. And all you can hear, there's this … singing, going on somewhere in this place? I dunno what it is, I dunno where it is but we're gonna find out. Alright, the others are gone, let's do this dance."

And dance he did: as he made one more look through the bushes before he started to go off into the scrapyard. He went right into it without fear, but kept his caution up just in case someone would come back around and catch him. The Timberwolves, curious, ventured out with him too seeing it was safer. Some were caught in sight of the camera, so Emerald went to explain them too.

"K, in case you're gonna ask comment section, those are just some friendly Timberwolves - most original name ever. I know. And they kept following me since showing up, so they're just gonna do what Timberwolves do and I'm just gonna let em do it." Not the best joke ever, but that was what ended up happening. So as the Timberwolves were checking out the other stuff, Emerald kept looking around for the singing He kept his iPhone levitated as he searched around some more, though while the camera could see it, Emerald failed to notice anything odd about the items he was looking through. He could've sworn something was different, but when he fully looked, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"Well, so far no luck, I'm still finding nothing that could be making music -" and suddenly something off in the distance caught his eye. something moving amongst the scrap got Emerald quiet. Hearing distant voices again, Emerald started to freak out, and immediately raced to find some cover amongst the scrap metal. However, the Timberwolves didn't really hide away, still looking over the landscape. For the camera, Emerald didn't exactly showed what happened though it did hear the Timberwolves rush off for cover as something moved in. Emerald slowly brought the iPhone up so it could see the situation, but there didn't appear to be any Timberwolves there anymore …

"OK, no idea what just happened, but it looks like our Timberwolves went on home so it's just gonna be you and me. It might be a while," Emerald said, before coming out of his hiding place. Recording stopped for a brief moment (he didn't want an hour long video of nothing), and Emerald continued to look around.

"Seriously, where're you?" Emerald wondered. So much scrap to look through and he couldn't find much of anything to work with. Emerald kept hearing this strange sympathy over and over again, but he couldn't really find it yet. He kept the iPhone levitated as he started rummaging through another bit of scrap, but with him distracted, the world continued to work its way towards him. All the camera caught was a simple shadow starting to loom in behind Emerald, before something whacked it aside.

"Huh? Hey, watch the - ACK!" Emerald wasn't even given a second before the advisor for this scrapyard jumped him, and got him on the ground. His head was pressed down into the ground by a sharpened trotter, giving Emerald a bit of a harder time to actually see who it was that found him.

"Hey, lay off dude! If you wanted me gone just say so!" Emerald said, but this thing didn't care about what he had to say. Looking just passed the hoof, thinking it to be a ram or deer according to the hoof. However, this hoof was instead attached to a much less-fancy creature: a domesticated, thousand pounder, Landrace boar! But no ordinary boar, as this giant of a hog had a twisted grin on its muzzle, and its hooves were sharpened at the tips like cleavers. In its muzzle, Emerald saw a small hint of a splinter from what used to be a Timberwolf, the hog proceeding to crack with its teeth, and giving a sort of wheezing snicker. Emerald tried kicking the pig off of him, but this hefty hog was heavier than he appeared, and all of his kicks weren't met with much luck.

"HOG! Can't breathe! Get off me!" Emerald demanded. However, the hog didn't budge. It only took the strength of a hundred quartz soldiers in Emerald's tiny arms to pull himself out of the hog's hooves, feeling his shirt get torn up though.

Now on his feet he got a better look at this pig. The size of this hog was simply huge, easily rivaling the size of a bear, and there were some rather odd-looking black scars dotted along its body. Its ears were flopped over its eyes, working a bit like Sapphire's hair over her eye (weird, I know). Emerald quickly got his iPhone.

"K, guys, time to split!" Emerald said to his audience, as he began to make a run for it as the crazed hog was rushing after him with such a horrid squealing, a mixture of a bellowing horse and a screeching pig. For such a hefty animal it moved pretty quick on its four hooves, keeping close to Emerald's tail the whole time.

"Crap, crap, crap LAY OFF PIG!" Emerald shouted, only to nearly get his face bit off in the open mouth of the boar. While he didn't get bitten, he did get rammed and he was launched into one of the scrap piles, his iPhone being launched in the air until landing nearby. The boar snickered again, seeing Emerald's head stuck in the scrap heap. The pig yanked Emerald out and soon the large pig was on top of him again, this time both front hooves holding him down. That same twisted grin was across its muzzle, and continuing its snickers, gave Emerald the sloppiest lick a pig could give.

"... EEEEWWWW," Emerald grimaced, feeling the huge lick-filled loogie all over his face. He tried shaking off the saliva, just to be pressed down by the pig's snout. Then the attention came to the iPhone, the boar moving to check that out as Emerald had to think about how much cleaning product would fix the smell and saliva. The iPhone's screen soon saw the face of this boar, the animal taking it in its mouth.

"Don't you. Don't you do it!" Emerald warned, "That's got a lot of money attached to it, I need it for my career!"

So the pig dropped it … and spat a big fat one right on the screen.

"You. Devil," Emerald said, only THEN getting his iPhone back. It wasn't damaged exactly, the saliva only on the screen, but it wasn't any less disgusting. Emerald held it by the tips of his fingers, the pig laughing at his misfortunes. Emerald then brought out his hexagon.

"That does it porky, anyone interested in some porkchops?" Emerald asked, ready to beat up this pig … only to get the weirdest response from this pig today: beyond just yes, the pig's tongue licked his muzzle in such a sloppy manner, the pig willing to chow down on some porkchops!

"... Wait. Really?" Emerald asked. The pig nodded eagerly, hoping for a meaty treat like a dog to a biscuit.

"O … K … this is getting awkward. I'm just gonna go now, you have fun … being you," Emerald decided. Instead of running, he got his hexagon and flew off instead before the pig could do anything else to him. The pig just snickered again before strolling on back into the scrap yard. Emerald landed off nearby, just far enough so the pig wouldn't find him.

"That was something that happened. Back to business! … soon as I clean this screen, just a second," Emerald said, getting his shirt to wipe off some of the saliva off of the screen so the folks could see him better.

*ahhh ah ahh ah ahhh ah, ah ah, ah ah, ahhh*

"There's that noise again. And it's sounding pretty close this time," Emerald said to himself, investigating the place just a tiny bit further. He wasn't leaving until he found the source of the singing, if it was the last thing he'll do. He had a reputation to keep! Emerald kept the iPhone levitated as he kept trying to check around a bit more, keeping his eye out not only for the singing source, but for that creepy pig. His eyes looked up and down until -

*ahhh ah ahh ah ahhh ah, ah ah, ah ah, ahhh*

"BINGO!"

FINALLY the source of the noise. And admittedly, a very odd one at that. About as tall as an average human, this object amongst the rubble had a human-like face, the voice singing from there. However, everything underneath said head didn't look remotely human at all: a sort of hollow cage containing what looked to be a Gemstone-like disco ball, with a set of very large (comparatively speaking) green hands with dark green fingernails. Four smaller frog-like statues were around this object, each holding a small trumpet, and a round green stone on their head. The whole structure itself appeared attached to a rock pedestal that was forcefully removed from some sort of wall, according to the cracks behind the structure.

"We found it folks! And check it out, it ain't half bad this Sessile. Why would anyone throw this good piece away?" Emerald wondered, admittedly impressed by this nice piece in such a bunch of scrap. Sessile acted like she didn't hear that and just kept singing as she was supposed to.

"Alrighty everybody and everypony, we met with some creep ham of a hog, but we found out noisemaker right here. Mission accomplished! See you all in the next exploration after I get a good long bath. This is Emerald sayin: Peace!"

"...…. Mission?"

"Well yeah, I found what was -" Emerald suddenly stopped. WHO said that? Emerald turned to the only possible source, just to find Sessile looking to him with a bit of surprise.

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Emerald gasped, almost stumbling over some scrap metal on the realization. Sessile wasn't used to so much attention.

"S-Sorry ……. I know I'm not supposed to talk. … But …" Sessile clammed up, but the shock was already given to Emerald. This thing, which Emerald thought was just some fancy object was now a Gem-powered one - no. No, a Gem made into a machine!

"OK, ok, chill Emerald, don't woos out. So uh …"

"Sessile."

"Oh, that is your name? Huh. Well, okay so let me get this out of the way: are you a gem-powered machine, or are you a …" Emerald didn't need to finish for Sessile to better understand what he meant.

"I'm a Jade. … At least I was. … Once. …"

"Oooo … ouch," Emerald simply said. How else was he supposed to react to this? But then Sessile perked up.

"But that's not too bad. You're here to get me ……. right? I-Is that what you just said?"

"Me and my big mouth," Emerald thought. Not a single mention of any harvested Gems in this place, and he didn't plan on bringing any company back with him. But he began to work his little mind about what to do here: Timberwolves or Sessile? Timberwolves … Sessile …

Was there even a contest?

"Eh … yeah. Yeah, I'm here to fetch you. Some uh … ponies, saw you get dropped off here and they asked me to uh … come here and fetch you, bring you back to base you know?"

"I almost forgot others cared  about me," Sessile admitted, "T-Thank you so much uh … Emerald? Is that your name? You said Emerald nearby, didn't you?"

"Yep, that's my name. So uh, how do I detach you from this thing, or is this a permanent fix?" Emerald asked, hopping up to Sessile's level.

"Permanent. … Sorry."

"It's not your fault, Sessile. Here, let ol' Emerald just pick you up, and we'll get going," Emerald decided, cracking his knuckles as if he was gonna lift her by brute muscle alone. Sessile did start to feel herself being moved though, and soon she was being levitated above Emerald's head. It took a bit of effort on Emerald's part to do so, as the platform Sessile was attached to was pretty much dead weight to the original Gem herself.

"A-am I too heavy?"

"Don't sweat it, I deal with heavy girls on a daily basis," Emerald replied. But just before they could go.

*SQUEEE*

"Diamond dang it, you can't be serious!"

The filthy swine was back, this time in alarm that Emerald was carrying Sessile. It seemed the hands were apart of her too, because when Sessile saw the pig, her hands went to her mouth in worry (as best they could anyway).

"O-Oh no. T-Trotter, he found us," Sessile shuttered. So the pig had a name. Emerald wasn't in a good place to tangle with the pig again. Trotter was tolerable of Emerald before, but seeing this go on didn't suit well to this freak of a pig, and the boar started to rush right for them! Emerald moved just fast enough to avoid the first charge, as the pig rammed into more scrap metal.

"Oh stars, not only is this pig a freak, now I got a label for it. Come on, Sessile we're going!" Emerald concluded, trying to make tracks as the pig was busy shaking off loose scrap. However, his speed was a bit slower thanks for lifting Sessile, and Trotter didn't  take much time to catch up to the Gem, standing in front of him with a very sloppy mouth.

"Oh no, don't you lick me pig, I reek enough!" Emerald warned. The nutty pig instead spat a fat loogie on the ground right at emerald's feet. You could probably guess what that was to do.

"Ack! w-whoa - Trotter you - WHOA!" *THUD*

The pig snickered again, seeing Emerald underneath Sessile's platform. The pig pulled Emerald out from underneath her no problem, but namely just to see the dazed and bruised look on Emerald's face. Trotter placed his hoof down on Emerald's neck, the sharp edges of his hoof feeling like a pair of scissors. Sessile closed her eyes, thinking Emerald was a goner. The only Gem that cared for her since ending up like this, and he was now going to end up cut open by the crazed boar. All Emerald can see was the twisted smile from the pig, his rotten chicklets for teeth and rancid breath of rotting meat, making Emerald feel completely sick. To think that spit came out of this freak hog's mouth and THAT stretch was laced onto it. The mouth opened wide, and Trotter was ready to have some breakfast …

"Sooey! SOOOEEY!"

Blind luck. A call off by the scrapyard gatherers got Trotter's attention, the pig turning his head towards the noise. Sessile and Emerald were waiting for the reaction this time, but then the pig got another twisted smile on his muzzle … before letting Emerald go. It was an odd gesture, but Emerald didn't question it, as he sprung to his feet, levitated Sessile, and began to go off away.

"Thank you world, you're giving me a free B! I'll make up for it soon as I get back," Emerald thought, going as fast as he could with Sessile in levitational reach. Trotter simply glanced off back to Emerald and Sessile, seeing them both move off out of sight from the scrapyard. He can afford losing two targets if it meant having some more fun with them later. 

Besides, one removed Harvested Gem wasn't gonna handle the entire harvested horde they got going on.
> To Face the Symphony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Farid was well behind them by this point. The Pink Diamond ship kept its route along through space, though unlike before they had a more direct path to their third planet of choice. It was the last stop they got going for them after all before making their way back to Homeworld. However, unlike the other planets though, this one in particular was a pretty long flight there so they got plenty of time to do more casual time.
In this moment, as the others were busy handling White Diamond's lessons (a activity that was mainly a common practice after a while), Sapphire herself was taking some quiet time off and looking at the galaxies of their universe go by them. The stars sure looked nice from the view of the ship's window, Sapphire keeping her gaze viewed to the world beyond the ship. Quiet and dexterity surely gave Sapphire time to reflect and think about the future, with or without her future visions giving her possible ideas of what that could be. It was a quiet time, and seemingly left Sapphire not realizing when Blue Pearl came by to find her.

"... Can I join you?" Blue Pearl asked, walking over to the fortune teller.

"Pearl. Of course," Sapphire replied. Blue Pearl quietly went over to Sapphire's side, and looked off to space alongside Sapphire for a bit. At first the two didn't say much, just casually watching the universe go by. It was only themselves here.

"Looks nice," said Blue Pearl at one point.

"Yes it is. Humans always called it the final frontier for a reason," Sapphire replied. not hard to see why that would be. Blue Pearl nodded and looked back to the horizon in front of them. Sapphire glanced over to Blue Pearl briefly, the quieter pearl feeling a little bit troubled about something, her hands together and gaze keeping away from Sapphire.

"You don't need to worry about her, Pearl," Sapphire reassured. Blue Pearl clammed up even more about it.

"I-I didn't say …"

"You were going to ask me if Blue Diamond will be okay throughout our trip. If it makes you feel better, I don't see any futures which that'll happen."

"... Are you sure? … I … don't want to lose her again." Blue Pearl's voice was quieter on saying that, as if she thought someone else was there with her. It wasn't that far to think though with their company being a typical Gem hybridizer and experimental maniac, among other things. Sapphire placed a hand on Blue Pearl's side for comfort.

"I know you care deeply about Blue Diamond, Pearl. I care about her too, and so does everyone else. We'll make sure we all return home safe and sound. Ok?"

"... Um. Ok. I trust you. … I just lost her a lot already. White Diamond and her experiments. That magic snake. …"

"Everything will be fine. We have one more planet to visit, and then we'll head for home," Sapphire promised. Blue Pearl didn't have Sapphire's special abilities so she simply had to take her word for it.

"Um … alright. Are you coming back with us?"

"In a minute," Sapphire replied. Blue Pearl nodded, and she simply walked away, leaving Sapphire to look out to the galaxy some more. Sapphire brought her mind back to the thoughts of the past, present, and the many futures that await them. The trips in Heiligdom and Farid went through her mind, though while they were a bit mixed, Sapphire was a bit more focused on what Blue Pearl had said. Namely with White Diamond. Flashes of the experiments she had seen raced through her mind, not to mention the images of Yellow and Blue being prepared for the perma-fusion of Green Diamond. Not to mention the other possible experiments, the Zoomans and Zoomares she kept, and other things Sapphire probably didn't want to find out herself. Then a familiar voice started ringing in her head.

I get what you're doin, I know why you gotta do it, but I'm not going to lay my Gem on her anvil.

"... I wonder if Steven's finished yet."

…….

Happiness.

The teacher in question was having a bit of a good time, no teaching going on with White Diamond for now. In fact, Steven wasn't even on the ship, but instead back in "his" room on Homeworld. Well, kind of. Typically something as sudden as this would be put into question, but Steven was having too much fun. With some bubbles made, he took some time to enjoy a little party activity. In this case, juggling. Each bubble had a different item inside: one with an Equestrian princess crown, one with a stuffed "Sleepy Pals" teddy bear, and one with a mess of sparkling shards. Each one Steven juggled about with relative ease, as another figure watched off nearby, her eyes following the juggling bubbles with bewilderment, like a young child watching a circus act. And she looked just as happy too, applauding Steven once he finished. Steven make a gallivant leap above his audience, landing off nearby and blowing his watcher a kiss, with a wink. This was again given the same response of clapping and a smile.

But at one point there was a little interruption, as the door to his room opened up. Peering in then was Yellow Diamond, the only parts visible being the hand, head and neck. Yellow Diamond looked suspicious in the face, but by the time she looked in, Steven and his companion were suddenly off at a dressing mirror, his companion checking his outfit as Steven held still, much like how Rarity would handle her clients. Yellow's neck elongated and lengthened like the body of a snake until her head was literally right behind Steven. Steven waved a good hello to her fellow Diamond, and apparently that was good enough for the Yellow Diamond there as her neck retracted back along its path. With a content smile, Yellow Diamond left Steven and his companion to their leisure. The two started laughing together again once they were alone, but while his company was still laughing, Steven had to pause for a moment as he felt something dry in his throat. Something that felt a bit like a cotton ball. A few coughs got this cotton ball out of his throat, and what did he find?

Hair. Pink, curly hair.

And everything started to go dark, the room starting to rain for some reason.

"... Steven? ……. Steven? …"

…….

"Steven? You okay?"

Steven woke back up with a little startle, back in the same room on his Pink Diamond ship once again. Steven found Lapis was trying to comfort him again with some massaging of her water wings, which probably would explain the rain at the end of his dream.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," Steven replied, sitting up and trying to wake up. It never was fun to wake up after a nightmare. He wasn't alone here though: Sapphire and Connie off nearby, Connie still sleeping as Sapphire was by Steven's side. As Steven was stirring, Connie began to wake up a little bit too.

"Hey guys. Morning," she yawned.

"Morning. I hope you slept well," said Sapphire.

"Oh, I just had a weird nightmare, that's all. Nothing to worry about," Steven said.

"Good. … Though, apart of that is what I wanted to ask you about," Sapphire admitted. The others turned to her.

"What's up Sapphire?"

"It's the lessons," Sapphire answered. "I want to know the progress you've been making with her. Has she been taking any of the lessons you given her to heart or does she still think it's just a game you're playing with her?"
Not exactly the best question to ask so deep into their trip, nevermind one to just wake up to. Steven and Connie both took more time to wake up before they tried to think about their passed lessons over the last two weeks.

"Eh … well, it's kinda hard to say. I mean, she acts like it's a game, but she's been very … open-minded lately? It's a little confusing," Steven admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Sapphire felt a little troubled on the answer.

"Don't tell me you're doubting the plan too," said Lapis.

"No, I'm not. But I just got reminded how dangerous she can be, and I wanted to make sure," Sapphire replied, thinking back to what Blue Pearl said. Steven then got up.

"Well we have to be making some progress. Here, White gave me a little something just before I went to bed as a present, see? She even allowed Blue Pearl to draw it," Steven said, going to his backpack and pulling out the present White Diamond gave him. To their surprise, it was kinda small, and mostly just a picture with all four Diamonds together, Steven in front with Pink Diamond, Yellow and Blue Diamond side by side, and White Diamond smiling in the back. A good picture, but still a bit odd.

"Even so. … I think we should put in more effort. Something beyond just giving her lectures and lessons."

"You mean a hands-on approach?" Steven asked.

"Something like that. Friendship is more experience rather than taught in a classroom."

"I think you're right: Twilight did say she didn't figure out much about friendship until after she made friends in Ponyville.. Maybe we can do the same for White?" Lapis asked.

"Sounds great! … But, isn't it a little bit too soon? We've only been teaching her for at least over a week, and as someone who had to earn her diploma in swordsmanship, lessons need a LOT more time before they can just go forward," Connie pointed out.

"I'm gonna try anyway. At least enough so White Diamond can see that this is more than just a game," Steven concluded. He then started to think.

"Hmm … where does an otherworldly conqueror start when making actual friends?"

"We can … try Earth? Peridot and Jasper became good after -"

"NO." Sapphire, Lapis, and Connie said. Steven got quiet again, but he got the point. White Diamond would try to kill Earth anyway, why bring her there now?

"Ok, ok, no Earth. Um … Homeworld? I mean, she's already controlling it."

"No, I think we might run into a similar problem," Lapis admitted. Not destroying the planet exactly, but White Diamond sure looked willing to do that upon arriving there according to the other Diamonds.

"Oh yeah. control over everything. Right. … Ok, I guess the only thing is somewhere on the star maps not owned by the Diamonds," Steven concluded, shrugging.

"Hope Bismuth's up for it," said Lapis Lazuli, getting up and exiting. Spending more time with White Diamond may not suit too well for the Blacksmith, or for that matter the others off back home. Before any of them could go off and try to get that sorted out, there was someone else coming in from their door. Lapis, Connie, Sapphire, and Steven looked over, finding that White Pearl was standing there.

"Pink Diamond. Your presence is required."

"For the last time, it's Steven," Steven sighed. He had to give this reminder so many times …

"... Pink Diamond. You're requested in the pilot room."

And so many times it's left ignored.

"Fine. … What's wrong?"


~~~~~~


"But why CAN'T we just go through, might I ask? My Starlight wouldn't want to just wait until we find the next planet, would she?"

"The safety of our ship's more important White. I think "Starlight" would understand soon as we explain everything."

By the time Steven was brought in the main room, with the others following, the Diamonds were left in a bit of trouble over some navigation. And shockingly they were willing to speak their mind towards White Diamond (Blue Diamond at least was). The front screen was showing the universe ahead of them, stars and planets abounding, but they weren't moving anywhere. The ship equivalent of parking on the side of the road, they could say. Steven would just ease himself in, but White Pearl whistled good and loud to get their attention.

"Pink Diamond has arrived," White Pearl announced, putting Steven on the spot already. Apart of him didn't want to get annoyed with White Pearl (or Pink Pearl rather), but another part of him couldn't help itself.

"Steven!" said Pink Diamond, going right over to him.

"Hey guys. Uh, my presence was required?" Steven asked.

"We just have a slight situation, Starlight," explained White Diamond, "I know how much you want to be at our next planet for our fun together as soon as possible. But it seems Yellow and Blue don't believe you deserve to arrive so soon."

"What she means," corrected Blue, "Is that we need to make a decision. Come here Steven, Pink, I'll show you the problem." So Steven and Pink Diamond went over towards Blue Diamond. The others went over to her with the exception of White Pearl, who moved over to White Diamond. They'd rather be by Blue than White anyway. When they got a good view of the front, they're then presented with a projection screen of the map ahead. The map showed themselves at the bottom, and the planet way off in front of them, but a few other planets were amongst the map, one of which was very close to their flight path.

"Here's the last planet on our trip. However, there is one planet in our way, which I really wish to keep clear of. But White kept suggesting to just fly through to cut time short."

"What's wrong with that planet?" Steven asked, curious.

"My thoughts exactly, Starlight. One simple planet shouldn't keep in our little trip," White Diamond cut in, suddenly having Steven in her hold again, and "cuddling" him (pushing him into her cheek as she smiled).

"T-That's not what I meant," Steven muttered. Luckily Sapphire quickly got him and placed him back down by Blue Diamond.

"Blue and I think it's dangerous to pass the planet so recklessly, and would be better to just fly around it," Yellow made clear sternly, a slight glance to White as she did so.

"Oh, you keep saying that, you two, but isn't that unfair towards my little Starlight? She wants to reach the next planet so badly, and you keep postponing our arrival at the rate you're going. You saying she doesn't deserve -"

"Wait, wait, I got a better idea!" Steven cut in before White could manipulate them any further. White did stop talking and turned to Steven, waiting to hear what he had to say. The look she gave though did make Steven clam up a little bit.

"Uh … Oh! Sapphire!" Steven said, turning to the fortune teller.

"Steven?"

"I'm sorry to ask but, you think you can see what would happen?" Steven asked. He didn't want to push her too much, but Sapphire understood and took some time to look on ahead. … And she ended up getting a cold shiver through her body.

"Uh oh," the Harmony Gems thought. Sapphire looked over towards White Diamond, but instead of answering right away, she went for the controls.

"We need to move away, now," Sapphire said, trying to make the controls operate to get them moving. However, White Diamond picked up the quick Sapphire by the back of her collar.

"Now, now, it's not your call to suddenly start the ship my little Sapphire. What's the hurry?"

"We can't stay here, we have to get going. If we don't move now, we'll end up on the other planet whether we want it or not. At least move the ship a mile ahead," Sapphire instructed. To White Diamond. White smiled.

"Hasty aren't we? I think you're misunderstanding where you're in - giving ME orders. Starlight, what do you think we should do? Should we listen to her?" White asked, turning to Steven before placing Sapphire down away from the controls.

"Yeah, I think we should! Start the ship and let's go!" Steven insisted. He didn't want to ask what the details were, and if they have to go they had to go now.

"But what even is the trouble? Think carefully now," White questioned. W-Was she stalling?!

"White, listen to her and let's go away from -"

"Uh guys? There's something coming," Connie asked, pointing ahead of them. If White wanted them to get into some trouble, then she succeeded. That distraction, unfortunately, lasted just long enough for whatever it was to arrive on the scene. Connie, having her enhanced vision, brought her gaze to the space outside, and amongst the stars and planets in question something was becoming visible far off in the distance. A large stray asteroid. Far off, and closing in fast. Soon as this was sighted by them, Sapphire felt defeated.

"Hardly a problem, I'll just move us out of the way," sighed White, taking control and only then deciding to move the ship. Or at least she tried to.

"White, don't!" shouted Sapphire. But it was too late to do much now. There seemed to be one of them, but it didn't take long until smaller asteroids (smaller in comparison to the ship), started to appear from nowhere and begin to hit the ship! The asteroids slammed into the ship, but while most of them didn't do as much damage to the ship, one particular stray space rock made a precise mark on the ship's foot. A freak shot, but somehow it was just strong enough to strike the knee. Strong enough in fact, that the asteroid disabled the rocket propulsions on that leg! The red screen warning flashed on the screen.

"What? How'd they go offline? One of those space rocks must've disabled the thrusters!" Yellow Diamond demanded, trying to regain some control over the ship. With only one leg working though, it left the ship spinning a little, hardly even able to move properly. There wasn't a chance in Tartarus they were gonna get away from this.

"Brace for impact," Sapphire said.

And then it struck. The giant asteroid, easily as big as the ship itself, clocked the Pink Diamond ship square in the front. While the asteroid went off on its own way through space, the entire ship suddenly went into a spin through space, launched off to who knows where in an uncontrollable tumble. It was strong enough to even make White Diamond stumble over her own feet, and anyone not weighing at least over a ton was thrown to the back wall. The ship was stuck spinning, leaving most of the crew tossing around like ragdolls. Steven did manage to get a bubble around some of them, but it was too hectic to get it around all of them. The great Pink Diamond ship continued to careen out of control, none of them able to see where they were exactly going or how fast they were going. With only one part of the ship's propulsions even working, it was impossible to try and get the ship to move in any proper direction without making it worse.
Out of all of them, only White Diamond herself really noticed where they were going, if only for a brief moment. Since they were spinning, the screen was going all over the place, yet a planet did become more visible with each spin, getting bigger and bigger until it completely covered up the whole of the screen. The once dark yet sparkling fabric of space began being replaced by the air of the planet before -

*CRASH*

The land shook upon the impact of the ship, the spinning and craziness FINALLY stopping all at once. The only one still left standing after that entire mess was White Pearl (if floating on her toes counted as standing), and when the dust cleared outside it showed the pink legs outstretched and sprawled on the ground. After a moment, the Pink Diamond ship started to move a bit, and then got into a more comfortable position, sitting on its knees and straightening up. Only then did the others were able to get their bearings together, dazed but overall still in one piece.

"Ok … that was something. Everybody okay?" Connie asked, dazed.

"I think so, but where did we land?" replied Steven, one of the first to get himself up to his feet. Yellow, Pink, White, and Blue managed to fin their feet themselves as Steven walked over to the front window to see the result. Up at front, the screen only showed a red flashing warning of "error". That crash did a bit more damage than anticipated. Yellow had some choice words for White, but had to hold some back.

"I'm not sure entirely how that could happen, BUT I KNOW THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Yellow snapped at White, her anger overriding some of her common sense again. White Diamond was barely fazed, and simply shrugged. The white demon struck them all into trouble. However, a well-controlled jump got Steven floating right in between both White and Yellow.

"No, no, don't fight! That won't solve anything! Let's find out what's wrong and where we are first before playing the blame game, okay?" Steven quickly said, before any blows could be made. Yellow Diamond groaned, and kept herself back, but the look on White Diamond's face said that, perhaps, White expected this from Steven.
Meanwhile, Pink Diamond moved passed the error screen and got a better view of outside, unable to really see … well, much of anything.

"Uh, where did we end up? I don't think even the original Pink Diamond seen this place," Pink asked, her finger pointing outside, pressing on the seeing glass. If there was any memory of this place she would have, this Pink Diamond would know, but nothing was coming up. However, with her gaze looking to them instead of outside, Pink wasn't noticing anything peering back at her.

"Pink, get away from there!"

*BAM!* "EEK!" and just like that, and admittedly a bit fast, the group found one of the alien residents scaring the gravel out of Pink Diamond, making her bolt right to the back wall. As for this creature, it looked a bit like a plant more than any creature: tentacles shaped like a flower sticking to the window. Luckily for most of them, this window was left too strong, and the creature just slithered off elsewhere, leaving a star-shaped mark on the window.

"Out of ALL the planets to crash-land onto, it had to be this one," Yellow grumbled.

"But what is "this one"?" Connie asked. 

"Don't worry your little head," cooed White Diamond, "and if it helps you, my little Starlight, I'll go and see that your ship gets off the ground again."

"OH NO you don't, I'll go and do it!" insisted Yellow, "I'll probably get it done faster -"

"NOTHING LEAVES THIS SHIP!" Blue suddenly bellowed, silencing everything in the room. Blue Diamond had a look of worry on her face in that demand, but still sternness enough so she would be taken seriously. Such a bellowing tone that the whole ship shuttered.

"Blue? Why not? What's the matter, c-can we not breathe out there?" Connie asked. Yellow and Blue took a look to one another, and then did Yellow Diamond start talking.

"Everyone. Welcome to our other galactic embarrassment. Orthix," Yellow Diamond said, though she hated to say it. They did remember Yellow Diamond mention something about that before they left on this trip. The red screen dropped and everyone got a look outside at the world. Or what world they could see. The landscape beyond the window was shaded by a sort of fog, making sight impossible after at least twenty to thirty feet. But from what they could see, the land was a bit barren, like the K-Bora tower in Heiligdom, or the Peridot colony grounds.

"Was this a colony before?" Pink asked.

"It's a complicated story …"

"Well, we been through complicated stories before, so go ahead," said Steven. Blue Diamond sat down, trying to calm down.

"... Orthix was one of the earlier planets that White and I tried to colonize together," Blue explained. "And the colony was going so well too. It was meant to be the original Homeworld planet for Gem kind."

"WHOA WHOA, what? The original Homeworld? Here?!" Pink asked. "But what happened, this place looks awful!"
Blue Diamond felt troubled on answering, but if they were stuck here, even for a while, then she understood that she had to make them knowledgeable too.

"... Look outside. That substance, floating in the atmosphere."

"What about it?" Connie asked.

"A few hundred years in our work, that substance started to appear on the surface of this planet, and started spreading everywhere. Most of the native life wasn't effected, but … but …"

"But what?" Steven asked.

"But this substance … it has some strange effects on us. Just fifty years after it started appearing, I kept getting reports of warnings, accusations, off-color sightings. My Gems couldn't handle any task properly thanks to it, and we couldn't even make any Gems here anymore without them coming out effected by the substance. … So none of you are to exit the Pink Diamond ship, understand me?"

"But what even happened to them?"

"... Let's not get into that," Blue said gravely. Looking off outside, they were left to wonder what exactly happened to the world they fell onto. But whatever this substance did, if it was enough to completely abandon the colony when it was close to completion, then it must've had a devastating impact whatever the case.

"Seems simple enough. Alright my dears, no running off now. One of you tell the others once they find their way here, would you?" White then said. All of a sudden …

"The others … wait, Lapis! Pearl, Peridot, Bismuth! Where're they, are they still on board? I'll be right back," Steven said. However, White Diamond got her fingernails clamped onto Steven's collar.

"Don't worry yourself I'll handle it. Pearl, mind checking the ship for my Starlight's subjects?" White instructed. Before anyone else could get a word in edge wise, White Pearl was off on her way like lightning. Sapphire, starting to worry a little bit, also began to go off with her to see where they ended up. It really couldn't hurt having an extra eye looking around the perimeter. Both gems went all over the ship to try and find the four in question, or at the least the types of Gems suggested, but eventually White Pearl and Sapphire came back with some rather troubling news.

"Their presence is negative, my Diamond."

"You gotta be joking," Yellow said, not amused at all by this news. White Pearl didn't answer and simply went back to White Diamond.

"My pearl doesn't have a reason to lie, Yellow. Well, you all can ease your minds, I'll go and see if I can get the ship flying off again. I know you wouldn't want to stay here, my Starlight," noted White. This time there wasn't time for discussion as White Diamond left the room, and everyone else. Well, apart of it felt like they were making progress, as White was working to fix her actions, but on the other hand it left Yellow Diamond infuriated.

"For the record, I blame you for this Steven!"

"What? What'd I do, I didn't make us crash," Steven retorted.

"You thought it was a good idea to go on this trip in the first place, and I've told you OVER AND OVER AGAIN how dangerous White Diamond is, and NOW look where it got us! We didn't leave when we could, I hope you're happy now," Yellow roared. Steven felt his body and soul tremble in Yellow's anger, but arguing with her wasn't going to get them anywhere now.

"Ok, I messed up. I'm sorry. But we're still stuck here, and there's still our friends stuck outside. We have to go and get them back."

"You actually believe her? White Pearl just said that so we'd leave the ship and White Diamond left to fly off without us, even you could see that. Sapphire, tell him."

Sapphire was quiet.

"Sapphire?" asked Blue Diamond.

"... She didn't lie," Sapphire admitted.


~~~~~~


While barely able to grasp what actually happened, the nasty crash left Lapis Lazuli just coming to in an area even she hadn't seen or heard of before. Her vision was a bit blurry coming around, though even so it hardly was better once it cleared up. All she could see around her was the fog, and dry ground at her feet. She still felt dazed and weak from her tumble, but her first thoughts weren't on herself.

"What is this place? Where are we?" Lapis wondered, though "we" might not be the correct word. As she was there though, her nose took a whiff of the air and immediately she was starting to cringe a little. The air around her reeked of a smell that almost mirrored that of chemical gasoline with smoke.

"Ugh, that smell. … GUYS?!"

No response outside of her own echo. There was no sign of them anywhere. Lapis managed to find her feet, albeit a little bit shaky, but then she tried to fly. All this accomplished was her jumping up into the air, and falling flat on her face.

"No water. … Wait a minute. I didn't -" but as Lapis checked with her hand, the truth became clear enough. Her hand was placed on her gemstone, and found that the fall was more than just brutal. With a notable crack within the gemstone, that fall almost killed her! A gem with mirror eyes now left lost in Orthix's fog.

"Oh no, not again. I can't be cracked again, not at a time like this. Stars, I hope the others are still in one piece," Lapis said to herself, now stuck just walking in the fog instead of flying above it. Mirror eyes or no, she couldn't figure out where to exactly go from here, the fog making most landmarks very hard to even see or make out.

"STEVEN! … CONNIE! … PEARL! PERIDOT! ANYONE?!" Each call she made too wasn't met with all that much either. If there were some ears nearby though, it didn't belong to any of her friends, leaving Lapis Lazuli all alone again.

"Oh no. This is like that mirror all over again. … Well, at least they're somewhere here this time. I better find them before something else does," Lapis told herself as she continued walking and looking around for them. However, it seemed that each step she took wasn't leading her to anywhere specific, as it all appeared to be the same. Just an expanse of landscape she couldn't figure out too well from this fog. It sure was a much slower process than flying around the place, but at least it was something. …

"HEY! ANYONE THERE?! Get me down!"

"Bismuth!" gasped Lapis, as she immediately started following the noise. It sounded pretty distant, so it did take her some time of running through the fog. She could only hope she wasn't too late for the blacksmith of their team. She kept running as fast as she could but with this fog and mirror eyes, she couldn't exactly see what was coming up ahead of her so clearly.

And then she fell: one extra step and suddenly Lapis was tumbling down the next hill. Lapis fell head over heels for a good three seconds before she finally, and abruptly stopped once she rolled into what felt like the base of one of the local "trees". As if being cracked wasn't bad enough. Lapis shook off the hit, and tried to regain herself.

"Hey, Lapis, is that you?!"

And just like that, there they were. The fall from the ship must've struck them out at a different time, because Pearl, Peridot, and bismuth were all kinda stuck in the same place, just too far to reach eachother. Lapis looked up and found them all tangled up in the tree's vines, not even Pearl able to get herself free so easily as close as she was from getting out. Peridot and Bismuth were just too tangled up to even move properly.

"Guys, there you are! You three okay?"

"We'll be much better so as we get down from here. Mind flying up here and giving us a hand?" Bismuth asked.

"I … kinda can't. But don't worry, I'll get you down," Lapis promised. This was gonna be difficult, Lapis could tell, but she wasn't gonna leave them there in the trees. The only thing she could do was start climbing the same tree, but given how she usually flied instead of climbed, this was a bit of a daunting task for her. The sides of this tree were pretty smooth as well, leaving her with little to grab and soon she ended up sliding right down to the bottom. Lapis of course gave it another try, only to just fall to the ground again.

"Come on, Lazuli!" Peridot encouraged.

"Ok, ok, I can do this," Lapis told herself, rubbing her hands together before starting another climb up. This climb was a bit better than before, her able to reach the branches and get some more proper footing … just for the branch to start cracking. Lapis would've fallen to the ground again if she didn't grab a branch above her first, but the one she stood on fell down to the ground without her.

"L-Lapis, your gem," Pearl gasped.

"Don't worry about it. Ok, hang on, I think I got it," Lapis replied, just managing to reach the vines gripping Pearl. If she could get Pearl free, the other two should be easy. Lapis got to the vines wrapping around Pearl's back, and with some force of her pulls and tugs, the vines started to snap off. It was just enough to get Pearl's arm free, and she immediately went for her own gemstone (hers fully intact), and summoned out her sharp spear. A good swing of it got the other vines off of Pearl, getting her free. She would've fallen to the ground though if Lapis didn't grab the spear first.

"Thanks," Pearl simply said. With Pearl hanging off the other end, Pearl began to swing herself over towards Bismuth, until the tips of her feet just managed to reach the supporting vines, a good kick cutting them with ease like blades. Not the most graceful way for Bismuth, but at least she was down to the ground. Pearl got to Peridot in one more swing, and jumped right to her. A simple cut of her vines got her down too, the green Gem landing in Bismuth's arms as Pearl helped Lapis back down.

"OK, that's it! White Diamond, I swear to the stars she's behind this, it's time to teach her MY lesson," Bismuth said, soon as they all got down.

"Wait, wait, let's not jump to conclusions, we don't know what actually happened," Pearl insisted, but Bismuth had about enough of this.

"Pearl, we crash-landed on a random rock, with Steven stuck with a Diamond that can brain-wash him. You got any OTHER ideas who could be behind this?" Bismuth pointed out.

"Okay, okay!" Lapis said, moving in between Bismuth and Pearl, "Come on, let's try to find our way back."
Lapis Lazuli didn't want to say anything, but she was starting to wonder if Bismuth did have a point there or not. White Diamond was hard to read regardless of the transformation from White Diamond to "glowing White Diamond".

"I hope you're still in one piece Steven," Bismuth thought.

…….

"NO YOU'RE NOT GOING OUT THERE!" Yellow Diamond yelled, as Steven was getting some supplies together, with Connie doing the same.

"I have to do something," insisted Steven, "I can't just sit here, and let my friends get stuck out there. I'll be alright, and be back in no time."

"Steven, please don't. I want them safe just the same as you, but you'll be lost in that fog. If either of you go out there, you won't be able to come back!" Blue Diamond said.

"They won't be either if we don't find them! Besides -" Steven paused just to bring his hands around his head, summoning up a good bubble around himself. "- The gas can't effect us in here."
Blue Diamond popped the bubble quick.

"Steven, it's not just the substance. Listen, you weren't there like I was," Blue Diamond said, "I'm telling you don't go. I won't allow it!"

"What about the others out there?! Pearl? Peridot? Bismuth? Lapis?!"

"I said no!"

"Since when did she have a temper like this?" Yellow Pearl quietly asked Blue Pearl, who at this point was trembling. Such a temper wasn't uncommon for Yellow Diamond, but Blue Diamond … it just felt scary. Someone had to say something to her before they all would end up consumed in her blue aura.

"My Diamond, please. Have some faith in him. If he goes now, he'll have the best chance of finding them and bringing them back home safely," Sapphire reassured.

"... You sure he'll be okay?" Blue Diamond asked.

"No. B-But let's not give up. Let's change the future!" Sapphire insisted with a rather hesitant smile. Apparently even the calm Sapphire was a bit reluctant about this plan on a personal level.

"Don't worry, mam, I'll protect him from whatever comes our way. I'm not going to lose my jam bud to any hungry aliens," Connie promised, showing her weapon to her as emphasis.

"Jam bud?" Yellow questioned.

"I think she means Steven," Blue replied.

"Someone has to go and get them, and I'm not going to wait here. I'll be back, I promise," Steven reassured, reforming the bubble around him and Connie. Blue Diamond still didn't want him to go, reluctant and everything.

"Steven, I don't want you -"

"Ready to go, Connie?" Steven asked. Connie nodded in agreement.

"Steven, I'm warning you, if you go out that door then … then …"

"I'm sorry Blue, but I'm going," Steven said again. Before any of them could say anything, Steven and Connie were starting out the door! Steven got the door open, the sudden substance of the world outside immediately finding its way into the ship. The others had to step back, and Steven and Connie were soon out the door, and out into the world in their bubble. The door closed behind them, and just like that there was no turning back. Blue felt some mixed emotions about this.

"That … boy. I swear, he gets this from your side of the family," Blue Diamond said to Yellow, not thinking straight from her emotions. A odd remark.

"What? what're you talking about Blue, he's not even our son! … And stop crying, I can't see," said Yellow Diamond.

"Sorry. …" Blue then felt more tears again, just thinking about Steven out in the world. This emotion was shared amongst the others, even after Blue Diamond got her emotions under control a little bit. They didn't have too many details on what the fog actually did to them, but if it was enough to keep the Diamonds back, then they could only wonder what would become of Steven and Connie outside.

But White Diamond had a darn good idea, slipping away to make some preparations. …


~~~~~~


Now with both sides out in the field, it's up to Orthix itself to decide how well they even do. While Steven and Connie had at least some protection against the fog around them, Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, and Pearl weren't so lucky, left exposed as they could be to whatever effects the fog could have on them. Since leaving their tree, the four had been going through the landscape as best they could manage, keeping their guard up against whatever was lurking out there in the fog. During this, without Lapis to just fly up to try and see, they had to resort to other, less orthodox tactics to figure it out. One of these included Pearl being thrown high into the air by Bismuth to try and look over the fog.

Risky, naturally. And after the third throw, Pearl landed down by the others.

"Nothing. This fog's just far too thick to see anything," Pearl replied gravely.

"We have to keep trying," said Lapis, "You sure you couldn't see the ship from up there Pearl?"

"If I saw it, I'd say so. Oh Steven … he must be so worried about us."

"Knowing him, he's probably looking for us out here," Bismuth said, "I would. so we better find him and the ship soon, some of us are getting a little antsy."

"What do you mean?" Lapis asked. Bismuth simply pointed over to where Peridot was at. Peridot wasn't too far back from the group, yet something was going on with the green Gem, who was off behind a ways and frantically looking around her, trying her best to keep close to the others for protection. Bismuth kept a hammer arm at the ready just in case, a bit on edge herself.

"Let's keep going, we can't have landed that far away," Pearl encouraged. They began to go off again into the fog's thicket, all on guard, though Pearl still was seeing Lapis's cracked up gemstone the whole way.

"Lapis? … How're you holding up?" Pearl asked, referring to the gemstone. Lapis simply glanced back to Pearl as they kept walking.

"I'm fine. Steven can heal me when we get back," Lapis said, though this was actually more to herself if anyone. Steven would be the only one who could heal her on this trip, without the fountain to return to back home, or if one would stretch the definition, Jade to help as well.

"... Alright."

… And just like that, one of their group suddenly stopped moving altogether. This time it was Bismuth who halted herself, her eyes looking around as if she heard something off in the distance. None of them heard anything though, so her just abruptly stopping left them a bit confused.

"Bismuth, what is it? Did you hear something?"

"Y-Yes," Bismuth replied. "Don't you hear it? … they're everywhere around us. … The monsters, t-they're hiding outside of the fog, w-waiting to come for us."

Oh no.

"Bismuth, you're seeing things! There's nothing out here except us, there're NO monsters."

"YES THERE ARE! And if we don't watch it, they're gonna eat every one of us!" Bismuth suddenly shouted. Was this the same Bismuth they knew over the years? Bismuth wouldn't act this jumpy over just being lost in the fog, but that didn't mean it didn't leave them spooked anymore than what they are already, Peridot left screaming. But NOT because of the monsters in the fog.

"AAHH! W-Who're you guys?!" Peridot shrieked, eyes wide and freaking out.

"What? Peridot, calm down, we're you're friends," insisted Pearl, trying to calm Peridot down. However, looking into Peridot's eyes began to suggest something else, both eyes having a bit of a greener tint in them, more than usual.

"No. N-n-n-n-no, you're just illusions! Fakes!! YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME ALIVE!" Peridot shrieked, before suddenly kicking Pearl back and running off into the fog in a complete panic.

"If you're hungry, you beasts, this Gem isn't going down without a fight. I MEAN BISMUTH, SO BRING IT ON!" Bismuth suddenly shouted, summoning her hammer arms and running blindly into the fog herself.

"No! Peridot, Bismuth, come back!" shouted Lapis. But it was no use. Soon, Peridot and Bismuth both were off and out of sight in Orthix's fog. If they ran off after them, they would get lost themselves, but if they left them alone the two would be in even more danger. Just to hear -

"There you are -" *GAH!*

"Bismuth?!"  Pearl gasped.

"AAHH!"

"Peridot!!" shrieked Lapis.

It all happened too quickly, and whatever was lurking out in the fog suddenly had both Peridot and Bismuth! Hardly much other sound was heard apart from some strange, quiet screech. Think of it like a Fluttershy scream in the distance, and with no Fluttershy within lightyears, that was disturbing to hear with each snatch. Pearl and Peridot were left torn, back and forth their glances went to each direction of their friends.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, what do we do?" Lapis asked, starting to panic.

"Keep it together! Keep it together!" Pearl insisted.

*thump* … *thump* … *thump* … *thump* …

They didn't have to wait for long. With their minds now feeling a bit more frazzled, the responsible snatcher began to slowly move in towards them from the shades of the fog. The Fluttershy screeches echoed around them as the thumps grew closer and closer. Pearl instinctively brought out her spear to face this creature, yet Lapis could only stand behind her, her cracked Gemstone leaving her unable to fight with either wing or water.
Soon they began to see the figure walking out towards them. To call this creature an animal of some sort perhaps might not be the correct word, though saying it was alive was also questionable. The entire body was a complete mess: moist in drabs of trash and wet fur that almost looked like sewage of sorts. It stood vaguely upright, though with its arms so long and thick, and its legs so stubby and short, it was hard to tell exactly. It had what seemed to be an eye, though it looked either blind or fake like that of a doll's eye. In the body of this being, Lapis felt her entire body shake and shutter by what she saw: Bismuth and Peridot inside! Bismuth was still fighting, but quickly being consumed, as Peridot could only kick her feet with little success.

"LET THEM GO YOU - … THING!" Pearl demanded, rushing to the creature. But this odd mass of sewage barely even flinched even while Pearl tried to cut one of them out. they were being sucked in. Lapis could barely even utter a breath before Pearl found herself stuck to the mass as well.

"No no no no no, DON'T LEAVE ME!" Lapis pleaded. The thing wasn't listening, and all three of them were soon "swallowed", disappearing inside the sludge. Lapis stepped back in horror to this beast, as it almost was unfazed by the people it just swallowed up, or the cut it was given. It began closing in on the poor, now alone Gem, the terrified Gem stumbling over her own feet, and with the mixture of the fog and the creature starting to consume her, she was forced to run.

"Pearl. Bismuth. Peridot." Lapis's thoughts echoed those three names as she ran for it, the beast hardly making much of an effort to keep up. In fact, Lapis found that she was leagues ahead of it, the mass taking its sweet time in following her, as if knowing there was no escape from it. Lapis looked back again, but in doing so made her trip over her feet and fall to the ground in a rough tumble.

"Wait, what am I doing?! Lapis, get a grip on yourself, calm down. Calm down!" Lapis told herself, but for some reason she wasn't doing so well. In fact, it was having the opposite effect on her, especially as she heard those thumps of the mass's approach. It just ate her friends, and she decided to run instead of fight?
Before she could reach a proper decision though, she saw the shadow start to come over her. Lapis turned and there was the mass again, the sheer size about half tall as her own Diamond, though that could just be from it's "meal" it just had. Lapis wasn't sure what to do, and with nothing around her for weaponry, she was defenseless. Then she started hearing something hiss from the mass, coming out as a substance similar to the fog, and even more awful in stench.

"Oh, stars," she groaned, the smell so horrid it was making her eyes water.

… Wait. Water!

"HANG ON GUYS!"

It was a short amount, but it was the best she got. As the mass closed in, Lapis got out what tears came out, and was using it to slice at the mass. The beast was humbled, but only for a brief moment. The water she managed to get out was a short blade to this mass, and even with the weapon it wasn't doing much. In fact, each slice only was regrown back on the body, and the water getting soaked in a little bit more. Suddenly, water was out, and the mass was still standing …

"Lapis Lazuli!"

"We're coming, hold on!"

Lapis knew that grand pair of voices anywhere, a smile on her face despite the monster in front of her. Out of the fog, and just in time to help Lapis out, Steven and Connie had found who they were looking for (one of them anyway). The mass was struck back by their pink bubble, knocking the figure back a good five feet.

"Lapis, there you are!" Connie said.

"Steven, Connie, I'm so glad to see you," said Lapis.

"Did you see any of the others?" Steven asked.

"ASK THAT," Lapis replied, pointing to the monster, now regathered and heading their way again. With its bulbous and bumpy body, the two got it together pretty quickly what happened to the three, giving them both shivers.

"Oh boy. Ok, that's all we need to know. Connie, ready?" Steven asked.

"Wait, don't attack - it just sucks you in!" Lapis quickly said before they could go in. Seeing one protected and one not, the mass picked out the easier target and began to close in on Lapis Lazuli. Steven and Connie rolled in the way of the mass, but it didn't effect the path. In fact, it slammed right into the bubble, its weight pushing down onto Steven's work! Steven and Connie looked to one another, the bubble suddenly shrinking down until the two were having to hold one another just to fit.

"NO!"

… Suddenly, the mass began to expand.

*BOOM*

"FREEDOM!" Saved! In an explosion of sewage and drabs, the five were out of the mass's grip, all three on the ground. Bismuth, Peridot, and Pearl all needed a minute to come around, but the fog was still getting to Bismuth and Peridot: Bismuth thrashing for the "monsters" around her while Peridot was still panicking over these strangers she was seeing.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Bismuth shouted, hitting nothing much around her. Peridot got around, and terrified she began to try and run for it, but Pearl managed to grab hold of her.

"HEY! Let go of me!" Peridot demanded, squirming and struggling like a madman.

"Uh oh. The fog must be messing with them. Come on, let's hurry back," Connie suggested.

"The fog?" Lapis asked.

"It's complicated, but apparently this fog makes everyone lose it after a while. Maybe if we take them back and onto the ship, they'll come back around again," Steven said. not entirely what Blue Diamond said, but they saw the effects more than enough.

"I hope so. And uh, think you could …"

"OH, sure, come here," Steven said. Lapis turned around, and Steven stuck his hand out of the bubble with healing spit at the ready. Steven had to fix this before anything else, and one touch of the healing powers began to heal up Lapis's gemstone. Finally, she was back in one piece, water wings and all!

And just in time for Bismuth to notice.

"OH think you can sneak up on me, eh? You can't stop this fight train THAT easily!" Bismuth said, preparing to charge, her eyes now blood red.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Steven shouted, but Bismuth didn't hesitate, sending her hammer right onto Steven's bubble! One hit, and the bubble ended up cracked open! Before Bismuth could bring down another hit though, Lapis brought herself forward and grabbed one of Bismuth's arms to hold her back with her water regained from her gemstone. All she needed to do was wrap her up in a water bind and Bismuth wasn't going anywhere. Much like the sludge that had her before, Bismuth couldn't shake herself free of the binds, though that didn't mean she didn't try.

"Thanks, Lapis," Connie said.

"Happy to help. Pearl, you need anything with Peridot?"

"I think I got it," Pearl replied, a bit dazed and scuffled up but she finally got a firm grip on Peridot. As humiliating as it was, Peridot was being held to Pearl's side as if she was some luggage, Peridot left terrified for her life. She could pummel Pearl, having the fighting ability to do so, but her blind panic wasn't having her thinking straight and left her just thrashing like some mad dog.

"Come on, let's go," Steven insisted, "I just hope we're not too late."

With that said, they went off on their way: Lapis and Pearl following Steven and Connie while restraining Peridot and Bismuth. As long as they get back together without any trouble from here on out, it wouldn't get any worse from here, leaving the mass behind them …

And a tiny piece of it kept a little visual on them the whole way ...


~~~~~~


As one could probably guess, and what the others hoped to see, the Pink Diamond Ship didn't end up THAT far away. It still took their time to go through the fog and all, but Lapis and Pearl toughed it out just enough to keep themselves from snapping.

"So they just broke?" Connie asked.

"Something like that. It just kinda happened. If you didn't show up, I don't think there would be anyone left to save," explained Lapis. "So you sure they'll come back around?"

"Well maybe. But I can heal them too while in there, just to be on the safe side," Steven decided, giving a thumbs up. With little idea on what this even was, Lapis only hoped that it could be enough to help them. Eventually, they reached the front of the ship, ready to go in.

"Well let's try to relax. … This fog's starting to get to me," Lapis said, a hand to her head.

And then the door opened up. The others weren't present in the front room, with the only exception being Sapphire who was standing in attendance for them to come back. Guess Sapphire wanted to make sure they came back safely.

"Hello! We're back, and we got everyone safe and sound! I told you we'd be alright," beamed Steven.

"Welcome back. It's good to see you," replied Sapphire.

"It's great to see - … wait. Sapphire? You sound different."

The lights then came on. Just ONE trip away from the group was all it took from the entire crew of the ship to turn from colorful to colorless. Sapphire stood there at attention, eerily still in her position, with her arms out and spread, hands up as if they were holding something. A smile was spread across her face, a slight mirror of Emerald's cracked grin. Sapphire's hair was no longer the curly, flowing cloud of blue, but instead a smoothed, flat plate of grey, her eye wide open and exposed.
This same thing could be said for the others in attendance: Yellow Diamond and her Pearl, Blue Diamond and her Pearl, Pink Diamond. All three were in the same situation. All colorless. All standing in position. All smiles.

"I sound perfect. Pink."

"I KNEW IT! WHAT'D I TELL YOU, WHITE DIAMOND'S OUT TO KILL US! Unbind me before she shatters us!" Bismuth suddenly shouted, slightly influenced by the fog still messing with her head. This was disturbing enough without the fog influencing and making everything even more terrifying.

"White?! Where're you?! What happened while we're gone?!" Steven called.

"Right here, Starlight," White Diamond chimed in, stepping in from nearby with that same grin on her face, in the same position as everyone else. There was some silence at first, Steven needing to take this all in.

"W-What did you do to them? They're -"

*ssssshhhh*
And along with White Diamond, the other colorless Gems did the exact same thing, even down to the very same speech and voice. She closed her eyes for a moment, but upon opening them a white light suddenly flashed out! Steven and Connie managed to get themselves out of the way whether they wanted to or not, but the other Gems were struck blind-sided by the strike! The hit was all it took to make them all collapse, their colors drained, and knocked out cold.

"White! Stop!"

"Starlight. You've been having a lot of fun with this game haven't you? Playing around with "friendship", playing around with these "lessons" of yours, this whole little family trip we've been doing. Was it good for you?"

"Wait a minute, what did you do to them?!"

"Me? … Well, my little sweetheart. I took time to think while you were away, and something occurred to me. You've been encouraging them, haven't you? Making them lower than what they are now. All I'm doing is helping them be better. Watch."
And White diamond began to demonstrate. She snapped her fingers, the echo flowing around the room, and then …

"Why thank you, White Diamond!" said Lapis.

"We feel so much better, White Diamond," added Peridot.

"You're so caring and considerate, White Diamond," added Pearl.

"Oh, we wish we can be as perfect as you, White Diamond," finished Bismuth.

All four were standing the exact same way as the others nearby, now under the control of White Diamond's influence. Steven felt his heart shatter.

"Was this one of your lessons, Starlight? To help others without expecting anything in return, AND to help others reach their full potential? I think you made a joke description with a earth duck turning into a swan about that one before," White said.

"But this isn't what I meant!" retorted Steven.

"Is it not, though? Your friends weren't going to listen to me otherwise, when all I want from them is to be better."

"This ISN'T better! This is all wrong! White, you can't just force someone -" Steven tried stepping forward, just for White Pearl to jump in out of nowhere, and almost "skewer" him in her jump, landing on her tip toes. This was just enough to keep Steven quiet. Connie tried to go and help, but the mind-controlled Pearl suddenly grabbed her and held her tight, covering her mouth to keep her quiet. Then White spoke again ...

"Oh, there you go again, trying to talk about ideas that don't make any sense in the grand scheme of things. Friendship and obedience are two different factors that can't mold together in what can make it perfection. Steven Universe."

"You … you were FAKING?! You knew I was Steven this whole time?!" Steven gasped. White Diamond simply laughed, everyone else outside of Connie laughing with her.

"Oh you're such a naïve little thing, my dear. Even after I return to Homeworld, after that little VOW I made to break all of you one day, and even after nearly destroying Homeworld you still think you can actually find a way to work with me. And I suppose you have some special explanation, do you?"

"But why? I ... I thought we were getting somewhere! I just wanted you to -"

"To do what you wish. Is that right?"

"No! To show you friendship! I know it sounds strange, and very stupid to some people, but I wanted to be friends with you, honest!"

"Same thing, when all is said and done. I mean when you really think about it, Pink, my method has the same result to it. All of my friends are right here with me, smiles and all, just like you wanted. The only difference between our methods is that mine gives better results faster than yours did. THAT, and you had to go through so much heartache and repression to make it all happen. You do find it annoying at times when you can't just let yourself go, don't you? When you can't just be who you are, without others to question your choices. … But that isn't much to worry about now. I've removed their flaws! Now there is nothing to hinder my white light from sparking through them. I'd rather not spread my uninhibited self so thin, you know, but you've made it absolutely necessary. Now, the impurities you've encouraged in them are gone. Now, they are brilliant! Now, they are perfect! Now... they are me!"

"YOU'RE WRONG!"
A shocking amount of anger filled Steven's voice with this demand, but it did get White Diamond to quit talking for a brief moment. This has gone far enough.

"White listen to me! My friends don't need to be fixed, they're perfect just the way they are flaws and all. Sure, it might not be good to have flaws, but if we're all flawless, we're not alive! We NEED flaws to grow into better people."

"We're not "people" Starlight. We're Gems, we don't NEED flaws to "grow" - we don't even grow to begin with. Where do you get such ideas?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Steven hollered, desperately trying his best to get through to her, "You want things to be perfect, but does this look perfect to you?! Look at them, White, they're suffering from what you're doing to them. This isn't perfect, this is torture!"
White Diamond paused and looked around at each of the Gems under her control, each of the copies following in synch to her.

"They wouldn't fix their flaws, so I helped them, my little Starlight," White Diamond replied. Steven felt a recoil on his part when hearing her address him as such again, though he didn't know if she truly thought he was Steven or Pink Diamond.

"I'm not Starlight. I have her gem, but I'm her son, Steven," Steven made clear, even showing his gemstone to her. White Diamond leaned down to him. White smiled.

"You're so sure of that, aren't you? You disguised yourself as Rose Quartz to deceive your fellow species, and now it's even worse as now you're even deceiving yourself. Even when stuck in that human child, your light can't help but shine through."

"No. NO, stop messing with my head! White, I'm not Pink Diamond, I'm her son. Which is, kind of an Earth thing."

"Sure you are. but really, Starlight, stop lying to me. I think it's time to turn back now," White insisted, no longer finding that much enjoyment in "Starlight"'s tone of voice. SOMETHING had to get through to her.

"I'm half Human, I can't just "turn back"! … I'd probably kill myself if I tried."

"Still? First surrounding yourself with inferior Gems just so you appear as the best of the worst. And now flat out denying what is clearly the truth. How typical of you, my Starlight."

"... Stop it. …"

"You call it friendship, but by the end of the day it's just another "gentler" way to get your way across to them. Look at them: Dependent. Obsessed. Stuck in the past. To encourage their faults, to make sure they pick YOU over anyone else, to make sure they're loyal to you. All just so you won't ever feel like you're nothing."

"Stop it." Steven began to feel tears come down from his eyes now. His vision getting blurry.

"Isn't it obvious? You know you're in there. You've known it all along. Stop cowering inside your gem. You can hide from yourself, but you can't hide from me, Pink."

"STOP IT!"
A shocking amount of anger coming out of Steven's voice, his voice echoing around the room.

"Even if that's true, or was true, you're talking about my mom, you're not talking about me! I'm NOT PINK DIAMOND, what do I have to do to prove it?"

White Diamond sighed.

"You are Pink Diamond, that's who you are no matter HOW MANY FORMS you take. I know who you are, and I can make you absolutely perfect. Wish I could say the same for your fellow Diamonds: Yellow with her pride and anger, always refusing to put her true self out there for the sake of her "image". And Blue with her emotions, always letting them override her judgement like the wreck it is. But now they're perfect, just like me!"

…

But what if I'm not?

… Who said that? White looked around the place a little bit, trying to find who said that, or who MADE her say that. Steven heard her loud and clear with that question

"White, it's okay to not be perfect, don't let that get to you."

"Quiet, I didn't say anything that time!" White bellowed.

But what if he's right?

"Who's saying that?!" White demanded. but with only Steven technically able to talk, there was no one else speaking to her. Steven looked around and then something suddenly came across his mind, as the memory of that hit in the ship's knee flashed in his mind. None of them did mend that, did they?

"What's going on Steven?" Connie asked. Unfortunately White Diamond heard her.

"She's NOT STEVEN, STOP CALLING HER THAT! She's Pink Diamond! That's Pink Diamond's gem!" White roared suddenly starting to act way off the beaten path, her foot stomping the ground, each one shaking the ship. "Pink, you do not LOOK like this! You do not SOUND like this! You're not half-Human! Y-Y-You're acting like a child!!"

Steven only had one thing to say to her after that.

"... I am a child. What's your excuse?"

Silence. Well, with the exception of Connie actually giggling, in spite of the situation.

What was her excuse? She was the oldest Gem to exist far as everyone knew, and she just threw a tantrum just now. Just like what Pink used to do. White's face suddenly started to do something unexpected. Unprecedented. And Off-Color. Her face slowly began to blush a shade of pink. And this was spread around to everyone under her control, each one in a shade of pink across their face. White froze.

"W-Wait. what is this? … They're turning pink? But they shouldn't, I'm in control!"

You're not.

"S-Stop, I am! I'M perfection, they shouldn't be anything BUT White!"

Yet you're wrong.

"QUIET! WHERE'RE YOU?!"

White's eyes started to look around the room for this voice talking to her. Steven and Connie watched as White Diamond was, for a lack of a better word, losing her mind bit by bit. NO ONE was talking to her, so where was this coming from? White Diamond began to feel different now, and along with that shade of pink, her eyes slowly started to turn from White to red, something she noticed on every other gem in control too. EVERYTHING was turning red.

"No, no, no, you're not supposed to be turning color! You're all white! I'M WHITE! I'M PERFECT, what's happening with all of you?!"

hehehehehe …

Now she was succumbing: the room began to disappear, White Diamond left in a landscape far beyond anywhere anyone else knew. All the figures around White Diamond started to morph outside of their "perfect" shape into abominations of their former selves, glitching and warping until they weren't even Gem anymore. As for the laughing, it grew louder and louder, taking away any other sound White could hear. Morphed animals, corrupted aliens, whatever you want to call them now they were beyond anything normal now.

"No! Stop! You can't do this, You're all under my control, I MADE YOU - " White Diamond suddenly stopped. The answer struck her.

"Wait … t-that's it. Something's wrong! WITH ME!"

Her voice echoed, but only briefly. The laughing figures suddenly shifted almost immediately, growing taller than White diamond, towering over her all over again. THIS TIME the morphing stopped and they all looked the same, even having a human-like shape, but none of them matched her at all. Strange markings started to glow all over their bodies, like some sort of foreign written language of sorts. And they ALL started to pile in. White Diamond was crumbling ...

Won't you look at that embarrassment!

What a disgrace! 

An OFF-COLOR Diamond?!

She's just like all those other animals of hers!

Why not save yourself the breath and find an asteroid to fly into?!

"NO!"

White couldn't take it anymore. The colorless white from the Gems in her control started to seep away from them, each Gem starting to turn back into their respected colors. but being switched under White Diamond's control did make them worn out, some just collapsing on the spot while others needed a bit to come back around.

"Guys!" Connie and Steven gasped, reaching for them and hugging them.

"My head. What happened?" Lapis asked, trying not to get too bad of a migraine.

"I think Steven got through to her," Connie replied.

That claim was hard to say, but when they begin to look over to White Diamond, there was more than enough proof to say that SOMETHING was made clear to her. They could hear her breathing heavily, distraught and huddled up in the corner.

"What did you say to her? She's shaking like a piece of chalk," Bismuth quietly inquired. Steven didn't answer.

"I … I feel ridiculous. … Yellow. Blue. …" White turned to the other Diamonds, still having that pink blush all over her face. She brought her hand out to them, but the sight of this … well, alien sight caught them ALL by surprise. since when did White Diamond look ANYTHING like this? Yellow even turned away.

"S-She's off color," Yellow Diamond stated. This only made White Diamond feel even more conflicted, even without the mockery of those other beings just moments ago. Everything calmed down as best it could, Steven went over to her side.

"T-This … this can't be happening. I can't have flaws. I-I'm … supposed to be flawless. I'm supposed to make the right decisions, I … if I'm not perfect then, who am I? I-If you're not Pink, then who're you? W-Who is anyone?!"

"... You know," said Steven, "If you let everyone just be whoever they are. Then maybe you can let yourself be whoever you are too."

"B-But I'm not supposed to be like this. I'm supposed to know better, to be better, I'm supposed to make everything better!"

"And you still can. But first, we got some lessons to go over."

Blue Diamond, going over to her side, and placing a hand on her shoulder. The one other Gem that knew White Diamond almost since the beginning.

"Blue? … Even after everything I've done to you …"

"I was your friend once before. And I'd be grateful to be your friend now. North Star."

White gasped. "Y-You … you still remember. …"

"Come here," Blue simply said. With a smile, Blue leaned in and wrapped her arms around her fellow Diamond. White Diamond was wide-eyed, silent at first, but then she felt some tears start to form. White didn't know what to say, or what to think, but all she did in the end was return the gesture. This whole scene was revolutionary.

But there was still one matter to handle.

"Uh, sorry for intruding, but we're … still kinda stuck here? The ship being wrecked and all," Peridot meekly reminded.

"Of course. White, you coming?"

"... Yes. I'll fix this mess."

As he saw Blue and White go off to repair the damages, there was a moment of accomplishment for the others. It was still early stages, but they've finally began to get through to White after way too long. Homeworld's going to see a whole new kind of White Diamond once they get back.

Meantime, Steven began thinking over the next friendship lessons to teach to his student.
> A Side to Every Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on, pick up, pick up …" *beep**beep* "Dang it. Again? I KNOW you can go through, now come on."

"Uh, Flint? If you're done talking to that communicator, think you can give a hand on moving some of these trees?" called Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, yeah, I'm coming."

If anyone was on edge about things, it would be Flint. Even while lending a hand with the others of the mane six to plant a few trees around Ponyville, he still had his mind a bit stuck on Steven's situation. And how could he not be? Given how he was trying to teach friendship to something that could literally crush him like a bug, or even worse at any given time. Without any way to contact them though, at least for now, Flint could only hope they contact him back soon.
As for Ponyville, it had been getting some decent recovery, and with magic now a factor again it was a lot quicker too. For Ponyville, with buildings now better made all over again from months of preparation, the main work now was planting. In this case, some of the Mane Six were working on getting some trees planted around town.

"AND there," Flint said, placing the tree into its proper place nearby the Ponyville Café.

"Wow, this is going great; that's about twenty trees planted today. Ponyville's sure looking a lot better," said Starlight, going over a checklist she had with her. Work for rebuilding Ponyville had been going rather smoothly, the checklist indicating their works with rebuilding some Ponyville bridges, and some farm work over in Sweet Apple Acres.

"Yeah, though I dunno why you're making these extra changes: the Café by the river, that furniture shop by the main hall."

"There's nothing wrong with making some new stuff while remaking the town," said Trixie, who was oddly happy with the extra work.

"You're a bit chipper about this work, ain't ya Trixie," said Applejack, wiping some sweat from her brow.

"Yeah, well I just figured since you've all did such a great job, the Great and Powerful Trixie has decided to give her extra touch of magic to make Ponyville the best on Equestria!"

"And did "The Great and Powerful Trixie" write down to build a statue of herself by the front gate?" questioned Flint. Trixie blushed, and pretended to have no part of it.

"My, h-how did that get there?" Trixie asked, playing with her front hooves and turning away. Flint did the honor of crossing THAT off. The others had that look when looking to Trixie.

"... Ok, maybe I had a teeny tiny bit of involvement."

"Very funny," Flint sighed, "So, how's about the Great and Powerful Trixie work her magic to rekindle the school, eh? Heard they still need some floorboards."

"Oh fine," Trixie sighed. Well, she tried. Trixie turned, and trotted off to go and handle that. Well, as she did that, the others went off back to the checklist, Rainbow Dash flying off to move some clouds by the tree to give it some water.

"So Flint. I heard you've been taking guard duty at Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash asked after giving the cloud a good kick for some rain.

"Kind of; ever since Grogar's little jump at Canterlot, things had been a bit more edgy lately. I haven't seen any bit of him though, and I search Canterlot from top to bottom at least three times, so if you ask me he's been and gone," Flint replied, thinking back on just how much he looked.

"Oh Hey by the way, did you see Flash Magnus while there?" Rainbow asked.

"Eh, maybe a little bit, why? All I know is that he's working for the Canterlot Guard."

"Working for the guard? He's one of the top commanders now!" Rainbow revealed. This caught Flint off guard.

"Wait. Top commander already? It's only been a few months, how'd he go up the ranks so fast?"

"Beats me, but he invited me for some Military patrol and seriously, he's a pro at this stuff! Even YOU would've been impressed, Flint," Rainbow explained, a little smug at the end there. She didn't know jack about military guards outside of the wonderbolts, but that was a bit quick even for Flash Magnus. This conversation was overheard by Jasper close by, who herself was moving some materials for one of the bridges in town over her head - it was as big as a wagon, mind you.

"Flash Magnus was already a soldier with Netitus before being stuck in Limbo, I'd be surprised if he wasn't used to this."

"Hey, you two, I got your clay. Where do you want this?" Jasper then asked, showing the large piece of material.

"Oh, that uh, just put it aside for now. We won't be working on the bridge for a while," Starlight replied. The ground shook when Jasper dropped it by her side, and while the weight could've crush any of them Jasper made it pretty easy to handle. Jasper brushed her hands off of some stray clay.

"Alright, that's that. Anything else you need to move, or are we good?"

"We're good for now, Jasper, thanks," replied Starlight. There was a bit of alone time between Flint and Jasper for a brief moment as the ponies were off handling a few more plants. Jasper glanced to Flint, seeing the communicator in his other hand.

"You're still worked up over that?"

"Yes, I'm still worked up over that Jasper," Flint replied, knowing what she was referring to as he looked to the communicator, "Steven and five others are lightyears away somewhere with one of the most dangerous Gems in history. How could I NOT be worried about it, especially since this won't go through."
Jasper groaned, and suddenly Flint found his hand empty, the communicator in Jasper's hand now.

"You can worry all you like, there's nothing you can do about it. So stop staying in ten feet of this thing for a bit, ok?" Jasper advised.

"Give me that back," retorted Flint, "When Steven manages to call in -" Flint was cut off when one hand pushed against his face as the other held the communicator just out of reach.

"Then you'll be the forth to know," Jasper cut in, making sure to keep the communicator away from Flint. All these days of him hogging the communicator, especially since they last got through to them sometime ago, had gone on for long enough. Without anymore discussion, Jasper actually went as far as to bubble the thing, and with a flick of the finger got it moved back to the temple.

"You didn't have to bubble it," Flint stated.

"You know I do," Jasper stated back. Flint just groaned, but no matter. He can just go and get it later when he'll have time. He got calmed down, but Jasper still wanted to talk.

"Anyway, how'd you do with princess workaholic? Did you talk some sense into her while on your guard duty?" Jasper asked. Flint felt bothered all over again.

"I tried at least several times with Twilight, but before I can talk it's either she has to go off on "royal duty" or she's too busy with something else. Which reminds me …" Flint's gemstone then started to glow a little bit, as something started to come out, turning out to be a scroll. "I think you'd want this."

"And what's that?" Jasper questioned, opening up the scroll and checking out what this even was all about herself.

"Another one of Twilight's many "duties" I managed to slip by before anyone noticed," Flint replied.

"Settle dispute between ... The HoofFields ... and McColts. And you think we're better for the job? What's even the problem anyway?" Jasper questioned. Both names did NOT ring any bells in her head, nor ever mentioned much before.

"Not too sure. But I found that there's a LOT more paralleles between the ponies and humans, and considering that they literally have the same names as "Headfield and McCloud", I can make a good guess."

"I can't, who're they?" Jasper asked unamused, both names flying over her head. If Hooffield and McColt weren't getting through, Headfield and McCloud weren't doing much either. Flint took a quick breath.

"I remembered stumbling on some of this information during that whole Pink Diamond investigation thing. Supposedly these two families had gone after eachother so much, and so violently it's considered it's own "war" in human history."

"Let me guess: you think these pony look-alikes are doing the same thing?"

"It's not that farfetched of an idea, and NOT something Twilight would want to deal with. So, what do you say?" Flint offered. Jasper paused and looked back to the description of this "HoofField and McColt" family, considering the kind of idea that Flint presented. Two pony families at war with eachother …

"... Eh, pass."

"Pass?" Flint was given back the scroll, as Jasper moved on to the work in Ponyville.

"I've already gone through five thousand years of that drama, and I'd rather not get involved in anymore of it, unlike others. Besides, handling long disputes sounds more like your department than mine," Jasper replied. A bit unlike her to refuse work, but Flint still saw her point, and rolled back up the scroll again.

"Suit yourself. In that case, keep an eye on things while I'm gone will you?" Flint asked, as he put the scroll back inside his own head.

"Yeah, sure," Jasper replied. … Only to slip in, "I'm not telling you if the others call in or not."

Flint cringed.

"Dang it - Well, I'll be going. See you later," Flint said. Well, it didn't matter anyway. As Jasper said, he couldn't do much about what goes on in space even if he wanted to. He left to wonder why he didn't go on this trip with them from the get go as he started to walk off, as the others were left to tend to Ponyville. Another problem off the alicorn's to-do list for today. However, this didn't go unnoticed by everyone. As Jasper went towards some of the ponies, another Gem took notice of Flint walking away.

"Mind if I come with you?" asked a kind voice, not long after she finished handling some of the trees with the group. Flint knew that voice anywhere, stopping and looking back to see Jade not too far away, walking towards him.

"Oh, Jade, hey. Didn't realize you were listening," Flint said. "You sure you want to? My destination's kinda far from here."

"It's alright, Flint," Jade reassured "... Besides, it's been a very long time since you and I did something together."
Flint paused. Typically he wouldn't want Jade to follow him on a mission for his own protection over her, but then again most of his time had kept him away from Jade bit by bit, and he didn't want her to feel left out.

"Well I suppose. … You know what, come along Jade. I could use the company," Flint decided. Jade was glad to come along, but as the others were seeing this.

"That's ALL it took for her to go?! I don't get it, I've seen you argue with him for hours, and it only takes her one sentence to get him to do anything," Trixie said. Not that she wanted to test that with Flint, but Starlight's chats gave Trixie enough of an idea, whether she did see this argument go down or not.

"I reckon that's from them being so close," Applejack figured.


~~~~~~


So with their mission now in their sights, Flint and Jade were off and on their way to their destination. Just how long had it been since Jade and flint were only by themselves? Typically they were in company of one of the Crystal Gems or Off-Colors in recent years, so being together and only together was a nice return to basics, plus Flint could keep Jade safe during this outing this time around. Jade was feeling pretty good about it too: all of that time Flint had spent doing who knows what had left her lacking lately anyway.
As far as navigation went though, walking there wasn't gonna do well this time it seemed. He could run all the way there if he wanted to, but without knowing exactly how far the destination was, it was decided to use a more casual approach. Well, casual for them anyway, and a bit of a eye-candy for those still on the ground.

"How long did they have this hot air balloon?" Jade wondered.

"Not really sure, but it's convenient either way. We're making pretty good time anyway, and if we're on course we'll reach the Smoky Mountains in no time at all," Flint replied, looking back to the mission on the scroll. 

"The Smoky Mountains. … Isn't that the same place they got that Healing Crystal from? They didn't say anyone lived there."

"True, but it's been a few years, it should've given whoever this is enough time to settle. We'll find out when we get there."

Jade quietly looked on to the sky for a while, though her eyes did glance over to Flint, seeing him looking more into the mission rather than much else.

"So Flint. We haven't talked in a while. … How're you doing?" Jade asked as they floated along.

"It's been fine," Flint simply replied. Well, not too much there. Flint looked over to Jade briefly, only to find a quick glance from her before she acted like she was just staring off to space again.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just … well, isn't it nice up here? Just you and me floating in the sky?" Jade pointed out. Flint took a look around for a bit before his eyes went to the scroll again.

"Guess so, but not now. We're trying to handle a mission, remember?"

"Oh. Yes, sorry," Jade sighed. She should be thanking her lucky stars Flint would bring her at all, so she wasn't gonna go and push the envelope persay. Flint looked over to Jade for a bit …

"... I think I see a Ruby space ship in the clouds there," Flint then said, going to Jade's side. Jade was caught off guard a little bit, but appreciated his statement. She followed his eyes up to the clouds, and found which one he was pointing to.

"Oh, I see it. And next to it is … well, it's either an apple tree, or Rhodonite after Fulgurite shocked her that time," Jade pointed out. Flint saw what she meant as well, a few chuckles escaping his mouth on the memory she brought up. Sure it was an accident, but Rhodonite having a round bush for some hair gave some of them quite the laugh, even Fulgurite herself.

"Oh, we're going the tricky route are we?" Flint smirked, and soon pointed out something else in the clouds. "Tell me then. Is that cloud over there Bismuth with her hair tied back, or is it a octopus with a smiley face from Mask Island?"

"Looks more like a Jack-O-Lantern with a hat to me," Jade stated.

"Yeah, maybe. Your turn now," Flint sighed. Flint didn't hear much of anything, but when he looked Jade was instead looking to him.

"See, Flint? It's okay to have some fun, even while during a mission," Jade stated. Flint cleared his throat.

"W-Well, it'll be a while before we get there so … Oh ok, so you're right. Still your turn," Flint said. Jade simply smiled, took a bit to look around the area.

"Okay. I think I see - … Emerald?"

"Emerald? Where do you see that?"

"No, no, down there," Jade corrected, pointing down from the hot air balloon. They were still up fairly high, so they could see much of the world down below them for at least a town square mile. Flint tried to find this source Jade was pointing on about, and sure enough there indeed was someone down on the ground. Course, it took a bit to point out it was indeed Emerald, as there was something odd over him, like a statue or something.

"Wait that is him. Hold on, didn't Jasper say he went on a mission for us to the White Tail Woods?" Flint asked.

"I believe so. Emerald! Hello!" Jade called, waving to him. Her voice carried on the wind, and sure enough Emerald actually did stop. However, they didn't realize it just yet, but he only realized that someone was there for the statue getting his attention to the object in the sky.

"It's about time too. HEY GUYS, DOWN HERE!" Emerald called.

"I think we're close anyway. Jade, pull the red line and try to release some heat, we're gonna land here," Flint instructed. Jade did as instructed, and with a tug on one of the ropes, which as Flint said was red in color. When she did that, a patch opened up on the balloon, some of the air slowly starting to release, and the balloon started to descend downward towards Emerald. The green Gem couldn't be happier to see some of the Harmony Gems FINALLY come for him after who knows how long. The hot air balloon landed on an open patch on the hillside, though Emerald needed a bit of time to actually reach them. Jade started going over to him first, but Flint felt reluctant. Especially when he saw what he was doing.

"Finally. What kept you rocks so long? Oi … heavy ..." And FINALLY Emerald collapsed, the weight of the object just a little bit too heavy to keep levitating any further. Jade was humbled seeing that, though Emerald did levitate it off just long enough to move himself out from underneath.

"It's so good to see you, Emerald. I hope your mission went over well," Jade asked, helping the winded Gem to his feet.

"Circumstance points to: yeah, whatever. Just load her on board and give us a lift home, will ya," Emerald replied, winded in breath and hand to his head. It didn't take them much time for Jade and Flint to see the object in question, Flint confused as Jade was left silenced. It sure was a pretty Gem-like object to be in Equestria.

""Her"? Emerald? Wait a minute, where'd you even get this?" Flint questioned, looking her over.

"One: that is indeed a her. Second, I found her by some scrapyard near the White Tail Woods along with A LOT of other stuff. And do me a favor and TRY to treat her like a actual person please, she's sensitive," Emerald suggested. Flint was still a little bit confused by the insistence of such, looking at the statue.

""She's" a statue, Emerald."

"Dude, you HAVE to notice something about her. Come on Sessile, say hi," Emerald insisted.

"..... H-Hello."

THAT was all it took for Flint to immediately jump back in alarm, now seeing this thing as alive. Sessile felt a blush coming on and tried covering her face in dismay, feeling like she did something wrong.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I-I shouldn't have said anything," Sessile said in panic.

"Sessile, relax, it's fine, they're just spooked. Flint and Jade, Sessile. Sessile, Flint and Jade. … I wanted to bring her back. Hope it's cool," Emerald quickly said, trying to calm everyone down. Flint took a bit before calming down himself. But as he was, Jade slowly went over to Sessile, looking the Gem object right eye to eye.

"... Sessile? ……. Oh Sessile … w-what have they done to you?" There was a moment of silence, which was quickly broken.

"WHOA, you know her?!" Emerald gasped. He clearly didn't expect that from Jade. But Jade didn't answer just yet, taking in one of her fellow Jades now turned into … well, whatever this is. Sessile needed a minute too as Jade placed both hands into Sessile's hands.

"I … Jade? ... Is it really you?" Sessile asked. Jade nodded.

"Yes, it's me Sessile. It's been forever. … Did Homeworld do this to you?"

"Well ... they thought I'd be better this way, and could be more useful like this. T-They're not wrong, but ... I'm sorry you have to see me like this."

"Sessile. …"

"Hello?! Questions! When was THIS a thing?" Emerald asked again. Jade snapped back to reality for a minute.

"As shocked as I am. I'd like to know too, actually," Flint commented, still frazzled. This was ONE thing Jade didn't tell him about at all.

"Oh. Sorry," Jade said. "Sessile and I, we used to work together back on Homeworld, before I met Flint actually. Sessile made the best reports, and stories.

"I-I think yours were much better Jade. Mine were barely anything," Sessile said modestly. Emerald was completely off guard by this, and actually expected BOTH of them to be shocked and slightly scared. Flint took a DEEP breath before turning to the one that brought her here.

"Emerald, you got ten seconds to tell me right now why you have a Homeworld harvested Gem with you?" Flint questioned, his voice growing in anger. Last thing they needed was someone stealing from Homeworld right now.

"Hey hey hey, I told you I found her in a scrapyard, don't ask me how she got there because I vaguely know!" Emerald said. Flint didn't look like he was buying it, but Sessile saw this going on.

"W-Wait, he's not lying!" Sessile said, "H-He … he found me. I-I told him to just leave me at the scrapyard, but he wanted me with him … I-I don't know why I was so important to him."

"Really? And how did you get here, might I ask?" Flint questioned. Emerald did some gestures for her to keep talking, as much as Sessile felt humbled by the Gem's look.

"...…. Grogar said he'll make good use of me, so he uh … brought. Me. Here?"

… huh?

"... Grogar? Brought you here? The angry old Ram. Got to Homeworld, and brought you here?" Flint re-stated. Sessile wasn't sure if she should just continue with that or change her story, so she kept quiet. Emerald though filled in the gap.

"Oh, her and a ton of other stuff! Seriously, he's got enough metal to fill an air hanger," Emerald said. Flint needed a minute to contemplate this turn of events. Far as he was aware, at least for a bit, Grogar sounded no more dangerous than some angry Bugbear, or some low-magic Unicorn perhaps. But hearing that he can not only reach Homeworld, but was taking who knows what from it and bringing it back here opened his eyes to the possible danger the ram now held against them. Flint got himself calmed down again.

"You know Grogar?" Sessile asked, a bit surprised.

"We heard he attacked Canterlot while Twilight was away," Jade answered. "We didn't take him very seriously, but if he was doing this …"

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do," Flint decided, "Jade and I are already trying to handle a mission right now, so either you two wait here, or -"

*THUD* and already Sessile was loaded up in the hot air balloon.

"You sure about this? I can just wait here," Sessile asked nervously.

"Oh come on, it'll be fine. Alright Flint, Jade, let's go flying."

"We're walking the rest of the way, I hope you know that," Flint said.

"... SERIOUSLY?!"

…….

"Don't be too upset, Flint. He did walk a long ways," Jade insisted.

It took some bit of working out, but next thing he knew Flint was stuck with carrying Emerald on his shoulders as he was levitating Sessile not too far away. Jade was saved in the manual labor work and was simply walking alongside the three, mostly trying not to have Flint go off on Emerald for basically using him like a mount.

"When I said we were walking, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Flint pointed out.

"Hey, I walked for at least ten miles, don't judge me if my dogs need a break," Emerald retorted.

"You don't have - … wait, that's an expression isn't it?" Flint realized. He may not know too many of the expressions on Earth as much as Emerald, but he didn't want to feed the troll any of his naïveness.

"Oh no, I'm too heavy aren't I? J-Just leave me here, you can get me later," Sessile suggested.

"No way Sessile, it's fine," Emerald insisted. It was a bit odd to see Emerald this generous, but Flint wasn't gonna try and question it with Sessile having as much doubt over her as it was. Besides, Flint was probably feeling the same thing.

"Pray to the stars the others don't jump to conclusions when we bring her back," Flint thought. Jade walked with the floating harvested Jade, now taking some time to see what truly happened to her fellow Gem. Sessile knew she was staring, but she didn't say anything to stop her. After all, she was used to it by now.

"So, Sessile. I hope you don't mind me asking, but is that your gemstone in the center of you?" Jade asked, trying not to be too invasive with her question.

"Well … yes and no," Sessile replied, "It's inside that glass casing. … They … tried to compromise for my glowing stone. Oh, n-nevermind me, what about you? I thought they -" Sessile asked, but quickly stopping herself before finishing. She didn't want anyone mad at her anymore than what they are.

"No. It's okay Sessile," Jade replied, knowing where she was going, "I was actually scheduled to be replaced, but before they could get me, it was Flint who saved me and got me out of Homeworld. I know he can look a bit rough sometimes, but he's a very nice one when you get to know him."
Sessile looked over to Flint, who was seemingly unaffected by the words and still just walking along. Emerald though could see that Flint heard every single word, and was trying not to have his faint blush shown to them. It was amazing after what wrong he did to Jade and she could still say that about him.

"I … felt it was unfair. She works so hard, and her reward is being shattered? Nonsense," Flint stated.

"...…. Thank you, Flint. That's … that's very … noble," Sessile said. Now Flint stopped moving.

"Noble? … You think so?"

"D-Did I say the wrong thing? I'm sorry I didn't mean -"

"You're fine, Sessile. And I agree," Jade said, "You were such a high-ranking Gem, yet you always consider those around you when no one else would, even while working for Homeworld."

"... Noble. … I never looked at it quite like that before," Flint admitted. Even after everyone basically told him so, he truly never thought it was too much like that.

"Oh? How have you looked at it?" Jade asked.

*SPLAT!*

Before their conversation could continue, a powerful impact suddenly caught their attention. This sounded much like a crash and splatter, and it sounded dangerously close to them too as some of the nearby birds scattered. It was almost enough to lose Emerald's concentration on Sessile, but it was enough to make him fall off of Flint's shoulders. Flint immediately drew out his pistol weaponry (scaring Sessile a bit actually), as he went over to investigate. And what did he find?
A splattered pumpkin. Or what was left of it, with the seeds and gunk inside said pumpkin splattered all over the place. Luckily the birds weren't hurt too much, though one bird did get covered in the gunk, finding it as disgusting as it looked. Flint barely had time to even process this himself when -

"Flint!" gasped Jade. Just in time too, as Flint looked to the sky to find another pumpkin flying his way! Pistol at the ready, he blasted it right out of the sky and the giant orange plant exploded into a orange mess … which still splattered him.

"... Yuck."

"Geesh, who's practicing their throws? Whoever it is, they're darn accurate," Emerald wondered, in a rare moment of NOT laughing at Flint getting splattered. The bird hobbled over towards Jade, trying to clean up its feathers of the gunk. Sessile looked to the bird, finding that the animal wasn't fazed at all by her.

"You poor thing. Here Sessile, can you hold her for a minute while I help clean her," Jade said, gently picking up the little bird. Sessile nodded and the bird was placed in the palms of her "hands". Sessile felt quiet as Jade cleaned the bird, still amazed it wasn't scared or disgusted with her appearance. As for Emerald and Flint …

"Eh, Flint? You guys said you were seeing some feuding family didn't ya? Think we found it."

And it sure seemed to be. Just up ahead beyond the next hill, and they soon found what looked to be the main destination. It wasn't exactly the smoky mountains, but more like two steep hillsides side by side, with a valley in between the two. However, much like most of the area they've been through so far, it didn't look really its best: the river in between the hills was dried up now, and plants weren't too notable outside of just grass for natural plants.
They saw two settlements, each one on top of a hill, and both settlements almost seemed like the opposite of one another. One of them was hardly built much at all but they saw a lot of the pumpkins and even a few trees growing there, whereas the one across the way only had cut stumps and dirt for plant life, but a strong sturdy foundation for their settlement. They even saw one side still shooting more pumpkins towards the other house, some flying off a different way.

"The HoofFields and McColts. This should be it," Flint concluded. He then turned to Jade and Sessile.

"Alright, looks a bit risky so you two wait it here until we get back. Sound good?" Flint asked.

"If you say so. Just be careful," Jade advised. Flint nodded and went back looking to the two settlements.

"Now, where do we even start?"

As if on cue, one pumpkin was launched way out of the way, and right towards them fast! Flint jumped aside, but emerald was clocked square in the face, him stumbling until he crashed into a nearby tree.

"... Let's start with those pumpkins, huh?" Emerald muttered from under the plant. Flint did smirk in spite of himself.

"Peridot would've loved to see this," he thought.


~~~~~~


"Ready! Aim! FIRE!"

And with another call, another pumpkin was launched clear off of the horizon, towards the stronger fort. This pumpkin didn't even get close to the mark though. Thanks to some more levitation of one of Emerald's polygons, travel to the settlement took far less time than walking, the two Gems arriving there in no time at all.
Now that they were closer to this settlement, they got a better look at what kind of home these ponies had to deal with: so many of the buildings looking VERY uneasy and unsteady, almost as if only leaves and sticks made up the foundation. Despite that though, a lot of pumpkins abounded along with tomatoes, corn, and other crops. As for the settlers themselves, they all were Earth Ponies. Mares and stallions, all having a sort of similar color scheme ranging from brown to orange. Some of these ponies were already loading up another wooden cannon, and with a pull of the rope launched another pumpkin across the way.

"Dang nabbit, missed again," one of the ponies griped.

"K, Flint how do you wanna do this? I was thinking about a whole good cop bad cop sorta thing -" Emerald was cut short when Flint was already going up to the oldest one.

"Uh, excuse me mam?" Flint asked, getting her attention, "Uh, may I ask what you're doing?"

"We're pumpkin-ing our neighbors," the mare stated, hoof aimed to the settlement across the valley.

"... Uh, we can see that, but why?"

"Because! The McColts are just plain rotten! … Wait a tick, who even are you two?" the mare questioned, "You're not spies for the McColts are ya?!"

"Eh, we don't even know who the McColts even are, so not really," Emerald replied, still trying to get some of the pumpkin gunk outta his spiked hair.

"My name is Flint - Harmony Gem. And we're sent by the Princess of Friendship to handle this dispute that's going on here between you and the McColts over there," Flint explained. Not exactly the truth, but their main goal was still the same. The older mare was sure pleased to hear that.

"Ma HoofField, please to meet ya," the mare said, shaking his hand with a smile. "Bout time we got our own back against those McColts."

Well, at least they wouldn't be shooting stuff at them now.

"You keep saying McColts over and over again. Just what did they do to you?" Flint asked.

"All sorts of things! Why just today they threw pebbles at our farmhouse and wrecked it," Ma HoofField said, hoof aimed towards their farmhouse. Or rather what remained of it. The house in question looked completely wrecked from top to bottom, nothing left but stray pieces of wood.

"We Hooffields were never good builders, and all it took was a few pebbles. But still!" Ma HoofField added. NO WAY a pebble could knock that thing down surely. Emerald laughed at the idea, leaning on one of the McColt wagons.

"A few pebbles? Come on, your work can't be that weak," Emerald said, knocking on the wagon. … Just for it to crumble into sticks. "... Oops."

"See what I mean?" Ma HoofField said. "that's the third time today!"

"Ok, ok," said Flint after some thinking. "So the Hooffields kept giving you a hard time, huh?"

"What you think I've been sayin?! Tall boy you help get the pumpkins loaded. Greenie, you can fly, try and get some better aim fer us!"

"What? Why?"

"Didn't y'all say you were gonna get rid of them McColts for us?" Ma HoofField asked, though she looked more suspicious than confused, as if that was what she wanted to think. Emerald and Flint began to see this wasn't gonna be that simple, Emerald gesturing Flint to speak.

"HoofFields, listen. We're here to handle the dispute for you, that doesn't mean we're fighting them for you."

"WHAT?!"

"No matter how many pumpkins you blast, that won't fix your house will it? Let us go and get their side of the story before we do anything, and in the mean time you hold off your fire. Ok?" Flint instructed. Ma HoofField felt a cringe coming on, but in the end she had to agree.

"Oh … fine. But be quick about it will ya? Who knows if those McColts would be sneaking fer another hit."

"Right. Sure. Come on, Emerald, let's go," Flint said.

…….

Emerald was more than ready to head off after accidentally wrecking the wagon. With a polygon out, he gave Flint a ride from one side of the valley, and right over to the other. They weren't sure if there was gonna be some extra firing power from the McColts side, but luckily they didn't get hit either.
It took them little time until they arrived at the front gates, Flint insisting for them not to just fly in, just in case things would get a bit more bothersome. The sturdy walls of the fort stood tall despite the attacks they've been receiving, and once they were there.

"So, still up for that good cop bad cop thing?" Emerald asked.

"Oh hush up," Flint sighed, before knocking on the door. At first none of the ponies really answered right away. In fact, there didn't seem to be any ponies around to talk to along the front line like the HoofFields across the way.

"State yer business!" called a voice. Flint and Emerald both looked up and soon they saw one of the ponies up on top of the wall looking down to them. Unlike the HoofFields, this McColt was blue tinted in his fur instead of brown, giving the idea that the McColts were a blue tinted clan of ponies.

"You the McColts by chance?" Flint called.

"It 'pends on who's askin. You one of those spies for the HoofFields, or what?" the pony asked.

"This again? NO, we're not spies for anyone, we just want to talk with you for a minute," Flint replied, a little annoyed with the accusation again.

"Yeah right!" said another voice, this one a mare, "Dun bother with em. The second they step in here they're gonna wreck the place."

"Would a spy just stand in front of your door, asking to come in?!" Emerald shouted.

"Huh … nah, but spies are spies."

"For stars sake, why do they keep thinking that?"

"Because we don't get a lot of visitors." And then they started to hear the front gate unlock for them. Seemed there was more than one pony that was keeping an ear on them here, and after at least twelve locks were removed, the gate swung open and revealed yet another pony. This one was a bit short, blue in fur and beard, with a BIG ten gallon hat.

"Oh. And you are …" Flint questioned.

"I'm Big Daddy McColt," said the pony, "You caught us at an odd time. See, we're in the middle of a giant feud with our … TERRIBLE NEIGHBOURS!"
And to their surprise, just that mighty shout alone went across the valley, scared some of the birds, and actually toppled one of the HoofFields houses! Either their houses were really weak, or McColt was a lot stronger than he looked. Emerald stepped back.

"Some lungs man."

"Why thank ya," said Big Daddy McColt. Flint cleared his throat as he and Emerald began following Big Daddy McColt into the base.

"W-Well. Well, that's why we're here: we've been brought here to help you handle your dispute with the HoofFields," said Flint, as Big Daddy went back towards the fortress that was the McColt base. Hearing this too got the pony's interest.

"So yer here to help us get rid of em," said Big Daddy McColt. Another assumption, but this time the McColts behind him suddenly started cheering and celebrating. Flint and Emerald both were having some trouble with this one, though with what the HoofFields had been doing, it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think all of this.

"Deja Vu," Emerald said, "NO, we're a couple of good joes here to stop this fighting, NOT kill one of ya. OKAY?" Emerald made clear. The celebrating stopped and Big Daddy McColt started to grow suspicious.

"... Well then if yer not fer us … you're against us."
And suddenly the gate closed behind Emerald and Flint, the other members of the McColt clan now down to see them and to try and figure them out.

"Knock it off, man!"

"McColt, we're not on anyone side, let's make that clear and out of the way. We're here to handle the dispute between you and the HoofFields on orders of the Princess of Friendship," Flint explained.

"The princess of what-now?" wondered one of the McColts.

"I thought there was only three princesses," noted another.

"Well technically there still is, but one of the Princesses were … well, let's just say a new princess took her place." Flint and Emerald could tell this group didn't have the exact "Celestia is dead" knowledge just yet, so with the feud going on it probably wasn't gonna help if they did tell them. Big Daddy McColt was still a bit suspicious over these two.

"Well if yer thinking about friendship you're wasting your time. We don't have a friendship problem, but a HoofField problem!" said Big Daddy McColt.

"And there ain't no friendship there. 'specially since they've been blastin us," added one of the McColt members.

"They're only blasting you because you wrecked their farmhouse," retorted Flint. This suddenly made Big Daddy McColt a bit triggered, suddenly jumping at em.

"NOW WAIT A DARN MINUTE! We only did that because the HOOFFIELDS pulled the pin outta our wagon wheel!" Big Daddy McColt exclaimed, his hoof again aiming towards the problem. It wasn't in as bad of a shape as the HoofField houses, but there indeed was a wheel missing from the wagon in question, the food in said wagon slightly squashed thanks to.

"Whelp, if it makes you feel better their wagon's wrecked too, so … call it even?" Emerald shrugged. That might be true but not enough for the McColt.

"I'd don't even call that close!" Big Daddy McColt explained, "A whole week's worth of food just rollin down the mountain! We McColts are mighty fine builders -" he explained this as he brought his hat to his chest, "- but we don't know the first thing about farmin. We have to travel plenty far to get our food."
And this statement was made agreed on by the other McColts. Now that they mentioned it, the McColts cutie marks mostly suggested construction work, and some actually looked more fancy than the farming HoofFields. McColt went over towards some of the splattered pumpkins now sprawled out around the main grounds of the McColt base.

"And now all we got is whatever those HoofFields throw at us! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin crepes, pumpkin pastries. … Actually that all sounds pretty good, BUT IT'LL GET OLD!" Big Daddy McColt said.

"I'm starting to sense a pattern here," said Emerald, feeling oddly uncomfortable. And in this rare case, Flint had to agree, as they watched the McColts beginning to clean up the mess the HoofFields had made: one member dumping the gunk into a barrel, just for another to scoop it and put it into a bag and bringing it onto the nearest table to make into stew. Whelp, this was a bit of an odd situation. Emerald and Flint began to go off and on their way from there, flying out of the base as the McColts tended to what'll end up being their next dinner. … Just as some tomatos suddenly began being shot at them!

"What the?!"

And where did they go?

…….

"Ready! Aim! FIRE!" Ma HoofField said, another barrage of tomatoes launching clear across the horizon and painting the McColt town red. Flint and Emerald had to avoid another blast just as they arrived.

"What're you doing?! I said to STOP firing," Flint said.

"Did ya? We saw you marchin outta them McColt place and we thought they rubbed ya the wrong way. so we tomato'd em fer ya. My Mistake," said Ma Hooffield. Though, emerald and Flint could tell that Ma HoofField didn't make any mistake in this call, just impatient.

"Mistake my butt," Emerald said.

"Now, Ma HoofField, the Mccolts told us that they only got your farmhouse because you wrecked their wagon wheel full of food," Flint informed.

"Well of course we pulled the pin outta their wagon wheel!" retorted Ma HoofField, the second after Flint and Emerald came back to them while they were loading up some tomato slingshots. "Those McColts took those crops right outta our gardens! All our hard work makin them ripe and prtty, just for those rotten rats to take them away!"

"Well they're not good farmers, McColt, they have to eat too. All they've been eating much of was what you throw at them," said Flint.

"Well tell em McColts to EAT SOMEPONY ELSE'S CROP!"

…….

"WHAT?! Well, alright, once or twice but y'all think it's easy keeping up food when we can't grow our own? Besides, we only did that after we caught em HOOFFIELDS swippin our logs for their houses! We spend days getting them prepped for foundation, just for them thieving beavers to take em away!" argued Big Daddy McColt.

"Seriously?" Emerald groaned, hand to forehead. THE SAME STORY.

"But the McColts don't have a home to live in the way you do, you saw what one pebble did to their farmhouse," said Flint, getting impatient himself. And guess what he said next …

"Well tell em HOOFFIELDS to GET SOMEPONY ELSE'S LOGS!"

…….

"What're those McColts feeding ya now?! They got more than plenty of logs to spare!" snapped Ma HoofField.

"And you got plenty of food to spare too, HoofField!" retorted Flint.

"SO WHAT?! They don't deserve anything after what they did," Ma Hooffield retorted, ready to shoot another tomato right back at them in one of the slingshots.

"And what did they do, dare I ask?" Flint questioned. He personally didn't want to, but as a detective questions had to be asked.

"They know what they did."

…….

"THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID!" said Big Daddy McColt, blocking another tomato with a self-made wooden shield.

"What? Again?!" Emerald groaned, as Big Daddy McColt went to the top of the wall to see the opponent.

"Sounds to me like neither of you actually know what eachother did," Flint retorted sternly.

"Course we do! Them HOOFFIELDS did somethin wrong way back in the day fer some reason!" Big Daddy said, the other members SOMEHOW agreeing with him! No, that didn't answer anything at all.

"That doesn't explain anything!" Flint retorted, "Maybe if you can calmly talk to them and try to reach a compromise -"

"NO WAY! Them HOOFFIELDS would sooner throw away their lunch than to listen to us!"

…….

"Them McColts would sooner topple their walls down to the dirt than to listen to us!" said Ma HoofField.

"Have any of you even tried talking to any of them about anything? Or did all you think about was blasting them off their hill?" Flint demanded.

"Blasting them off their hill, of course! Haven't you been listenin to a thing I said?!"

"When will it end?!" Emerald cried.

…….

This pattern kept up for HOURS. Flint and Emerald, going back and forth, trying to find some middle ground with either side, only to find nothing of the sort with either of them. Their excuses were the same, albeit slightly altered, and this left Flint and Emerald more and more irritable. By night time, the two had FINALLY went back to Jade and Sessile, who had been taking the time to get to catch up with eachother.
Too bad Flint and Emerald were emotionally exhausted from this back-and-forth bunch of bull, and even physically exhausted from getting struck a few times during this. Emerald actually collapsed on the ground in defeat as Flint looked ready to blast the second a McColt or Hooffield would show up again.

"Oh dear … did they give you a hard time?" Jade asked.

"I mean, do we need to say it, or does it go unsaid?" Emerald asked, not even bothering to get up. Emerald probably they can understand, but seeing even Flint look just as worn out meant they must've been ESPECIALLY stubborn. Flint took a seat by Sessile, taking a breath to calm down.

"So in conclusion," said Flint, "both the HoofFields and McColts don't know WHY they're fighting, but they only want to fight and don't know when to stop. … And don't care who else they hit either." And he ended the statement by picking out some squash from his hair. Jade and Sessile would be lying if they said they didn't see the damage done, both in their firing and the emotional baggage.

"Well it's getting late. We'll try again tomorrow morning," Jade said, trying to be encouraging. However, this made Emerald bolt back up.

"WHAT?! We're going back and trying again? NO WAY, if you're gonna go ahead be my guest, but I'm not dealing with it," Emerald quickly stated, making Jade jump.

"Nobody asked you to," Flint sighed. "And actually I don't blame you, but at least you weren't assigned to this."

"Flint, you weren't assigned to it either," Jade whispered.

"Say it enough times it becomes the truth. Besides, it's for Twilight's sake," Flint quietly replied. After what he had gone through today though, he just wanted this to end before long, otherwise he might lose it himself. He looked up to the sky briefly.

"How is this supposed to work. At least the cases before I had some idea of what the core issue was, but how can I solve this if I don't even know what it's about?" Flint wondered. Emerald didn't put up any ideas here, but Sessile and Jade took a bit to think it over.

"... Maybe ……. an apology?" Sessile suggested, though was more worried if that idea wouldn't work. Flint paused on the idea.

"An apology, huh? … Considering this is literally just two pebbles fighting in the Kindergarten, maybe that can work. … Tomorrow," Flint concluded.

"Ok … I know I can't do much but is there anything I can do?" Sessile asked.

"Just make sure they get a good night sleep, Sessile. They need it after today," Jade advised, gently placing a hand on Flint's head.

"Um … I guess, but …"

"You don't know what that is do ya?" Emerald cut in. Sessile would nod if she could, so instead she just gave a thumbs up to him.

"Whelp, you close your eyes, and think about whatever you want and … well, you do nothing else. Allow me to demonstrate," Emerald said. Just before he fell onto his back and went motionless. Sessile still wasn't sure about the exact idea of this, but as long as he was okay, it didn't matter that much. Besides, what else were they gonna do? Emerald was already well into snooze land when Flint actually ended up taking a rest himself. He needed to rework a plan of action here for this apology, but for now it was time to sleep. Sessile went on to do the same thing after a while, closing her eyes and just left thinking about things.

The only one not sleeping was Jade herself, who was simply looking off towards the HoofFields and McColts, and the sad valley that stood between them. She may not have been meeting either side all day, but she knew the signs enough that these two weren't just gonna give up. Jade could only wonder if the plan will work. …

"Flint. Emerald. Don't be too upset …"


~~~~~~


The next morning came by a little before they knew it (which was funny to say since the sun wasn't under somepony else's clock this time), and things began to go underway. Either side needed to apologize one way or another, doesn't matter which side. So what was the end result here? …

"I'd want to say thanks, Ma HoofField for agreeing on this. This apology cake will surely help mend the boundaries between you two," said Flint, as Ma HoofField walked alongside him with what looked to be a GIGANTIC friendship cake the HoofFields had whipped up for this occasion. It was an impressive work of culinary art, second-fiddle only by their own Pinkie Pie mare: a three layered cake with pumpkin slices along the second level, and a ripe, freshly plucked pumpkin sitting right on top of it.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," said Ma HoofField, waving a hoof.

"Let's just hope this actually works this time," Emerald said. "All day yesterday literally got us nowhere!"

"I told you last night you didn't have to come Emerald," reminded Flint.

"Yeah well, I just wanna tag along to see if this actually ends so we can all go home," Emerald bluntly admitted. As a unicorn once said, it's one thing to say you did something, but quite another to do it.

"So what kind of cake is this anyway? You didn't add anything uh … non-cakeish in it, did ya?" Emerald asked.

"Nah, it's all just pure HoofField family cookin'," Ma HoofField reassured.

"It better be," Emerald thought. Flint glanced back to Emerald, finding him a bit more serious about this than typical. But there was time to look this over later. For now, the trio managed to reach the front gates of the MaColt estate, and sure enough one of the ponies already was there and on guard. No sooner than a shake of the tail did he see the three come in.

"Who's there?!"

"It's Ma HoofField," the mare called. That immediately raised alarm.

"HOOFFIELD ALERT! Arm the cannons!" the pony shouted. Two of the McColts already got their cannons aimed directly at them! That was, until Ma Hooffield continued talking.

"With an apology cake. A gift of good will, from us to you," she said, presenting what the McColts could only describe as a slice of heaven. It just looked so delicious, so appetizing. And it was made really clear with the first pony, who was simply staring down at the cake with muzzle agape, drool dripping from his hungry mouth.

"I haven't had cake in AGES," said one of the ponies. Soon as they smelt the aroma of said baked good …

"Open the gates!"

Excellent! It didn't take much longer until the gates were wide open for Flint, Emerald, and Ma HoofField to go right on inside. Of course they needed a hand in getting the cake inside, pulling it through the gates and bringing it right to the center of the base. Ma HoofField looked pretty good about this invitation inside their compound, and Flint and Emerald were beginning to see some good will already as the McColts were already feeling chipper about seeing the cake. Emerald got his fingers crossed that this would work out, as some of the McColts were moving a bit closer to the cake, ready to take a bite.

… But then …

"FOR GLORY!"

HoofFields! INSIDE THE CAKE! Just like that, the HoofField ponies ere suddenly fighting the McColts again, using the very cake itself to rain down on all of them! The McColts could only scatter as Ma Hooffield was laughing herself silly, much to the shock of Flint and Emerald.

"YOU PUT PONIES IN THAT CAKE?!" Emerald yelled.

"YEAH! HA! … wait. You really were serious about apologizing?" Ma HoofField asked. Flint looked ready to blast her, but before either could get a word in edge wise, suddenly the fighting Hooffields were suddenly captured inside a make-shift net, courtesy of Big Daddy McColt himself.

"MCCOLTS! FORTH DEVISION FORMATION!" Big Daddy McColt shouted, much of the McColt family getting together into what looked to be a V formation.

"Wait wait, HANG ON A MINUTE!" Emerald demanded, getting in the way of the McColt army. However, in the heat of the moment, the McColts basically didn't care, and trampled him as Ma HoofField made a run for it right out the gates! Now it was Big Daddy McColt's turn to laugh.

"MCCOLT, CALL THEM BACK!" Flint yelled.

"Why?! They ambushed us in the cake!" retorted Big Daddy McColt.

"And you just captured them and everyone's running after Ma Hooffield!" snapped Emerald.

"SO WHAT?! We're not goin far, if anything those HoofFields deserve WAY worse!"

"READY! AIM! FIRE!!"

Oh no. Emerald and Flint made a mad dash out of the base, just to find the McColt family down in the valley, with the HoofField family suddenly launching all sorts of crops right at them as weaponry. The cake was no offering, it was a setup! Immediately Emerald and Flint went right in there, straight for Ma HoofField, almost getting struck by some of their produce.

"What's wrong with you?! Someone apologize already!" Flint demanded. 

"Why in Equestria would we do that?!" Ma HoofField demanded, before clocking him in the head and throwing him aside just to scream "WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"

"What're you talkin about?!" shouted Big Daddy McColt, just in time to block some incoming carrots with a shield, "You've done LOADS of wrong!"

"Not as many as YOU!" retorted Ma HoofField. Soon, the two were suddenly brought it down to hoof power, and went right at it with eachother. Flint got himself back up on his feet, finding that both families were basically trying to kill eachother: both sides swinging hooves and looking for blood to spill. This pushed one Gem over the edge.

And it wasn't Flint.

"OK, THAT'S IT!!"

And before Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt would even realize what happened, they both were knocked right off of their own hooves by what they could only describe as a green stop sign.

"Lord cheese and rice, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!" Emerald snapped, FINALLY reaching a frustrated breaking point … which felt so foreign to Flint.

"Ask THEM that!" both said, aiming an accusing hoof at one another. Emerald responded pretty quickly, the same polygon swinging down and whacking both hooves into the ground, leaving both ponies with a red swell for a hoof. And yes, it hurt a lot, and their screams caught attention from the other family members from both sides.

"Listen here, I've been running around all day with you mules, and I've had it up to HERE -" he threw his arms to the sky "- with this dumb buck blame game routine! ONE OF YOU JUST APOLOGIZE AND MAKE THIS END, I DON'T CARE WHO AT THIS POINT!"

"Apologize to a HOOFFIELD?!" Big Daddy McColt asked, "I'd rather -"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP OKAY?!" Emerald roared, getting right into both of the ponies faces, so forceful it made both of them fall onto the ground. 

"Emerald?" Flint asked.

"Don't interrupt me while I'm raging!" Emerald snapped, which was shockingly enough to make Flint quiet. This side of Emerald just wasn't something Flint EVER saw Emerald to even have, let alone use so dangerously. And to further push the point, he was suddenly standing on top of Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt, one foot on each pony.

"But they've done WAY more wrong to us! Didn't you hear what I said! We didn't do -" Ma HoofField was cut short when Emerald slammed his foot on her throat, making her choke a little bit. Flint would intervene but there was something else off a ways that kept his attention first ...

"I DON'T CARE! All I wanted to do was get this to end so I can take my friend Sessile home, relax a bit with some manga, and maybe even try those cheese triangles because they're supposed to be tasty!"

"Now hang on a minute -" Big Daddy McColt was silenced by a slap from Emerald, who was NOT having any more of it. The family members would go in if they weren't distracted with eachother ...

"But NOOOO NONONO, I had to end up dealing with you dirt-eaters, and you're only interested in killing eachother BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO STUPID AND NAIVE TO KNOW ANY BETTER! YOU JASPERS SHAPE UP OR I'LL SHATTER YOU BOTH, GOT IT?!"

"Emerald, move!" Flint shouted.

Emerald's rage, and even the fight was stopped altogether, everyone there caught off guard when an echoing, almost ghostly roar caught everything's attention. Flint rushed in and tackled all three out of the way just in time before this newcoming threat could grab any of them. Emerald, Flint, Ma HoofField, and Big Daddy McColt were in an entirely different presence, of something that was absolutely unexpected. And very dangerous.

A dragon. A Ponyville Train-sized, Emerald green, Discord-looking Chinese Dragon!

"WHAT THE HAY HAY?!" gasped Ma HoofField. The dragon was floating in the air, making fast corkscrews and spins, giving off another roar down to them before suddenly rushing down to attack! Flint had to hold all of them and jump out of the way, the dragon flying through the air like an eel swimming in the sea.

"A dragon?! Where'd that come from?!"

"Doesn't matter," said Flint, arming up his Gem weapon pistol, "Get behind - ACK!" and just before he could fire, the green Dragon clocked him, and sent him flying away into the McColt mountain. The dragon bolted like lightning right down at them again, making them all scatter just fast enough to avoid getting caught, but the sharp teeth left Ma Hooffield's tail a bit singed, and Big Daddy McColt's hat being bitten in half, the top missing.

"Arm the tomatoes! We'll paint that thing RED!" Ma Hooffield cried. So, the Hooffields armed up and started shooting, but it was barely working: every shot either missing or being reflected with a flick of the tail. The beast started to inhale, but a few rather cheery McColts started to anticipate their enemies to be burned.

"Come on, burn em HoofFields!" one shouted.

… Just for the animal to spin around and blast right at them instead! The McColts scrambled and blocked the blast, which looked more like a rainstorm of green needles than fire, but still had the same effect. Emerald meanwhile went straight towards Flint, who was just now shaking off the hit.

"What's happening?" Flint asked.

"That thing's owning the HoofFields and McColts, that's what's happening. Look!" Emerald said, pointing back to the fight. Just in time too to see this Dragon bolt in and with a swing of the body like a whip, all of the defensive shield were knocked clear over the hill, leaving the McColts without defense for, well, anything. And just to remind that it wasn't on anyone's side, it spun around and released a barrage of green needles at the HoofFields, all of the family scattering to avoid the sharp pins.

"Wait here," Flint said, rushing towards the Dragon. In a good leap, he was high in the air and starting shooting down shot after shot. The dragon did notice him clearly, but oddly didn't dodge.

It didn't have to, as every shot went right through it.

"What?" Flint only that to think as the dragon knocked him away towards the forest again. Emerald didn't want to get hit next, plus his anger towards both families left him apprehensive in wanting to help them out, but the least he could do was help Flint to his feet before he could get attacked by needles. Both HoofFields and McColts were at mercy of this animal, but the Dragon had specific targets in mind. In a quick bolt and circle, it grabbed both Big Daddy McColt and Ma HoofField right out of the crowd, and throwing both of them right at the nearest steep wall of the nearest hill. Basically, the Dragon had them both cornered.
Soon, Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt were left right in front of the green dragon, it barring its teeth and ready to have a meal of two stubborn old ponies.

"Uh, ERE, eat her! She's WAY less chewy!" Big Daddy McColt said, pushing Hooffield towards the snout of the animal.

"No way, eat him! He's small but mighty tasty!" retorted Ma HoofField, pushing Big Daddy McColt to the animal. This seemingly didn't help either of them, and the animal roared right at them both, so strongly that the very ground started to crack, a huge claw pushing both ponies into the dirt and NOT letting either of them free. 

"Oh no you don't, you're not cooking up our goal -" Emerald was ready to at least try to go in, but strangely Flint decided to hold him back. There was something familiar about this dragon, as both HoofField and McColt were shivering in horror, the dragon just ready to eat them right there.

"Alrigh, McColt, I didn't think I'd say this but … I always sorta liked ya!" admitted Ma Hooffield, thinking this was the end.

"You too, HoofField! And top that you make the best grub a pony could as fer!" said Big Daddy McColt.

"Same to you and your houses! Why'd we get into a feud in the first place?"

… And suddenly everything stopped. Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt waited for the killer bite, but nothing happened. Instead, the Dragon quietly and gently lifted its foot off of them, now humble and … satisfied? Is that the correct word? The Dragon began to fly again, this time a bit slower, and its body began to glow a very light green color, growing smaller and turning into a ball of light. …

Before disappearing in the palm of Jade's hands.

There was silence with everyone, but Jade only had one thing to say to Ma Hooffield and Big Daddy McColt as she wiped a single tear away from her eyes.

"So you won't get along unless you think I'm trying to kill you. …"

Oh boy. Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt needed a minute to take in what actually happened, and Jade didn't need to say anything else to them. But she didn't ignore Flint and Emerald nearby, as she walked over to them.

"Sorry about that, Flint. Are you okay? I didn't hurt you too much, did I?" Jade asked. Flint was more shocked that Jade would go this far, but he didn't push on that any further and simply nodded to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You've uh … been working on that, huh?"

"... So that Dragon that can clobber two families at once. Came from you?" Emerald asked, humbled. Jade simply nodded. But then Jade turned over to the HoofFields and McColts, both Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt now on their own hooves

"Little missy, what's the big idea nearly poundin us into the dirt?" Big Daddy McColt asked sternly.

"What's the idea? … McColt, HoofField, you two had been fighting for so long it seems, none of you remember what it was even about," Jade said. Ma Hooffield started talking.

"Well, course we do, because -"

"AND what it's doing to everything else," Jade cut in.

"Pardon?"

"Turn around and look around you. Tell me; is this really what you wanted?" Jade questioned. Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt didn't get it, but when they turned and got a good look at everything around them, they began to see more of the picture. The dried up, horrible-looking valley that split between both families hardly much life in it at all.

"Uh … no," said McColt, actually taken aback.

"I may not know personally what your fight was even about to begin with. But if you keep fighting, then … then this is all you'll have left."

"But with how much they've done?" said HoofField.

"You mean how much you've done?" corrected McColt. But before another fight could start, Emerald got another polygon and got it in between the two again.

"Don't start fighting all over again," said Flint, "What're you two planning to even get from all this?"

"To win! To prove our families the best," said both the HoofField and McColt.

"But then what? When either of you win, what next?" Jade then asked worriedly. Now, Ma Hooffield and Big Daddy McColt had been pretty good with answering the questions tossed at them so far, but this one left them a bit blank. what were the plans after the fight was won?

"You can't be serious," said Emerald.

"Eh … w-well uh … I'll figure out when I get there!"

"But you won't ever get there, don't you see?" explained Jade, "Not like this. … When your fight loses the reason it's even fought, then it's time to stop," and as if the world was proving the poetic point, a gust of wind brought up some dust from the valley floor, some which went right by McColt and HoofField. Now that they finally thought about it … what really was the point of all this fighting? Big Daddy McColt and Ma HoofField turned to one another, and eventually the silence was broken.

"Oh … oh shoot. … Ma HoofField. We promise we won't fight you no more," Big Daddy McColt finally admitted finally. Ma HoofField sighed.

"Yeah, us too. Only we promise not to fight you. Doesn't matter who's right, cuz we're both wrong."

"That's somethin we both can agree on."

And after a spit on their own hooves, both Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt shook hooves. Both families didn't need to be explained this time to what the results were here, and Flint, Emerald, and Jade all were glad to finally see some progress.

"Well done to both of you," Jade said.

"Aw, thanks. ... Though I would just like to point out that I was the, uh, first to admit I was wrong," said Ma HoofField.

"That may be, but I promised not to fight first. That counts for more!" Big Daddy McColt stated.

"Oh, yeah?!"

*AHEM* One clearing of the throat from Flint reminded the two ponies what they're supposed to be doing now. 

"Oh alrigh," sighed Ma HoofField, "We know what you're tryin to say. Truce?"

"Truce."


~~~~~~


So from there, things ended up getting busy. But instead of both the McColt and HoofField families fighting and getting at eachother's throats work began to start in rebuilding the world around them. With combined efforts from both the Hooffield farming and construction work from the McColts making it all better worth it. Just yesterday there was nothing but crushed produce and sadness spread around the valley, and now as Flint, Jade, Emerald and Sessile looked onward, they were seeing two families making far better progress with their combine efforts.

"Alright. Looks like we're good here, so let's start heading back home," Flint confirmed.

"Got it chief K, Sessile, up we go," Emerald said, levitating her best he could as they started to go off on their way. It was still a heavy task, but he got his legs back thanks to the break.

"It's good seeing them working together now," said Jade, "... I just wish I didn't have to scare them to do it …"

"Hey don't sweat it, no one got killed so you're just fine. And truth be told: awesome dragon. Like, super awesome, RD would love it. See if you can make a race outta it when we get back," Emerald stated, matter-of-factly as well. Hard to deny the awesome display that was Jade's "dragon". Jade became flustered.

"Uh … maybe let's not," Jade suggested. Sessile just stayed quiet for the ride back, not wanting to be a burden to any of them despite being a witness to the event herself (hard to ignore a giant green dragon flying around the sky).

"Well anyway, Emerald, I did want to ask you something about that."

"What's up, Flint?"

"... You "Jaspers" shape up?" Flint questioned. Emerald stopped briefly when this was brought up.

"Huh?"

"While you were "raging" as you call it, you called Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt Jaspers," Flint said.

"Did I say that?" Emerald asked, thinking on what he actually said. Take it from anyone, sometimes they can get so wound up they forget what they're jabbering about in heat of the moment.

"You … kinda shouted it across the valley," Sessile said. Emerald took a breath, before picking Sessile back up.

"I just lost my head, k? I've been strung up all day, going back and forth with HoofField and McColt, and seeing them just jump at eachother," Emerald admitted, "Even a cool hunk like me can have a temper."

"... While I do draw the line at "cool hunk"," said Flint, "It sounds like there's more to it. Unless you and Jasper had a tough time when she tasked you to your mission."

Emerald stopped.

"OK, you want the summed up version, or the very long flashback version?"

"Summed up's fine," Flint replied. Emerald didn't want to go into too much detail anyway, so that benefited them all as they continued, Emerald explaining.

"Ok, it's like this. Emeralds are naturally made as spaceship pilots or captains, as you know. And during the Gem War, I was down on the planet with a fleet for some "tussling" if you get my drift."

"So you were working on Homeworld's side during the war. … I find that ironic, given how we found you," Flint noted. Emerald knew what he meant, but nothing's ever developed in a day.

"You were a Captain, Emerald?" Sessile asked, caught off guard.

"Yeah, surprised you eh? Anywho, I was down on Earth, and I got stuck commanding the two most stubborn, trigger-happy, cloddish Jaspers that fought over EVERYTHING. Where to find the enemy, which Diamond's better, which foot enhancers looked better for stars sake. I mean really, WHO DOES THAT?"

"Let me guess: Ma HoofField and Big Daddy McColt acted just like those Jaspers," concluded Flint.

"That sums it up, yep. You have NO IDEA how hard it is to keep control of two trigger-happy Jaspers when you're smaller than most Emerald cuts, so your boy needed to give some extra "OOMPH" in his job, ya know?"

"Uh. Sort of, but I see you're point. …"

"Too much for ya there, detective?"

"No, no. It's just kinda out of nowhere really. Someone so deep into Earth like you, fighting on the opposite end of the Gem War that wanted Earth dead," Flint pointed out. Emerald didn't comment on it any further.
Or rather, he didn't have time to. As the four continued going off along, they then began to notice something open up not too far away - the distinctive sign of a Portal Key once again. Flint, Jade, and Emerald were well used to seeing it, but Sessile yelped on seeing it, worried sick for whatever might be coming in from this sudden surprise of a portal.

"No, no, it's okay Sessile," Emerald promised.

"But what's -" and then the figure came through. Not a Gem this time, but actually Fluttershy coming through, looking like she had something important to say.

"Fluttershy?" Jade asked.

"There you are. I don't want to interrupt, but everyone's been looking for -" Fluttershy stopped when she noticed Sessile still trying to hide her face from the pony.

"Eh … yeah, Fluttershy, Sessile. Sessile, Fluttershy. She's a friend, promise," Emerald introduced.

"So you were saying?" Flint asked.

"We got through to Steven again, and … oh, you won't believe it," Fluttershy replied.
> A Lion Amongst Sheep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

We got through to Steven again.

That sentence was all that really needed to be said to get everyone over together, in this case meeting at the barnhouse, to catch up on the otherside of the party. Their brief conversation almost a week ago was fine and all, but this one seemed to be a bit more important off of what they've been instructed by Steven Universe himself. At the barn, the first ones to await their return was Jasper, Fulgurite, and Star Quartz: the former getting the message first, the middle because of her fast speed in general, and the latter … well, she was already there to begin with so that was three stones down in lineup. The projection screen only showed Steven and Connie for the time being, but they had a idea that the others weren't too far away.

"So you went to this "Orthix" planet, and decided to just come home?" Jasper asked again.

"Yeah, but it's all cool now. We got the ship fixed and everyone's feeling a lot better now," Connie replied. "You ever heard of Orthix before?"

"Nah, not me," Jasper said, "But I'm not a space explorer like other Gems, so that's not saying much. Glad to see you're all in one piece."

"You too, Jay. … You are all together, right?" Steven asked.

"Oh yeah, we're fine over here. The others should be here any second now," Fulgurite promised. "Riiiight … about. … Now."

And then came the portal keys opening up numerous portals about the place. At least four other portals opened up with different groups coming back in, some having more ponies others having more Gems. It hardly took more than two minutes for the Harmony Gems to all be present and accounted for.

"HEY, Steven!" gasped Pinkie when coming in.

"Good to hear from you sugarcube. Been doin good?" added Applejack.

"Hey guys! Happy to report we're doing good here, mission control," Steven said jokingly, even throwing in a salute alongside Connie.

"Glad to hear it, kiddo. K, so what's the big news?" Fulgurite asked.

"Not yet, we're not all here," Rarity said, "We still have Fluttershy, Flint, Jade, and Emerald to come around."

"Not anymore."

What timing to say that, and soon one more Portal door opened up good and wide, showing the very Gems and pony in question coming through. Flint and Jade went through alright, but Emerald kinda found himself a little bit stuck with … well, something. He tried pulling it through, but wasn't doing so good.

"Eh, Emerald?" Amethyst asked.

"Hang on a minute folks, I'll *grunt* get there *grunt* eventually!" Emerald said, trying in his power to pull the object through. The portal, possibly thanks to the magic that made it, started to readjust itself and widened just enough for the object to fit. With the strength used though, it did kinda "pop" out, launching Emerald and his friend right into the barn with a good tumble. Fluttershy came out of the portal herself, though didn't end up as tumbled. The others were quick to check on him.

"Emerald?" asked Fluttershy.

"Holy smokes," said Amethyst and Ruby.

Not the best way to introduce Sessile to the barn, but nothing can ever really be perfect. Emerald was stuck under her (again) and he just managed to push her back upright. And THEN did he see the look from the others by the barn.

"I brought Sessile back with me. Hope it's cool," Emerald simply said with a "presenting" grin. Sessile felt a fluster coming on seeing the surprise from everyone else, covering her face as if trying to hide herself, but it hardly was working. It really was all she could do to keep herself from being noticed.

"What's going on?" Steven asked.

"Looks like Emerald brought back a guest," replied Jasper. Sessile didn't want to be pushed any further, but Emerald was insistant.

"Come on, Sessile, say hello to everyone."

"Nonononono, j-just leave me in here, I'll meet everyone later," Sessile insisted, "I'm just a waste of time anyway, p-pretend I'm not even here - EEP!"

"You're talking too much. Now, out you go," Emerald said. But before he could bring Sessile outside, Flint kinda helped her out and pulled Emerald outside, making him drop Sessile back on the ground upright.

"Hey!"

"Emerald, leave her be. We'll talk with her later, but for now let's see what Steven has to say," Flint insisted, closing the barn door and giving Sessile some time to adjust to the barn.

"Now Steven, we're all here. What's the status on your end?" Flint then asked. Steven was hoping someone would ask, and with him and Connie nodding, Steven started speaking.

"Alright, we've all talked it over and we got a brilliant idea. But before I tell you, we have someone who wants to say something."

"Wait, so do you have something for us, or does someone else have something for us?" asked Pinkie.

"We both do. But first, promise me you all won't be too judgey," Steven said, hopefully. Many of them promised though Connie did see Flint would rather see this person first.

"We're all ears, kiddo," Fulgurite said. Just what Steven wanted to hear. But then he went over to the communicator on his end, picked it up, and then moved the screen. Soon, the screen showed some of the others nearby: Sapphire, Bismuth, Blue Diamond, Pink Diamond,  and Yellow Diamond, and ...well, someone that made all of them a bit worried at first.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to re-meet the friendly and compassionate White Diamond!" Steven declared.

"H-Hello," White said. Her tone of voice now brought some more confusion, especially since it sounded more insecure if anything.

"Friendly and compassionate?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah! Steven got through to her - for real. She's with us now," said Connie in full support. This was some REALLY good news to the others, some already in cheering, but that was until -

"YAY! WHITE'S ON OUR SIDE!" Pinkie beamed, as Fulgurite and Rainbow high-fived. White was still feeling a little bit uncomfortable, that pink blush returning to her face once again.

"Not so fast!" Flint shouted, quieting the cheering before turning to them again. "... Steven, Connie? There's a modification to the projector screen by the front of the communicator. Click it for me right now before you say anything else."

"Um. Ok?" Steven said, not sure what he was talking about. The projection screen namely only showed one color, but after clicking the communicator, it then showed the full color on their side. Yes, they were all as colorful as ever.

"Hmm … none of you look mind-controlled."

"Dude, seriously?" Amethyst groaned.

"She tried killing Earth AND us twice, of course I'm gonna be suspicious!"

"Flint, we're serious. She's working so hard, I saw her the whole time," Steven insisted.

"He's right," agreed Blue Diamond. "White has put more effort into this than many of her work before. She's doing wonderful."

"Yeah, and for what advantage on her part before she tries cutting you down again?" Flint questioned. Clearly this was gonna be harder than anticipated, at least with one of them. But White took a breath.

"... Look. I know it's uh … soon. For you to believe me over anything. After everything I did to you. No, I don't expect you to trust me so quickly. But we've been … talking. And … and … and you're about to hear two words from the cruelest … distant … most heartless Gem ever known. ……. I'm. Sorry. … For being a clod. ..."

I'm sorry. Two words that none of them for a long time EVER thought White Diamond would ever say to any of them, even if from a projection screen, and actually mean it. White Diamond was still blushing, ever fiddling with her fingers as she was saying this - all things that the former White Diamond would seem so foreign to. And what did they say? …

"White Diamond, you've tried to kill all of us twice now, destroy this planet however you could, force-fuse Blue and Yellow -"

And all of a sudden, Flint was cut off when they began to hear laughing. Not laughing in insult, but more in good vibes, and this time coming from Jasper first! Even the most hardcore of fighters had some bit of humor in them apparently. Course she wasn't alone as plenty of others joined in. White didn't get it.

"Guys!" snapped Flint, but they didn't stop laughing.

"W-what's so funny?" White asked.

"Sorry, but this is just some whiplash," said Jasper through some chuckling, "First you try to kill us, and suddenly you're acting like a wuss."

"A-A wuss?!" gasped White.

"Yeah, no way you're lying to us with like that. If I do say so myself, you do make a better ruler when you're actually true to your feelings," added in Rarity. White was very confused, unprepared for this quick forgiveness from them, and looked to the others for some explanation. All Blue Diamond gave her was a warm smile, something that said they weren't mocking her. White scrambled to get closer to the screen, down on her hands and knees so she was on more level with it.

"B-But wait. You're not upset with me? After I was so cruel to you?" White Diamond asked.

"To be honest with you, we're a bit used to it by now," admitted Ruby, "You just have a more creative way of doing it, that's all."

"Sure, and besides," added Rainbow Dash, "it's been what? Over a year since you actually did anything? It's kinda old news nowadays."

While this was what Sapphire was expecting them to say, looking to White Diamond with an equal reassurance, Flint simply stepped away briefly and out of their view, left to his own thoughts about this sudden shift of events. Maybe THEY were quick to trust Steven on this, but Flint was still on the edge of things.

"That's wonderful you're willing to accept her. It'll make things better during our celebration," said Blue Diamond.

"Celebration?" asked Ruby.

"Steven, it's your idea. You can tell them."

"Happily. Turning on excite mode," said Steven. He cleared his throat, looking pretty formal at first, but this was just to set up his "excitement mode", the stars in his eyes.

"We're gonna throw a huge ball on Homeworld, and you're all invited! Era 3 starts NOW!" Steven announced. There were some gasped, but Pinkie Pie was the biggest gasp of all. A party for Era 3 to begin was JUST the thing to get this new generation up and running, now that White's willing to help them out here.

"A huge ball? You mean you're all juggling?" Star Quartz asked, not getting it.

"No, no. Well, ok, me and Pink, but what I mean is that we're gonna be having a party! A huge Homeworld party, and we're gonna invite everyone!"

"A party for Homeworld? ERA! 3! HOMEWORLD?!" Pinkie gasped, getting very excited. HOW LONG has it been since she threw a proper party since the Everstorm passed through? Last week at most? WAY TOO LONG!

"That's right," said Pink Diamond, "Everyone's gonna be there, and bringing back PD over here AND White Diamond's gonna make this ball start Era 3 off with a bang!"

"A Homeworld ball. Dang, we haven't had one of those things for thousands of years. Unless that victory ceremony for the Osicone counts for one," said Jasper.

"Well we haven't had White Diamond AND Pink Diamond for thousands of years," said Blue Diamond, "If there's ever a true time to bring a celebration for all of Homeworld, now's the best time for it."

Well that was all convincing they needed.

"That case, it's about time we deserve a good celebration, what do you say? Who's ready for our PARTY?" Fulgurite asked.

"I'm down for some funky fun!" said Amethyst.

"Sounds like a blast!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Well, we can use a celebration," said Jade. And overtime, everyone around agreed to the plan of going to this celebration. … Well, everyone except for Flint of course, who acted as if this was just some nonsense.

"So sugarcube, when are y'all gonna pick us up?"

"Oh, we're not."

"Huh? But we don't have a Warp Pad to get to Homeworld, remember? Or is one of your other fleets gonna come in while you set up?" reminded Diopside.

"Nope. Surprise number two: activate!" Steven said, and suddenly he was given something by Pink Diamond. The object itself looked, to sum it up, like a flute of sorts.

"A … whistle?"

"You all outside the barn, right? Just watch to the hillside," Connie instructed, as Steven cleared his throat. A odd request, but they did as instructed, though it turned out it didn't matter entirely if they did or not. Steven took a deep breath and blew hard into the whistle as hard as he could. The whistle made a bit of a high pitch in sound, one that sounded a bit long any other whistle: fluent and pretty. But as he was doing that, they then saw a strange sign of a Warp Pad going off in the distance, the notable column going up into the sky. Now they did have a Warp Pad closer to the barn house, sure, but this wasn't in the same direction, and placed much further away …

"Wait a minute. NO WAY, you did not -" Rainbow Dash had to check for herself. In a quick bolt, she and Fulgurite bolted like lightning right off out of sight. It took them seconds to get there at such a speed, and seconds later to bolt back just to say -

"THE WARP PAD'S BACK!"

"What? But how - when'd you come by and do that?!" Rarity asked.

"Oh, just now: we teleported the teleporter!" Steven announced, giving a wink and thumbs up.

"Teleported the teleporter. You can do that?" wondered Fulgurite.

"Sweet, we're connected again! Kinda! We still need one in Equestria, but YAY for convenience!" said Pinkie. Flint felt himself cringe slightly on this news, though everyone was a bit distracted to really notice much of anything. 

"Well you've all been informed and invited," Yellow Diamond said, "We're hoping you'll all be present during the celebration."

"Oh we will! It ain't no party without Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie beamed.

"A party for ALL OF HOMEWORLD. Have we ever had a celebration that big before?" Rarity wondered.

"I don't know, but NO WAY am I missing this. Oh, we gotta get the goods," said Amethyst. Now THAT was something Pinkie could agree on.

"If we're gonna be throwing the big party for Homeworld, then we're gonna need the ultimate Pinkie Pie package. Get your dancing shoes, this is gonna be a party to remember!" Pinkie Pie concluded, serious about this party. This was a party to outshine any other, and if that was the case Pinkie Pie's gotta bring her A game, and her top notch performance.

And then Flint spoke up again.

"Aren't you all jumping the gun a little bit? We still have a few problems: Twilight doesn't know about this, and neither do Steven and Connie's parents. And what about the Off-Colors?" Flint pointed out.

"That's hardly a problem: Fulgurite you can tell the parents, Applejack you tell Twilight, and I'll find the Off-Colors," said Ruby. Well that was solved quickly, and as Fulgurite bolted away, Applejack used her portal key to get to Canterlot, and Ruby ran off to find where they went with some help from Rainbow Dash. Flint was simply left groaning on that answer.

"Ok … but what about you guys? Steven, we're not going there and waiting a month for you all to show up. You have any remote idea how much longer you're all going to be?" Flint then asked, trying to keep his composure. Before any could answer, they then heard the doors open up, this time showing not only the rest of the gang, but the other Pearls as well.

"My Diamonds," said Yellow Pearl formally, "We've arrived at our destination, whenever you're ready."

"Thank you, Pearl," said Yellow Diamond. Flint felt like slamming his head.

"Well in that case, we'll be seeing you all shortly. Be ready to get your party on, Ste-man," Emerald said.

And so the communicator was cut short on that note, and the others then brought their attention towards Flint ... who was actually pushing his forehead into the wall. Everyone knew the drill already with this guy.

"Come on Flint, this is the biggest celebration in centuries! You HAVE to go, it's a MUST for your life goals!" Pinkie beamed, getting right in his face about it (literally).

"I can't hide a thing from you anymore can I?" Flint sighed, before pulling the mare off of him, and dropping her, "First of all, my life goals don't include the celebration. Secondly there's too much to do here: I'm studying Corruption right now, figuring out this Grogar situation top of that, not to mention there will be no one else here to actually watch over anything. Hard enough since much of our group's been off into space anyway."

"That, and you hate White Diamond," Jasper added in.

"And I hate White Diamond," Flint said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Boy nothing was gonna get passed em anymore.

"Flint, dude, didn't you see her just then?" Amethyst asked, "She looks like Fluttershy would. … Eh, no offense."

"No, I'm with you," agreed Fluttershy. Fluttershy wasn't gonna deny her shyness, and White did come pretty darn close if anything. But as they probably expected, Flint wasn't really convinced much at all.

"Flint," said Jade, "You could at least go and see for yourself. … Give her a chance."

"Cut it out, guys it's fine. You just go on ahead, I got things to do," and then he felt someone tug on his arm. He would expect Jade, or maybe Pinkie or something but instead it was Star Quartz.

"Star can you let go of me? I'm busy."

"Are you?" Star asked. Flint was getting frustrated.

"Alright then, what do you think is the reason why I want to stay?" Flint asked. He just had to ask, as Star Quartz worked what she had observed him do over the last week.

"... You don't think anything can work without you being there? You're always scared when something's not in your watch, like Steven being in space without you with him to track things. … But won't it be just as scary with you here and us on Homeworld? You won't do anything for us from here."

… You know, sometimes the scariest things are the ones that come right out of nowhere. Flint yanked his arm out and found his back on the barn wall, in a cold sweat as Star looked to him with an "innocently confused" look.

"... For stars sake - FINE I'll go," Flint finally concluded.

"THAT'S the reason?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"That explains a lot," Amethyst commented.


~~~~~~


"Ah. … Home sweet Home," sighed Blue.

Their arrival back on Homeworld grounds was what one could say a more relaxing part of it all. With how much action Steven and company have had off in space, it really was about time they were given a moment of clarity inside the main palace walls.

"Hello throne! Did you miss me?" said Pink Diamond, playfully jumping right onto it. A nice gesture to her throne, and there still was a bit of excitement from the others.

"Era 3, Steven you're already changing the world," said Pearl.

"You mean we're changing the world," corrected Steven, "I'm not going to take all the credit here."

"Well, Steven. It is you who uh … brought me around, as you kept putting it," said White Diamond, "That should count for something."
Steven didn't want to brag about it, rubbing the back of his head with a smile on his face. Always a modest fello Steven, and they all knew it as Bismuth fluffed his hair. Still, even if he did bring White around, the once tyrannical queen of Gemkind still felt uneasy about things.

"It's nice you're doing this for me, but … I don't know, should I be here?"

"Well sure. A part of this is because you came back," said Lapis as she flew by White Diamond's head.

"But you don't understand. This is a planet that I once tried to destroy! I mean, who knows what'll happen when they all see me now? … And how do I stop this pink color on my face? I-I can't let them see me like this," White pointed out, feeling that same pink blush come up again as she tried to "rub it away".

"Ok, White, think of it this way," said Bismuth, "we're practically as big of enemies as you can get with our track record with you, and if we're ready to forgive ya, what does that say about everyone else?"

"Thanks Bismuth," said Connie with a warm smile. White Diamond took a breath, adopting a particular breathing method from a particular Alicorn as she brought her hand to her chest, and brought it out with her exhale.

"Yeah. Yeah you're probably right. … This party, uh, did we decide when it'll be? I don't think we talked about that," White pointed out.

"What do you mean? We're getting it started today, and go for a few days afterwards," Lapis replied.

"A few days? A royal ball doesn't last for more than one night, why would you want to extend it for days on end?" added Yellow Diamond.

"Because this is the biggest thing to happen on Homeworld since, well, forever," replied Steven, "White Diamond's back, Pink Diamond's back and, if you really think about, we have a brand new diamond. FIVE Diamonds! How could we not push the envelope to celebrate?"

"Hmm. … Yes. It's brilliant," said Yellow. Pink may not be a diamond by cut, but an honorary Diamond was a diamond all the same.

"Think of it like a festival," explained Connie, "Festivals usually last at least three to five days. Though, I don't think I can really party for that long."

"That's fine, Connie, no one said you have to stay for the entire time," said Pearl. But this still had some concerns for the Diamonds.

"We might've had a royal ball before, but I don't think we've ever had a festival before," said Blue, though she was more curious than worried. Homeworld's first festival was surely something for the records. Pink Diamond though was the most excited for this.

"Don't worry about a thing: I've seen festivals happen all the time back in Equestria. I got some pretty good know-how here, and we're about to get the best party pony we know on the payroll! Trust me, you're in some good hands and hooves for THIS party."

"Pay? Roll?" White whispered to Yellow.

"Just roll with it White," Yellow replied, still confused about the word, but it wasn't important now. And they better start rolling with the punches now, because shortly after they decided this, the main doors to the palace began to open up on their own, revealing a familiar looking light coming from it.

"Something tells me you may want to take a couple steps back," suggested Peridot.

"Here she comes," said Sapphire. And before anyone could ask what -

"PARTY BOMB INCOMING!"

Bomb?! Blue and White Diamond were out of the clearing, but Yellow Diamond found that something big was coming their way, big enough that when Yellow Diamond caught it in her arms, it knocked her down onto her rear. Such a surprise, but who'd expect anything different from the Pink mare proudly sitting on top of the thing? Course the "bomb" didn't look anything like such at all, but more like some junk pile. And Pinkie wasn't alone.

"WOO! Now THAT'S how you make an entrance!" Fulgurite beamed.

"I thought I told you not to do that," Flint said.

"Guys!" gasped Steven.

It was a bit of a mixed bag on how they came in, some of their friends coming in with a blast on the "party bomb" while the rest were a bit more casual in coming in. Regardless of the case, they were all there either way and were on their way to meet up with the otherside of their party. The first to do so: Ruby reuniting with Sapphire.

"Hey Sapphire," said Ruby, "So, how'd you like the entrance?"

"It sure was a surprise. Pinkie Pie always was good at surprises, I love it," said Sapphire with a giggle. Ruby smirked.

"Was it Pinkie who thought of using the portal to bring it here?" Ruby asked smugly. Sapphire suddenly figured out the true culprit for the entrance.

"Oh you," Sapphire already got to kissing Ruby, the two giddy as ever as the others were checking in with the rest.

"Hey there, gang," said Amethyst, starting off with a friendly noogie to her favorite half Human, "Great to see the heroes back, changing the world and stuff."

"Great to be back," said Steven, laughing as he returned the gesture.

"Hey, hey, noogies are my thing!" Amethyst laughed. It was nice for them all to meet up, but there still was some confusion over their "party bomb". Star Quartz then noticed Peridot off a ways, going over to her.

"Hello mom. Did everything go okay?"

"Hah! Nothing we can't handle," Peridot said with pride, "We've went to Heiligdom, Farid, and even Orthix, and none of them could hold us down. By the way, are the others with you?"

"They said they didn't want to be apart of this scare tactic," replied Star. Peridot could already guess who might that be from.

Exchanges like this were passed around a bit, many of them glad to see eachother, but Flint personally was the most distant out of them all. Especially with White diamond standing only a good twenty feet away (which for a diamond wasn't that much).

"Uh … hey Chief," said White Diamond reluctantly.

"... Hey chief," replied Flint, also reluctantly but for different reasons. White was feeling a bit uneasy, yet that was as far as Flint was willing to consort with White Diamond, and apparently it would be the same for White here too.

"Well it looks like everyone made it," said Blue Diamond.

"Well, more or less," said Applejack, "We wouldn't miss it for anything."

"Good. Now listen: this is the biggest event in all of Homeworld. If you're planning on making this a celebration, then everything must be perfect. … With your own special flare of course."

"Sweet! Because we didn't pile up the confetti for the confetti cannons for nothing here!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Dibs on being the confetti cannon," Amethyst added.

"We know you're excited, but there's still at least some limitations that need to be acquired. We're not breaking laws just for this event to happen," stated Yellow Diamond said, though this response wasn't taken too roughly.

"Don't worry about a thing, no one's getting beat up over this, and everyone's gonna be happy," reassured Steven.

"That isn't what I meant. Steven, you sure you all can manage this "party" on your own?"

All of a sudden, the pink mare was off the ground, bolting directly up Yellow Diamond's body until she was right in her face.

"Are you doubting our competence, my friend? I'll have you know we have a specific set of skills. Skills that guarantee that the grandest of grand-o of parties can and will occur on this very planet, in this very city! Do I NEED to remind of the epicness that was Ruby and Sapphire's wedding?!"

"I think she gets the point, Pinkie," Lapis said, helping the pink mare off of her and bringing her down to the ground. "But really, we'll keep to what regulations there is and still have a great time."

"Excellent. While we get reacquainted, our Pearls can help you get started if you'd like," Blue Diamond suggested.

"That'd be great, thanks!" said Connie. Soon, Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl were up in attendance. However, while they were present and accounted for, there still was a Pearl missing from the lineup.

"Didn't we have a third Pearl with us?" asked Peridot.

"She'll be around," Steven promised, though he didn't go over much more details on that.

"Pearl," instructed Yellow Diamond, "Help them get reacquainted with our Homeworld rules and regulations so this event doesn't end up violating much of them."

"As you wish, my diamond," Yellow Pearl replied.

"Thank you Yellow! thank you Blue. Come on party pearls!" Steven beamed. While this was good and all, Yellow Diamond had one more thing to go over with them, a finger signaling one of them (Fluttershy in this case) come closer to her.

"If you know what's good for you, try not to have my Pearl any … fashion control," Yellow Diamond whispered.

"Huh? But why?" Fluttershy asked. But then …

"Let's get preparations started! Get ready for impact!"

"Impact - wait, no NO PINKIE HOLD IT!" Ruby's words were left unanswered.

*BOOOM*

Let's just say the party bomb was more than just a namesake. Pinkie Pie bucked the party bomb, just for the seemingly non-sensical mess of items to start ticking and blowing up! Hardly much time to actually react to any of it, except to block the blast. Ok, that alone had to violate something.

"Mare, what in the stars was that - … for? …"

Yellow Diamond would've just punish them right then and there if she didn't see what the end result even was first. Soon as the smoke cleared, the entire room around them was already decorated! The pillars pining the sides of the room were lined with colorful streamers in a spiral fashion. The floor was aligned with a fine red carpet, diamond insignias lining the rims, from the thrones to the main entrance doorway. Speaking of doorframe, silk curtains lined the frames to give a special formal feel. A few tables were also suddenly there, all rounded and lining along the floors in organized fashion like the tables in Canterlot. The biggest addition to the room was the chandelier ow hanging gracefully above the room: a giant spread of shining glass opened in such a way that resembled a large flower. And in the center of this flower were a number of different diamonds, each one colored in a different way depending on their placement. As this was a festival of course, some of Pinkie's party plans were also added in: some balloons tied to the columns, some party hats, and a few sets of party cannons on standby just in case things get boring.

"Aha! And that is a great presentation of Pinkie Pie's puzzling yet peachy party bombs! Fancy prancy edition," said Pinkie Pie.

"...…. I'm not gonna ask," concluded Yellow.

"Good, because I'd have a really hard time explaining," Pearl replied.


~~~~~~


So after the Diamonds had left, the others were left to the ballroom festivities. Since decoration was all handled, as unorthodox of a way that even was, next came the events to come up for the next couple of days. There's only much you can do when given this much time, but there's also so much you can do it's hard to pick out what to do when. The group was casually around the place, some sitting at the tables while others just stood nearby. As with any of these events, a good list was being made and carried out, plenty of ideas being put in.

"And the third day we can work in some fireworks for everyone to enjoy!" Steven said, "Nothing says a celebration like fireworks.

"OOO, how about a few contests? I got an hankering for a good ol' spaceship derby," suggested Emerald.

"OH YEAH," agreed Rainbow Dash, "Racing with you guys is fun and all, but I always wanted to test my speed against a spaceship." and she flew in circles as emphasis about it.

"We better find an open area for that one," advised Diopside, "I don't think flying into buildings is the best idea ever."

"And take away the fun?" said daredevil Fulgurite. Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl had been hearing these suggestions get tossed back and forth, but only now did they actually speak up.

"Races are allowed on Homeworld, but NOT within city limits," advised Yellow Pearl. "And these "fireworks" you're talking about are unprecedented, and therefore out of the question."

"Oh. Well ok, no fireworks. Uh, do lasers sound ok then?" Fulgurite suggested.

"GOOD STARS NO! you want to evaporate everything in Homeworld?!"

"I meant show lasers, completely harmless," corrected Fulgurite, but it barely worked.

"ANY lasers are forbidden to be used," Yellow Pearl made clear. Well that was already a few things restricted already. "However, you did suggest "show presentations". Those are alright to do, so long as it is controlled."

"Yes," said Lapis. Some dancing would be great to do during the event, plus dancing in a royal ball wasn't unheard of at all. In fact, it was encouraged.

"What do you mean controlled? you can't hold dancing back," said Steven.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Yellow Pearl said. She then got onto her tip toes, and began to … dance? … Well, that word might not be exactly correct, as all she did was stand at attention and turn this way and that. Think of it like a wind up box with a ballerina. It didn't take long until they got their opinions.

"BOO! Come on, when you dance, you gotta GET IN IT!" Amethyst said, getting up and immediately presenting her own kind of dancing, hers a lot more vibrant and "freestyle": some twerks, slide steps, ending with a spin and a pose. Nothing too crazy but still the point was made.

"Now cut that out! this is still a royal celebration, everything must be perfect, so please restrain yourself."

"Really? This is starting to sound dry."

"Liquids are forbidden in the ballroom."

"Maybe the art gallery's still alright to do," Rarity said, "A quiet time, and a friendly contest showing off artistry and creativity."
Yellow Pearl had to think on this one, though some of them were really hoping this wouldn't be excluded from the festival. Blue Pearl was silently praying to the stars it would stay, a hand behind her back with crossed fingers but keeping quiet overall.

"Hmm … I don't see why anyone would be too interested. But I don't see what rules that would be against so … keep it from being too … too … what's the word? explicit?"

"Lewd," said Amethyst.

"Oh, of course," said Rarity. Blue Pearl gave a breath of relief.

"But Karaoke's still good right?" Connie asked, "There's a lot of songs we can sing, and anyone can give it a try if they wanted to."

"I think the Earth term is "I draw the line" at that. Singing is fine, but the Sessile is in charge of all music provided during royal ball event. There's no need for anyone else to sing," Yellow Pearl explained. Suddenly some of them started to feel a little bit shook up, reminded of the particular Sessile stuck at the barn still.

"The … Sessile?"

"Correct: the Sessile is perched up above the ballroom attached to one of the pillars, as you can plainly see on your third column to the right."

"See what?" Applejack asked. Confused, Yellow Pearl turned to look … just to find nothing there. not even the flattened part of the pedestal for the Sessile to rest on was present, just the stony attachment.

"... Uh …"

"Uh, maybe they're uh … mending it?" Emerald shrugged, praying that it would be true. …

"Well perhaps, it has been a while for a maintenance check up."

Lucky break.

"So what is "precedented" and therefore "in the question" then?" Star Quartz then asked. A good question since many of the things that make up a party didn't seem to really fit into the statement all too much.

"Finally someone asks," Yellow Pearl commented. NOW to lay down how this worked, starting with Steven.

"Steven, as there're two Pink Diamonds currently, you are to sit with Pink Diamond on her elevated throne whilst the members of your court indicate to you that they're present," Yellow Pearl explained, gesturing to the throne off nearby.

"I have a court?"

"Well of course you do! You are a Diamond yourself, and by technicality you already had your court right there," Yellow Pearl explained, gesturing to the Harmony Gems behind him. Steven wouldn't exactly call them apart of his court, but Homeworld rules did kinda dictate such things.

"Well, okay give me a second," Steven said. He didn't even try jumping high this time, experience before leaving him just stuck floating if he didn't watch it, so this time Lapis simply lifted him up to the throne as Yellow Pearl followed, actually standing on the very ends of her feet might it be added.

"From here," Yellow Pearl continued, "You can accept and reject your court members at your leisure. My Diamond will do the same, as with Blue Diamond, Pink Diamond, and if we are so lucky, we'll all get the ultimate judgement from White Diamond … At least it would've been good before our incidents with her."

"So … what happens to those that're rejected?"

"Well that's simple: they're not allowed to join the event," Yellow Pearl replied. Seemed pretty simple, but Steven himself had to draw the line at that as he got himself down.

"Now wait, I don't want this festival to separate everyone," Steven said, "Why should anyone be rejected from having any fun?"

"Steven, a royal ball is a time to present the Diamonds' best selves, which includes those following under their step! WHY wouldn't you deny at least one member in your court?"

"Because this isn't just any Royal Ball, it's a festival," retorted Steven, "We're allowed to have some different stuff applied if we want to, and Blue Diamond said we can add our own flare! As long as no one gets hurt or upsets anybody, then I promise these events will be just fine."

"... Can we at the very least apply this to the first day?" Yellow Pearl asked meekly, "just to start it off?"

"Hmm … well I guess there's no harm in that. Ok, for introduction we can have it like any other Royal Ball," Steven decided, adding that under the "first day" part of the list. Well at least this festival was gonna have some bit of formality, Yellow Pearl feeling pretty good about it …

"And we can get to know eachother better on the dancefloor."

And just like that it was trouble all over again.

"Stop! Your court will do the dancing for you, all you have to do is sit there and observe."

"Are all Royal Balls this strict?" Pinkie Pie questioned, "How can you boogie down if you're not even allowed to boogie?!"

"There isn't a reason for a diamond to … uh. "boogie down"," Yellow Pearl stated. Steven began to suddenly feel a bit less enthused by the royal ball idea.

"So, all I'm allowed to do is sit on my throne, and basically judge everyone?" Steven confirmed.

"W-Well, not in exact terms but ……. that would be the extent of it."

And just like that, Steven erased that from the list. This festival shouldn't have it be nothing but judgement, not if they had anything to do with it. Yellow Pearl felt a bit shot down for trying to make it work.

"This festival is a judgement free celebration," Steven concluded.

"... Can we at least introduce the same way?" Yellow Pearl asked.

"... Oh, alright, we can do that if you want to," Steven decided, as he and the others continued going over the list. It'll be a while before they could really figure everything out, many suggestions already written down as it was. But what they said next was probably fated to happen ...

"Oh, I know!" said Rarity, "there's quite a bit of aristocratic Gems from what I remember, and plenty of beauty to go around. How about we work into the festival a fashion show?"

Uh oh. Soon as the words "fashion display" struck Yellow Pearl's ears, the Gem suddenly grew a lot more perky.

"Fashion show?"

"Oh it's nothing harmful dear," Rarity reassured, "All that happens is that someone walks down a path and back, and all the while show off fabulous outfits! I think I remember the spring fashion line-up couple of months back being such a hit too."

"Was that the same time you modeled an outfit after me?" Diopside asked.

"Think that was last year," Rarity replied.

"Is this "fashion display" open to anyone?"

"If you're willing to give it a try, then I don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to," Rarity replied. And Yellow Pearl was sold, even going as far as to write down the extra event on the list for them, her eyes sparkling. Sure she wrote it in Gem language, not English or Ponish, but it was there either way.

"And it's a guarantee on the fashion display," Steven concluded. Though he had to go and write a "translation" by the gem writing first to make it easier. With this and other things written down though, Jade did feel like she should tell them something.

"Guys? … You think you can do me a favor?"

"A favor? Well sure Jade, what is it?" Connie asked.

"I'd be grateful," said Jade, "if you can help Flint have a good time too. I know he doesn't want to be here, but I'd like to see him enjoy himself."

That was simple enough, but then Peridot had one question.

"Speaking of which. Where is he?"


~~~~~~


As they were going through this though, one of the members had already slipped away, leaving them to work out the rest for themselves. For him it was just silent enough for him to go without any of them noticing, though he slipped on his camo cloak, just to be sure no one did catch him going away from the situation. With them busy in the ballroom, he just decided a simple walk around the palace would get him some time away from all of this chitchat.

"Biggest event in all of Homeworld," he thought, "My friends' minds turned to mush. Did they just forget how much she did to us? To Gem kind even? And what if she's just acting all over again? … oh moon goddess, If she ends up making them all her goons, I dunno what I'm gonna do."

Just the very image of all of them left as White Diamond's puppets left him in nothing but chills down his back. At the least the walk around the palace did leave him a bit calmer (ironically). No Diamonds to look down at him, none of the Harmony Gems to chat with him, just him with his own thoughts and the scenery around him.

"... I don't know. What was even with her today? I've never seen her look so … unsure with herself. Shy? Flustered? What kind of act are you trying here, White Diamond? … What is it you want?"
Flint's thoughts continued down this kind of path as memories of their past affairs continued going through his head. His time with White diamond as one of her hybrids, his multiple fights and encounters over the past … and that exchange of books too. Flint never could trust her before, and he knew what she was capable of no doubt about it. Yet, his walk began to take him towards somewhere that seemingly would give him some sort of answer.

And according to the faint glow, he knew exactly who was inside the next room.

"By yourself, White? Well that didn't take long," he thought. He took some looking around before he began to near the room in question. If he wanted to see what she was up to, he might as well go and find out for himself. Keeping on his cloak to keep out of sight, he neared the door and took the approach of peering into the room itself.
Well he was correct: Pink Diamond, Yellow Diamond, nor Blue Diamond were present inside the rather colorless room. But there was something else a bit off here.

"... Wait. White? … Where are you?" Flint thought. It was enough to even make him come into the room to try and find her, but even with the glow he didn't seem to see her anywhere. The room looked no different from the other diamond bedrooms, but even so he might as well check the area. After all, some dirt to find wouldn't be too bad to locate. He began to work out where something would be for dirt, starting off with  what looked to be a makeup table, mirror included. Flint jumped up onto the counter.

"Hmm … no documents or plans here. …"
Flint took a minute too to check the drawers to the table, but he didn't find that much their either. Some makeup products sure, but that was about it. Sure he was still invisible and thinking his statements rather than speaking, but him rummaging through drawers couldn't be hidden away for too long.

"Flint?"

He found her. Flint stopped his work and looked over by the bed, just to find White Diamond huddled away on the floor. Flint was not amused.

"White," he said, this time removing the invisible cloak. No point in hiding when they already knew you were there. Looking at her too, he started to notice that her face looked a bit different. A bit more gray than the pink he saw her with.

"Trying out beauty products are we?" Flint questioned, arms crossed. "I'm still seeing that blush."

And it was true. No matter the fake blush, he was still seeing pink just underneath it. White Diamond felt defeated again, taking a nearby rag and wiping it off her face, revealing the full blush again.

"This is so humiliating. I can't let the world see me like this, they'll all laugh at me," White Diamond said, worried as ever. A perfect Gem with a pink stain just can't be called such. Flint could see the troubled look on White's face, but he no longer wanted any of it.

"You can stop acting, White," Flint stated coldly. White did stop talking and looked to him, hand failing to hide her blushing face.

"... I wish I was."

"Come on. I've known you for too long White, and it would be far better off if you never came at all," Flint boldly remarked. White Diamond felt a shiver run through her.

"But I've realized I was wrong."

"Liar. I think I heard Pinkie said this saying once or twice: you can't find some rotten bit of candy on the street, slap on a fancy new wrapper, and call it delicious."

"But I -"

"SHUT IT," Flint yelled, making White quiet. "... You've tortured hundreds of Gems, used them for experiments over and over again, wiped out planet after planet, caused an entire Gem War to occur without you even batting an eye about it, you even tried force-fusing Yellow and Blue! And you expect me to trust you?"

"... I … I just wanted to make everything better ……."

White was smart enough despite her insecurity to know what the "rotten bit of candy" was in this scenario. Normally White would just wipe it off with her signature smile, but instead White Diamond felt the words sting her as she huddled up again, burying her face in her knees, even a tear slipping from her eye (which she tried to wipe away to make it stop). Flint wasn't really fazed by this reaction, and in fact grew even more annoyed.

"Don't cry, you're not THAT good an actor. You've fooled everyone else, but you're not fooling me."

"What do you want me to say?" White asked gravely, as if already knowing the answer. Flint groaned, hand to forehead.

"You can say you're sorry until you're blue in the face, it's not going to work. You were proud of all your torment, and you know it. I'm finished with you, and once more I'm going to make sure everyone else is," Flint concluded. White diamond, as if by pure impulse, suddenly brought her arm out and did a karate chop right in front of Flint. Flint saw his own reflection in White Diamond's hand.

"Wait! Wait. Just hear me out," White pleaded. Flint couldn't believe this … but he stopped himself.

"Well, I'm listening."

Flint said this as he summoned his Gem pistol shooter, keeping his gaze away from White Diamond so she wouldn't notice.

"... You're right. I was proud of everything. I was proud of my accomplishments in my work, even if it meant torturing everyone else. And I was proud of what came out of it. ... I was very proud of myself. Too proud. My pride blinded me and kept me distant from everything that happened. … What torture it truly done. And what it was turning those closer to me into. ……. I'm sor -" *BANG*

Flint shot her. Not in the gemstone, but actually in her arm, leaving a blackened ask mark into it. Even more so, the shot Flint made was full power, just to be sure that it did the sting he wanted to give. White Diamond held her arm back, teeth gritting from the hit in pain. As for Flint, he simply stood there, pistol aimed and ready but he didn't give off another blast, despite his arm physically shaky and ready to just get rid of her. He could too, with her standing right there. no one else around. He could do it.

But …

"...…. You know. … that's the thing I hate most about you. ……. How unpredictable you are, and all. … It's just so hard to know what you're going to do sometimes. You're really talented at that. …"

And Flint actually felt tears come from his own eyes again. He dropped his weapon and wiped a tear away. He actually started to chuckle weakly.

"Look at that. I'm crying again. …… That's the second time in my life something made me cry. …...." Flint took a minute to let the tears fall some more before wiping them away. Only then did he look up towards White Diamond, seeing her look equally troubled, a tear still on her face. Flint felt himself smile. "....... and I think this is the first time I saw you cry."

"Yeah ....... same ..." White Diamond wiped away some of the tears from her own face, the blush returning once again. Eventually though, both Flint and White did stop crying, but still felt a bit of emotion still brewing in them. Flint spoke up again.

"Look. I know we haven't had the best history together, but those Gems and ponies out there gave me and Jade a home when no one else would. I don't want to lose any of that, understand me?"

White Diamond simply nodded. It was probably the best he was gonna get for now, him prying into her more than enough already. and in a way, he didn't want to be pried open any further than now, so he placed his gem weapon away and he began to go back over to the door. Eventually though he did stop briefly when White spoke.

"And Flint … don't hold back if I can't keep my promise," White Diamond said.

"Understood. … Oh, and White, one thing," Flint said. He took a glance over to the makeup table, and hopped up. White Diamond got up to him. He then checked the drawers until he found what looked to be some cream.

"Bring me your arm," Flint said. White Diamond brought her hurt arm over, and using the makeup, Flint began cleaning up the blackened stains on her arm until it was as clean and reflective as the rest of her.

"Thank you."

"Sorry about that. … I may act cold, but I do have a heart. Just keep that in mind."

White nodded, looking to her arm.

…

"And that goes double for EVERYONE OUTSIDE!" Flint shouted.

"He found out!"

"ABORT! ABORT!"

"I-It's time to go, guys!"

"Honestly," Flint sighed. But at least one of them did have the decency to come out of hiding, the figure coming in being not Ruby, nor Sapphire, but Garnet.

"You heard everything huh?"

"Thanks for giving her a chance, Flint. … Now, shall we begin?"


~~~~~~


It was amazing how quick an event can kick off.

With all the chitchat going on with Flint and White Diamond, it was enough to get the aristocrats of the Gem world up and in attendance. However, as this still was just the opening, most of the ones that did arrived were either royal court members or just aristocratic Gems in general. sure a few quartzes, rubies and what not were there but that was mainly for convenience sake as most were under command of a royal Gem elite. The Harmony Gems were amongst the crowd of course, some keeping by Steven while others were with the other Gems.

"This is looking great," said Pearl. "The diamonds will be very impressed."

"I sure hope so," said Steven, still sitting on the throne right next to Pink Diamond. "This is Era 3 we're starting off here."

"Everything looks alright, Steven," said Pink Diamond.
As the two were sitting there, a pair of Gems then started to come over. Both of these Gems appeared aristocratic … and apparently with heads the shape of hammers. Steven didn't even want to know what kind of Gems those were for.

"Pink Diamonds," said the two Gems, "It's so wonderful to be in your presence."

"Oh, thank you," said Steven.

"Wow, so radiant and sparkling."

The two Gems then seemed to "slide away" as another pair came forward … which looked pretty much the same.

"Pink Diamonds," they both said.

"Yep, that us, both your sparkling Pink Diamonds."

"WOW, so radiant and exquisite," they said, as they slid off again. Pink Diamond did remember the parties she was involved with, new and old, but when it came to the royal balls on Homeworld … well, she kinda forgot how this opening part was so boring.

"Geesh. I've been so used to seeing a lot more excitement with these celebrations, all of this is so … dull," Pink Diamond said.

"It'll hype up soon. Remember, right after this we can kickstart the festival with some of our party games," Connie reminded.

"Hopefully," said Steven and Pink Diamond. After the Gem matches went through, then in came the Sapphires and Rubies. Typically they would come in side by side, but this time Garnet was the one taking the lead. Funny thing too: each of Garnet's gemstone components were on the correct side: her sapphire stone with the sapphires, and her ruby gemstone with the rubies. Some curious banter was about, but none of them said anything to insult the Diamond decision.

"My Diamonds," said Garnet with a smile.

"Garnet, hi! Come on up," said Pink. The other Rubies and Sapphires went to their respected places as Garnet went right over to the throne. Both sides did actually feel a little bit envious, but as with the comments they didn't want to show it in front of the diamonds.

"Garnet, you're looking great," Pink Diamond said, "It's been a while."

"It's good to be me again," said Garnet, "You both did a good job here. It's looking wonderful." Garnet placed a hand on Steven's head, Steven smiling.

"thanks. How's the rest of the festival?"

"All set up and ready to go."

And finally Yellow Pearl began to come into view.

"Everyone, behold! The daunting beauty that is, YELLOW DIAMOND!" Yellow Pearl announced. A set of Aquamarines went right on the word and moved the curtains out of the way. Yellow Diamond stood there in regal attendance, and brought her arms out spread and body gleaning in the light. All of the others in attendance kept their diamond symbols notable, eyes closed in respect as Yellow Diamond walked on by them. It was a pretty good attendance with many different Gems all present, albeit in their respected groups for sake of performance.

"A fare turnout, Pink," said Yellow.

"I appreciate your attendance, Yellow," said Pink regally, as Yellow Diamond went to her throne. Next up: Blue Pearl.

"Everyone. Prepare yourselves emotionally, for the caring and holy wonder that is, Blue Diamond," said Blue Pearl. A second set of Aquamarines moved the curtains out of the way, and sure enough Blue Diamond was there and present, her appearance met with smiles. Most still kept the diamond insignia and close eyes, though those that followed under Blue Diamond did look, and a few even cried a little bit. Blue Diamond won't force formality on anyone, and she didn't mind that some were so happy to see her.

"You're both doing great," Blue whispered.

"Thank you, Blue," said Steven. Blue Diamond went to her throne. Steven, Pink Diamond and company glanced to one another, more than happy that they were able to do this at all. And suddenly, the lights cut out altogether. This could only mean one thing, as the spotlights went towards the curtains. And presenting the surprise Steven had mentioned at the start.

"Welcome back," Steven sighed.

"To all those attended to the Era 3 ball," said Pink Pearl, her eyes closed and gleaning her pink coloration, "May I present to all of you. The mind and soul of Homeworld ..." the crowd held their breath as there was a literal drum roll in the back, the Aquamarines ready to do their work.

"... White Diamond."

The lights all cut off, leaving only the illuminating light of White Diamond coming in. Only when she passed through the curtains did the lights come back on, White Diamond's arms out spread and gracing everyone with her presence. White managed to remove the blackened stain, and got the white blush just enough to hide the pink true blush underneath, though no one was going to point it out to her either way. White Diamond only stopped briefly when in presence of the two Pink Diamonds in front of her. She didn't know too much on what to say to them, or to Steven specifically all things considered.

And there they were. All five Diamonds for all to see. And it was Steven Diamond Quartz Universe that had the honors to say the next four words to start the festival.

"Welcome to Era 3!"
> The Games of Era 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amongst the members of the Harmony Gems, as everything was getting underway, Lapis, Garnet and Pearl both were taking their time to go around the place, as that day's festival was just about in full swing. It was a bit to make this all work and put everything together: setting up the activities, scheduling events, so on so forth but with all that said and done it was all looking pretty nice. Typically this wouldn't be anything new for the Crystal Gems or Elements of Harmony, but this festival was something special.
Homeworld's Era 3 Festival. And for the first time having any festival on Homeworld that broke away from the normality and formality of it all, it was doing pretty good so far from what the group can see. In the case of these three, the two were taking a stroll through the heat of the place, seeing numerous Gems … well, try to work things out. Many weren't too familiar with the games, but there was plenty of ponies to help out with that after some gathering with the Elements of Harmony. These games also came with prizes, naturally, which Lapis won quite a few things after going about the place and Garnet getting a prize of a cowboy hat.

"You've barely played any games since we started. Don't you want a prize like this?" Lapis encouraged, showing Pearl what looked to be a cockatrice plushie.

"I'm all good, thank you Lapis," Pearl said, gently pushing away the plushie toy.

"Come on, it's a festival, the least you can do is play in what you make," Lapis pointed out. "Didn't you spend all day making all the attractions with us? You even made sure you did the most when we're making out the list."

"Don't worry Lapis. Pearl will change her mind in just a bit," Garnet reassured.
Before Pearl could asked what, the three began to pass by a little something familiar off not too far away, in the form of a eerily familiar Las Pegasus attraction. Garnet was right on point, to put it simply.

"Excuse me for a moment," Pearl said. Lapis couldn't help but chuckle and Garnet just smiled as Pearl went right up to the attraction. She only played this out one time before, but that was a time she was ill-experienced in the art. But now she was prepared this time, and knew darn straight what to do. She just cracked her knuckles, and with a slam of her fist …

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

"Thank you," Pearl simply said with a smirk. Nothing like some good reward in a one-punch game.

"That was quick," said Lapis.

"Well it's not that hard, I mean if a filly can do it so can I," Pearl said. Guess even Pearl had a slight ego in her she liked to keep in check. Garnet took a look around them at the festivities.

"You know, once upon a time this would've been such a rare possibility. Homeworld opening up and trying something new like this. But looks like Homeworld's more than ready to open up now," Garnet said, as she watched a nearby set of Quartz soldiers duking it out in a game of whack-a-mole, the Amethyst beating the Topaz by a hair and celebrating the victory.

"I guess it is," said Lapis, "... Hey, speaking of which, you've seen Steven and Pink Diamond? I haven't seen them since the starting Royal ball."

"They told me they're gonna try to get Twilight to join us," Garnet said.

"Wait, I thought you and Pearl already did that, didn't you?"

"About that …"

(quick flashback)

"Twilight?"

Garnet and Pearl just arrived into Canterlot castle, though it wasn't exactly the best sight once they actually got there. For the alicorn, Twilight Sparkle was once again stuck with the royal guards yet again. The two had clearance to go in thank goodness for that, yet the guards just managed to give Twilight her schedule for the day.

"Hey guys," said Twilight tiredly, "what's up?"

"Another list of duties?" Garnet said, seeing the fairly long list. Before the tired alicorn could reply, the royal guards stepped in.

"It's the essentials, madam, you understand," one of the guards stated.

"You keep saying that. Twilight, we want to invite you to the celebration back on Homeworld. Want to come?" offered Pearl. Twilight looked to the list for a brief moment, trying to see where she could include such a thing. However this list had so much already. Unfortunately, Twilight rolled up her list and got to her hooves.

"I can't. There's nothing here that leaves me with anything to do," Twilight replied, "Hopefully I can make time to see you by … some time."

"Some time," repeated Garnet, not sounding all too impressed with the results.

"I-I'm sorry, but I gotta go," Twilight replied, and before either could get another word in Twilight started trotting towards the front door, the two guards following her in hoof. Twilight didn't have the nerve to tell them that the list actually had been getting a lot smaller, despite it being as long as the carpet.

"Twilight, wait a minute," Garnet said, grabbing Twilight by the tail before she could pass, "You've been working hard for weeks now. It's time for you to take a break. Trust me, it's for the best."

Twilight thought a break would be a good idea, but the guards had to intervene.

"This isn't optional; a princess's duties wait for no one," the guard advised. Garnet crossed her arms.

"So going to Homeworld for a celebration on behalf of the Diamond Authority isn't part of her royal duties?" Garnet questioned. One of the guards grabbed the list again.

"Not on the list, it isn't. My apologies, but it's not going to happen," the guard insisted.

"It's ok, guys. Uh, maybe when my list isn't so big," Twilight decided, before going off to handle said list. 

"Twilight, wait!" Garnet called, but it was no use. She didn't even had time to say goodbye before rocketing off.

(end flashback)

"Still?" Lapis gasped. "I'm starting to wonder if those two guards are even bothering to give her a break anymore. I mean did she get anytime to do anything else lately?"
They weren't sure how to answer that. Sure Twilight Sparkle technically had time off during the whole convocation a bit back, but far as they were concerned that was about it. Even with their efforts too, it didn't seem like Twilight's work was gonna calm down anytime soon.

"You don't think she might go too far with all of her new duties, do you?" Pearl wondered. Garnet saw the possibilities of such things, but she REALLY didn't want to think about that. She just sighed.

"I really hope not. … Maybe Steven and Pink can bring her around when they catch up with her. For now, let's just try to enjoy the festival," Garnet decided, starting to go off ahead. Pearl and Lapis looked to one another, only hoping that Garnet might be right. But that was something for later when they meet up.

After all, this is Homeworld's first festival, they might as well enjoy it.


The Game of Garnet


Amongst the many games all set up, there was one that some of the homeworld Gems found pretty easy to cope with. And it was one of these matches that was getting underway: Gems vs. Ponies. Rainbow Dash and Applejack verses a pair of willing Rubies (in this case, familiar faces in Doc and Army).

"Coming high, RD!" Applejack warned, her signature bucks kicking the incoming ball good and high. The flying Pegasus shot straight upward right for the ball, and gave a good ol' fashion swing of the hooves to rocket it downward.

"No you don't! Ruby, battle formation!" ordered Doc, the ball coming in right at her. Army cracked her knuckles and when Doc knocked the ball to her, Army gave a good warrior cry before punching the ball clear over AJ and RD's heads! Even the speedy Pegasus couldn't grab it in time to stop the ball from flying.

"YEAH! HOMEWORLD RULES!" Army exclaimed, fist in the air on their victory.

"Well that's another ball off to … heck, where do they end up after those hits?" Rainbow wondered.

"For first timers, you sure got this volleyball game down," Applejack said, heading over to Doc and Army.

"Well what can I say?" shrugged Doc, "I wasn't made the leader of this squad for nothing."

"Don't think that has anything to do with what I said."

"Is it our turn yet?!" called an innocent yet eager voice, in the form of Leggy off nearby. Eyeball sat alongside her waiting patiently for the word to be called on their turn.

"Y'all can play soon as Rainbow comes back with the ball," Applejack reassured. Though Rainbow was still having some trouble finding where the ball went off to. This was about the fifth time this happened, but while the four times were left a bit fruitless, the fifth time was the charm as they saw Garnet come back with Rainbow Dash with the ball in hand.

"Alright, Garnet, you got the ball! Thanks," said AJ.

"It bounced off my head, but you're welcome. Here you go," replied Garnet, giving back the ball. "I can see the volleyball game is going well."

"Whelp, the Ruby Squad's been keepin up," AJ explained, "They sure catch onto new things fast. Eh, by the way, is that a Gem type thing er …?"

"Our Ruby only took ten minutes to learn guitar, so I'd say it is. The other Rubies learning well, I imagine?"

"Learning well? Hay, they've been winning games left and right since this festival started! And it's only been like, what, three hours since we ended that intro ceremony?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Hey, we still playing?!" Doc shouted, reminding them of the game itself. Garnet couldn't say she was surprised, speaking as part-Ruby herself. Garnet then got an idea.

"Eyeball, Leggy? You two want to have a round with me?" Garnet offered.

"That's not our names. … But sure," said Eyeball. Leggy was surprised.

"Oh! We just … start? I thought we waited until they were finished," Leggy said, unsure about this only for Eyeball to pull her along to the next area. Garnet smiled and got to position across from them.

"You just needed another opponent to play, that's all," Garnet said.

"And what're we supposed to use for a ball?"

Garnet got that covered too with a new kind of trick (plenty of time between the Everstorm and now meant some new tricks were bound to come up). In this case, Garnet got her hands together, and started rubbing them for some good friction. A few sparks began to light up, and soon an electrified ball started to form in her hands. Some pressure and sparks later, the electric ball started to turn solid and from the fire and ice, created a balanced up, lightweight dry ice ball.

"... OKAY!" Leggy concluded.

"Where do these tricks even come from?" Rainbow HAD to ask.

"It happens," Garnet joked. Not that they disagreed with that statement, but it had happened before. Many times, actually.

"Game on."

And with a hit of the ball, Garnet's game began. Now on the surface it didn't really seem too fair: two against one, but Garnet proved to be quite the opponent and skill in this game against the two Rubies. Leggy and Eyeball may have had a slight advantage in getting their moves in, with either Eyeball or Leggy covering ground and knocking the ball, but Garnet with her enhanced skills and experience was winning the day. In one of the hits, the ball went flying way up in the air with Garnet's uppercut hits.

"Where'd it go?" Leggy wondered, running side to side trying to get the ball coming down. Even with her one eye, Eyeball just spotted the ball coming down towards them, and it was one of those moments when acting had to come before thinking. Eyeball was suddenly using Leggy's head like a platform, jumping off of her to kick the ball good and high. The ball launched off even higher, but that just triggered Garnet's signature volleyball move.
And Garnet wasted no time in jumping straight up and slamming the ball right down towards the ground! While any sane person would get out of the way, Leggy was still trying frantically to catch it, running around back and forth as Eyeball stood firm in the face of such odds. Leggy accidentally ran into Eyeball during this, but the Gem did not even budge. Eyeball then made a … curious move.

She angled her head, and the ball struck dead center. The angle then launched the ball clear across the horizon. Garnet had to react fast on this one, her fingers just barely grazing the ball and slowing the launch so it was more understandable. Her fingers flicked the ball just back over, just pass the line.

"Garnet wins," Garnet stated.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Leggy said, as Eyeball was checking to see if the hit burnt off anything. Garnet was about to get the ball and continue when -

"Lemon Jade?! AGAIN! Split up now!"

"Anyone else hear something?" Applejack asked, her ear flicking on the distant yelling. Garnet heard it loud and clear.

"I'll only be a moment."

The little game was halted for just a little bit as Garnet went over to investigate. She tossed the ball back to the other players of course, though her interest was more onto the noise in question. Turned out as well that she didn't have to go too far around the next bit of road to see what all the ruckus was about. Three Gems, two being ridiculed rather harshly by looks of it. The two in question were regal looking Gems, Jades presumably by the insult she heard earlier. They stood side by side as the third Gem was shooting them down, Garnet already feeling a rough taste in her mouth.

As for the Jades, the Jade Gem on the left had a greenish yellow hue, her hair spiked upward in two, and with a dark yellow dress that flowed to the floor. The other jade was similar to this, but her hair was in a bob cut, with her color more minty green hue and dark green dress. As for gemstones, they seemingly mirrored one another: the left one with a right cheek Gem, and the right one with a left cheek Gem. Their diamond insignias contradicted eachother too: the left one yellow diamond, and the right one blue diamond.
As for the third Gem, who looked more boy than girl surprisingly, stood over the two with clear authority. He dazzled in a orange hue, looking like an Agate in a way. The outfit was a typical Agate uniform, strong insignia of yellow diamond loyalty.
As Garnet watched, it was clear their boss was not happy with either of them.

"This is the twentieth time Lemon Jade came out from you two!"

"S-Sorry, sorry, we thought that. Well, since it's the festival -"

"It doesn't matter what event it is, I will NOT have two of my Jades mess around fusing just for the sake of it! I have to deal with Off-Colors all day long as it is, I don't need two of them standing right behind me, got it?"

Poor Jades. Even if mockery over her own fusion was a bit rare, that didn't make this concept too foreign for Garnet to hear. Plus hearing this "Lemon Jade" get such ridicule by her boss during such a fun time just left Garnet with a horrid taste in her mouth, fist clenching. Both Jades just stood there as their boss left, one of them even with tears in her eyes. The other one found it informal but was disappointed as well.

"That clod," Garnet thought. She waited a bit until the boss went away before she started going over towards the Jades. Both Jades didn't really realize it was Garnet until the emotional one looked her way, nudging her formal friend.

"Garnet," whispered one of the Jades, both Jades quickly looking formal again, even including the diamond insignia as if she were a Diamond-level respect figure. The history this fusion made specifically deserved such respect, but Garnet wasn't there just to get that.

"Now, now, no need for that," Garnet said, hand raised. Both Jades looked to one another and grew a little more casual as Garnet went over to them. The formal Gem cleared her throat.

"Uh, nice to be in your presence," she said, "Are you enjoying the uh … event?"

"I'd rather hear how you two feel about the festival. I think that's a bit more important to listen to," Garnet encouraged with a warm smile. both Jades looked to one another briefly before complying.

"It's alright," said the emotional Jade, "Pretty new too. I uh, don't know what half of these uh … things, are or do. Hehe."

"You'll figure it out," Garnet said, a few warm giggles herself. the Jade just nodded, but while both Jades appeared to be alright, the emotional Jade still had at least one tear in her eye. Garnet brought out a hand and gently wiped it away with her finger.

"Your boss was wrong to snap like that," Garnet stated.

"You … you saw that," said the formal Jade.

"Yeah. I saw." Garnet didn't mean to, but she felt her fist clench again, the mockery of fusion and instructions given to the Jades repeating in her mind. Also noting how it was Sapphire's gemstone hand doing this, not Ruby.

"It's alright, really," said the formal Jade, "He's right. We shouldn't of fused so abruptly like that."

"It's … unformal."

Garnet didn't answer at first, thinking about what these two were saying. She may not be a Zircon, but she wasn't blind to the kind of treatment these two Jades had to juggle around thanks to the whole fusion thing. She adjusted her shades before looking to them.

"Listen. He may not seem like someone that enjoys fusion, but that isn't true with everyone. I for one think that if you enjoy fusing together, then that shows how close you two really are to eachother," Garnet explained. The Jades were actually surprised to hear that, even if she was a Crystal Gem far as they knew. As the emotional Jade was blushing, the formal Jade tried to recover herself.

"You're just saying that. I mean, how many Garnets are allowed to fuse with their own crew anyway?" the Jade said. Garnet paused, but then chuckled.

"So you think I'm just another Garnet, huh?" Garnet said. While she didn't seem angry or insulted, the emotional Jade did take it as such.

"Sorry for insulting you," the emotional Jade said before things could get out of hand. But all that did was make Garnet chuckle. Might as well get Nora the cat out of the bag, and she began that by removing her shades to reveal her three eyes.

"T-Three?"

"Haven't seen a Gem with three eyes before? It's okay, my friends needed to get used to this when we first met too," Garnet said, though she didn't sound really guilty about it, or even remotely sad for that matter.

"But how can you have another vision sphere? I mean, you're a Garnet, and Garnets don't -" the formal Gem stopped talking when Garnet showed her palms to them both, showing them all the evidence they needed. Two gemstones for two Gems. Now they could argue it was just two Garnets fused like Lemon Jade, but Garnet had that covered too.

"Here's Ruby. And here's Sapphire."

"A Ruby and a Sapphire? Has that ever even happened before?" asked the emotional Jade in astonishment. Such a contrast in ranking Rubies and Sapphires typically shared with one another, the idea sounded pretty much impossible. Garnet straightened up, giving them both a smile of reassurance.

"W-Well … it might be fine for you on Earth. But …"

"That it doesn't exist anywhere else? And did your boss tell you that too?" Garnet asked. The Jades turned away, which confirmed Garnet's suspicion. These ideas were mostly from their boss, and not themselves.

"Don't ever believe that you're alone. There're many others like you - We're like you. He thinks that this can only exist on Earth, and yet here you two are enjoying fusion just the same as me and others do. Every moment you live as yourselves, you prove that everyone's free to be who they are. And you can show everyone that freedom. If you'd like."

"... You sure that's the answer?" the formal Jade asked.

"You tell me."

The Jades were silent. Freedom? Was that the word used in their fusion? It was a bit hard to figure out officially, but Garnet seemed to reassure them that. The formal Jade felt her fellow Jade gently hold her hand, a smile on her face as that speech surely touched her emotions. And with a returning smile, Garnet took a step back as both Jades began to glow.

Lemon Jade wasn't gonna stop that easily after all. And she was sure pleased.

"I knew it! I knew I wasn't the only one!" she beamed.

"Now that's more like it. Be true to yourself," Garnet said.

"AGAIN?!"

Oh boy. Lemon Jade flinched on hearing that voice, turning around fast just to see their boss just come back again, him only finding them fused once again. And he was NOT happy about this.

"You can't be serious, I turn my back for a whole two minutes, not even that, and you fuse again? Split up at once!" he demanded. At first Lemon Jade seemed ready to do just that, but the words Garnet told her flowed through her mind, and it was just enough to keep herself together and fused.

"What?"

"Can we stayed fused, please? I like being fused, it feels great!" Lemon Jade admitted. This just made her boss angry.

"Fusion isn't just so you can "feel great", and you know it. What, you two too weak to even stay apart now?" Their boss retorted. The Jades recoiled a little bit, but then the boss saw Garnet standing there.

"And someone saw you too, how wonderful! Jades, why do you do this to me? How do you think that makes me look?"

"S-So. So this is about you," Lemon Jade said, shocked even she said it to him. In fact, the boss hesitated briefly, but then raised his hand to actually hit them! Garnet had to go in at that point, getting in between Lemon Jade and their boss.

"Leave them alone," Garnet instructed, "You don't need to lash out at them like this."

"You don't need to get involved," the boss instructed. "Now get out of my way and let me deal with my Jades before anyone else sees them like this."

"And what is so wrong with that? What is so dangerous about them being this way that they should be punished for it?" Garnet questioned. This was making him mad again but tongue-tied too. what exactly was so bad anyway? His hesitance lasted just a little too long for him to properly recover.

"This festival is supposed to show everyone at their best, for all to be free and enjoy being themselves. And if they feel at their best when together like this, then they should be allowed to," Garnet firmly stated. Lemon Jade agreed with every word, but kept quiet as she waited for their boss to say something. He looked stunned to put it lightly.

"W-Well … I uh …"

"Please, sir?" Lemon Jade asked, hopefully, "Just for the Festival?"

Their boss took a deep breath.

"... Fine. Only for the festival, I'll let you both do this. Watch yourselves though, will you?"

"Thank you!" Lemon Jade beamed, suddenly hugging her boss with a big smile on her face. A bit quick, but how could she not be happy with that news? Their boss grew flustered a little bit, but a promise is a promise, and he held himself back from getting mad at them for it. Garnet meanwhile was feeling pretty good for Lemon Jade.

Another fusion now free to express herself. At least for the festival.


The Game of Flint


"We have a winner!"

Much like Lapis and her games, Fulgurite was on quite a roll herself in all this fun, with this prize being a good ol' baseball cap. She and Amethyst were so close, but Fulgurite won her out right in the end (what would you expect from a speed demon gamer?). Too bad one of the Gems wasn't as thrilled about it, as he was just keeping watch just in case someone would end up into trouble.

"Yo Flint, you gonna try this or are you gonna just stand there all day?" encouraged Fulgurite.

"I'm perfectly comfortable where I am, thank you," Flint insisted, casually observing from not too far away. Observing was what he had been mainly doing since this whole festival had gotten started, even with offers to actually do something by, well, everyone at least once. Fulgurite and Amethyst looked to one another before going for round two on the next game, Flint just looking around at what was going on. There was the two Gems sure, but the ponies with them he saw were helping some of the Gems go over some of the games, some even giving a lecture here and there on friendships and a bit of equality (not as bad as she used to be, but still sprinkled in there).

"Whelp, that's the seventh time he said no. I swear, he's just a lump on a log sometimes. How can we get him to do anything," Amethyst sighed. Not that she can fully blame him for ending up that way, but it was still annoying to think about. Fulgurite glanced his way, but she noticed something else too.

"Maybe we don't have to," Fulgurite insisted. Didn't take much longer until Amethyst too saw what was going on, yet Flint didn't really seem to notice much yet. Another Gem. She looked like a Peridot somewhat, but slightly taller, more yellow and white than the green colors most Peridots would be known for.

"Hello," she then said. Flint didn't acknowledge her at first until his eyes catch her standing there. He also saw at least two others behind her, one which pushed her forward as if to urge her on.

"Can I help you?" Flint asked. The Gem felt a bit uneasy at first, but her friends insisted for her to try and tell him something … in spite of his naturally intimidating look.

"Yeah, hi. You're Flint right? The Crystal Gem Flint?" the Gem asked. A bit of an odd question, if Flint were to be honest.

"Not many other Flints I know these days. How come?" Flint asked. The Gem smiled, but he can tell she was trying not to be too intimidated.

"Oh. Well, we've heard that you're very good at marksmanship, and … well, we were kinda hoping that you can give us a few tips," the Gem said.

Oh this moment was too good to pass up!

"He'd love to!" Fulgurite suddenly said, right by his side.

"What? But -"

"Oh, thank you! I think your pony friends set up this thing called a shooting gallery not far from here. See you there!"

Well so much for a choice on the matter. The trio of Gems, now expecting him to go off and do that with them, went off towards said shooting gallery. Fulgurite and Amethyst kept their smile as they went, and when they were out of sight, their smiles were directed towards Flint with a knowing grin. They knew what they did, much to Flint's dismay.

"Very funny," Flint groaned.

…….

Well, as much as he didn't expect it, it was off to the shooting gallery for him. Not his original plan, but he didn't had that much time to use his pistol aside from blasting White Diamond with it, so some target practice can benefit both him and the three Gems in question. The shooting gallery in question didn't look too different from your typical marksmanship gallery: a few distant range targets set up and (surprising for Flint to see) some guns set up. These were BB guns sure, but he never considered ponies capable of using this kind of weapon, nevermind even HAVING them.

"Must've got some human stuff too," Flint thought once he checked the BB guns in questions.

"Ok, so where do we start?" one of the other Gems asked.

"Oh, well let's see what we got first," Flint said, picking up one of the weapons in question. These looked a bit more like a fake gun for a carnival than anything legitimately deadly - thank the stars - and the particular model wasn't really complicated either, it being a standard hunting rifle. As he was checking, the three Gems got their weapons and were about ready to begin. A bit eager.

"Ok Flint. Just get them through the basics, and everyone should be fine," Flint thought, before clearing his throat.

"Ok, everyone line up along the border line, and show me how you aim your weapon," Flint instructed. The three nodded and began heading into position. What happened next though took Flint off guard: all three moved in unison once they lined up, taking said rifles, even giving them a single spin before they aimed their weapons forward, already in the correct position and everything.

"Huh. You already got the basic idea down."

"Wait, we do?" one of them asked surprised, the other two were surprised by it as well, but Flint kept his composure and went over to them.

"You three got the weapon raised at the right height, aimed correctly, your positions …" Flint went to one of the Gems and nudged her foot inward while looking to the other and straightening her shoulders so it was more comfortable for her "A small bit of work. Make sure your firm in your stance before you shoot."

"Oh, ok will do," said one of the Gems. She thought she got it and readied to fire. But all it took was one trigger for the blowback to knock her off her feet and onto the ground. Lucky Flint was there to catch her before she could fall on her head.

"See what I mean? If you can't keep a firm stance, you're just gonna bet blown off your own feet everytime you make a shot," Flint explained, getting her standing upright and helping her get a better stance. A few nudges, some fare posturing, and soon she was up and at the ready again.

"Try again now," Flint said, moving out of the way. The Gem aimed again at the target again, and the shot rang out once more. The shot still ended up knocking her a little, but she stayed on her feet this time, the BBs from her gun getting a decent shot onto the target.

"YES," she said with a smile. The other two armed up, trying to follow her lead and then gave a good shot themselves. That didn't mean it was a perfect practice, one of them still stumbling back. Surprising though, the three were making pretty good shots for trying to learn a thing or two.

"Wow, I got really close," one of them said. Flint started to ponder on these three as he helped the third get back onto her feet. She felt a little bugged that she ended up falling.

"You ok?" Flint asked. The Gem found her feet again.

"Yeah I'm fine. Dang, the other Citrines make it look so easy."

Citrines? These three, thinner and smaller Gems were actually a type of Quartz soldier? As she got back to position, Flint had to consider his options.

"Citrines. …"

"Yeah, we were … kinda in the ground too long. You know how it is," said one of the Citrines. Considering Flint worked with a number of stunted Gems already, that wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility. Citrines, as far as Flint was aware, were a bit bigger like typical quartzes. Not as muscular perhaps, since they were more firearm than brutality, but still these three were still small in comparison.

"OK, that makes more sense," Flint thought. "Guess this also explains how they got position so easily with those weapons of theirs."

Flint then saw one of the Citrines was focusing a little bit more on her stance than aiming her weapon right. Seeing two of the other Citrines stumble back on shooting made her a little bit more concerned in that department. Flint sighed and went to her side, his arms holding the weapon.

"Make sure to keep your weapon up and at the ready. If you leave yourself distracted, you won't have time to even make a shot," Flint instructed. The Citrine brought it back up as instructed, but still trying to get her feet steady.

"Sorry, I just don't wanna fall over."

"Well you won't do well if you keep your legs so stiff," Flint said, nudging her legs so she'll relax a bit. Not too much, but enough where it won't be stiff as sticks. "Keep your muscles strong is fine, but if they're too stiff and focused on, you'll just stumble."

"Oh. … This is a lot more complicated than I thought," the Citrine admitted meekly.

"Don't worry, no one ever truly masters their technique even if they're born with it."

"Born with it?" the Citrines asked. Flint realized his mistake.

"Eh, made with it I mean," Flint corrected. Being on Earth for so long some ideas kinda slipped away after a bit. The Citrines got it down after that, and Flint went over to them, getting one of the BB guns for himself.

"Here, watch how I do it," Flint instructed. So, the three Citrines stepped back and watched the teacher present how it was done. Flint got into position with the Citrines watching in attention, but as he raised his BB gun up and in position, the Citrines had a look of astonishment at this Gem, starry eyes and all. The Citrines though had less of a learning look, and more of an admiring look to them as Flint was presenting and explaining how to properly aim, stand, and of course fire the weapon. All this done, and Flint only needed one look to actually see how much they were paying attention.

"You got it?" Flint asked.

"Yeah," said one of the Citrines, though she wasn't thinking. Flint could read them like a book, and decided to test them.

"OK. Then tell me what position you're supposed to stand when firing a weapon as such?"

"That's easy: … whatever it was you just did."

"Which is …?"

"... ehh …"

Flint sighed.

"You just want to hang out with me, do you?" Flint confirmed.

"No, that's not true, it's just you … looked so cool just now," admitted one of the Citrines. Flint paused for a moment, but quickly recovered. It felt odd that someone would just wanna hang out with him that didn't know him for years, but since he was put in charge of training these three, maybe this wasn't so bad.

"Okay, come on, re-aim your weapons and try again," Flint sighed. The Citrines went back into position fast, Flint making sure each one was in their correct stance this time. Flint didn't need to hear that these three just wanted to have him for company. But in a way, he didn't mind. And in the moment, he was finding that he was enjoying this a little bit.

Amethyst and Fulgurite had to give themselves a high five when they were seeing his enjoyment.

"We did ourselves good today," said Amethyst, giving a thumbs up to Fulgurite.

"Jade'll be happy to hear this. So, wanna so have a celebratory check up on the derby?" Fulgurite offered.

"Yeah, why not? I think Flint's gonna be busy for a while," Amethyst decided. So, as Fulgurite and Amethyst went off, they both took one more look towards Flint and the Citrines. Sometimes someone needs a push in the right direction.


The Game of Lazuli and Pearl


Even with so much activity going on around the festival, there were still some spots where activity was a bit more calm down. Lapis Lazuli and Pearl were taking this opportunity to check this part of the festival out while the others were basically too busy with keeping track of the events or just playing around in the games.
Compared to much of the other parts of this festival, this part looked to be the most formal part of it (and in the case of Homeworld, the most comfortable and familiar thing), with a royal ball style setting. Since the Sessile was still out "getting mended", a new kind of music was brought out to the event in the form of the Canterlot royal quire. One might recognize them from the Grand Galloping Gala, and they were providing the right kind of music for the Gems to listen to.

"Even in a festival like this," Lapis said. "It looks the same as any other formal party. Can't they try to be more open?"

"I know, but we have to keep something comfortable for Homeworld," Pearl replied.
As the Gems were still dancing in unison - it was like working gears more than dancing - Lapis and Pearl went on in after Lapis placed her prizes aside. With Lapis Lazuli alongside Pearl, the two Gems fit very much like a glove. As there were some Gems dancing to the music (if it could be called dancing), other aristocratic Gems were handling some small talk.

"Nice choice of music," commented Pearl, seeing the quire off nearby. But the Gem was soon directed elsewhere.

"Pearl, look at that," Lapis said eagerly.

"Lapis, Pearl, over here!"

Waving her hoof was, and probably figured much, Rarity. But it wasn't just her there, as some of the Gems were also there with her. Pearl needed a minute to recognize her, but Lapis knew the red Ruby from anywhere. This Ruby was one of the Ruby squad, Navy, and she was looking very high-class with some of Rarity's help.

"Hey Rarity, and HEY Ruby. You're looking festive," Pearl complimented with a smile. Navy couldn't be anymore happier about it herself: Rarity designing the dress to her exact likeness. To sum it up, she was a Ruby in Sapphire clothing, with a hint of orange and red smoothing into the main blue.

"I've taken the time to make a new design for just such an occasion: Flaming passion!" Rarity said, the name made out in her usual dramatic fashion. Navy even did a ladies' bow, lifting the sides of her dress as she did so.

"Good as always, Rarity. And you, Ruby, you look perfect in that dress," Lapis complimented, giving her a wink and gun fingers.

"I know! Doesn't it look magnificent? My dream of being with the high class is FINALLY real!" Navy beamed, twirling in her dress like a giddy prom queen. And hearing that from someone as naturally beautiful as Lapis Lazuli, that was quite a compliment to receive, making Navy feel even more happy. Seeing Navy happy was a pretty good thing, but Pearl looked on to the actual dancefloor ...

"Pearl?" Rarity asked.

"Oh sorry. It's just, I mean, doesn't this look a bit lacking to you?"

"Lacking how? We went through how the royal ball works and worked it into this part of the festival," Rarity said, even levitating one part of the to-do list she had given to her prior to the festival's start.

"Yeah, I know. Guess I've just grown so used to seeing party balloons, streamers, and everything else Pinkie Pie does to her parties. They could at least try to be a bit more open to the idea, but it looks no different than any other royal ball Homeworld did before," Pearl explained as they were looking to the display in front of them. Not even the dancing was all that energetic now that she pointed it out. Navy didn't seem that bothered by the fact, not too familiar with being in an actual situation like this, but this did get Lapis to think a little bit more on it. Soon, Lapis Lazuli started to come up with a little idea herself.

"Psst. Rarity," Lapis said, signaling Rarity to come over. Lapis whispered her little plan to the unicorn, and the unicorn was more than happy to comply. As she went to handle her part of the plan, Lapis Lazuli smirked as she went towards Pearl, bringing her hand out.

"Shall we?" Lapis offered. The clever Pearl already started putting two and two together.

"Let's do it," Pearl decided.

Navy was curious about their plan, as both Lapis Lazuli and Pearl started going out onto the dance floor. By this point, Rarity had reached the quire and the crowd found that the music was starting to dull down. The somber tone shifted to a more energetic and lively piece of music, and little by little the other Gems started to notice two dancers in particular, doing what looked to be a special mix of a tango, and battle training, the two dancers circling eachother with one hand presenting to one another, with a spin and change in direction with the music beat.

Lapis Lazuli and Pearl were taking their time to shine.

"Everyone's watching, Lapis," said Pearl.

"Don't worry about them, Pearl. Right now, it's just you and me."

Just the words to comfort Pearl. Their goal soon became clear as the two continued dancing together, letting the music take control of them both. Their dance began with the simple circular movement from earlier, but soon it started to turn more elegant and energetic. For Lapis, once a second full rotation was done, Pearl released her and she started spinning fast in a sort of flamingo-style dance as Pearl followed suite almost exactly. They both kept in tune with eachother, the session starting to pick up speed in their duet dance. Their dance was filled with twirls, summersaults, and flips with the grace of the best known dancers of the world. In the dance, with the music got into one dance pose after another, some even adopting some dance moves from their other fusion dances.
One notable dance move was Pearl and Lapis back to back, and Lapis spinning before Pearl tossed her up into the air good and high. Lapis came down head first, using Pearl's open hand to grab and hold herself up, and as she spun herself back upright to her feet, Pearl was swung right over her head, Pearl landing gracefully on her tip toes before spinning again, making both Gems spin like tops before catching one another in their arms. It was around here when their gemstones started glowing.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

And just like that, they finished off their routine with a signature display: Lapis making one more twirl, falling back into Pearl's awaiting arm in a pure Tango pose. And thus, the fusion commenced.

Spinel was now in center stage. 

"W-What in the stars?!"

"A fusion?"

"B-But they can't do that!"

These comments flew around, but Spinel and her calm mind didn't get too bothered. Spinel took a breath, her arms lowering as she looked on to the audience around her. Both sides knew how controversial this was to just casually do, more evident by the shock on many of the Gems' faces.

"Who is that?" Navy asked Rarity.

"That, my dear, is Spinel," Rarity replied.

"Spinel …" As Spinel was letting the group sink in what they were seeing, Navy began to go over towards the fusion. The other Gems around her seemed a bit troubled seeing a fusion like this, some turning their gaze away but others were left awestruck by Spinel. No one else had ever heard of a Spinel Gem before and in all honesty … she didn't look that bad either. Some were actually blushing.

"Spinel?" Navy said. The fusion looked down to Navy with a kind of comforting look, much like a particular diamond.

"Hello, Ruby," Spinel said, hand gently placed on Navy's head. Navy was just to marvel at the fusion for a bit, a few of the Gems starting to come over to her.

"You two … okay?" asked one of the Gems. Spinel smiled.

"Never better."


The Game of Emerald


"Eh … E-Emerald? S-Shouldn't I at least be in the palace? ……. Or somewhere that isn't so unnatural?"

Despite how Sessile was feeling about the whole thing, Emerald made sure to bring her out into the open of the Homeworld Festival. Emerald though was treating this really as nothing too weird, even having a simple picnic around a good part of town with Sessile. He wasn't alone of course, joined by Jade for some "levity" in the behavior side of things.

"No, I think this is appropriate," Emerald shrugged, nibbling away on a snack. He wasn't as big a eater as Amethyst, that didn't make the concept that foreign to him. Sessile though could feel that other Gems were glancing her way. Jade went over towards Emerald.

"I know you want to help her Emerald, but I think you're going a little bit fast. Maybe we should try to slow down a little bit?" Jade suggested, concerned for Sessile's situation. She even saw a set of Gems not too far away murmuring to one another about seeing what they figured as a gem object out of the palace this far.

"It's called "comfort zone" girl," Emerald said, "You gotta walk outta it if you are gonna try new things. Besides, no one's making any complaints, haven't they?"

"I guess not, but -"

"Well, okay then, no problem," Emerald cut in, "Hey, you wanna have a taste of this guys? They're a proper batch actually."
The kind of food emerald was trying was actually a bit of vegies he got from AJ's farm, some of which are a bit fairly new. The exact item he was presenting to them though was a pepper of some sorts, and while Jade wasn't all that up for it, Sessile was a bit less wary and more curious.

"Taste? … You … consume these?" Sessile wondered.

"Sure you do, that's what they're grown for. Here, try one. Oh uh warning: it's pretty hot," Emerald said, placing the pepper in one of her "hands". Sessile looked to the red object for a bit. She had been seeing Emerald eat up these for a bit, so she at least she some idea of how to do it … too bad her hands won't reach her mouth as she tried to do so.

"...…. I can't do it," Sessile sighed. She wasn't surprised though, since she couldn't do much of anything like this.

"Got you covered. Just open you're mouth," Emerald said, getting the pepper.

"Emerald, wait, maybe not that," Jade suggested, "If you want to feed her at least have something that isn't as harmful."

"I've seen humans eat these all the time," retorted Emerald, "if they can handle it so can we."
Before Jade could get another word in, Sessile managed to get a bite into the pepper. She simply copied what Emerald did, but …

"...…. I … I don't think anything's "taste"ing. Sorry," said Sessile.

"Wha? Oh hogwash, let me see that," Emerald said. One bite with him though, and …

"AAHH!! WATER, WATER, DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" Emerald exclaimed, the burning sensation of this pepper in particular driving him up a wall, rushing back and forth as he felt his tongue on fire. Sessile wasn't sure if she should blame herself for this or not, and Jade could just sigh. She felt sorry for Emerald sure, but sometimes …

"hehehehehe~"

As Emerald found salvation with some juice for their picnic, a set of giggles was just heard from not too far away.

"Uh oh," Sessile thought. And then a group started to come their way. Emerald got himself calmer by this point, the burning sensation no longer burning in his mouth. Soon though, he took a look over to what kind of crowd was coming over towards them. These Gems were fairly tall, about Garnet height actually so they made the three feel a bit small. They all look similarly green colors, and their outfits fitted a look of a captain or pilot. Their gemstones seemingly close to the same shape as Emerald's stone, which only meant one thing. …

"More Emeralds," Jade thought.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our little friend. How nice to see you," one of the Emeralds commented. This one in particular had her gemstone right over her eye much like Diopside or Eyeball Ruby, expect on the other eye in compared to them both. And her smile revealed an impressive set of canine teeth, edged and sharp like a vampire's fangs. Emerald felt a shiver.

"Just hang low, I got this," Emerald said to Jade and Sessile as he went right over to the other Emeralds. Looking at him, he just looked so different compared to the other Emeralds, and the others knew it.

"Eh, so THIS is that other emerald you told us about," remarked one of the other Emeralds.

"Told you," the leading emerald said. she then turned to the CG Emerald, seemingly presenting her party. "These are some newer pilots. I've been telling them about you, but they wouldn't believe me."

"New flyers, eh? Whelp, you see me now, and now you're a believer," said CG Emerald, looking confident and cocky as usual, "Don't fond at me all at once, there's plenty to go around."

"HAHA! He's just as cocky as you said he'd be!" one of the Emeralds laughed. And just like that CG Emerald lost his mojo.

"And just as full of himself as always," remarked the one-eyed Emerald. And suddenly Emerald found himself in a tough spot. The other Emeralds, which Jade and Sessile thought were just playing with him, were now going around and encircling him, making initial contact impossible without going through one of them first. Emerald's confidence was starting to dwindle, though he kept that until a cool face.

"Easy ladies, easy, let's not be too hasty," Emerald insisted, but his words were more on deaf ears.

"You haven't changed a bit," said one-eyed Emerald, "even from your days in the war and you still act like an idiot."

"Wait a minute. Doesn't he look like one of those other aliens?" one of the emeralds remarked, leaning in closer to him.

"Which one?"

"Those green ones that kept shouting "BUOO" all the time."

"The Kongolins?"

"OH MY STARS, he does look like a Kongolin!" And just like that the other Emeralds were laughing at him. Jade and Sessile were left to just watch Emerald getting mocked by them like this, Sessile covering her mouth and plenty of her face as Jade was getting more worried over him.

"Emerald …?" Jade wondered.

"Look, he's even got their spikes," one of the Emeralds said, her finger fiddling with one of his hair spikes. Emerald kept his cool, but did move the hand away.

"They call it a good ol' mohawk on Earth, and your boy's trying out the look," CG Emerald said.

"Does that explain this weird cuff dust you have too? You don't even look like a pilot!" one of the Emeralds pointed out. Emerald was slowly getting bugged.

"Well at least I don't have teeth that can poke a vision sphere out! See?!" retorted CG Emerald, even opening his mouth to show his decent looking choppers compared to the sharp edged teeth of the Emeralds. Unfortunately this only got them laughing at him again.

"OH STARS, you got bum teeth!" mocked one of the Emeralds.

"Yeah, they're called "normal" teeth, and it's also called "presentable"," CG Emerald said, and for a brief moment they looked like they were humbled by this remark. Unfortunately it didn't last for too long.

"Since when do Emeralds worry about that? I remember you were just as stern and commanding as any other Emerald. But you got a shorter fuse, of course," the one-eyed Emerald said, her hand on his head to compared height. Emerald was getting more and more bothered by all of this trouble, and it seemed that every time he got one thing to say, they just swung right back. Well, with a crack of the neck, it was time to go for the throat.

"Mock me all you want to, but your boy's was right on top of the ranking during that Gem war: TOP. STAR. Right here! and don't you forget it!"

"Oh really? Is that why you were left behind on Earth when they made that call?" remarked the one-eyed Emerald smugly. Emerald ran out of ammo.

"... Well, that's all I got. Thoughts?" Emerald shrugged.

"Here's a thought: this whole hairstyle's stupid," one of the Emeralds said, hand on his spiked hair. This was more than enough for at least Jade to take, and after gathering enough courage.

"Emeralds!" Jade shouted. This caught their attention quick.

"No Jade, I got this under control!" Emerald insisted, even if he was being held upside down by this point.

"Oh, what's this?" one of the Emeralds asked, giving off a rather intimidating smile with those sharp teeth. This did give Jade a shiver, but she tried to keep her composure.

"Don't you think you should be setting a good example for Emerald instead of belittling him in front of … his … friends?" Jade's confidence started to sink as the intimidation the Emeralds were giving her. Their Emerald never had this kind of spook when he tried to intimidate (nor did he try to intimidate).

"Belittle? Him? I don't think he can be anymore little," the one-eyed Emerald mocked, holding Emerald like one would with a fish.

"Now, girls, she's got a point. Let's see if we can set a good example for him.~"

"Oh clod."

…….

And next thing he knew, his spiked hair was replaced with a similar look to the other Emeralds. The Emerald group did leave CG Emerald alone after that to be fare, but their calling card just wasn't leaving Emerald amused all that much.

"You should be setting a good example," Emerald repeated.

"I'm sorry," said Jade, "I didn't think they'd jump like that."

"Yeah, because they clearly weren't jumping before," Emerald replied, busily trying to rework his hair back into the way he wanted it. Jade and Sessile weren't sure what to do for him now, but Emerald did get his hair back to normal.

"Well, on the bright side, at least they left you alone Sessile. I don't think they'd shut up seeing you with me," Emerald remarked, trying to find the good part in being humiliated like that. Sessile paused.

"You did that … for me?"

"Well, someone had to. … Eh, you two think you can keep this quiet? Peridot won't ever let me live this down," Emerald asked.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable," Jade replied. 

"Thanks. Dang, I'm gonna need a good victory lap after this," Good enough for Emerald, as he was going back to some more cooler snacks for the picnic. Jade meanwhile was thinking over what just happened, keeping an eye on Emerald. Eventually a thought crossed Emerald's mind.

"The shooting gallery! Eh, Sessile, Jade, I gotta go and find an opponent for a bit, catch you later," Emerald decided. and with that, Sessile and Jade were left there as emerald started to go off.

"He did that for her, huh ..." Jade thought. "You're doing more than you think, Emerald."


The Game of Steven


"So, Twilight's not in Canterlot … again. So, now let's try the Off-Colors."

That was the idea Steven had mainly planned after he and Pink Diamond went through their key portal from the city of Canterlot off to the barnhouse on Earth. It was disappointing of course, the Alicorn off to who knows where with no time to actually talk to them, but there wasn't too much he nor Pink could do about it now, especially with her not even there to talk to. They continued chatting once they got to Earth, Steven riding on Pink Diamond's shoulders (which became a common thing actually).

"You know if there's ANY TIME she can take a break, Steven? She seems to never have any time for anything lately," Pink Diamond asked as they went along, a bit bugged that she was still off doing something else.

"I hope soon," replied Steven, "I know she the new Equestria princess and all, but even they need some time off. … She didn't even tell us where she went off to."
Steven felt a bit left out. Sure not every danger had both her and him together, but at the least the years before gave them a bit of time together so they wouldn't be too distant.

"Well I don't know about you, but I did not spend an hour setting up that magical display for nothing. What's a magic show without magic?" Pink Diamond griped.

"At least Starlight Glimmer and Trixie agreed to come," Steven said, trying to cheer Pink Diamond up. Not that she didn't like that at all, but an alicorn doing magic would've given a much bigger "WOW" persay.
The two kept walking along through the countryside, until eventually the two started to see the barn not too far off. The barnhouse had their own kind of activity going on, with much of the Off-Colors, Lars, and Sadie just hanging out together. It was just some chat with one another, Sadie getting to know the Off-Colors a bit better, and it was during this that Tiger's Eye noticed the two coming their way first.

"Hey guys!" Steven called, waving to them.

"It's Steven!" said right Rutile.

"Steven's back!" added left Rutile.

"I predict that Steven and Pink Diamond will return back to Earth and grace us with their presence," said Padparadscha, as the two were now right by the group.

"Already happened," thought Rhodonite, but they were just as glad to see them just the same. Steven hopped off of Pink Diamond's shoulders.

"Hey, Steven," said Lars, "How're things going? Heard you were just on another space mission lately," Lars asked.

"Oh yeah we were: a lot of space travel with friendship lessons and space monsters in it," summed up Steven. "Actually, part of it's why I wanted to come by."

"Ah ah ah, WE wanted to come by," corrected Pink, hand on Steven's head playfully.

"I'm glad you're just back home alive. When they told us you were gone off in space, with White Diamond … OH, I couldn't stand it!" Rhodonite said. Of course she would be anxious about the entire trip.

"What is it you couldn't stand?" asked Tiger's Eye, only annoying the perma-fusion a bit before she looked to the two Diamonds, "So, you said you wanted to see us?"

"You bet: we want to invite you all back to Homeworld for the Era 3 festival," announced Pink Diamond, "we got all sorts of things set up: party games, prizes, bunch of booths, all kinds of party things!"
The Off-Colors and company only got a vague idea of this thanks to Ruby stopping by their barn, so this explanation was simply adding more to it.

"A Homeworld festival? I'm not too familiar with how this Gem stuff works, but don't you guys not celebrate like that?"

"Not unless it's something big, little human," said Pink Diamond with a wink. While the "little human" comment wasn't necessary, the point was still there.

"Us? … Are you sure about that?" Rhodonite asked.

"Of course we are," said Steven, "The festival is about being free, being yourself, and to have fun. and I see a perfect example of all three right in front of us!"

"I don't see anything wrong with it," said Lars after some thinking, "I don't think you guys really had a time to have fun yet, have ya?"

"But will they not mind fusions?" Flourite asked.

"I dunno, but they didn't mind Garnet staying fused so I think they can handle seeing -" Pink Diamond suddenly stopped herself when referring to Fluorite again. Rhodonite, maybe, but Fluorite? "... well ……. maybe."

"Reassuring," Rhodonite said. But still, this didn't deter Fluorite, and with Padparadscha riding with her, she went over a bit.

"We're willing to give them a chance, if they're willing to give Gems like us a chance," Fluorite concluded.

"I can't believe you're inviting us to go to the festival!" beamed Padparadscha. The Rutile Twins looked to one another briefly, but eventually they began going over to Pink and Steven.

"This will be our first time seeing Homeworld like everyone else. I wonder what it's like," said left Rutile.

"Lars, you and Sadie want to come with us?" right Rutile offered, looking to Lars and Sadie.

"I might need to ask my parents first," Sadie replied. And by extension, Lars needed to do that too. He didn't want to worry his parents all over again, especially after that Everstorm incident leaving him … well, down for the count as it were. Tiger's Eye hopped down.

"Already on it," Tiger's Eye said, going into the barn for a moment and looking through what items were available to use. As she was doing that though, Rhodonite was feeling more and more troubled all over again.

"Rhodonite, you wanna come?" Lars asked. Rhodonite started to feel a cold sweat come up over her. The idea was really starting to become a worry for her: what if this didn't work? What if they won't be accepted? What if they end up getting into trouble and sentenced for being poofed?!

"Uh, I-I just remembered I have some … very important business to take care of! Excuse me," Rhodonite said … as she went inside a nearby closet.

"What business could you have in a wardrobe?!" Tiger's Eye snapped, seeing the coward hiding in the closet, and hoping she wouldn't be involved in this any further. However, Pink Diamond wasn't gonna have it and opened up the closet, getting Rhodonite to come out.

"Come on, don't freak out, and let's have some fun!"

"P-Put me down!" Rhodonite demanded.

"Pink, wait," Steven said, going over to her, "If she doesn't want to go she doesn't have to."

"But don't you want them to come?" Pink Diamond asked.

"Sure I do, but I don't want to make them. That kinda ruins the whole point on the whole "free to make your own choice" idea for the festival," Steven replied. Rhodonite gave a big sigh of relief as Pink Diamond placed her down reluctantly.

"Alright, you're the boss," Pink sighed. Rhodonite got back up to her own feet, only to be startled again when Tiger's Eye came back to them with what looked like a scrounged up phone.

"Got something for ya Sadie. I've seen you use these before, so go ahead," Tiger's Eye suggested. It wasn't exactly an iPhone, but still a phone all the same. Tiger's Eye left her with that.

"I'll catch up with you guys in just a bit," Sadie said.

They might as well go off on their way then. With Rhodonite and Sadie waiting it out there, Steven and Pink Diamond started to go off with the other Off-Colors not too far behind them. It was a bit of habit, but Fluorite was the one that gave her friends a ride.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Pink Diamond asked.

"Right behind you," Fluorite said.

"Let me just unlock the door," Steven said, getting the portal key out and getting it out into the air. It wasn't that hard to get the key working, and then made a huge door big enough to let them all in. The Off-Colors were getting pretty excited for what was in store for them, if Steven and Pink Diamond were right. The magic door opened up good and wide, and bit by bit the group went right on through.
From the barnhouse, the portal opened up to the very heart of Homeworld itself, in the form of the throne room. And who was the first one the Off-Colors met when they walked in that throne room? ...

"... Whelp. We're cracked," Tiger's Eye said.

"No, I know what you're thinking but she's here to help. Off-Colors, meet White Diamond. White Diamond, meet the Off-Colors" Steven "introduced".

Though, introduction might not be the right word. The Off-Colors and Lars knew darn well who White Diamond was, even if looking the way she did right there. Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond weren't present at the moment, leaving only White Diamond standing there and looking to the Off-Color group.

"... Hello," White said, sounding a bit less sure of herself than usual.

…

"AAH! It's White Diamond!" Padparadscha suddenly screamed, making Lars stumble off his own feet from the shock and White Diamond actually taking a step back.

"No Padparadscha, it's okay," insisted Steven. White Diamond tried to keep together, though even with her white makeup covering as well as it could, Tiger's Eye began seeing a tiny little detail.

"Hold on … is she … blushing?"

"They still see it!" White thought, hand on her cheek as if trying to hide that same blushing again.

"White, it's okay, you can show it," Steven said. "We're all friends here, there's no shame in it."

White Diamond paused briefly, looking to the Off-Colors for a moment. They did look a bit curious, but not disgusted all too much with the blush on her face. White was reluctant, but her hands did eventually begin to wipe away the blush, revealing the full pink coloration on her face. The Off-Colors were left stunned.

"Off-Color …? Like us …?" wonder the Rutile twins.

"This is so embarrassing," White thought, as she looked down to the Off-Colors. The others took a bit to take this in, but gutsy Tiger's Eye just had to get a closer look for herself. Before anyone could say anything, she bolted forward and started climbing up White Diamond's body (freaking White out a little), and the agile Gem got right up to her face.

"Hmm … yep, it's a real blush," said Tiger's Eye, "You feeling alright?"
White Diamond covered her face, though it did knock Tiger's Eye off in the process, the Gem grabbing White's arm.

"This is ridiculous. Just come back in a minute, and I'll be better presentable," White insisted. She went to turn away, but she found Fluorite had already moved in her way. White Diamond kept her hands up, but Fluorite reared back onto her final back legs, actually standing fairly tall. Tall enough to reach White's hand and gently move them away.

"None of us asked you to go. You don't have to leave if you don't want to."

"B-But I'm not ready. I know you're Off-Color and all, a-and you're more used to this but -" White Diamond stopped when she saw Fluorite's understanding eyes. It was something she didn't notice before, but there was something that made her more comforting as she looked to her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with being … different, from everyone else," Fluorite said. White Diamond looked away from Fluorite towards Steven, who himself had a smile and a thumbs up in agreement to Fluorite. White needed to get her act together if she was gonna try to be better at this.

"I … alright. I just need to calm down," White concluded, trying to ease her mind to do just that.

"So basically this is Rhodonite again?" Tiger's Eye asked Steven.

"She's still a bit new to this Tiger, it's gonna be a bit until she's used to it," replied Steven.

"Eh, okay if you say so. You're the one that went with her, not me," Tiger's Eye shrugged.

Steven and Pink Diamond stood aside, as White Diamond was being spoken to by the Off-Colors, both sides having a sense of caution but curious about one another. White wasn't gonna go on a killing spree now, not in the middle of the festivities. Lars went over to Steven, giving him a sort of playful punch to the shoulder. White Diamond may have some way to go, but this was a good start.

…….

"Oh clod, t-they're back already?! Whatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedo?"

"We're almost done with the transfer, just go tell Grogar what's up."

"And have him mad at me, you tell him!"

"Oh be quiet and help me with this."
> Enraged Marriage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good morning Beach City!"

Those four words was what kickstarted Steven's day. All that time during the festival was fun and all yesterday, and no doubt he will go back and check on it again at some point, but it'd been long enough since he chilled back in his old territory. The Beach House was kept pretty clean since he last saw the place, which was plenty good for him as he didn't want to end up going through the trouble of cleaning up the house himself. Not that it minded too much.
So, after getting himself up and about, it was off to his morning routine, namely cleaning himself up (something he didn't have too much time to do while galivanting off into space). It was as typical as a morning routine would go for him: a good warm shower with some good ol' singing, and with that done some good drying off, and then getting his clothes on. But as he was going on to brush his teeth and freshen up, Steven looked into the mirror in front of him after brushing his teeth, just seeing his reflection ...

"Oh, morning, Steven. Haven't got a good look at you since your big trip through outer space," said Steven.

"Yeah, I know," said Steven. Again, "But it does feel great to have all of the Diamond Authority now on our side. And it's all thanks to you!"

"Oh shucks, it wasn't anything special, all it did was start a whole new era and helped White Diamond, what's so big about that?" Steven said bashfully, waving it off. A little bit of silence hung in the air for a bit until he started to just laugh.

"Okay, Mr. Universe, let's not let this get to your head," Steven said, going back to his morning routine. He took a seat and lifted up his shirt, taking a cloth and wiping clean his gemstone to give it a little shine and reflection. Despite just saying what he did, he still gave a grin as he looked to the gemstone.

"Well mom, Earth is safe and all the diamonds like what you tried to do. I dunno if you can see through me, but I hope you're loving this as much as I am," Steven said to his gemstone. Thinking on that, the old Pink Diamond would very much love this if the new Pink Diamond was as accurate to the original as she was made to be. Before he went out, Steven paused and looked to his reflection again.

"Everything's looking up," Steven sighed, almost dreamily, resting an elbow on the sink. No one could really blame him for thinking that, all things considered. The only real thing to worry about now were Corrupted Gems and the occasional magic monster, both of which Steven tango'd with more than enough times to consider it less of a threat and more of a day job. He just stayed there for a bit more, until a little signal from his stomach told him what to do next.

"Alright, I'll feed you. Hmm. Maybe I can introduce the diamonds to a batch of donuts! Boy, hope Dewey can make that kind of delivery," Steven figured. What better time to do that crazy idea than during the festival? After all, the festival still had a few more days to it. However, as he was about to find out, that might have to be put on hold for just a little bit.

"So you think we got enough party favors?"

"I say there's about enough to work. It covers everyone in our team and then some."

It's impressive how fast some things can happen while someone was in the bathroom. While waking up shown no one with Steven, now there were a few of his pals now with a box of party favors. For this morning it was Star Quartz, Sapphire, Rarity, and Applejack.

"Morning Steven. Glad to see you're awake," said Sapphire.

"Sapphire!" Steven gasped, "I didn't know you were gonna be here this morning! … Uh, where's Ruby?"

"Let's just say Rubidot wanted to try out for the art contest this afternoon. And yes, I'm okay about it. I got my proof right here," Sapphire explained, showing the wedding ring. So long as she and Ruby had those rings, Sapphire had nothing to worry about.

"Cool, maybe I'll run into her when I get to the festival. Hey, you guys want anything from the Big Donut? I'm going all out today," Steven offered.

"None for me, but if you can, perhaps get a dozen for the celebration if you're heading that way?" Rarity asked, referring to the preparations they were doing.

"Oh so all that is for the festival," Steven concluded, going over to see what the stuff included. The exact party favors didn't really include a big pinkie party, but looked like more formal items actually. Before anyone could say anything else, they all then heard a knock coming from the door. Steven was the one to go and answer it.

"Good mor -" Steven was cut short by who actually showed up. And the Gem herself was probably about as confused about the meeting as Steven was, as she sorta invited herself in. She looked primped and pretty as a Gem of her class should, but there was still something a little bit … what's the word … rotten?

"And a fare "good mor" to you as well, Steven. … See the base hasn't gone through much alteration since I last saw it.  And it's still using this Earth wood?"

"Aquamarine?" Steven wondered. Yes, the same Aquamarine they've grown "familiar" with, teardrop gemstone and all. Aquamarine herself just was going along around the.

"Yes, that's me. Shocking to be in my presence, I know."

"Uh, I suppose so but, what're you doing here? Of all the Gems, I'd expect you to be the last to want to visit," Rarity asked, being more honest about things here.

"I'm more than aware of that, thank you," said Aquamarine, "But apparently something called me here, and it was seemingly under strict orders. Ah, but alas I have to do what the highest authority instructs me to. … Even if it means returning to this mess of a quarry. Again."

"Called you? … Hey, maybe it's about this celebration going on," Steven figured, referring to the box of party favors. Aquamarine looked to the box in question, and suddenly she was starting to feel less disgusted.

"OH, so that's the idea. Well I dunno why they didn't say this was for me. I mean, why wouldn't it be? Though, I would suggest making a few more of those … whatever it is," Aquamarine advised.

"Hate to burst your bubble," said Applejack, "But this ain't for you."

"... well. … Then what is this for?"

"We're uh … wait, what are these for? Sapphire? You told us this was for something, but you never said what that might be," Rarity realized. The others looked over to Sapphire, who was still smiling a bit about … something? Whatever involved the party favors mainly. Then Sapphire's gemstone then started to glow slightly, and soon a small object appeared within Sapphire's hand. A bit chilly perhaps, but still in one piece in the form of a letter.

"Because of this," Sapphire revealed. Star Quartz grew the most curious over the letter, having a vague idea of it thanks to the whole Gem Wedding involvement. Sapphire willingly gave it to her, and she went and opened it right up to see what the news was.

"Hmm … You are in … uh in … in-invited! To the … the uh … enraged marriage. … What's an enraged marriage?"

"I think you mean "Arranged Marriage"," said Applejack.

"Oh … what's an Arranged Marriage?" Star Quartz asked again.

"Well it's like a normal marriage, except your parents pick the bride or groom that they like before someone can try their luck with you," said Applejack.

"Wait. Is that what that is? …" Sapphire asked, actually surprised.

"Didn't you already know, Sapphire?" Rarity asked. Sapphire actually was a little embarrassed. Maybe she should've looked into what an "arranged marriage" actually was before getting all excited over it. There still was one important question though.

"So who's getting married?" Steven asked. Star Quartz looked back to the letter, but she didn't answer right away. This made some a bit more curious than probably needed to be, and … well, they were a bit shocked. Except for possibly Sapphire and Star Quartz.

"Well, who is it? I don't have all day, you know," Aquamarine questioned. Rarity, Steven, and Applejack were a bit quiet, just … staring at Aquamarine for a little bit more. Before they could give any proper answer, the warp pad activated behind them. The user this time was Emerald, him seemingly just getting back from a good time at the festival according to the amount of party stuff he had already. Just as well, he also had some headphones in and listening to some music, dancing his way off of the warp pad.

"I wanna party, and live my life.~ I wanna party - partae - and FLY," Emerald sang. Copyright or not, he didn't care he liked it. Aquamarine was left a bit taken aback, but not pleased at all for seeing HIM. Eventually though, Emerald did end up seeing the group standing there.

"Oh, morning guys. Some party right? … Hello?"

Not an exact response from the group at first, but Emerald did notice that Steven's face of blank shock was slowly turning to that of joy, a smile growing bigger as his eyes sparkled.

"You guuuyyyyyys! Why didn't you tell me?!" Steven beamed.

"Tell you what? What's the hubbub about?" Emerald asked, taking off the headphones briefly. And Star Quartz provided the big news …

"I think I should be the first to congratulate you. On your marriage. Since you two are getting married."

…….

"WHAT?!?!"

That screech could possibly be enough to shake up the entire beach house. Aquamarine and Emerald. MARRIED?! HOW?! Emerald was left frozen stiff and almost horrified as Aquamarine felt a bit more disgusted than anything.

"M-m-married? Wait, what?! I mean - … WHAT?!"

"You're getting married?" Steven asked.

"We heard what you said, you bloomin clod! Let me see that," Aquamarine demanded, her wand coming out and grabbing the letter for her so she could ready it over word for word, Emerald looking too. But it was all there:

You are hereby invited to the arranged marriage of Aquamarine and Emerald.

"Now wait a minute," Emerald said, "This could literally by ANY Aquamarine and Emerald anywhere in the galaxy, it doesn't mean us."

"No, it's you two," insisted Star Quartz.

"Oh really? And how can you be so sure?" Aquamarine asked.

"Because I arranged the marriage."

… OKAY THEN.

"WHAT?! WHY?! I barely even know that floating pixie stick, why would I marry her?!" Emerald snapped. Star looked a bit confused.

"But you called her your girlfriend … didn't you?"

"WHEN? Give me the day, the minute, the second you heard me say that!" Emerald insisted.

And she did.


(flashback)


*BAM*

Another group off at another festival game, this time being a bit close to sunset. Garnet, Lapis, and Pearl wandered around the area just in time to see their shooting gallery get underway. It was something they did have to work out only within the training grounds in accordance to Yellow Pearl's instruction, so in a sense it wasn't that much different from the normal training sessions done on Homeworld.
And Flint was killin it on his turn against Emerald and Starlight Glimmer. Sure his opponents were a decent shot, but Flint was shooting the targets left and right like it was no big deal. He was mainly using the "guns" provided though - they really were just BB guns - but it worked just as well for him either way. Once he was done he turned to the others nearby, which included Peridot, Applejack, Trixie, Star Quartz, and a group of Homeworld Gems close by seeing how this worked. One of which included -

"Isn't it my turn yet?"

"Aquamarine?! What're you doing here?" Lapis asked on seeing her nearby. Her memory never brought up any actual idea that Aquamarine of all Gems would be interested in shooting galleries. And yes, it was the same Aquamarine with a teardrop for a Gemstone that was there and not just some other Aquamarine sitting there and watching bullets and magic beams fly with some interest. Not as much as some of the other Homeworld Gems, but interest either way.

"Oh, you decided to observe? Not that it's any of your business, but As a matter of fact, one of your friends wanted to challenge me to this shooting gallery," Aquamarine said, amused someone did challenge her at all to, well, anything. "He actually thinks he can beat me in this, can you believe that?"

"He, huh?" Lapis thought a bit on this. The only real he's in the Harmony Gems were Spike, Flint, Emerald, and Steven. Spike and Steven weren't even there to begin with, so it was either Flint or Emerald that challenged her.

"And … where's Topaz?" Lapis asked, sitting next to her now.

"Nothing important," Aquamarine shrugged off. Topaz could be anywhere and Aquamarine honestly wouldn't have much care for it. 

"So, that's all there is to it," Flint concluded, once he was finished, "Just aim at the target and try to get to the center of the circle. So, who's first?"

"Do we have to use those sticks?" one of the Era 1 Peridots asked, pointing to the object.

"You just saw me use my horn, so no. Just make sure whatever you use doesn't explode or ricochet onto someone else," Starlight advised. They didn't want to poof anyone during this festival. Suddenly as the two were distracted, Emerald decided to slip in a few extra shots in the form of a few smaller hexagons, marking at least four of them hitting the target.

"Winning. That's winning," he said.

"Ha ha ha, you know we're done with our turn right?" Flint questioned.

"I didn't hear anyone call the winner's horn," said Emerald smugly, "Besides you're the one's that stopped to chat while I'm over here being awesome." and to prove his point he had his back turned to the target and threw a hexagon behind him. … It completely missed, sending the target spinning a little bit.

"Smooth," said Trixie, Peridot laughing as only then Emerald realizing his little goof-up. Here was when Garnet and Pearl started coming over, catching their attention.

"Oh, howdy," said AJ.

"Howdy. Saw your performance out there Flint. Impressive," said Garnet, giving Flint a thumbs up. Flint didn't really feel like it was too much trouble though, spinning the BB gun in hand.

"It's hardly much. Feels more like a test of persistence than accuracy to me," Flint said, giving the party gun to Applejack. The only trouble was how many times he can click the trigger to keep up, if anything at all. Then did he look to the others.

"Anyway, who else wants to try?" Flint offered, "Just don't shoot eachother and anyone can give it a try."

"Well it's about time," Aquamarine said.
Flint stepped aside as some of the others began to bring themselves in to try, either getting a BB gun or just bringing whatever else they got to the party. He just went over towards Garnet as this was going on, the fusion of Sapphire and Ruby already getting some ideas flowing in her head. Those by the shooting gallery were more about ready to go, lining up with their own sets of two to match up. And it didn't really take long to find out who did challenge her, as Emerald and Aquamarine stood side by side with eachother, Emerald with hexagons and Aquamarine with her wand.

"So Emerald challenged Aquamarine," concluded Garnet.

"He REALLY wanted to rub a win into someone "higher up the food chain", and Aquamarine just happened to be there," concluded Peridot, who rather than get herself into it was actually having something her own version of the Metallixer. She'd go in there too, but she really didn't want to end up risking the chance of losing to Emerald and having him rub that win in her face for the next half an hour.

"So you enjoying the festival Garnet?" Flint asked Garnet, as he observed the others.

"I'm doing alright. Though I haven't seen you around the actual festival or the royal ball."

"I've been busy Garnet, you know that. You're all here having fun, someone has to keep up with things," Flint said. Garnet just smiled to him.

"I know, I know. Though you should try to enjoy yourself a little bit. You were just having fun while playing this game here."

"I was just trying to make sure no one shoots themselves, that's all," Flint insisted, seeing some of the Peridots trying to work out how to even hold the BB gun properly, Starlight quickly getting the weapon in the right direction before she could shoot a BB into her eye. Garnet adjusted her shades with a knowing smile.

"Whatever you say," Garnet simply said. Flint didn't bother going into that any further, his mind already preoccupied as it is. With Grogar's presumed "robbery" going through his mind he was left a bit on edge, but for the sake of the others and what they wanted to do he didn't really say much about it.
There wasn't too much time to work with that though. Off nearby, Emerald and Aquamarine were in the heat of the moment. Sure many of them were doing a fairly decent job at shooting, and Emerald and Aquamarine were surprisingly no different but while emerald was putting his efforts in his hexagon throws, Aquamarine was making it look way too easy. Emerald at one point made a multi-shot, and launched a well-aimed hexagon at one target, it bouncing off it and onto another, and landing on a third. A ricochet of three hits in one go.

"OOO. BOOM! Three in a row!" Emerald exclaimed, like winning a combo in a video game (which in a way this did feel like it to him).

"You make it sound like that's impressive," Aquamarine remarked, readying her wand. Three in one shot just didn't cut it for the fairy Gem.

"Yeah yeah, just you try to -"

Top it was what he was gonna finish with, but Aquamarine was quick to oblige. But instead of just three, with some focused working, she got her shot to blast around up to seven in one go! And to make sure no one forgot it or mistook, that shot came with a blue line from point A to point B. Aquamarine had a smug grin on her face, even more so when she saw Emerald's look of disbelief.

"HACKER!" Emerald shouted. The tables had officially turned.

"Oh no did I upset you? Look, I'm getting emotional. I'm crying," Aquamarine said, looking sad as she pointed to her gemstone. "... HA! Just kidding! That's my gem."

"Woooow, that joke wasn't even any clever. Wonder how Blue Diamond deals with Ms.pixie stick every day?"

Aquamarine took the mockery in stride, finding a comfortable spot on top of Garnet's head (whether she wanted it or not), "Ha! Blue Diamond's lucky to have me, I can more than easily handle any challenge without even lifting a finger."

"Yeah yeah, keep talking Dollface," said Emerald, "you only won because you fiddle with your pixie stick all day."

"DOLLFACE?!" Aquamarine flew off of Topaz's head and was standing face to face with Emerald, "How dare you, I'M a royal court supreme leader! What part of my perfection looks so much like this doll?"

This statement barely fazed Emerald, who was enjoying the reactions Aquamarine was shooting at him though some really didn't know what she was talking about. She was royal court material sure, but not supreme leader.

"Come on, look at you -" he began by lifting up one side of Aquamarine's hair to show the side of her head. "- you got no ears, -" he then released her hair and pointed to the middle of her eyes. "- I don't see any nose, -" Aquamarine rubbed the spot where he poked like it was diseased, and Emerald brought his hand suddenly was holding her skirt! "- and come on, your outfit screams "school girl"!"

Aquamarine took flight and was suddenly above him just enough to look down at him. OH, the blue pixie Gem can easily arm up and shoot back, and she knew where to start.

"Well at least I came out right."

"What?"

"Look at yourself -" her wand beamed out a beam from the tip of it to the ground like a ruler. "- You barely hit three feet, -" the light retracted as her hands grabbed one of his sleeves. "- your uniform's in complete shreds, -" she did release the uniform but suddenly she had one of his spikes, "-and I don't even KNOW what this is!"

"THAT'S a mohawk, THIS is just a style, and I'm still taller than you!" retorted Emerald.

"Well I'm still how I'm supposed to look, and I look better than any other Aquamarine out there. I mean just look at me," Aquamarine said, giving a wink and a smug grin as she landed by him.

"So you're supposed to look like a midget with butterfly wings," Emerald shot back.

"Exact - wait, NO!"

"NOPE, you said it, you admit it!" Emerald said smugly in his mockery, feeling good only for a brief moment.
As all of this was happening, this whole argument did take aback the few off nearby.

"Is Emerald … arguing with someone? This feels weird," said Lapis.

"I know. … You want some?" offered Peridot some of the metallixer, as if this was a show itself. Lapis refused right away as Aquamarine and Emerald kept going at one another.

"Blabber your nonsense all you want, all you're doing is proving my point that you're a low-class barbarian."

"Oh yeah, well you're proving my point that you're a -" and then Aquamarine went right for the throat, and suddenly she had her hand up right in his face, her eyes closed and turning away from him. THAT DID IT.

"OH, OHHH, YOU DID NOT JUST GIVE ME THE HAND! OH, OH, OH IT'S ON NOW GIRLFRIEND!"

"Girlfriend?" Star wondered. But before any of them could do anything else, the metallixer that Peridot had weas suddenly levitated out of her hands, and Emerald shot it right at Aquamarine. The pompous pixie princess suddenly found her head covered in grey liquid and an empty cup. When she lifted the cup off her head Emerald was met with such an angry expression that could kill.

"So it's a fight you want. Well I have a few tactics of my own!"

… which was just her using her wand to levitate one of Starlight's magic shots and slamming it on Emerald's head.

"If you're not gonna fight a clean fight, then neither am I!"

And in the end it was just a kid-style rumble, Emerald jumping at Aquamarine and the two going at it. The situation was an odd one, Aquamarine being too regal for a physical brawl, and Emerald hardly known to really blow his top like this. But yet this was happening pretty roughly.

"Hey!" Lapis quickly got in between the two before this fight could get out of hand. As all of this was going on, Star Quartz slowly started to think more and more, namely about the exclamation Emerald shouted. With these questions coming up in her head, she took her action and jumped off.

"Hey hey Star! Where're you going?! I can't watch you if I can't see you!" Peridot shouted. This made Star Quartz come right on back.

"Sorry mom," Star said … as she picked up Peridot and bolted off again. Peridot only yelped as she was pretty much taken away like that, yet the others didn't really seem all that spooked. Garnet watched Peridot and Star Quartz go off, and as she was, Garnet started to think. …

"He REALLY wanted to rub a win into someone "higher up the food chain", and Aquamarine just happened to be there."

Those words though. Garnet began to understand what was going on now. Or rather, what will be going on, and her muffled giggles were just about caught by one of the others.

"What's so funny?" Applejack asked. Garnet recovered herself.

"Oh nothing. You'll see tomorrow morning."


(end Flashback)


"WAIT! … WAIT. It's coming back to me now," Emerald said, now fully remembering the whole ordeal.

"You and your big mouth!" Aquamarine snapped. The Gem pixie tried to calm down and then turned to Star and said in a calmer voice "Star is it? If you'd be so kind as to cancel this "arranged marriage" of yours so we can all get back to our normal lives, that would be grand."

Silence.

"... There … is a way to stop this," said Aquamarine. Hopefully.

"Why would there be a way out of a marriage?" Star questioned, scratching her head. Did their anger really fly over her head? Whether it did or not, the message seemingly was pretty clear. And Aquamarine wasn't having any of it.

"Why you little -" Aquamarine was just about to zap away with her wand but Applejack quickly jumped in the way.

"Alright, everybody calm down!" Applejack said, "There is a way outta this without destroying the house!"

"... Go on," Aquamarine said, retracting the wand. Applejack never thought she would see the day when a marriage would have to be stopped, and by extension neither did anyone else, but in this extremely rare case that might make things a bit better for all of them.

"Alright, first off this is recent news and can change anytime. Star, how many did you tell?" Applejack asked. Star Quartz thought it over.

"All of our friends. … And maybe the diamonds," Star Quartz replied. Rarity had to yank the wand out of Aquamarine's hand before she could send the gem flying into space without a spaceship, and Steven had to keep Emerald held back just in case he would try anything.

"Well that explains why Aquamarine got the message," concluded Rarity, "But if you don't want this wedding we'll have to … have to …"

"Spit it out already!" Emerald said. Rarity took a deep breath, preparing her nerves for what she had to say.

"A … d-divorce." A cold shiver went through the entire room just upon mention of that very word, and Steven had that look as if that was such a horrid crime.

"Divorce. … divorce … what's that again? I swore I heard that somewhere before," Emerald asked. Rarity shivered again, but AJ decided to be more of the rock in the situation, despite being unnerved about it herself.

"To sum up, a divorce is to … well … uh, un-marriage a marriage. You know, to break up a bride and groom."

"Perfect!" said Aquamarine. "how do you do it? The sooner I'm back with Topaz at Homeworld the better."

"HOLD IT, we can't just throw a divorce your way! It's so … evil," Steven said, finding it very hard just even thinking about it.

"Trust me, I know, but sounds like it's all we got to do. Come on, y'all, let's see the Diamonds and see what we can do," Applejack decided.

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Aquamarine asked. This time it was Sapphire who answered, but not until after most of them had already left.

"You two will figure it out. for now. We'll leave you two to get acquainted," Sapphire decided. A bit odd, but neither could predict the future. So, now Aquamarine and Emerald were just … well, there. The two just stood there for a bit, side by side.

"... So … you ... wanna go and get some hot coco or somethin?"

"You must be joking," Aquamarine scoffed. "We're being forced to marriage and the firs thing you think of is getting some "Co Co"? And what even is this "Co Co"?"

"You got a better idea?" Emerald questioned.

…


~~~~~~


"Coming right up."

Aquamarine would've never guessed she would just end up here. With no other option but to wait, Emerald and Aquamarine went off to the Big Donut to get some of this hot coco of theirs. Sure it wasn't their specialty, but given it being autumn and all, it was more of a seasonal thing.

"So this is one of the Earth establishments," Aquamarine said, looking around a little bit. She wasn't even remotely impressed by much of it, being so used to high-class pizazz and all that.

"Yeah, it's no homeworld classy, but it gets the job done," shrugged Emerald, "Besides, you know how much it would cost for a standard cup of joe elsewhere?"

"I could care less for earth currency … but for the heck of it, how much?"

"Ok get this: FIVE. BUCKS. Five bucks for a standard, barely tasty cup of hot coco from Stardoes, and we get the better tasting cup of joe here for a buck fifty."

"... First of all: I don't know what male deer and beings named "joe" have to do with this beverage. THAT, and what difference would it make getting it here than there if it the same thing?"

Emerald had to actually be impressed that she would know what a deer even was, let alone what a make deer was even called. But then again, she did spend at least some time on Earth after being stuck on White Diamond's Space Station, so perhaps she did pick at least a few things up.

"About four bucks and fifty cents difference, babe."

"Don't call me babe!"

"Rather be called a pixie stick?" Emerald questioned. Aquamarine just kept quiet, just as Sadie came back with the beverages in questions.

"Here you go, and added some extra sugar to it," Sadie said with a wink. Emerald, licking his lips, was more than happy to take his own "cup o joe", but Aquamarine wasn't so thrilled. It looked brown, hot, and above all just not too appetizing. As she flew off with the cup, Lars looked to Emerald.

"Hey Emerald, who's your friend?" Lars asked, "I swore I've seen her somewhere before."

"She's one of those high-strung Gems from Homeworld, Aquamarine. Can't tell you much but I can tell you this, she's gonna be hanging with me for the day. … Being my fiancé and all," Emerald replied. The news kinda struck hard, almost making Sadie and Lars stumble back. Aquamarine blushed a prominent blue on hearing that.

"Fiancé? You're getting married?!" Sadie gasped. "When did this happen?"

"About five minutes ago."

"... Huh?"

"If you must know, humans," Aquamarine said, not thrilled by the by, "One of your "Crystal Gems" -"

"Harmony Gems, we had a name change since last winter," corrected Emerald.

"I don't care - had set me and Emerald up for one of your "Arranged Marriages" because someone thought it would be a thrill to call me his girlfriend!"

"I was raging, give me a break!" Emerald retorted, before calming down and adding "So now we're waiting on Steven, Applejack and their company to get this fixed before we walk down the isle."

"Dang," said Sadie, "... Well, good luck with that I guess."
Luck was something they both were gonna need, given how many already know about it. So, with the coco in hand, and it being paid for, Aquamarine and Emerald found a seat by one of the tables just outside. Aquamarine of course was still fuming about the whole thing.

"What did I do to deserve this? My position as a royal court Aquamarine, and suddenly I'm stuck on this miserable rock. What a load of nonsense. And Emerald? I blame you for this."

"You and me both," Emerald groaned, taking a sip of the hot coco. Perhaps it was the added sugar, but he was already feeling pretty good. Aquamarine took a look to her own cup, so what else was a bored Gem to do? She held her cup, pinkie extended like the high class Gem she was, took a gulp and -

"GAH! *COUGH**COUGH* What the devil?!" she snapped, her mouth on fire from the hot drink. Emerald was just seconds away from spewing his own hot chocolate, but he didn't manage to swallow his before laughing like crazy.

"THAT FACE!" Emerald laughed. That bulgy-eyed shocked look with puffed cheeks the second it struck her was an image he would surely keep in his mind.

"You trying to shatter me?!" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"No, no, you just don't gulp down coco," Emerald said, feeling a lot better seeing that reaction. "Here, just sips, watch."
And Emerald then went on to demonstrate, taking some small sips of the coco instead of gulps like Aquamarine did. You'd think such a high-class Gem would know this already, but drinks were never a common sight on Homeworld. So Aquamarine, taking her pride into account, tried the challenge again and this time went at it a bit slower. Sure it was still hot, but a lot more tolerable this time … and actually pretty good. A bit sweet, and maybe a slight buzz from the sugar, but good either way. Aquamarine's eyes actually sparkled from the flavor, but they were gone pretty quick when she saw Emerald's knowing grin.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop," Aquamarine stated, putting the cup down and pretending like it wasn't anything fancy.

"Yeah yeah, just learn to not be so jumpy," Emerald said. Aquamarine was fuming, but a little idea went through her head too. Using her wand, as Emerald was having another drink, Aquamarine simply angled the cup a little bit higher, and a bit quicker, making emerald gulp the hot drink instead of sipping it. Emerald gagged and coughed, his mouth burning up as it was Aquamarine's turn to give some smug grin of her own.

"Why, Emerald, what got into you all of a sudden?" Aquamarine asked, resting her elbow on the table.

"Oh clam it," Emerald coughed. Aquamarine just gave him a closed mouth kind of giggle. And here Emerald though it would only be him playing games today. However, despite all of this, there still was another factor. And this factor was flying their way.

"Incoming! Clear the way!" Coming in from the air, Rainbow Dash was making her landing. Typically the Pegasus was an ace flyer, and at first Emerald and Aquamarine didn't really seem too worried. But as she was flying in, and flying fast, Emerald reacted just quick enough to get out of the way. Aquamarine though wasn't so quick, and suddenly she found herself stuck underneath a injured Rainbow Dash, and a mess of the table and chairs.

"Get. Off," Aquamarine said. Rainbow Dash did get off eventually, but she didn't have much time.

"You okay? You're not really known for crash landing," Emerald asked.

"I'm not too known for a busted up wing either," said Rainbow Dash, showing a rather nasty looking mark on her wing. Not exactly the scar the Everstorm left her, but a newer cut that made her wing a bit more stiff. Emerald stepped back.

"Geesh, what happened there?" Emerald asked.

"Tell ya later after I clobber that thing!" Rainbow Dash said. She may be down, but she was not out and even with her busted wing she took off into the air again back the direction she came. As she was flying though, she then found her tail stuck in another one of Aquamarine's wand beams.

"Hold on, you think you can just fly into me and get away with it?" Aquamarine questioned.

"Yeah, no, I dunno," Rainbow said, not really thinking about it at the moment, "Look, let me go, I got a monster to fight! We'll talk later!"

*GRAAAHHHH*

That noise was just enough of a distraction for Rainbow to whack the wand and get that hold off of her tail, the Pegasus flying straight away towards the fight. Even with a injured wing she still was pretty quick.

"How dare you, GET BACK HERE!" Aquamarine demanded, but it wasn't much use.

"Sounds like another monster fight. We got time to kill, why don't we check it out?"

"Oh that's funny. Because typically when you hear a scream like that you -" Aquamarine was cut short when she realized Emerald was already gone.

"Seriously?!"


~~~~~~


*BAM!*

And what a fight to be had, the adversary slamming Jasper into the nearest wall. While Rainbow Dash was off handling her own, whoever remained for this mission was still stuck in quite the tussle all of their own. This monster in particular was dangerously close to Beach City literally just along the coast, which was what prompted the group in the first place (one of those rare times a mission came to them).
As for what this adversary is this time, the creature was standing up off the coasts in the shallow waters of the sea. Its skin was a deep red, scaly like a koi fish. In fact, much of the pattern did look a bit like the said fish, but the body looked more saurian than fish, a mix of a shark and a tyrannosaur to make up the bulk of it.

"Dang, that thing isn't giving up. Been a while since we had a decent fight," said Bismuth, helping Jasper up to her feet just in time to dodge another charge from the monster, the beast slamming into the rocky wall of the coast. Jasper spat out a bit of dirt.

"About time too," Jasper said, wiping away some stray dirt from her face. "Keep it from reaching Beach City and we'll be good."

"How you wanna do it? Fun way or creative way?" Bismuth asked, her hand turning into a hammer as the monster started to move closer towards them both.

"Let's have some fun, why not?" Jasper decided. The monster lunged for them both, the two leaping away from the attack, though this aquatic rex was a bit quick reacting, its large tail swinging to try and strike Bismuth, the buff Gem knocking it back with a good hammer swing. The beast tried chomping on Jasper with about as much success.

"Room for one more?!" called another voice, just to fly in and buck the animal in the head. Rainbow Dash was back in the game, the beast roaring in discomfort to the strike. It tried going for a bite, but Rainbow was just too quick for it even with a bite already in her wing.

"Think you can still fight with that wing, RD?" Bismuth asked.

"This ain't nothin," Rainbow replied, "So what did we decide?"

"The fun way. Give that corrupted Gem a few tailspins," Bismuth said, twirling her finger.

"YES! Alright, one, two -"

"PONY!"

Well this fight was in a bit of a halt for Rainbow Dash, Aquamarine's yelling heard just enough for all of them to hear. She wasn't gonna let this slide without some sort of proper punishment, no matter what the excuse was. As if she didn't notice the creature right there - though most likely she didn't care - she flew right up towards Jasper, Bismuth, and Rainbow Dash.

"I never said we were finished! First you crash into me like a dunce, and next you kick me to get away? I demand an apology."

"Sorry, I'm a little busy here," Rainbow insisted. The beast huffed down Aquamarine's "neck" to acknowledge her it existed, but that proved to be a little mistake.

"Oh for the love a -"

It only took about fifteen seconds for what would happen next: Aquamarine got out her wand and just before the monster could chomp her and gulp her down, Aquamarine aimed the wand behind her and zapped the beast into submission, making it stuck frozen stiff in the beam. All she had to do was just flick the wrist, and the aquatic dinosaur was thrown clear off shore, easily a good fifty to sixty feet off shore before it slammed down into the water. Fight and distraction over.

"Don't look too busy anymore," Aquamarine said, brushing her hands off, "Now where were we?"

"What the - you're gonna have to deal with that monster later now," Jasper retorted, apparently not satisfied with this result.

"So deal with it later," retorted Aquamarine. Emerald came out shortly afterwards when the coast was clear, a bit annoyed to "miss the fight".

"What're you even doing here?" Jasper questioned.

"You wanna tell em or me?" Emerald offered. Aquamarine just huffed.

"You do it," she decided, sorta "shooing" him into doing so. Emerald didn't want to but he just got it over with.

"Star Quartz got us stuck married together. I spouted out a "girlfriend" insult yesterday, she screwed up, and now they're trying to fix this so we don't need a pair of wedding rings."

At first the three were a bit quiet, but eventually there was some laughing, starting with Rainbow Dash.

"W-What?!" Bismuth laughed, "Star really was serious! Boy, how long was this coming? So tell me, how long were you two going steady?"

"It's not funny!" Aquamarine snapped, "Bad enough that I'm stuck on this rock, I don't need any of your mockery."

"You know you can just go back to Homeworld," suggested Jasper.

"I'd LOVE to, but circumstances forbids me. The Diamonds made strict orders for me to be here," Aquamarine answered. As contrived as all this nonsense even was, orders were orders. Rainbow Dash then looked out to the sea, knowing well where that monster had gone off to.

"Yeah, this is fun and all, but we got a monster to beat up!" Rainbow Dash reminded. Jasper then got it together, but it seemed Emerald was sensing some inner motives, slowly trying to slip away.

"Good to me," said Bismuth, "K Jasper, Rainbow, let's catch up and get that beast. And Emerald?"

"Dang it - yes?" Emerald asked, turning around fast to see Bismuth towering over him. However, she then gave him and Aquamarine a wink.

"Be seeing you two at the wedding ceremony tomorrow. You lovebirds you."

"What wedd - Bismuth wait!" no luck. The trio of fighters then went off out to sea, Rainbow Dash flying as Bismuth and Jasper just walked on. Aquamarine and Emerald were left dismayed, if not ticked off to high Cloudsdale.

"... Wedding Ceramony. They've made ... a wedding ceremony. COME ON!" Emerald then proceeded to slam his head onto the nearest rock wall. Aquamarine would do the same, but that would risk hurting her gemstone so she just went and kicked a few stones instead.

"I cannot believe this! Emerald, your friends better be competent enough to handle this. My perfection will NOT be tainted because of this!"

"Yeah, keep complaining, that'll help us out of this," Emerald groaned, removing his now gravel-covered face from the wall. It took a bit, but then Aquamarine started to become a bit more worried.

"Oh my stars, what if they can't stop this? Do I have to leave Homeworld for good? Because if I am, we need to talk about arrangements!"

Emerald grew pale. Living. With. Aquamarine. ...

"... K, I'm not waiting on them anymore! Aquamarine, for my sanity and yours, there's only one source that can help us in time before the ceremony!"

"And that would be?"

"The power of the Internet."


~~~~~~


So it was straight back to the Beach House from there. With Aquamarine still under orders to stay there with him, all she could do was fly with him back to said Beach House to this "power of the Internet" thing. Aquamarine just paced back and forth impatiently as Emerald was on Steven's bed, fiddling away on his iPhone to try and get some quick answer to this problem (and check his vids in the process, see how they were doing).

"Okay okay … let's see Mr. Internet," Emerald said to himself, looking through good ol' Flamefox to see what it had to offer, the main question he typed in being "how to get out of an Arranged Marriage within 24 hours".

"Did you find anything yet on that touch screen?" Aquamarine asked. Again.

"It's an iPhone, and not yet. Seriously, there's hundreds of links going every which way, you expect me to find it in one go?" Emerald retorted.

"Preferably. Whatever can make this idiotic situation gone that much faster," Aquamarine replied. Not entirely realistic, but Emerald just kept looking. Eventually …

"AHA! Here we go," Emerald exclaimed. Aquamarine flew right next to him, practically jumping on him to see what he had found. Emerald clicked the link in question, mostly leading to one of those "questions and answers" sites.

"K, let's see what we got here. … "The successful people learned to say No when they mean it's No. Failures mostly say yes even for a No. Because they are not very clear in the mind. If you are very clear no matter what no matter who it should be No."."

"... WHAT? We already did that, and that didn't work! Can't you make this just end?" Aquamarine retorted, yanking the iPhone out of Emerald's hand and seeing it for herself.

"Well what do you want me to do? I was just as blind-sided about this shtick as you are!"

"It doesn't matter what you say: this is your fault, therefore you have to take responsibility for your actions EMERALD," Aquamarine stated, giving the Gem almost a death glare. Emerald shivered, the tone easily matching a women scorn.

"Please. Don't say that in the way you did … I feel unclean," Emerald muttered, feeling a shiver go through him on that statement. Aquamarine didn't get the whole unclean bit, but didn't really care for it. 

"Clean or dirty, I expect this problem to be solved by now," Aquamarine insisted. Emerald was just fuming at this point: all day long of her griping about his mistake and barely making effort to fix it.

"You know what, if you want this done so quickly why not just fly your fairy butt to your Diamond and tell them so?" Emerald "suggested". However, Aquamarine didn't seem up to do that.

"Because one: I don't need to waste my Diamond's time in filing any complaints, especially since it was her who assigned me to come here in the first place, and two: why should I be the one to tell them when it should be you for making such a situation happen?"

"How many times are you gonna say that puffy?"

"Puffy? … Are you calling me fat?!" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"Well, that dress is looking a bit tight around the hips."

"WHY YOU LITTLE GREEN -"

*BAM!*

Aquamarine and Emerald were easily silenced with a ring of a loud pistol. It wasn't one that damaged much of the beach house, but it was aimed in a way that it flew right in between them, blowing up in their faces. As the smoke cleared, Aquamarine and Emerald were hugging eachother tight, shivering from the sudden blast.

"You finished I hope," said Flint, who at this point was readjusting his pistol off of smokescreen mode, back to normal mode as he was heading out from the back door. Emerald and Aquamarine looked to him, not saying anything at first, but eventually the fear was shaken off.

"I'm an idiot for asking, but WHY'D YOU SHOOT US?!" Emerald asked.

"There wasn't anyone else around to stop you from destroying the Beach House, so I finished the argument for you."

"But we weren't going to -" Flint simply gave them a look to get them to be quiet. Even Aquamarine was humbled by one of Flint's signature glares. Once things were quieted down, Flint spoke again.

"... So. Aquamarine's here today."

"Just under "strict orders", captain," Emerald said, both of them getting to their feet. Flint began to feel a bit more bothered by this answer, seeing Aquamarine and Emerald stuck together. Strange too how conflicted he was about all of this, hand to face as a exhale was heard. He WANTED to tell them something, but he just felt unable to. 

"... Very well then. Look, I'm gonna be going out for a bit, but I do NOT want to come back to a wrecked temple," Flint instructed.

"What position do you have to give me orders, sir?" questioned Aquamarine, "I'll have you know that I'm -"

"I don't care."

Nevermind. Flint didn't have much time to talk to them, as he went out through the Beach House door for, whatever the heck he was doing. It was Emerald and Aquamarine left to themselves again.

"How dare he treat me that way?! Oh my stars, are your friends ALWAYS this irritable? … Emerald?" Aquamarine turned to Emerald, who was still just staring off right towards the back room, right at the back door. The back door leading to every room of the original Crystal Gems. And when Aquamarine looked herself, she saw that there actually was a small crease still open to one of the rooms, as if it were left open by mistake. 

"... No. NO. Oooo, I ain't missin this!" Emerald beamed.

"Missing what?" Aquamarine question, not enthused as Emerald bolted right towards the back.

"Flint's room. Holy Luna, this is HUGE! I don't think anyone has actually seen his room yet. Just think of what kind of stuff he's got cooking in there? I bet it's something BIG," Emerald said, very excited.

"Wait a minute. … None of you? You're telling me Flint and only Flint has been in there?" Aquamarine asked, actually beginning to grow a bit curious. She may not have known Flint personally by any means, but word does get around. And as she saw the crease in the door, she began to wonder just what kind of Gem like Flint could have in there. …

"You wanna go exploring?" Emerald said smugly.

"I could use the entertainment. Let's."

The FIRST THING they agreed on all day long, and it was invasion of someone's personal space. It took some bit of work to make the door open up for them, but Emerald just managed to make it just big enough for him and Aquamarine to slip right on inside, the door closing behind them.
Now for a Gem room, many of the rooms were rather vast for the most part, with a bit of rocky or magical bit to tie it over. However, Flint's room was set up a bit differently than expected: a sort of flattened room seemingly made up of clean, "metal" wood along the floor. Nothing much in form of comfort in this room except for a couch off to the side, but there was indeed some work equipment for a Gem like Flint. In this case, a office desk with a line of filing cabinets, each one with a selected subject or a specific person in mind. One odd detail they saw was on the desk, a small cage with a bubbled gemstone inside could be seen. The Temple Gate door appeared more like an office door from the room's side.

"Huh. So this is his room. Geesh, I know he's acts all detective, but this is just cliché as ever," Emerald commented as he and Aquamarine looked around a bit. With the room not as big as others though, it didn't take Aquamarine very long until she began to examine some of the filing cabinets off nearby. Especially since many of these was special labels on each (in Gem writing by the by) that Aquamarine really started to get intrigued by.

"OH? And what do we have here?" Aquamarine said. Her question got Emerald's attention to the filing cabinets and saw the same labels. Aquamarine was already looking through one of these cabinets by the time Emerald went over with her.

"Looks like your "friend" has been keeping a lot of information on the rest of you," Aquamarine said, finding this very interesting as she was skimming through a number of the files. None of these appeared like projection screens, but more like actual paper files but information was still there either way.

"No way, really? Let me see one of those," Emerald said, having to levitate up on one of the hexagons he had to get to the proper level. The first one he grabbed and opened actually was one a bit closer to home, him reading it allowed because why the stars not.

"Amethyst, Colony; Facet-5 Cut-8XM, last Gem to be created on Earth post Gem War, deeply affiliated to life on Earth. Carefree highly mature. Has teenager-like demeanor, possibly human influence. Enjoys food of numerous sources, prefers spiced materials, Specialized properties: -" 
Emerald paused and saw an extra sticky note added, showing a past date and simply saying "look further into". He knew this was Amethyst right off the bat thanks to the picture of her clipped to the written reports, showing Amethyst with a smile, and tongue sticking out in her typical fun manor.
At this point Aquamarine then pulled out another file, this time one being that of a fellow court member.

"Lapis Lazuli, Colony; unknown, high ranking member of Blue Diamond royal court, but shown high level of traumatic experience. Still shows decent behavior however, yet past experience shows isolation. Specialized properties: water manipulation, flight, supernatural memory. … Boring," Aquamarine sighed, tossing the file aside out of boredom. Through pure luck (and contrivance), the file landed right back into the cabinet, as Emerald tried to find something neat out of this bunch. But then.

"Aww yeah, Peridot! Come on girl, give it to me," Emerald beamed. This oughta be good. …

"Peridot, Colony; Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, first created Peridot of her colony cut, Era 2 creation and prime Kindergartener. Has desire for attention and deep withdrawal in isolation or loss, even on a minuet level. Enjoys construct study, attention, and (recently) "metalixer" beverage … Dang it, I hoped for some embarrassing secrets or something," Emerald said, disappointed as he put the file back. "What kind of files even are these? There's barely a thing to work with here!"
An annoyed result really. But then Aquamarine noticed a little file that could give her a good laugh …

"Emerald, Colony; unknown -" she saw a similar sticky note saying "look further into", but continued anyway. "- Captain of Homeworld fleet pre-Diamond attack, deeply affiliated to life on Earth at current point. Mischievous teenage-like demeanor, possibly modernized influence. Enjoys "mangas" and casual time above responsibility -"

"HEY, hey, that ain't true!" Emerald quickly cut in, snatching the file before she could go any further. She already read through the rest though and already was giving Emerald a sort of smug grin.

"That weasel - how'd he even get this out of me?"

"Not too sure. Course I never knew you were scared of mannequin heads." Aquamarine said smugly.

"You will never understand the evil behind those eyes. K?" and with that he placed the folder of himself back into the cabinet. His method was a bit more sloppy though, the folder missing the cabinet and landing over onto the table, accidentally hitting the cage.  It didn't open the cage, but it did end up popping the bubble inside, the notable sound of delicate glass hitting the bottom of the cage getting both of their attention.

"K, I know what you're gonna say, and no I didn't mean to pop that bubble," Emerald said quickly.

"I was actually gonna remark about your trajectory being pathetic for a Emerald, but I guess that works too," Aquamarine said. But before either or could say anything else.

"Emerald! Aquamarine! ……. Must've gone out for a bit."

"Clod - hide!" and quick as a flash, Emerald grabbed Aquamarine (covering her mouth for good measure), and quickly scrambled for a place to hide. The only hiding spot anywhere was under the couch, which he had to kinda force himself and Aquamarine under just before the Gem door reopened again. And to their suspicions, in stepped Flint … who already saw, almost immediately, the unbubbled gem in the cage, and the extra file now on the desk.

"Those two. Why did I agree to this?" Flint wondered. Agree to what?

Well he can check on them later. For now, he got his essential - it looked like just a picture - and brought it over back to the desk. And then he opened the cage, gently placing the gemstone down onto the desk in front of him … as it started to reform.

"What's he doing?" Emerald quietly wondered, only for Aquamarine to cover his mouth instead.
A reformation normally would take a bit, but this time the reforming took a pretty short time, only about ten seconds at the shortest. Lucky for them and probably for Flint too, this gem was actually kinda small. As it was forming, Flint presented the picture in front of the figure for the Gem to look at, making sure that it was the only thing it could see. Neither Aquamarine nor Emerald could see what the picture actually was, but for a brief moment the Gem was almost trying to re-create whatever it was seeing. Flint stayed quiet, not wanting to disturb the gem.

"Come on, come on …"

*scree*

And just like that, the "animalistic side" of this corrupted Gem came shooting out. The humanoid shape quickly turned into an animal once again, looking less like a person and more like a insect of sorts, the four wings appearing almost dragonfly-like instead of what they would normally be. Whatever limbs disappeared from the body completely, the legs fusing into one pointed end. There was a dress on this form, but it still didn't exactly match the picture in question. The eyes were very big for the head, and where the straps would be turned into a pair of antenna.
And right away, not long after fully reforming, it began to bolt around the room for a bit, trying to find a way out. Flint, crumbling the picture, just make a small shot at the corrupted Gem, poofing her once again. The stone landed by Emerald and Aquamarine, Flint not noticing either as he picked it up.

"Well that's attempt number seven. That's enough for today," Flint groaned, rebubbling the Gem and placing it back in the cage. He sat down by the desk, seeing the folder briefly before getting out what seemed to be a list. And he crossed off yet another possible un-corruption method.

"And here I thought everything was in that book, but that Diamond HAD to complicate it further. There's got to be a way to beat this," Flint monologued, as he looked to the cage, "First corrupted Gems, then these magical monsters everywhere, if this isn't fixed soon there won't even be any time left to handle anything. …"

And then he saw the folder again, bringing it over to him. He would know if they were snooping in his room or not.

"And now I gotta juggle THIS nonsense around. Emerald and Aquamarine's wedding. All five diamonds, the whole Harmony Gems, and now practically half of Homeworld? I don't know why they're hyping this up but this wedding better be worth it or we're all gonna suffer for it. I'd better get going."

… What? Emerald and Aquamarine weren't the smartest, sure, but this was just enough information dropped by Flint to work out what was actually going on here. Flint eventually just sighed, getting back up and putting the folder and its contents back in its proper place. Flint went off from there and over towards the door, seemingly unaware of Aquamarine and Emerald overhearing him. The two simply looked to one another in silence, as they went out of the room (making sure Flint left through the Warp Pad first, of course).

"... H-Half of Homeworld?" Aquamarine shuttered. Well there's no doubt about it now.

"OK, we have to put a stop to this, with or without the other's help," Emerald concluded.

"There's no stopping it now! If over half of homeworld heard of this, my reputation's ruined! THEY ALL WANT ME TO BE SOMETHING I'M NOT!" Aquamarine said, shockingly in more panic than anger.

"Me too, man! But there's one more thing we can do," Emerald stated, not wanting this anymore than she did.

"Well go on then, what?! I'll do anything at this point," Aquamarine said, getting a bit desperate now. With a divorce out the window, and no time to actually fix it now, Emerald could only get one more conclusion. He took a breath, and …

"We have to come out and say we're in love."

"... WHAT?! Are you tumbling my rocks?! - "

"Wait! Because if we're in love, then we can BREAK UP!" Emerald cut in before Aquamarine could go into a panic attack. Unfortunately that didn't seem to suite her well either.

"Break? Up? I'm not doing this to SHATTER myself!"

"That's not what I - oohhh just follow me," Emerald said, taking his leave. Aquamarine simply had no choice anymore, and she and emerald went right off on their way out of the Beach House.

And only then did Flint remove his camouflage cloak.


~~~~~~


Homeworld was sure getting itself prepared seemingly by the look of things. Within the Blue Diamond corners of the main palace, those of the Harmony Gems that did manage to get to the place looking nice, mostly thanks to the help of the flying members of the group, bringing around what looked like flowers for the celebration. These flowers were hung up along the walls, Lapis Lazuli flying with Steven hanging them up as Fluttershy was doing a similar maneuver with Connie.

"How do these look, guys?" asked Connie, getting another batch placed up to position. On Blue Diamond's shoulder, Rarity was given a more eye-level view of the decorations, her hoof under her chin and working her special judgement.

"Hmm … perfect. But perhaps just one more batch just above the throne, if you don't mind Blue Diamond," Rarity said.

"I don't mind at all. Oh, they do look lovely," Blue Diamond said, as the final batch was placed up right above Blue Diamond's throne. Blue Diamond even went in and gave a sniff of these special flowers.

"And there we go, full floral decorations complete," announced Steven, as he and Connie were flown back down to ground level with the others. But there was only one little complaint.

"Yeah. Nothing like lacing the whole room in these flowers," grumbled Spike. And spike did not look too good: his eyes a bit poofy and his nose runny from these special plants. It was a struggle just not to sneeze his head off as it is.

"It sure is noble of you to bring those flowers Spike. Even if you have a condition towards them," said Rarity. Just before Spike accidentally slipped out a sneeze, making a few green flames come out.

"Sure … anyone got a tissue? Or maybe a ticket out of here?" Spike asked, wiping his nose clean.

"Here, I got something," said Steven. The party favors luckily had some special napkins for the wedding, so Steven went and used those, giving it to the dragon. Unfortunately, a sneeze did slip as he was blowing, turning the bit of cloth into ash … or possibly sending it to Canterlot castle. Whichever.

"You sure are allergic to flowers, huh?" Lapis said.

"No," said Spike, "It's just these flowers. They're called "Dragon Sneeze Trees" for a re - … re - … REAAACHOO!" and another blast of green fire shot out. It was a good thing many of the flammable stuff was kept well away from Spike, otherwise this could be a little problem. 

"Hmm. Well you can go and look for the bride and groom if you want Spike," Sapphire said. Spike didn't have time to even say thanks as he went right out of the room, FINALLY getting some air. Good time too, just as Starlight was coming back to them.

"Well, looks like everything went well in here? nothing burnt?" Starlight asked.

"Everything except for a piece of cloth," said Bismuth, "So how long until the bride and groom arrive?"

"Not before long," said Sapphire, smiling. The anticipation in the room was rising up quite a bit, though some of them did remember how against this whole wedding thing even was. There was still one that did feel a little bit rough about this thing, and it was a bit of a surprise, as the orange mare went up towards Sapphire.

"Uh hey. Y'all sure about this? Why can't we just talk to em?" Applejack asked quietly.

"Everything will be fine, Applejack, I promise. This can be a good learning experience. … That, and I want to see what they have in mind to try and get outta this," Sapphire stated. Mischievous as she was meaningful. Well, what was the mare to do now at this point? Talking to Blue Diamond didn't seem to fix anything, so there wasn't much else they could do here on out. There wasn't much time to talk anyway, as they then heard Spike coming back (extra sneeze of course)

"They're coming," he said.

And indeed they were. Down the hall towards the room in question, with some information from Blue Diamond's pearl, both Aquamarine and Emerald began their own move towards the room.

"This better work Emerald. And why can't you go in first?" Aquamarine said.

"Because this is MY idea, now just start walking in and I'll kick this off," Emerald instructed. Aquamarine didn't like being told what to do by anyone, but at this point, she might as well just go with it. 

Emerald stood aside of the door, not heading in just yet as Aquamarine began to make her walk inside. The room sure looked fully decorated and fancy for this wedding, the Harmony Gems and Blue diamond herself present. Yellow and White weren't there, neither was Pink (kind of), but Aquamarine needed to keep some of her composure.

"Hello, everyone. Your favorite Aquamarine has arrived," said Aquamarine.

"It's my pleasure to see you, Aquamarine," said Blue Diamond. "Love between two Gems like this."

"Ehhh … yeah," Aquamarine said. Lucky for her and her troubles, then did emerald start coming in. Well, here it goes.

"Hey Aqua, hold up," Emerald said, starting to go over to her. He didn't waste anytime in getting this act of theirs up and ready, and before anyone else can get a word in edge wise, Emerald made sure their message was more than clear with the first sentence.

"Listen. It's just not going to work."

"What?! … But what, why not?" Aquamarine asked, getting a bit of her skills in acting together. Emerald rolled with it.

"Look, we can't lie to ourselves anymore. Sorry but this isn't going to work out between the two of us. Yes, we're in love, but we do not belong together."

A clear lie if they ever heard one, and emerald honestly wasn't even trying. Acting was not his best forte, to say the least, but Aquamarine continued on anyway as if even half of what he's saying is true.

"Don't belong together? Us?! W-what suddenly changed here, Emerald?" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"It's just some cuts are a bit different from others, that's all," Emerald stated, almost casually. But then …

"Oh. I see," huffed Aquamarine. "And who's this Jade, huh? You think you can tell me THAT?!"

"... Wait, what're you talking about?" Emerald was completely blind-sided by that statement, but Aquamarine just kept pouring on the steam as she started to hover over Emerald. If this was gonna be a break up, it had to be plenty good … even if Emerald was out of the know here on out.

"I've took a look into that "iPhone" as you kept calling it, and I saw all the messages that YOU wanna go with her!" Aquamarine "revealed. Emerald really didn't know what to say here.

"... Wait. That - that's not what happened."

"Oh, it's not, is it?!"

"N-No! No look - we both know this is for the better," insisted Emerald, again not really the best acting voice and trying to keep together.

"Don't you try your games on me! You don't wanna feel bad so you tell me what I want?!"

"Wait, wait, don't make me out as the bad guy."

"Oh, right, you're not the bad guy, YOU'RE NEVER THE BAD GUY ARE YOU?! Y-You just step on everyone else and use them!" Aquamarine accused, even going as far as to bring some tears. Tears, for stars sake! Was this even acting anymore?

"Okay, this is going to far, Aquamarine, this isn't necessary."

"I'm going too far?! WHAT ON EARTH'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Oh forget this - THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!" Emerald finally said.

"Well guess what? Love doesn't follow a plan!" Aquamarine retorted.

Unbeknownst to the two, some of the group was actually getting a little bit close to just laughing themselves silly. This would be very dramatic and sad if this was actually the real deal. But there actually was eventually someone who started laughing, a bit quietly over this "play" of theirs made up on the spot. And shockingly, the first to laugh was Blue herself.

"Perhaps it is time to tell them, don't you think?" Blue Diamond suggested.

"I think it's a good point to," Sapphire replied.

"Thank you," thought Steven and Applejack, who were probably about besides this as Flint was. Aquamarine and Emerald both kinda stopped on the spot hearing this, as Sapphire went over to the two "newly weds".

"Time to tell them? K, Sophie, what is?" Emerald asked. Sapphire sighed.

"It isn't really fun treating others like this, isn't it you two?" Sapphire asked. A rather odd question.

"Like what? I've not done anything, it was your Emerald who's been causing trouble for me," Aquamarine stated.

"Oh, like you were the innocent victim," retorted Emerald. "You've been complaining all day long!"

"So were you!" Aquamarine retorted back, "You enjoyed this as little as I -"

And suddenly something clicked. They both did "enjoy" this as much as expected. Complaining stopped altogether and they looked to Sapphire, who now had the cheeky smile.

"Wait a minute. … You were uh … at the shooting gallery as Garnet."

"Right," Sapphire said. The gears started turning in Aquamarine and Emerald's heads, looking to the others. some were also smiling, others were kinda just waiting for them to just get it. Now thinking, some things weren't adding up. For one thing, where were the rest of the Diamonds, or the "half of Homeworld" for that matter?

"... And there's … not as many here? …"

"Just us," said Blue Diamond.

Three.

Two.

One.

"YOU ALL WERE FAKING THIS WHOLE TIME?!" They both concluded. Some of the group just couldn't help themselves and just started laughing at their reaction.

"You should've seen yourselves!" laughed Rainbow Dash.

"But hold the phone, what was all that stuff for? The party favors, the invitation, the flowers?" Emerald asked.

"They were just for decorating the extra palace rooms," explained Sapphire, "It's nice to add a few things. And the invitation Star Quartz and Peridot made last night."

"But didn't your Bismuth say there was a Wedding Ceramony for us?" said Aquamarine. Bismuth just laughed.

"Oh that, I was just getting a raise out of you," Bismuth admitted. Aquamarine didn't get it, but emerald filled her in.

"That means make us angry," Emerald said, "And wait wait wait, you said this morning you were gonna talk to the Diamonds about stopping this for us! … Right?"

"We just didn't."

Blunt, but ok. Emerald and Aquamarine REALLY felt stupid now, but then another thought came to Emerald's head.

"But that means … APPLEJACK, STEVEN, YOU LIED!"

"Hold up, we just found out this morning," insisted AJ, hooves raised.

"Actually we didn't want to do this but it was kinda too late to stop it," admitted Steven.

"... So we spent all day together. Driving eachother up a wall …" started Emerald.

"For literally no reason …" concluded Aquamarine.

And on that conclusion, Aquamarine and Emerald collapsed to their knees, both victims of this whole thing.

"Wow. They do act a lot alike, don't they?" said Star Quartz. No that didn't help them much at all. Jasper then went over to the two.

"So, maybe you two should start treating other with a bit more respect. Got it?" Jasper stated.

"O … K … Well, now that the prank's over, I'm just gonna go back and rethink my life choices," Emerald decided. Just about to go off, but they weren't done just yet. Or at least Blue Diamond wasn't done yet.

"Not so fast. There is something else. …"

…….

"Whelp. I've learned my lesson," Emerald sighed, as he continued cleaning up the shooting gallery. Their fight may have been small, but there still was damage they had to clean up from not only their challenge but from their little tiff as well. At least the two had their telekinetic powers to help them out, though it was still a bit.

"I've learned one too … never work with you again," Aquamarine groaned, feeling humiliated for acting like such a drama queen in front of her diamond. Emerald was too humiliated to retaliate against her on that one, so he just huffed.

"Oh, who asked you?"
> Diamond Days
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE BACK?!"

That was the first exclamation that Bray and Budgerite had been given the second they got their message back to Grogar. Bray covered his head with his hooves, anticipating an attack from the angry ram. Grogar sure looked angry enough looking to them in their cowardice.

"B-But they are, we saw them and everything! And worse, the diamonds are on their side now, even WHITE DIAMOND HERSELF," said Budgerite.

"Yeah, yeah, and even some Gem mutants too," added Bray, "They even got a giant caterpillar. GIANT! CATERPILLAR!"

"Eh, that's just a Gem fusion," Budgerite corrected.

"I don't care, caterpillars of THAT SIZE are not to be trusted," Bray retorted.

"QUIET!" shouted Grogar, clamming both of them up fast. He didn't need to hear a debate over a giant caterpillar of all things.

"Did anyone of that group suspect anything yet?" Grogar questioned, walking towards them.

"Uh … nooo?"

Grogar growled a bit, but he didn't waste his energy clobbering the two for it. All that came out was a rough huff, but even that made them both flinch. Grogar had to sit there and think some more, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Idiots. Did they see you two at least?"

"Nope, don't remember getting killed today," said Budgerite. Only a Gem would make that report and make sense out of it. Grogar went passed them both.

"Good enough. … Prepare to follow me in."

"W-What?! Now? But we barely got the alien patrols together, and the salvaged Gems are still working things out, they'll know something's up if we just waltz in!" retorted Budgerite in a panic. Grogar then gave them a sinister grin.

"Not if we distract them."


~~~~~~


Day two of the festival. The start may have been a bit bumpy for them, but it seemed that the festivities were starting to better work themselves out, and in the throne room some bit of preparations were still being made to some degree. In this case, as Blue, Steven, and Yellow were keeping to their thrones. It seemed normal sure, though a few details: Blue Pearl wasn't by her Diamond's side; Lion was on Blue Diamond's lap; Steven and Connie were all smiles as they were right by eachother (Pink Pearl and CG Pearl standing right by them); and Yellow Pearl was actually in a pose.

"Are you finished yet, Blue Pearl?" Yellow Diamond asked, trying not to move too much.

"Almost complete, your clarity," Blue Pearl said, as she was continuing what they could simply say was her own masterpiece. An artist's work can't be rushed otherwise it wouldn't look all that impressive. As she continued, there was still some small talk.

"You know, It's good to see her express herself. Looks like she's really enjoying this," said Steven to Connie.

"Yeah. I know I didn't see her as much, but this is the happiest I've seen her," quietly agreed Connie. And it was evident as they saw Blue Pearl's soft smile the whole time she was drawing. Pink Pearl watched their interaction, but kept quiet as she kept her position for the portrait. Eventually, after a few more minutes of keeping still, Blue Pearl looked up to the Diamonds.

"It's finished."

"Really? Can we see?" asked Blue Diamond. Lion perked up once that was done, yawning and getting up, hopping off of Blue Diamond's lap.

"Yes, my diamond," Blue Pearl said, as Blue Diamond reached and was received the projection screen. Blue Diamond expanded the screen big enough so they all could see, Yellow and White going over to her as Steven hopped up with Connie (Pink Pearl aiding them both so Steven won't fly off again). For it being Blue Pearl's early stages of being an artist, it was actually looking pretty nice.

"Well, look at that. It's uh … adequate?" White Diamond said, trying to pick the right word. It was nice, but still simplified given what Blue Pearl could work with.

"I-Is something wrong?" Blue Pearl asked, worried a little. White Diamond realized that it was bothering Blue Pearl, and tried to recollect herself, clearing her throat as her face was slightly pink again.

"No! No, no no, I-I only meant it's a … simple piece. On it's own it's impressive with what you had to work with," White corrected, trying not to hurt her feelings anymore than she had before. The other Diamonds knew what she was trying to do.

"It's okay to have an opinion on something, White Diamond," Steven reminded "Just make sure it's not mean that's all."

"Oh! … Well. Ok," White simply said. Blue Diamond then spoke to her Pearl, who was keeping her gaze down.

"Pearl? … Do you mind if I keep this? I know you want to present this for the "art contest" coming up for the festival, but I'd like to make sure it's remembered."

"You … think it's good enough to be salvaged, my Diamond?" Blue Pearl asked, surprised. Blue Diamond smiled.

"I think it looks simply lovely," Blue Diamond said, her gentle hand reaching out and gently giving Blue Pearl a rub on the head with her finger. At first Blue Pearl was quiet, but she did gasp a little, hands on her cheeks and she smiled as a fluster formed on her face.

"S-So cute," Steven thought … and admittedly, this thought was shared amongst the others when they saw Blue Pearl. Blue Diamond gave the screen back to Blue Pearl, down-sizing it so it was more to Blue Pearl's size.

"Here. Once the art contest is complete, you can return it to me," Blue Diamond said. Blue Pearl was sure happy, closing the screen and keeping it with her. Blue Pearl was just about to go off and back to prepare for the upcoming contest when -

*knock**knock**knock*

"Whhhyyyy?"

"Who's there?" asked White Diamond.

Well, this was ill prepared, but might as well get out there. All of those in the throne room looked on to the front door as someone began to reluctantly move on in. He was keeping his gaze down, not wanting to look up just yet, and making sure not to look too suspicious as he brought in a small bag. Unfortunately …

"You again?!" White gasped.

"Eh … hehe," muttered Stubby.

Yes. Stubby. The same coyote creature that chatted with each one of those Diamonds before, and the same one that almost left with Steven on his birthday. They'd ask White Diamond, but that wasn't the point of interest here.

"Y-Yeah, hi everyone. Havin a good day?" Stubby asked. Steven was starting to think a little though.

"... Wait a minute. Do I know you from somewhere?" Steven asked, trying to think. The question wasn't supposed to be suspicious or malicious, but Stubby was too scared to consider it friendly. Especially with who he targeted in the first place.

"... NO. B-But they do - hi diamonds, good to see ya!" Stubby said, quickly changing subjects before Steven could suspect anything,. Unfortunately for him, Connie recognized him straight away, and was already by Steven.

"Does he look Familiar, or is it just me?" Steven quietly asked, as Stubby had the guts to go up to the four other Diamonds.

"Steven, be careful with him," Connie said, "He's the one that tried to kidnap you when you turned into a baby."

"Wait, that was him?! I swore he looked a lot bigger … but then again, everything looks bigger when you're a baby," Steven wondered.

"What do we do? Should we say something?"

"Um … If I can suggest. I can alert the guard and get him taken in for you?" Pink Pearl asked, trying to be helpful, but that made Steven nervous.

"No, no, let's see what he wants first. I don't want to jump to conclusions," Steven decided. Steven would give him another chance, but he was ready to come in just in case something would happen. Pink Pearl could simply listen and do what she was told, even if she couldn't do much for him.

"What're you doing back here?" Yellow Diamond asked. Stubby tried to keep himself together and NOT completely panic.

"Eh, n-nothing malicious if that's what you're thinking. Eh, just thought I'd stop by aaaand give you a little somethin," Stubby said, getting to the point as he held up the bag. He honestly just wanted this over and done before things could be suspected.

"So you expect us to just ignore the fact you've infiltrated the diamond palace without any consent, Not to mention tried to manipulate me and Blue against eachother, because you just brought something to us?"

"O-Oh that, water under the bridge!" Stubby insisted, trying to laugh it off. … No one else was laughing except for him. "...….. so will you take it?"

"How did you even get in here? We would've been given some indication," Blue Diamond asked. Stubby scrambled for an answer.

"O-Oh that, my old friends the ponies invited me here for your big festival, and this is one of those "spur-of-the-moment" ideas," explained Stubby. For a brief moment he was feeling a bit confident.

"But we've never met you before," stated Steven. Well so much for that. Stubby froze on that response, but quickly tried recovering.

"Oh, uh, well you and I never met before kiddo, but your ponies -"

"Yes we have, you tried kidnapping Steven before," said Connie. Stubby was shot down again. Steven wasn't sure how to feel about Stubby now, his guard a little bit up.

"You what?" Blue Diamond questioned, now suspicious herself as Pearl drew out a spear just in case. Now none of them were taking his words with a grain of salt.

"Uh, that, rumor," Stubby muttered. OK, Steven wasn't having it and went in Stubby's way.

"Stubby, wait. Is something wrong?"

"What, no no!"

"But why're you freaking out so much then? Or wait, no, why're you lying so much?" Steven questioned. Stubby went for broke, shaking off fear briefly.

"Because if I make ONE MISTAKE you'll all crush me under your foot and smear me on the floor, that's why! I don't want to be a bug …"

"True," said Yellow.

"Yellow," remarked Steven before he looked to Stubby, "Look, we won't hurt you, so you don't have to freak out ok? Just tell us what is it you want."

"You're … not mad at me for kidnapping you?" Stubby asked, actually surprised. Steven shook his head.

"Stubby, I've nearly been killed tons of times already, a simple kidnapping isn't really that much anyway. It's okay."

"What's with you people?" Stubby thought, gulping. First the other Diamonds, and now this Diamond hybrid? What next?! Either way though he was given the greenlight.

"Ok, ok, so I made mistakes! But guess what, I got a gift for you to make up for it, here see?" Stubby had to cut to the chase, and got the bag open and revealed the object in question.
The object looked fairly small, and appeared to look like some sort of odd Gem piece. It didn't look like any normal gemstone like they had on them, and once more, it didn't had any exact shape. If anything, it looked more like one of those Rubix cubes; multiple extensions of different colors put into one shape. Different sides showed different colors, and it made out different point like a chipped away, icy ball. Only Pearl found this item remotely recognizable, and Lion let out a muffled growl on sight of it.

"What's that?" Pink Diamond asked, curious a little bit and being the first to come over to check the item out.

"I know it's not too fancy, but I found it in a shop in town and thought "hey, this can be a cute gift" so uh … here you go," Stubby said meekly, holding up the object with his front paws in presentation to the Diamonds. There was some concern over the others, but Stubby's biggest concern was actually starting to walk over to him. White Diamond may have been doubting herself lately, but that didn't make her any less smart than she was before. She had him locked up away with the other aliens, so how'd he get out on his own? …

"... Uh. Wow. Thanks," White Diamond said, unsure how to take this tiny object. But her finger did eventually tap it.

That was all it took to suddenly make the thing start freaking out! The object started becoming very erratic in movement, falling off of White Diamond's hand and bouncing about rapidly and putting everyone on guard until -

*BOOM!*

…….

"M-My Diamond?"

"Steven!"

The others were just out of the way of the blast, mostly thanks to Pearl's help pushing them out of harm's way, but their biggest concerns were for their respected Diamonds (as Pearls typically do). The object itself was still there, inactive for the moment, but all of the Diamonds (the ONLY exception being Pink Diamond) looked a bit dazed from the blast, blinded briefly by the flash of light. Connie and the Pearls went out towards them, slowly starting to come over to each Diamond.

"MY Diamond! A-Are you alright, you're not damaged are you? Please tell me you're not damaged!" Yellow Pearl said, almost panic stricken as she went to Yellow Diamond. However, something just didn't suit well to her, feeling as if she didn't … well, belong with her.

"Pearl, what's wrong?"

"I … I dunno, I. Uh, w-wait," Yellow Pearl stepped away from Yellow Diamond, feeling uneasy, and she found herself starting to calm down when she began to venture over towards Blue Diamond instead.

"Much better."

"Better? But that's Blue Diamond," Pink Diamond said. The others Pearls were mainly doing the same, but they were more comfortable for seemingly the wrong Diamonds, finding a strange and uneasy feeling when at their respected Diamonds. The only one not under this trouble was Pearl herself, but something still didn't feel right either way. Lion and his instincts could already sense something wasn't right too, as Pearl went to Blue Pearl, who was by Steven.

"How is he? Is he okay?" Pearl asked.

"I think so … but … uh …….. she?"

She?

"Oh no. D-Did that blast alter your memory? They all think Steven's Pink Diamond again!" Connie said, worried.

"No! … you think so?" Pearl asked, starting to worry.

"We still remember that, thank you," retorted Yellow Pearl, "But … something doesn't feel right."

"You feel it too?" asked Pink Pearl.

"What do you mean?" Connie asked.

However, as the diamonds started to come to their senses, it slowly began to show the problem … especially when the first Diamond they saw was Steven … only with White eyes.

"W-Wha? … Did I shrink? Why's everyone - … why am I - " Steven began to go into a panic. "no no no no no, where am I?! What happened to me?!"

"Connie? Wait, why's everyone smaller?" White Diamond asked. And then she looked to her own hand and arm, as if never seeing it before in her life. But the minute she saw Steven on the ground, the realization started to settle in.

"Oh stars, NOT AGAIN!" Pearl cried.

"WHOA, what the hay?" Pink asked, dumbfounded.

Yep. Their bodies were swapped. Again. Pearl was getting a bad sense of Deja vu from all of this trouble, which now she was thinking she should've sense when Stubby brought that "gift" in.

"Ohmygosh, Steven is that you?" Connie gasped.

"Yeah, but … I'm in White Diamond's body? Oh boy, this is weird," Steven asked, not believing it at first. Sure weirder things had happened to him, but this took the cake.

"How did this happen? … Stubby WHAT DID YOU DO?!" demanded Yellow. Clear where she was, stuck in Blue Diamond's body, but Stubby was just too freaked out to actually know what was happening.

"I-I don't know Blue! Er- Yellow er, w-whoever you are!" Stubby stuttered, backing up in a panic.

"Change our physical forms back this instant!" Yellow demanded. Whether she meant to control herself or not, the blue aura was starting to shift around her, and making her look even more terrifying. Like an angry spirit or ghost coming back to haunt him. Stubby was seeing his life flash before his eyes (for the tenth time probably), but he shook it off of it and tried to follow instructions.

"I-I can't, even if I wanted to."

"But you just said you didn't know what happened, so how would you know you can't change us back," said Blue Diamond, who while in Yellow's body was actually the calmest outta all of them at the moment (someone had to be).

"Uh, right, I meant I don't know - how to fix it. …"

"... You're not good at this, huh?" Pink said.

"No."

Stubby's confidence was never good when on the spot like this. This just got him caught in Yellow Diamond's grip, bringing the mutt up to their level, Yellow looking ready to kill him. However ...

"Wait, stop, don't hurt him!"

Steven tried to reach for Stubby, but with White Diamond's body there was a bit more … well, complications. As he tried reaching for him, his hand suddenly began to grow a bit more than normal. Stubby panicked and just got out of their hands, just as a sudden blast of light energy shot right out of his hand, and blasting the nearest throne!

"DON'T HURT ME YOU SAID!" Stubby shrieked.

"My throne!" gasped White Diamond.

"Sorry, I'll get it back!" Steven said, trying to go and get the throne … just to accidentally shoot another energy blast again, this time shooting right out of the room, far enough to see Homeworld outside. White Diamond was terrified, and in a way so was Steven.

"... Oh shoot," he muttered. Someone was surely gonna notice that. It was a problem, but Stubby noticed that everyone else was distracted by the sudden blast attack. He was slowly backing away from the situation, making sure his own dog claws didn't scrape the ground. Just before he could get out though …

"Where're you going?" Blue Pearl asked. Stubby got a shiver running through him.

"Uh I uh was just gonna uh … uh … oh sod it, I'M OUT!"

Stubby couldn't figure anything else out, and Grogar was expecting him so he had no time to wait. His runaway was lightning quick, so quick that all that remained was a dustcloud.

"Hey, get back here!" Connie shouted, rushing to get him. However, the second she got to the hallway he was already long gone. The other Pearls went out to try and find him, with no sign of him anywhere. This was a rough situation to deal with, and while Steven was trying to control himself physically, and White Diamond trying to control herself emotionally, that left Blue and Yellow to give the proper order.

"Pearl, warn the guard and inform them a criminal is wandering the palace. He must not get out of these palace walls!" Yellow Diamond instructed, angrily.

"Pearl you too, and if by some chance it does reach the public or if he does reach outside, you try your best and keep them all calm. Tell everyone that it's under control," added Blue Diamond, calmer but still urgent. At first, Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl were a bit confused, the behavior a bit backwards as much as their bodies were but orders were orders. Yellow and Blue Pearl went off to do that, leaving Pearl, Pink Pearl, and Connie behind to try and comfort White Diamond and Steven.

"My Diamond? E-Everything will be fine, I promise," Pink Pearl said to Steven.

"Oh no, no, no! H-How I - I can't go like this! Not like this!" White Diamond said, "What even was that used on us?"

That was a pretty good question, as Pearl went a retrieved the object in question. She paused and looked at it, cautious not to set it off again.

"So, we meet again."

"Again? This happened before?" White Diamond asked, afraid to use his hands in case of another strike. Pearl shuttered a little bit, but kept her composure.

"Let's just say it's wasn't the … best experience," Pearl simply said. She'd rather not go over all the details of her own body-swapping experience, but the point was she had some idea of what happened to them.

"Well, can you restart it? Maybe it can change us back before anyone else sees," insisted Steven. That was when Pearl's memory started to get fuzzy.

"Um. Well, I can try," Pearl said. But really, if her memory served her right, the object in question kinda had a mind of its own, and they didn't technically do much of anything to start it up. Looking it over though, there was something slightly off about it. The colors weren't as vibrant on this one as they were before, with not as many colors of course but the colors before didn't look as … painted. Pearl thought about it, and eventually tried to activate it somehow.

"Okay … maybe if I …"

"Pearl? I'm not sure what relationship you have with this device, but PLEASE tell me you know how this works," White Diamond said, trying to appear calm but shaking all inside.

"Well, it's been years since my last involvement, give me a moment," Pearl insisted, trying to figure out how to activate the thing without breaking it. How could she work it out? Connie and Pink Pearl tried to work it out too, looking at it up and down as the Diamonds waited on baited breath. She eventually just tried tapping it on one of the squares.

Nothing. Next she tried to "twist it".

Still nothing.

"Come now, I know you can work," Pearl said, as if it were voice-activated.

And it did try again. Only to just fizz out of commission.

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh? Why uh oh?" Steven asked. However, Pearl didn't exactly had to answer them, simply showing the slightly smoking. Blue Diamond needed a breath.

"In that case. There should be some Era 1 Peridots still on duty, bring that to them and see if they can mend it for you," Blue Diamond said.

"We'll be quick. come on Pearl, no time to lose," said Connie. Connie and Pearl went off to handle that, leaving only Pink Pearl left with the four mixed up Diamonds. White Diamond was gonna go and join them, but unfortunately Blue Diamond grabbed her.

"Blue!"

"The best we can do is remain here. It might not be good if all of Homeworld knows what happened. ..."

"Don't feel too bad. Maybe we can uh … play some games in the meantime? Get to know eachother better?" Steven shrugged. His shrug was close-handed so another blast won't shoot out.

"I don't know HOW you can just suggest that at a time like this," said Yellow, "Our physical forms had been forcefully switched, and you think we should start playing games?!"

"Well, there's nothing else we can do. Unless you wanna just sit here and be miserable the entire time," Steven said. However, he made a little mistake in moving his open hand in a direction, him seeing something charge up in his palm. This time though he was quick to react and covered it up before yet another blast could be fired. Yellow Diamond sighed.

"… Fine. The first thing we can do is make sure you don't blow up the whole palace in the meantime. No offense."

"No, no, I'm with you," Steven admitted, hands up again … and then glowing again. Blue Diamond quickly closed his hands before anything could happen. White Diamond gave a sigh of relief.

"Steven. I'm sorry, but perhaps you shouldn't use your hands until we figure out how this works."

"Sorry …"

"Pink?" Said Yellow to Pink Diamond, "As you're the only one not effected, you're gonna have to judge the upcoming contest for us. Can you do that?"

Pink Diamond immediately took the chance and went off to do just that. This was gonna be a tough time. The Diamonds began to go off, but Steven paused to look at his own closed hands for a moment, thinking a bit.

"Oh boy. I don't even got my own powers down, how am I supposed to figure this out?" Steven thought. Well, the only thing he can hope for is that the others can get that thing fixed soon so he can at least get back to his own body, and his own mind. …

What if you can't?

"Are you coming, Steven?" Blue Diamond asked, snapping Steven out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, coming," Steven replied, going off to join the other Diamonds now with one other question in his mind.

Who said that?

Well that wasn't really an important question right now. This left Pink Pearl with Lion, whom was getting a bad sense of Deja Vu from this whole thing. Lion knew what was going on, and perhaps even remembered who it belonged to. Too bad he couldn't talk, otherwise this would be over already. Pink Pearl wasn't really told to go, but eventually she was just about to go off when another noise from not too far away caught the Gem's attention. Even more so as a few figures slipped out into the open from their hiding place. Pink Pearl kept hidden just behind her Diamond's throne, observing what was going on.

"Alright, that should keep em busy for a while," said Grogar, coming out with Bray soon as the coast was clear.

"So THAT'S what that body-puzzler thingy do," Bray snickered. "Too bad Budgerite ain't here to see it, eh?"

"Yeah yeah, I know" Grogar scoffed, "Now where'd you say that statue was?"

"It's uh ……. wait, which one?" Bray asked. Grogar clocked Bray in the head, the hit making his eyes shake about like googly eyes. Suddenly Bray seemingly remembered.

"Remember now?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, that curvy Blue has it near her bath. But uh … you sure we even need it? That statue didn't move … at all," Bray asked. Grogar glared down at him, which silenced Bray. He didn't want to hear anymore questioning, not now at least. And Bray didn't want his head completely clocked off.

"I've said we're getting all of them out and with me. And I mean all of them. Got it?"

"Y-Yes king Grogar."

Grogar just needed to take a few steps before the Donkey spoke again.

"... Eh, how long are they gonna be flip-flopped like this?" Bray asked, trying not to sound insulting to Grogar. Grogar rolled his eyes.

"Why should you care?"

"I-I mean, how long we got in our mission here!" Bray corrected. Grogar huffed.

"Three hours at most, K? Three. Hours.. That's plenty time to get our statue and go, got it you donk?" Grogar made sure Bray remembered this time by holding his ear to his muzzle the whole time so no words were missed. Bray nodded quickly so Grogar could let go of his now sore ear.

"Good boy. Now get a move on before they get smart," Grogar instructed. Since Bray knew the place a bit better, Grogar allowed him to lead on as the ram followed behind. As they went to the door he paused and took one final look back to be sure no one was there. But nope, not a thing from what he could see. He took a few sniffs of the air, like a wolf would looking for prey. …

"... Yeah, they're all gone," he concluded. So with that said, he went off on his way.

"I-It … it was … him," Pink Pearl muttered. Horrified.

She and Lion had to check something.


~~~~~~


"... Can somebody tell me again why we're doing this?"

"Come now, Yellow, Steven wanted us to try this. There's no harm in trying something new."

"I know, but … THIS?"

"And I summon the whimpering Boiled Egg," White Diamond announced.

If anyone were to even predict this end result for the day, Yellow Diamond would've never believed it no matter the evidence. It was such a odd idea: the Diamonds sitting down and playing the Crying Breakfast Friends trading card game, but since they were a bit stuck in the palace with everyone else running around they got nothing else to do. It took some modifications of course - their hands were WAY too big for such tiny cards to hold - but they managed to make it work with some projection screens. White Diamond was the only exception who simply had the basic cards.

"So, this is one of the Human games?" White Diamond wondered, a bit confused (who wouldn't be?) about this seemingly friendly fun game about crying food.

"Yep," said Steven, "They're quite a hit back home. Maybe after this I can show you guys the TV show."

"TV show? Steven?"

"Yeah, sure, and it's one of my favorites too! A compelling adventure of all breakfast friends against the Angry Lunch Enemies and the lords of food for the perfect meal time for one and all. I just wish their hiatuses weren't so long everytime they have new episodes."

"What are you talking about?" Yellow Diamond asked, not believing her ears. The card game was weird enough as it is. Steven realized what she meant, a small blush coming up.

"Oh, sorry, forgot you're not familiar with TV," Steven said.

"It's alright, Steven. Now, is it my turn?" Blue Diamond asked. Steven nodded, and Blue Diamond took a look through some of the projections of the cards, working it out more like an online version of the game (which there indeed is one, so it wasn't too foreign for Steven).

"I'll use the ……. The blueberry overlord," Blue Diamond decided, getting the card activated. Take a wild guess what reference that could be? Steven gasped.

"Whoa, you had that one? Now all of our emotion advantages won't work anymore," said Steven, both exposition to explain and just the thrill talking. That was a rare card, after all.

"Is that a good thing?"

"For you it is. K, my turn," Steven said, looking through the cards he had on hand. He knew the activations, tips and tricks of each card, and he started to work out what the next move should be. If only it were that simple …

"Alright, I'm gonna summon the -"

Wrong move.

Steven paused on those two words briefly, moving his hand back. He glanced each way and that before he tried to think again.

"Wait wait. Uh … Oh, I know, how about -"

What if you don't know?

Steven stopped again, now second-guessing himself. What was he supposed to do?

"Steven?"

"Sorry, h-here." And without thinking much of it he ended up bringing out what appeared to be a orange sandwich character - one of the Angry Lunch Enemies. And then.

*hiss*

This noise wasn't exactly a roar, but not a hiss either, but more like a straining exhale ringing right in Steven's ear. Like that noise someone would make when seeing a bad mistake. It was enough to give him shivers, his face flustering pink again. Guess he made a wrong move, but who was making that call for him? No one's behind his head talking to him, and no one else was saying anything if there was.

"Is something wrong Steven? Well, aside from the new body that is," Blue Diamond said.

"Uh, yeah. You keep playing guys, I'll gonna … check on Connie and Pearl," Steven replied.

So, as they were doing that, Steven stepped out and tried to work things out with whatever this thing was talking to him. Steven went down the admittedly smaller hallway for a bit, trying to get his mind straight. One would think that after all the weird things Steven had gone through already, this would be more of a walk in the park, but that didn't mean that it wasn't any less out of the ordinary and distracting.

"OKAY. … So there's this voice talking in White Diamond's head? How long was this going on for her?" Steven wondered.

And as if hearing him, the voice spoke again.

Who do you think you are?

"Wait. It can hear me?" Steven realized, stopping altogether. So, Steven tried something else and brought his hands to his head.

"Oh random voice in my head, how long were you speaking to White Diamond for? … I'm kinda not her right now, so it would be great to know."

WHO ARE YOU?

"My name is Steven Universe. I was switched with her body a few minutes ago, so it's one of those Wacky Wednesday situations."

You're a disgrace.

…

"You need to be better."

Steven suddenly opened his eyes and found the same sort of hallway from earlier, yet this hallway was a bit less extravagant as the ones in the palace. Strange spot to suddenly pop up in, but he found himself walking forward anyway, partially curious as to where he actually ended up. Strange thing this hallway. It was foreign but in a way … not foreign to him. And then he heard another voice, but not the same one that had been yapping in his ear during the card game.

"It's all ready My Diamond," said the voice. Steven looked around but couldn't see anyone at first, until he then looked down, and saw Pearl standing there.

Pearlis. Where did she come from? He would ask what was going on, or why she was there, or where they even were but what came out instead ...

"Ah, is it now?"

"We've studied as best we could do. Eh, if you don't mind my asking but … are you sure about this? Not to impose, but this is risky. Even for you."

"Process waits for no one, Pearlis you know that. As soon as I make this work, everything will be exactly our way."

What am I talking about?

Well at least Steven thought the same, but everything else wasn't really working. He didn't speak out right, he didn't move exactly as he wanted to, and no one else was seemingly handling anything or answering any questions for him. The world around him was a bit blurry from there, as if fast forwarding time, and next thing he knew Steven was over by a … familiar room. A object was in her hand already, though what it was Steven had no idea, but this presentation was joined by a number of others of White Diamond's hybrid court. Steven began to think a bit more, but then he found himself activating the object in front of him, and then showing a projection screen … showing Stevonnie on the other end with LOTS of Gems behind her.

Stevonnie? Wait, White Diamond never saw her until after she … left her station.

That's when it struck him.

Is this White Diamond's memories? This is just after we wrecked her station!

And that was confirmed when he was hearing himself recite that same speech he heard a year or two back. That speech she proposed and promised to "break them" all, the same one during his time on the Jungle Moon! He heard every word of it, feeling the same emotions White Diamond felt at that time before connection was cut short. He felt angry. So angry at them for destroying his work. But also … angry at himself for not being able to stop it.
And he felt his fist slam into the wall, making the others nearby tremble. He had only one thing to say.

"I have to be better."

The world around Steven suddenly shifted and glitched like crazy, as if the world was cracking under that statement alone. All of a sudden, he wasn't looking through her eyes anymore, instead finding himself as his own entity in White Diamond's head. The world began to turn red, and looking on ahead he saw White Diamond frantically trying to work something out.

"White?" Steven gasped. White diamond looked awful: her hair in a mess, her eyes straining a little bit in this pursuit of hers, but one detail was that she wasn't glowing as she was currently. Not yet.

"Yes. Yes, this will work! I WILL be better, I promise!" She pledged, looking like she was on the edge of her mind as she brought out what looked like a Gem Destabilizer. Aiming it right for her head!

"WHITE!" Steven yelled, but he found he couldn't move. His legs were stuck on the ground. He couldn't move, his legs stretching like a Changling as he tried to move himself. White Diamond smiled wickedly, but Steven could still see the tear in her eye as she brought the weapon closer to her stone.

"NO! WHITE, DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE!" Steven pleaded.

But his words were on deaf ears.

And she stabbed her own head. Steven gasped as everything froze, his eyes locked on White Diamond's dangerous attempt to "fix herself". The sharpened edges of the Gem Destabilizer skewered right into her head, but White diamond still kept in one piece, her gemstone just in between the blades. Strangely, it didn't activate at first, as if the moment made sure to sink into Steven's mind. White Diamond, still with tears in her wicked grin, reached to the handle, and pressed a button along the length.
And that's when the electricity surged through her body. Steven stared in complete horror, unable to stop it from happening as White Diamond's body started glowing in her screams.

"STEVEN!"

*smack**smack*

"STEVEN!"

*SMACK*

"STEVEN, WAKE UP!"

Steven jolted up, still in White Diamond's body and in a cold sweat, breathing heavily as if just finishing up a nightmare. His eyes were slightly red still, but as Steven began to calm down that color faded back to the normal colors again. He was suddenly on the ground, dizzy but not physically hurt as the others were around him.

"What happened back there?"

"You tell us: we're playing that game, we hear a loud bang, and suddenly you're on the ground, freaking out," said Yellow Diamond, as Steven slowly started to get himself together. The images were still flashing in his head over what he just saw. He looked around at the Diamonds with him … and then he saw White Diamond. He froze on seeing her, not standing but crawling to her, looking her eye to eye as tears came to his eyes.

"W-White. … I saw what happened to you. I saw everything. How you ended up like this. … I'm sorry."

"… You did, did you? I-It's fine. That happened ..." White Diamond knew what he was talking about.

"No, it's not fine!" Steven said, both hands not on the ground with White Diamond now under him. "White, why didn't you say anything? No one here is forcing you to be better, you're wonderful how you are, it's not worth what you had to go through! … I'm sorry I had to make you go through all that White, if only I knew how much I hurt you I could've done something different earlier."

"Steven. …"

"You've been alone for a very long time, I know, but don't think no one else is anywhere to talk to about your problems. White, we've accepted you back, you can tell us if something's wrong no matter what it is, and we'll help you however we can. We're here for you."

"… I ……. Steven …"

There was a quiet moment that hung in the air between the two, Steven hoping this could go through. White Diamond eventually went forward, jumped up, and was now hugging Steven, who gently returned the gesture. Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond may not be entirely in the know to what just happened, looking concerned.

"Steven? White?" Blue asked. Steven would answer, but he could tell White diamond didn't want anyone else to just go on and talk about it, so instead he kept his focus on White Diamond. The two looked to one another.

"… It's ok. I'll tell them."

"Tell us what?"

"I'll uh … tell you when we get back to the room," White Diamond said. Steven knew she would go and tell them anyway, but now he had a whole new outlook on White's new form.

He will try his best to help her from here on out. They all will be there for her.


~~~~~~


As the diamonds were trying to get their own act together, Stubby's little getaway still had Yellow and Blue Pearl looking all over the place to try and find the supposed assassin. As instructed, many guards that were left on duty - most of them were out at the festival. - were now up in arms and looking around for the assailant with a number of guards now going around all over the place, checking around wherever they could. Although not asked to, the two Pearls in question took it on themselves to check the area too. Blue Pearl, although scared as much as Yellow Pearl, was moreover just standing aside by the door to one of the rooms as Yellow Pearl was basically going crazy trying to find the creature.

"Come on, come on, It can't just "disappear" like that!" Yellow Pearl said as she continued looking up and down the whole room, looking under and over every little piece that Stubby could've slipped into. This even included the smallest bit of cracks in the foundation.

"Um … don't you think you might be … over-doing it a little?" Blue Pearl quietly asked, only briefly pausing as Yellow Pearl kept moving things out of the way, or bolting passed her in her task.

"Of course not, what would give you that idea?" Yellow Pearl asked … as she was looking through what they can only describe as a mouse hole.

"... I … don't think he can fit in there."

Yellow Pearl sprung up.

"It's our duty as the diamond's Pearls to fulfill the main desires of our diamonds with upmost precision," Yellow Pearl said matter-of-factly, "Meaning we can't afford ANYTHING to be left unturned."

"But we weren't told to look for him," Blue Pearl meekly pointed out. This just made Yellow Pearl more flustered.

"W-Well, I don't want him getting away!" Yellow Pearl insisted. No one messes up her Diamond and gets away with it! … Well, no one she can handle, that is. Blue Pearl stepped out of the room for the moment, seeing a number of the guards still running helter-skelter. A number of Blue Diamond's Amethyst and Yellow Diamond's Jasper soldiers go by, with only one stopping over to Blue Pearl.

"We've checked every room in the main floor, there's no sign of him anywhere, your clarity," the Amethyst reported, hands in the signature insignia. Normally it'd be caught dead to rights giving a Pearl respects like this but A.) she was Blue Diamond's Pearl, and B.) the festival insisted at least equality with everyone. Blue Pearl grew a bit nervous, but flustered on being called "clarity".

"N-Nothing? Not even by the throne room?"

"The throne room, the perimeter just outside, there's nothing of him anywhere. … OH! But we did find a big crack in a building nearby."

"Big? Crack?"

"You know, like uh, like uhhh, like a cavern! Kinda glowing a little too." The Amethyst probably didn't say it correctly, but considering what they were dealing with, it was a strangely big thing to consider.

"... Did you happen to … see? What was on the otherside?" Blue Pearl asked.

"Otherside? It's a crack in the wall, it didn't look like it went anywhere. Why, did Blue Diamond want us to check that?"

"...…. I-I know Pearls don't give orders but … you might want to keep an eye on it. Just in case."

"On it, your clarity," said the Amethyst, going off to catch up with the other soldiers to do just that. In a weird sense, Blue Pearl felt slightly empowered. It wasn't until after this did Yellow Pearl come back out, fruitless in her own search.

"Anything?" Yellow Pearl asked, hoping for some good news. Blue Pearl unfortunately just shook her head. Yellow Pearl groaned.

"This is terrible: how can such a lonesome creature get away so fast? If he's already outside, all of our Gems are gonna be shattered for it," Yellow Pearl said, shivering on the final thought. Blue Pearl wish she knew what to do, but she was about as lost as they were. At least now she might've gotten an idea on how they ended up in the Homeworld palace in the first place. Blue Pearl took only a short moment to consider this, when -

"AAAHHHHH!"

"Pink!" gasped Blue Pearl.

"Hey, hey, where're you going?! Pearl!" Yellow Pearl said as Blue Pearl was rushing off to see what the voice was about. Yellow Pearl simply had to trail behind Blue Pearl as they were following the scream to another area of the palace. This scream wasn't only heard by the Pearls, as some of the guards too were around the same area once the two caught up. They found them all over where "Blue Diamond's bath" was located, right in front of the main hallway. Pink Pearl amongst them was on the ground, already looking a bit hurt with a fairly nasty blackened mark dangerously close to her gemstone, her eyes looking right towards the door in a terrified expression. They soon found what was so terrifying once they saw what she found.
Or rather, what she didn't found.

And cue another scream by Yellow Pearl.

"WHERE'RE ALL THE WALLS?!" Yellow Pearl exclaimed. None of them really went to this area of the palace since the Diamonds last used it - no reason to. But now they found how grave of a mistake that even was, finding much of the hallway practically barren. It was still standing sure, but the specialized harvested Gems were all missing. Yellow Pearl and a few other guards went in to try and find some clue somewhere, but there wasn't much to be salvaged. The only other thing there is Lion over by the door, trying to claw his way inside. They could also see that the scanning lock for the door had been fried, sealing the door tight.

"No no no no no, how did this happen? GUARDS, YOU WERE ON WATCH RIGHT?!" Yellow Pearl shrieked, getting right up to one of the Jasper's faces in a mix of anger and panic.

"Hey hey, we checked this area ten times while you were away, NO WAY would anyone get passed us!" retorted the Jasper.

"Well something clearly did!" retorted back Yellow Pearl, arms spread to show what happened. Meanwhile, Pink Pearl was still left in shock over it all, Blue Pearl by her side.

"There, there," Blue Pearl said to Pink Pearl, trying her best to comfort her fellow Pearl. "We'll find everything and put it back."

But Pink Pearl couldn't think straight, as if she had just been struck by the most horrifying sight ever. Unfortunately some of the guards weren't as comforting.

"Wait, you were here, what did you see?" asked one of the Jaspers. But Pink Pearl couldn't even speak correctly with her nerves and mind all the freakout. All she got out at first was some mumbling, but then one of the more aggressive Jaspers got the pearl by the collar.

"Come on, out with it!" the Jasper said impatiently. Blue Pearl had to try the whole "ordering" thing again before someone could get hurt.

"W-Wait! Wait, don't do that."

"Hey, I know what I'm doing, I don't need a Pearl telling me what to do," the Jasper retorted. Spur of the moment, but they were in a bit of a rough spot as it is.

"What about Blue Diamond?"

… And just like that, the Jasper dropped Pink Pearl, who was frazzled but okay. Pink Pearl finally came around to her senses the second she struck ground.

"I know who did it!!" Pink Pearl yelped, bolting upright. "Who stole the walls here, who took all our aliens from the chambers, who just now nearly corrupted our Diamonds!"

"Well where is he?!" Yellow Pearl asked, excited.

And Pink Pearl pointed frantically towards the door Lion was trying to get into. The big cat even tried gnawing on the door, but he couldn't quite get his teeth into it.

"Guards, form up, we're going in," shouted one of the Jaspers. Both Jaspers and Amethysts were ready to go, and started to go to the door. Lion had to get out of the way as they were ready to do a combined ram at the door.

"How could that Stubby fry the door's lock system? He surely didn't appear as a type for that level of power. Or intelligence," Yellow Pearl wondered. Pink Pearl gulped as she was right by Blue Pearl for some security, what little there was.

"I-It's not Stubby doing this," Pink Pearl muttered.

"Huh?"

But before any of them could ask what, the guards started charging forward. The combined strength of all the troops was just enough to smash right through the door, making the doors fly into the room in question. The Blue Diamond bath was normally a very exclusive spot, but protocol said otherwise. Blue Diamond's bath wasn't as fancy or big as Yellow's sauna, but still had the main essentials as the main room leading to the bath (more of a Greek design over Egyptian). Of course there was another but of odd details: the room had a strange flowing aura lining the walls, ceiling, and floor, and nothing seemed to be there, most likely already "harvested" out of the room.

All but one. The statue looked like one of those Greek goddesses, frozen in place with the only sign of her existence being her blinking eye. She was lucky to even move her eyes, but closing them was all she could express as the culprits were trying to chip the bottom part of her off her position. And there they were: Grogar, Bray, Stubby, and Budgerite all working to get the statue off of the pedestal.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! That's diamond property!" shouted one of the Jaspers. If the door smashing didn't tell them they were here, the shouting did, and they all glanced over their way. However, Grogar himself stepped in.

"I didn't say to stop! Keep chipping," Grogar growled, that alone enough to make them get right back to it as Grogar confronted the guards. He sure looked ready to fight, and the guards were willing to comply as they charged right for him, much to Pink Pearl shock, Grogar's horns glowing.

"No, don't!" shouted Pink Pearl. However, it was far too late. Grogar's horn were glowing a eerily familiar yellow hue, coming out as a orb in between his horns and lightning bolts for the main attack. As for the attack, it only lasted about five seconds, but once it struck the first one in line it branched off to every single guard present. The effects was just the same as a Gem destabilizer, and poofed them all instantly, leaving only the scared Pearls. So easy, it was almost not fun.

"You call THAT a threat? I'd seen bears who were more threatening than that before I got their fur coats," Grogar scoffed, laughing as he began to close in on the three Pearls. Pink Pearl and Yellow Pearl were hiding behind Blue Pearl at this point, Grogar not really watching or caring where his hooves landed as he stepped on some of the gemstones.

"W-What're you doing? You can't take that," Blue Pearl said.

"And who's gonna stop me? You?" and Grogar laughed at their faces. They would at least try, but after seeing several of the guards get shocked so quickly none of them were ready to go in yet. While they weren't ready to fight, there still was one Lion ready to take him on.

"Grogar, Lion!" shouted Stubby in fear. And not a moment too soon, but while he did notice Lion coming in, he didn't move quick enough to avoid Lion's charge, knocking the ram off his hooves. Lion hissed and barred his teeth, putting himself between him and the Pearls. Grogar got up and instead brought his attention to the rocks.

"So this is all you are, eh? HA! No wonder you toppled so easily," Grogar stated, tossing some stones aside like someone would kick a pop can on the sidewalk.

"Don't take that statue!" pleaded Yellow Pearl, "If you take that away -"

"Then what?" Grogar cut in, "The diamonds will come in? That kitty cat will tear me to pieces? Don't make me laugh!" Grogar mocked. Lion gave a good warning roar, which made some of Grogar's followers shiver, which the ram seemed to notice.

"What're you scared of? That bugger's just another stupid animal," Grogar said, which only made Lion's blood boil even more. Blue Pearl then got one more idea.

"Just put that statue down and go, and we won't press anymore charges against you," Blue Pearl stated, Grogar a little amused if anything, "We'll only take Stubby in for his crime. No one else knows you're doing this, so if you just go peacefully we'll act like this never happened."

"You crazy?!" Yellow Pearl asked in hushed panic.

"I-I'm sorry. B-But do you want anymore Gems poofed?" Blue Pearl asked nervously. But Grogar just laughed.

"Or I can just take her and you keep your mouths shut anyway. That can work too and you get to live afterwards," Grogar retorted, finding it amusing that Blue Pearl was doing this card. The Pearls saw he was serious about this, and took a few steps back much to Grogar's amusement. The only one not backing away was Lion, standing tall.

"No one has to die!" gasped Yellow Pearl, "We just don't want our stuff taken anymore."

"It's a laugh that you think you can strike a deal. Let's see if you feel the same way after getting smeared on the floor," Grogar said, making Pink Pearl shutter and grip her gemstone. So close did she get shattered from that shot. Grogar then made a charge right for them, but Lion made sure he didn't get close, jumping right onto him with his claws digging into his horns! Grogar dug his hooves into the ground in Lion's attack, his front hoof just managing to strike the bell around his neck.

"STEP! OFF!" and suddenly Lion was launched off of the ram in a amplified field of magic thanks to the sounds of the bell. This hit struck lion pretty hard, sending him tumbling head over paws until he landed at the wall. He got up, barring his teeth as Grogar huffed.

"I gave you a chance to join up with me, Lion, but you're not changing your mind. … ARE YOU DONE YET?!"

"Just *grunt* about *grunt* got it!"

And with one more hot from Bray's back hooves, the statue was finally dislodged from its position. The harvested Gem felt itself move for the first time in millennium, Budgerite quickly making sure to catch it before it could shatter on the floor, though she did stumble in trying to do so. Lion tried to go and get them, but it was Grogar's turn to tackle him and the Lion was soon underneath his hooves.

"L-Lion!" gasped Pink Pearl.

*RRROOOOOWWWWRRRR*

Lion's following roar shook up the entire room, powerful enough to launch Grogar right across the room, dangerously close to the statue who could just shut her eyes quick. The roar shook everything, and when the soundwaves struck the wall, the strange aura started to crack and shatter away like glass. Bad time for a disadvantage.

"We gotta go!" Stubby pleaded.

"King, let's go, they'll hear us for sure!" added Budgerite. Lion rushed forward in another roar, but Grogar decided to get the upper hoof in his next move. And this one was cowardly as it was terrible.

He rushed in and grabbed, Pink Pearl, hooves keeping her still as she could only yelp.

"One move or word out of ANY of you, and I'll go and break her pretty little neck," Grogar warned. NOW there was a problem, and Pink Pearl couldn't move an inch without risking Grogar's sharp hooves or teeth tearing her apart. 

"Y-You wouldn't," Yellow Pearl gulped. And to prove this wasn't just a fluke, Grogar sank his teeth into her neck and held her up, her toes just barely touching the ground. Lion was about to go in again, but Yellow Pearl clamped his mouth shut before another roar could be done.

"No, no, no, no, quiet," Yellow Pearl pleaded.

Good for him. Grogar gave the signal for his cronies to continue, and all three began to move the statue best the three could do. Rather than head for the door, they went right for Blue Diamond's bath instead. Grogar kept his eyes locked onto them to make sure they didn't do anything during the operation. None of them wanted to see another Gem hurt by this trigger-happy goat. As this was going on though, Blue Pearl moved to Yellow Pearl and Lion, and mouthed the two words they had to do next.

Get Ready.

"One. Two. One, two, three," said Budgerite, and on three they pushed the statue down into the bath (for some reason). All three were pulled into the deep empty bath, with a loud thud telling Grogar they've hit bottom.

"This is a lot deeper than it looks! And also, ouch!" shouted Bray. Grogar glanced back to the bath.

"You idiots break her, and I'll break your -"

*RROOOWWRR!* *BAM!*

It all happened so fast, and Yellow Pearl was borderline hysterical on such a move: Blue Pearl, launched forward by Lion's roar, kicked Grogar right in the eye! It was just enough to make him release Pink Pearl, making the ram fall into the bath Pink Pearl was free, but still in pain around her un-cracked eye. Grogar, now with a black eye from the kick, snarled to Blue Pearl.
It was revealed though when they all looked down that a portal was already there at the bottom of the bath, which they were already getting the statue through to who knows where? Grogar had one more warning for them.

"I won't forget about that, you harpy witch! You lot ARE DEAD!"

And with that roar, Grogar jumped down into the portal, shutting it up fast before any of them could follow them in. Lion tried to grab him, but the portal closed just too fast, and Lion was left with nothing. And then, everything was quiet: the four were gone, the last bit from the room now taken away, leaving a few Pearls and a disgruntled Lion to replay what just happened. Pink Pearl was simply left shaking in her shoes, burying her head into Blue Pearl's shoulder and whimpering a little bit.

"Don't let him get me," whimpered Pink Pearl.

"Don't worry. He won't," Blue Pearl promised. One look down there as Lion jumped out, and they had only one thing to do now.

"... We have to warn the rest."
> Be Still My Stone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*YAWN*

"Well day, princess, I have to say. You've been on a role lately," said one of Twilight's guards, as the alicorn was going through Canterlot Castle. And what a long day it had been again, running off around Equestria doing who knows what for who knows how long at this point.

"You think so? Great … *YAWN* okay, is that everything? … Or do I need to ask?" Twilight asked, surprisingly unamused by the question she herself presented. And to her tired eyes, the unicorn levitated out the list once again, but as he went through it, it was surprisingly close to the bottom for the day. She could only hope so: so many different meetings to get to, conflicts to handle, and who knows what else were really eating up at her by now. The guard needed a minute but he eventually found something.

"Aha. K, looks like you're needed over at Homeworld to discuss friendship matters with the Diamond Authority royal court," said the guard. Twilight stopped moving briefly.

"Another meeting?" she groaned. The guards looked surprised, but Twilight quickly recovered. "I-I mean, great! Haven't seen them in a while, and I can definitely see that big festival still going on! … Can I take a nap first?"

"A nap? They're expecting you within the hour," insisted the secondary guard. Twilight groaned, sitting down on the floor. There always was SOMETHING keeping her from that soft, warm bed of hers, and at this point she might as well toss it, because there wasn't much time to use it at all. The guards looked to one another before the older one went over to her.

"It's the last meeting for the day, if it helps you," the guard said. Twilight, tired and annoyed, just scoffed.

"Yeah, right, and I bet there's at least twenty more after that! And twenty more after that twenty! Not even CELESTIA had this much work to do!!" Twilight yelled, spooking the guards a bit.

"Actually she did. And more," the younger guard corrected. Twilight froze for a brief moment … before collapsing onto the floor. Nothing felt worse than feeling like a whining filly.

"Your highness, I know this is a bit hard for you to contend with, but this is all just part of being Equestria's ruler. You got to be on your mark with whatever comes your way."

"And besides," said the other guard, "You're doing wonders for Equestria. I mean look at what you did today."
And the second guard brought over the list of things to Twilight. She didn't really levitate it, letting it fall over her head before doing so and vaguely reading it over. Her tired eyes saw all sorts of important things she did today, as little break as there even was.

"I guess so. … Boy, but I feel exhausted," Twilight yawned, slowly levitating the list back to the guard. "I could really use some -"

"Coffee?" another guard said, levitating a cup for her. Not exactly the biggest fan of coffee, but Twilight needed something to keep the up and up throughout all of this work. Few sips later, and Twilight got moving again over towards her room. The coffee tried giving her some zing to keep her awake, and it was just enough to keep her from stumbling on her own hooves.

"So when do you want to go and handle this?" one of the guards asked. Twilight sighed and turned back to them.

"In just a minute," she decided. Both guards understood, but just as Twilight opened the door …

*WHACK* "AAHH!"

"Princess!"

Such a quick turn of events as something suddenly zipped out, grabbed the alicorn, and pulled her right inside! It moved just a little too fast for any of them to make out what was happening, and the guards rushed into the room, ready for any sort of attacker. … Well, almost any sort of attacker.
They found Twilight inside, stuck with what looked like a rope around her neck with someone holding her back like a pet on a leash. But it wasn't exactly the situation Twilight was in, but more of a matter of WHO that made the guards a bit perplexed. Looking behind her, Twilight saw the familiar look of Princess Cadance herself in control of this rope.

"Cadance?!" gasped Twilight. And she wasn't alone either, Spike being there right alongside her, sitting on the bed.

"Twilight. Sorry for the sudden involvement," Cadance said, as she removed the rope and allowed Twilight to calm down. The guards nearby couldn't help themselves.

"What did you do that for?!" the guard asked. Cadance gave them a bit of a look … a rather stern look. Twilight brought her hoof to her neck, feeling where that rope was, as Cadance went to the guards.

"Step outside for a moment. I wish to speak to my sister-in-law alone," Cadance instructed. The guards, a little hesitant at first, did eventually nod and stepped out of the room, to which Cadance promptly closed the door before a word could be brought in again.

"Was a rope really necessary?" Twilight asked, hoof to her neck.

"Considering you're always running off before we can talk to you … kind of," Spike admitted. Twilight didn't get it, but Cadance helped her in that regard. They can't afford to take anymore chances, or wait for much longer.

"We're starting to worry about you, Twilight," Cadance began, "You've been running around all over Equestria for weeks, and I don't recall you being given the proper time off throughout any of it."

"Yeah, and you've barely used this bed," added Spike, "It's so comfy, why wouldn't you use it?" and he made a few bounces on the bed as if to make his point. Twilight O SO WANTED TO, but the words of the meeting echoed in her head.

"Cadance, Spike, I'm sorry but I didn't have as high of a position as before. I'm Equestria's new ruler, of course it's gonna be harder."

"Twilight come on, the longest you've ever actually napped was  during that Convocation, and even THEN it was only thirty minutes," Spike pointed out, "Why don't you give it a break?"

"And let Equestria unguarded?! I left Canterlot before, and Grogar nearly trampled the place!" Twilight exclaimed, following by throwing herself on the bed for the first time in weeks. … Boy did that bed feel good.

"But that's still only one time," Spike retorted, "That was just some freaky timing, that's all, and nothing like it happened since then. The worst that happened since then was a run out on ink."

"Yeah, I know. By the way, did you get refills?" Twilight asked. Spike simply had to show Twilight a drawer full of spare ink bottles to show they do indeed have enough ink for notes.

"Good. That's one thing handled off the list," Twilight said, following by a yawn as she laid there in bed. Cadance levitated her up a bit to try and talk to her again.

"Listen, it can be hard to keep track of an entire empire, but if you don't take care of yourself you might not be able to even handle that. … You know, I think there was a lesson about that before, don't you think?"

"That's not the same thing!" Twilight insisted, getting up to her hooves again, "Fluttershy didn't have an entire country to worry about. Nevermind one that's nearly been destroyed by renegade Parasprites, which may I remind you, WAS ALSO MY FAULT!"

"AND you fixed it. Equestria's still here -"

"Equestria's only standing at the expense of -" Twilight felt a cold shiver that stopped her yelling, "... C-Celestia's passing. She sacrificed herself for Equestria, and her AND Starswirl the Bearded believe in me. They're counting on me to make sure -"

"To lead Equestria, we know that, you've been saying several times already since you started," Cadance cut in.

"About at least forty six times... er, forty seven including right now," added Spike. Twilight froze in her dramatic stance (hoof to her chest and all that) only then realizing just how many times she was saying that. Her ear flickered briefly before she turned quickly back to them.

"And I'll keep saying it! The work waits for no one, and I have to do it! There's nopony else that's open to any of these meetings, the confrontations, the public appearances, not to mention ANY big danger that can pop up at any moment!"

"But what if you're wrong Twilight?" Spike then asked, trying to get through to her.

"W-Well, what if you're wrong?!"

"... Seriously?"

Twilight was losing it, but she did get in a more casual stance after that. Cadance went over to her, placing a helping wing on her shoulders as the exhausted looking mare looked up to her.

"We can't ignore it anymore, you need a break. Tell you what: that Era 3 Festival has been going on for a bit, and I've heard it might be ending soon. Why don't you just take a break from all this for a bit, and go by and have some fun before it stops, what do you say? One good hurrah for Era 3?"
Twilight thought about it as best her tired mind could do. It didn't sound much like the best physically relaxing thing to do, but when it comes to mentally relaxing things to do, it was just the ticket for her. … You know, if a meeting wasn't called for, that is. But then she got an idea.

"You know what? Perfect!"

Cadance and Spike looked very good about this, until -

"I have to go there and handle the friendship lesson meeting with the Diamond Authority anyway, I can get that done WHILE I have fun!"

"Wait, what? Twilight, hold it -" but it was too late for Spike to say anything, and Twilight already bolted out of the room, already telling the guards to follow her off to Homeworld. Spike gave himself a good slap to the forehead.

"COME ON! How hard is it to give a princess a break?" Spike asked himself in annoyance.

"Well on the bright side, she can join the festival after the meeting." she moved to Spike and gave him a wink, wing wrapping around Spike, "Because we are gonna make sure she does. You in?"

"Are you kidding?" Spike said with a smirk.


~~~~~~


"A meeting, my Diamond?" Garnet asked.

Back on Homeworld, things had been going rather smoother throughout each of the days since it got started. A bit bumpy of course, some more than others, but it had reached the point when much of the residence were getting better suited to the ideas the festival was trying to convey. And it was during the ending factors of this festival when the diamonds called on a meeting to be held, with many of the Harmony Gems present for it along with members of the royal court.

"We've figured that since your friendship lessons had been very good," said White Diamond, "We should try and learn more from the Ponies of Equestria. After all, they do have a very high value on it … well, most of them do."

"I'm just trying to lend a helping hand," insisted Steven, feeling modest, but complimented, about his involvement on the matter.

"And you did wonderful, Steven," complimented Blue Diamond, "It's that kind of friendship and understanding Homeworld should all know."

"I agree, it's brilliant," said Yellow Diamond in her matter-of-factly fashion, "It would at the least help cause less trouble in out colonies with these ideas in mind."

"AND," added Pink Diamond, who hopped up to Yellow Diamond's shoulder, "We all can have more fun times together. You know, I was thinking of making this Era 3 Festival a yearly thing, and maybe next year you all can join in more on the fun!"

"I like the way you think, Rosebud," said Pinkie Pie, suddenly popping up from Pink Diamond's hair. White diamond flustered, considering the royal court was present, but Blue Diamond found it kinda cute.

"Well, If I'm gonna be honest for a second here, I'm very impressed with y'all. Just three days, and you got settled in like pigs to a mud wallow," Applejack said. Some chuckled on the idea of her analogy.

"Yes, we uh … pigs, would have to settle in sooner or later."

"It's very great to see," Garnet said.

During this chat, there was some things to note over with the court members. Lapis Lazuli saw Yellow and Blue's courts all fine and dandy, but White's court seemed a bit lacking to say the least. Something White diamond seemed a bit ashamed about.

"Where's the rest of your court?" Lapis asked. White Diamond flustered, which was becoming a common thing at this point, but rather than say it out loud, Lapis decided to ease her mind a bit and fly up to her so she can whisper it instead.

"Um … they've … kinda left me. Mostly. … They felt I was too dangerous after I became this," White diamond answered. Considering White Diamond did nearly blow up Homeworld, that was kinda easy to figure.

"Who's left?" Lapis inquired.

"Pearlis I think. And a few others, but, they're not here right now … Unfortunately," White Diamond said. White Diamond could use some of her court to feel a bit more comfortable, but one can't wish for everything. White spoke a little bit louder that time though, which caught the attention of Fluttershy.

"Don't worry, maybe we can find the others and show them you're not so scary," Fluttershy suggested, friendly hoof placed on White's shoulder. It was really the best she could ask of them at this point. But then White diamond took note of the Harmony Gems themselves.

"Um speaking of which. Are all of you present?" White Diamond asked.

Well, they figured someone would ask eventually, this answer brought out after some bit of thought.

"He wouldn't come," sighed Jasper, "He told us to quit talking about it."

"But, he said he was too busy, didn't he?" said Star Quartz.

"Far as I'm concern, it's the same thing."

"... I see. It's alright," White said.

How could she blame him, really? After everything she did and everything she tried to do before that big trip around the cosmos. Out of all the Harmony Gems, she knew Flint would be the hardest to gain trust from, if anyone.

"Well don't worry about it," said Rarity, "I'm sure he'll come by if he feels like it and join us then."

"One can hope," Garnet thought.

It was bothering her plenty when it came to him. You'd think he would be a bit more open, but Garnet was still seeing him so distant and cold about such things. What was the problem with him? Though she did have one idea …

There's too much to do here: I'm studying Corruption right now, figuring out this Grogar situation top of that, not to mention there will be no one else here to actually watch over anything. Hard enough since much of our group's been off into space anyway.

"And the Pearls warned us of him too. … We'd better watch for him. ..." Garnet thought. Garnet paused and tried to figure out what that would be, but before she could get an answer formulated, there suddenly was a commotion by the front door, as a royal guard of Canterlot started to speak.

"Presenting the ruler of Equestria: Twilight Sparkle!"

And then in came Twilight. It still was a bit odd seeing her come last to a meeting like this, but one look at the alicorn and they all could see why she would be late. The Diamonds, princesses and royal court all saw, not a regal alicorn tidy and ready to go, but instead a completely worn out and exhausted looking pony. Twilight Sparkle just looked awful: her mane and tail with numerous knots in it, her eyes barely able to keep open with notable bags underneath them, and as she was walking towards her position she needed one of the guards just to keep herself steady. She knew the importance of this meeting so she tried her absolute hardest to keep herself awake and "presentable" for the sake of the situation.

"Twilight?" asked Starlight.

"Hey everybody *yawn* sorry I'm a little late. Won't happen again," Twilight promised, trying to act like nothing was wrong with her. But it was painfully obvious she was simply not all there.

"Dang, Twilight. I'm just gonna say it, you look terrible," said Amethyst.

"No! No, I'm cool, just had a long night … ok, where do I - oh there!" and Twilight went off towards her spot over by the platform with the guards keeping her company. She had all the essentials with her, including the equipment and map levitating (kind of) not too far behind her.

"Are you sure you're up for this, Twilight? I can deliver the speech if it makes you feel better," Cadance offered. Twilight considered it for a few seconds under one of her guards gestured her to continue.

"It's fine, it's fine, really it's fine. Besides, I'm the princess of friendship. I mean, what kind of princess of friendship can't make a speech about friendship?!" Twilight insisted, giving off one of those "fake cool face" smiles … and looking a little nuts.

"But Twilight -"

"Sorry to interrupt, your highness," said one of the guards, "But you need to start, everyone's waiting."

"OH! That's my cue," Twilight trotting fast onto the platform, accidentally releasing one of the scrolls prematurely, just for her to levitate it again and bring it with her. Of course this brought some concern, yet before Cadance could go up the two guards positioned themselves just in the way, much to Cadance's confusion.

"Excuse me," Cadance said.

"Hey, how's it going?" said one of the guards. Well, there wasn't that much they could do now, Twilight was already there.

And so things were "all set", but it seemed that everyone except for Twilight herself saw there was something wasn't correct. Yellow, Blue, and White were giving glances to one another in either confusion or concern for the Alicorn. However, one of the guards did offer some support as she was close to dozing off right there by her podium.

"Coffee, princess?" said the guard, levitating a cup to her. OK, not the best support, but Twilight took it anyway and gulped it down, the coffee buzz bringing her around enough to at least keep her awake.

"That's the seventh one today," Spike commented. That didn't make things any better and Twilight began this speech by hanging up the poster … just for it to be in the wrong order. Embarrassed she quickly swung page after page under she found the right one (which showed what looked like a symbol with all of the Harmony Gems together, Gems and ponies). She cleared her throat.

"Now then," Twilight began, "I'm very glad to be joining you all today. For today we -"

"Uh, Twilight, the diamonds already went through that part," whispered Starlight. Twilight blushed looking to Yellow and Blue Diamond, and shuffled her cards to catch up.

"Oh, uh, sorry, anyway uh … ah!" she cleared her throat and tried again, "I know some of you might be wondering what truly can come from friendship. Some can say friendship alone doesn't increase work revenue, or perhaps it doesn't always keep some in line. But speaking from experience, the value of friendship can become the strongest known element in all the universe. Friendship, in definition, is the emotional connection between a number of people who share a close bond with one another. An understanding that can bring even the harshest of conflict to an end ..."

Twilight began levitating a pointer, only to accidentally drop it from lack of focus. She chuckled nervously and quickly just picked it up with her hooves instead. She was getting more exhausted.

"The best reflection is from this group right here: the Harmony Gems. For so many years, they have faced challenge after challenge that tested both their strength and their will from dealing with monsters to the biggest of revelations. But it was their connection and friendship that keeps them all together. *yawn* If any of them fall, they help pick eachother up. If they have a problem, there's always someone there to help in whatever they need … any questions before I continue?"

In surprise, a lot of hands were raised right away. Twilight needed a minute.

"... Ok, uh … the sapphire up front," Twilight said, pointing to a Sapphire. But the question she had she didn't prepare for.

"Are you feeling alright?" the Sapphire asked. Twilight was unamused.

"... I'm fine," Twilight said, "Any questions involving the lesson?"

And the hands were dropped right away. Twilight was starting to get annoyed, but she continued anyway despite her condition. It didn't really help that even with the coffee zing, it was already waring off and she was looking ready to topple at any given moment.

"Hey Spike, did Twilight get any chill time since being princess?" Steven asked.

"Not in the last few weeks," Spike replied, "Trust me I tried, but it's always "I'm the princess of friendship, it's my job." or "Somepony has to handle this, and if I don't who will?"."

"Did she at least get some sleep?" Connie asked. Spike paused, and actually shrugged.

"Oh boy," Connie and Steven thought. This was more than enough, and they tried going up onto stage just for the guards to stand in the way.

"Come on, let us up there," Rainbow Dash insisted.

"Not in the middle of the speech," the guard insisted, hoof raised, "You have to wait until after it's over."

"But look at her," insisted AJ, "She looks more worn out than a working Ox on a summer's day!"

"Yeah she's wearing herself out," added Bismuth, "Can't you give her a break before she crumbles?"

"You can be concern as much as you want to, but the schedule demands this kind of workload. Celestia had to do that same work, and since Twilight's the new princess she too has to handle that load. I'm sorry, but it's true," the guard said, showing the list causing all of this trouble anyway.

"Look, I understand how important it is to follow a schedule more than almost anyone," said Starlight, "but there's an Alicorn up there that can barely even hold her pointer right now. Can't someone just fill in for her instead? Garnet, Bismuth, hay even I'm willing to do that!"

"And the princess insisted she would handle it herself," retorted the guard, "no one interrupts her now. Besides, this is cutting into the schedule anyway."

"That's it, give me that thing!" snapped Emerald, grabbing the list and shredding it to pieces. The two guards were stunned, seeing the list get torn up in the matter of seconds, Emerald being the literal shredder.

"There, no more list, no more workload, now call that pony off the podium before she thinks it's her bed."

"For once I'm with you," Peridot said. You KNOW it's serious when Peridot was working with Emerald on this.

"You know those are daily lists right?"

"MOVE!" and Bismuth and Jasper moved the guards out of the way. Forceful, but these two were a pain in the flank either way. The guards were growing worried, but then …

*yawn* "So … so in conclusion friendship is what can … can keep someone going … keep … going …" The irony of her talk was on pure show, and Twilight struggled so hard just to keep herself awake. The diamonds didn't need to have this go any further.

"It's alright Twilight, another time then," Blue Diamond insisted. This just made Twilight annoyed.

"Please, I-I'm fine! Bet your … y-your flank I …"

"My. Flank?"

And with one trip over her own hooves, Twilight finally just gave up. In front of the entire royal court, all of her friends, Twilight Sparkle just collapsed right there, falling onto the ground with a flop.

"Oh my gosh! Twilight!" Spike was the first to bolt up to the platform, and right to Twilight's side. Twilight became unresponsive as the others tried to coax her back around, but lucky for them she was still breathing. Much of the royal court was left stunned by Twilight's "death", but after checking her Garnet addressed the courts.

"It's alright everyone, she just fell asleep," Garnet announced, "We'll have to cut this short."

It was a disappointment, but the royal court could see that this wasn't gonna continue, as did the Diamonds.

"Twilight?" Amethyst gently poked the Alicorn, but all that did was evoke a small snore coming from her muzzle. She wasn't gonna be waking up anytime soon, not soon enough to finish her speech anyway.

"Yeah, she's out cold," Amethyst confirmed.

"Guess all those weeks of work finally caught up with her," Steven said. Twilight was helped up somewhat by Spike, and Peridot, but Twilight didn't notice any of it at all. Or even if she did, she was too tired to care.

"Alright, we're getting you home right now," decided Spike, "No excuses, no work, just straight to bed."

"We'll bring her back."

The two guards then started to move forward towards her, but some of the others were having some suspicions over these guys, especially when they already were trying to levitate Twilight over to them without any word on their part. They've caused enough trouble.

"OH NO you don't, we got this," Bismuth insisted, grabbing Twilight before they could go off with her.

"W-We're really sorry," said one of the guards, "We didn't think she ended up THIS bad."

"Didn't? Think? Look at her!" Peridot snapped, not even her screaming enough to wake Twilight up. The guards stepped back a bit.

"Twilight has done more than enough to help Equestria now," Cadance said, "She doesn't need anymore of those major workloads."

"My apologies, but we were just trying to make sure all of Equestria's caught up again. Celestia would've done the same thing she did."

"NO. She wouldn't," Cadance simply stated. Both guards felt the eyes stare daggers at them, giving them both a good case of goosebumps. The point was there: both guards were too caught up to notice just how tired Twilight was through those weeks, and now the end result was there. A overly-exhausted pony who was too tired to serve right now. One of them took a step forward, taking off his helmet for a moment.

"Then at least allow us her escort back home. It's the least we can do to apologize for our mistake," the guard said. Some silence hung in the air for a moment or two, but eventually Twilight was indeed given to them by Bismuth.

"Alright, here you go. Make sure she gets straight home, and straight to bed," instructed Cadance.

"Right away. Let's go," the guard said. So with that instructions in mind, the two guards turned and started off on their way back towards home. Not many of them really felt anymore suspicious, but something didn't seem to sit Garnet right, as they were going off. Soon as the two off and out of sight, Garnet began to move off again.

"Where're you going?" asked Spike.

"Making sure she goes to the right place."


~~~~~~


The palace still loomed off in sight of the two guards in their walk through Homeworld, making sure that the alicorn didn't just stumble off of her personal ride on the way. Homeworld neither of them were too familiar with, so exact navigation to both of them was a bit challenging, especially since many of the signs were of Gem language. Nothing Ponish or English here for them to work out in their walk around the Diamond City.
Twilight Sparkle would help them out, but she was still passed out and sleeping with only a few murmurs escaping her muzzle as they continued along.

"Oi," one of them groaned, "This is a fine wagon of hay, now they're all mad at us. Not to mention we got a passed out princess on our hooves."

"Tell me something I don't already know. How's she looking?" the other guard asked. The first guard looked to Twilight, who was still murmuring in her snores. He even did an eye-check, but not even that woke her up.

"Haven't seen her this bad since that whole "Cutie Map" study happened. Maybe even worse. How long do you think she'll be out for?"

"My guess? … Hay if I know. Five hours? Six?"

But then Twilight started talking.

"It's ok. Just put the hay in the apple, and eat the candle …" and she went right back to dreamland again. YEAH, she wasn't gonna be coming back around again, not for a while anyway.

"Better make it eight," the other guard noted. The first guard had to agree and they continued their walk from there.

With Twilight still too tired to react to much of anything, too exhausted to give direction, the two guards found themselves wandering from one of the streets to what looked like a T-split in the path, the road splitting off opposite sides going off to who knows where. No one else seemed to be around the area, and both ponies stopped. Where'd they end up now?

"I knew we should've taken a left at that four way back there," the princess-carrying guard said, thinking they've made a wrong turn. However, the other pony thought otherwise after checking the area a little bit more. He looked on towards one of the buildings off a ways.

"Hmm … no, I think this is it. Hang on a minute," the guard said. He then trotted on ahead a bit to check the area as the second guard stood there, making sure Twilight didn't fall off his back pre-maturely, landing on the floor rather than a bed. He even lifted one of Twilight's wings so they wouldn't drag on the ground. Eventually, off about twenty feet away, that other guard took a look around the next corner, and then gave a signal with his hoof.

"Ah, we're here, c'mon," the guard said.

Both guard started trotting off in that direction after getting that confirmed for both of them. The next corner was still isolated, Gems either off at the festival or off with the Diamonds by now. This area nearby the palace was a bit more open than the crossing, but that didn't mean there wasn't anywhere to hide out in.
Once both of the ponies moved out towards this position, looking around on more time to make sure that they were indeed left undisturbed, and without any surprises …

"Let's get this over with."

The older one gave a whistle, hoof brought to his muzzle. Loud enough to be heard, but not screeching enough to wake Twilight up. The whistle echoed on for a good second and a half afterwards, and both stallions waited there for something to happen.

And that was when they started to come out. Given the signal, some strange figures began to come out from the dark corners and cracks in the buildings. While many of these figures seemed unfamiliar to many a pony, and to the guards it was no exception, one of these figures seemed, and deemed, all too familiar to them both.
As the other monsters were bringing themselves out from the shadows, one of these ponies actually appears no taller than the guards were. This was a pony coming out of the shadows of the buildings, a Unicorn to be exact. Though "Unicorn" might not entirely be correct, as her horn appeared to be broken as some small electrical fizzing emitted from it as she walked out, the scar over her right eye the very second thing the guards saw of her. Her mane in a natural crest of rose colors, her fur coat a dark orchid made darker from the life she steppe from. Her whole body was clad in armor, horseshoes scraping the ground and the dim light gleaning off of her obsidian steel. All of the other guards didn't pay much attention on her, only seemingly focused on the two arriving guards and the prize they had with them.

"Well boys," said the unicorn, "Looks like the "princess of Equestria" is finally out cold. … Took you two longer than he'd like."

"She kinda lasted a bit longer than expected, but as you promised," said the older guard, levitating Twilight off of his back, and placing the body over by the broken unicorn. Her eyes looked to her, checking to make sure this wasn't just some fluke, but Twilight was indeed out cold.

"Good. I have to say, I'm impressed. Not everyday a set of ponies from the Royal Guard would turn around on their own queen," the unicorn said, as one of the creatures by her picked up Twilight. The unicorn noted that the beast was holding her rather roughly (namely upside-down by her back leg).

"Hold her like she actually means something to you, we don't want her waking up until after we get there," the unicorn instructed. The creature listened to the unicorn's words, and instead went on and held her as if she were a infant, cradling her in its arms. A bit excessive, but good enough.

"Just remember our end of the deal, alright? We didn't do this for nothing."

"I'd love to reward you now, but that's not my call to make," reminded the unicorn. "You'll have to talk to my king about that one."
The unicorn gave the signal for one of the storm creatures to begin taking Twilight Sparkle away. Just before they could go …

"Put the Alicorn down."

Garnet. She'd been trailing the two ever since they left the palace, and seeing this was more than she would allow. The two guards were shocked on seeing her there, though the unicorn seemed a bit less surprised that something would be suspicious by now. In fact, she was more counting on it.

"You were followed," the unicorn simply said, referring to the guards.

"I'm giving you to the count of three to let her go," Garnet warned, "And if you don't …" Garnet made her point clear by getting into a fighting stance, fists clenched and ready. She wasn't typically one to just jump into a fight, but her future vision told her simply talking wouldn't amount to much. The unicorn was barely threatened.

"You really want to fight? One against the entire storm battalion? You're a bit out-numbered you know."

"I'd more call it even. But I'd rather not fight if I can help it. I'll let you go if you let Twilight go, and we both can leave unscathed," Garnet stated, giving the unicorn a way out. The unicorn huffed, with only one thing to say ...

"Kill her."

So much for a way out. All the storm creatures behind the unicorn drew out their shields and spears and in a war cry started running right for Garnet. All except for one, who was still holding Twilight under the unicorn's orders. However, none of them knew just what kind of fighter Garnet even was, and it only took them about ten seconds to suddenly start to become over-powered by this fusion. Garnet easily dodged the spears, reflected the claws, and blocked the shields used against her like a pro, and one after the other the storm creatures were being forced back. First one that tried a attack on her she simply threw him aside, kicked away the second one, and actually did a frontlock suplex on the third into the fourth coming up behind her, the leverage aiming her legs enough to do a "kangaroo kick" onto another to send it flying into one of the buildings. The unicorn quickly learned they were NOT going to win this fight if Garnet was handling them this easily.

Not without her, anyway. Angry, the unicorn joined the fray, making a leap off the ground and using one of the storm creatures as a platform for another jump, landing her right in front of the fusion. Garnet's motions were quick to keep up, each hand blocking a swift kick from the fighting unicorn. Surprising really, that this unicorn was this well-classed in physical combat. Garnet didn't even need her gem weapons for this, and gave the unicorn a hard slap to the face, knocking her head over hooves for a bit before she landed upright. The unicorn made a charge at Garnet again, this time her horn glowing and sparking like a electric taser. Garnet brought both hands out and grabbed her horn before she could skewer her, sending electricity surging through her body for a good three seconds before they broke off. A strong hit, but not enough to take down the fusion.

"You may have got me out-numbered, but you're out-matched," Garnet stated.

"I can see that," the unicorn huffed, spitting to the side from that slap, which still stung her face.

"Now please, just let Twilight go. I don't want to keep fighting you over this."

"Likewise. So …"

And then the unicorn gave a whistle to the guard in question, suddenly the storm creature went from "nurturing" to nasty, and pinned Twilight to the ground, his claws inches from the passed out Alicorn's head. Garnet knew a threat when she saw one.

"You wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of the princess, would you? It's entirely your call," the unicorn said. Garnet froze on seeing this happen. Garnet was conflicted: either let her go with them, or let her die on the spot. And with her not responsive as it is, Twilight couldn't break free. Garnet tried to see what outcomes would their be, but the end result was the same. ANY move on her part against her now, will make Twilight die.

As much as Ruby and Sapphire didn't want to, Garnet raised both hands in submission.

"That's better. …"

And the unicorn took the opportunity to rush forward, her horn sparking again, and THIS time she connected and stabbed Garnet right in her stomach! Unlike the first shot, this one was fully charged and Garnet suffered the full effects of it. The unicorn didn't move an inch until Garnet succumbed to the attack, and exploded into a dust cloud. While this did poof Garnet, Ruby and Sapphire were still whole, and both of them split up and apart, electricity leaving them both very stung and frazzled.

"Surround them," ordered the Unicorn.

"Don't lay a finger on her!" Ruby shouted, rushing over to her sapphire as the storm creatures surrounded them both, keeping them at bay. This didn't last too long though as one of the storm creatures grabbed Ruby and held her back in a bear hug, as Sapphire was held up and away from her as well. Ruby kept thrashing to try and break free, but the combined strength of Garnet wasn't exactly on her side anymore.

"How could you do this?! Twilight's YOUR leader! Equestria wouldn't be standing without her help!" Ruby shouted to the guards in question. The two guards didn't answer that time, feeling a little bad (underline a little) but felt less worried now Garnet was split apart.

"You two shouldn't be worrying over "Twilight". You got bigger things to worry about," warned the unicorn.

"Like what?" Sapphire asked. The unicorn moved closer to Sapphire, looking her over, just able to see her one eye.

"I've heard of you. You can see into the future. Why don't you just use that, and see what will happen now to your friends back at the palace?" the unicorn offered. Sapphire actually did take a moment to check that, trying to calm down, but as she was …

"YOW!" Ruby's anger had heated her up so much, that a fire was actually lit up on the storm creature's fur, making it release her and race around in a panic, trying to make the fire stop. The next thing she did was try to make the other storm creature release Sapphire, kicking the storm creature square in the face to make it let her go, but what Sapphire saw in that future vision of hers made her quiver.

"Come on, let's get Twilight!" Ruby insisted, angry and ready to fight again, but Sapphire grabbed her.

"We have to get back to the palace! Now!" Sapphire said in urgency.

"Wha - But what about Twilight?" Ruby asked, shocked.

"We can't do anything about it right now, the Diamond Palace is gonna be invaded and conquered if we don't hurry back!" Sapphire said.

"WHAT?!" Ruby gasped.

"I'll explain on the way, now let's go!"

They got the full situation now. As much as they wanted to help Twilight out of this mess, they couldn't do anything here without a bigger loss back at the palace. Sapphire gripped Ruby's hand, and rocketed off straight back to the palace at lightning fast speed. The unicorn simply sighed.

"That's what I thought."

…….

Sapphire and Ruby wasted no time in their mad dash through Homeworld, Sapphire mainly leading the way as Ruby was holding on tight. This situation must be extremely urgent, because both didn't even have time to fuse back into Garnet in their mad dash. Sapphire was going so quick, Ruby was practically flying.

"S-Sapphire! T-Too F-Fast!"

"No time to lose, we got to warn them before they arrive," Sapphire said, seeing the palace in their sights. Ruby could see it too, but she was just trying not to loosen her grip on Sapphire in their mad dash. For Sapphire, she looked on towards the palace, and she didn't really see any form of threat just yet. Nothing flying around the castle, no smaller hills from any burrowers, and not any other signs of danger yet. A welcoming sign, sure, but Sapphire didn't slow down in her approach. She made a bee-line up the from steps and straight into the palace doors.

Everyone was still there, thank the stars, but they quickly saw the split-off fusion instead of their Garnet.

"Ruby? Sapphire?" asked Bismuth. Sapphire finally stopped running when she got to her friends, Ruby accidentally bumping right into her before falling to the ground. Ruby needed a minute from that G-force lag, breathing heavily.

"You're split?" asked Spike.

"No time to explain anything now - we have to hurry!"

"Hurry, what for? What's going on?" Steven asked. Sapphire tried to keep herself calm without getting a panic attack.

"I-It's Grogar, he's coming with an entire army with all sorts of creatures. They're coming here!"

That was all they needed to hear to suddenly raise an alarm around the entire room. Sapphire wouldn't be the one to lie about this sort of thing, and besides, why else would they be split up like this anyway if they were Garnet just minutes before? White Diamond grew worried on this sudden news as with many others, but being the "North Star", she did try to keep some form of a straight face.

"When is he coming?"

"Any minute now. Everything have to be ready to keep him from taking over," stated Sapphire. Yellow Diamond took action.

"You heard her: any of you, gather the Jaspers and Amethysts and double security," Yellow Diamond demanded, the first Gem to move going off and doing just that. Bad enough that Stubby made his nasty trick AND Grogar already stealing much of their Gems, they didn't need another form of attack like this. Blue Diamond spoke next.

"Hurry, block off the entrance to the palace however you can," Blue instructed. Gems from her court, including Sapphire, went over towards the frontal doors and closed them tight. The ponies were up and doing the same, giving some extra power in closing the doors shut. Starlight Glimmer jumped in next, but not for pushing the doors.

"Everyone away from the center," Starlight said as her horn began to glow. Those by the door did so, and with a blast of magic, Starlight Glimmer shot the doors and sealing them shut with a well-aimed ice beam, lining the entire center of it with a thick layer of ice. Nobody was getting in that way. As that was going on, Steven then got another question.

"Wait. We're all here right? Twilight's at home and Flint's back at the temple, who's missing?" Steven asked.

"Uh … nobody?" Pink replied.

And just like that, the lights went off. And then came the sound of a welcoming trumpet. This one wasn't played by the singing Gems this time, as Yellow looked over and found them rather quiet. In fact, they looked just as confused as everyone else. The spotlights tried to find the source, and eventually they did end up finding something else playing the welcoming royal horn. Sitting there by the curtains was Bray, with a royal trumpet being played in his muzzle.

"Oh no," White muttered.

"I thought we just sealed the front door," Yellow Diamond silently stated.

"M-Me too," quietly said Pink. And eventually, Bray finished his trumpet blowing and, just after suddenly kicking White Pearl aside, presented the crowd before him.

"Presenting the almighty king of Tartarus itself, and your grace for this afternoon - pray he doesn't shatter you. GROGAR!"

"He's already here?" wondered Blue Diamond. Grogar. Well that name didn't exactly ring as many bells all too much, but bells were easily heard as the king ram in question started to come on in, tossing open the curtains himself and starting to walk along the welcome mat. His followers came in behind him: Bray, Budgerite, Stubby and a few others following him behind. They did hear some confusion amongst the crowd around them, but Grogar didn't pay em much time.

"Afternoon, my boy. Now we got the pleasantries outta the way. Please leave my house."

"Wait. your house?" Steven asked.

"Yes, are you deaf or something?" Grogar questioned in a grumble. Bray was alright, but Budgerite felt humbled by seeing White Diamond, Stubby even moreso.

"But, this isn't your house, it's the Diamond's house," said Steven. However, this response gave everyone in the room a surprise, as Grogar bolted forward, and plucked Steven out of Pink Diamond's arms, tossing him like a doll to his own subjects.

"Well this is mine now," Grogar announced, "Anything else got a problem with that?"

"Uh, yeah, we do!" said Pink Diamond, getting up from her throne. She, Rainbow, Applejack, and Connie got in Grogar's way before he could do anymore damage.

"Don't worry Steven, we got you," Connie said.

"Oooooo, I'm am frightened," said Grogar, before he and his subjects started laughing, save a few humbled souls. Grogar stopped laughing abruptly before going right up to Connie's face.

"Hear this, foxy face! I didn't come here to kill you this time - just a nice friendly visit to tell you to CLEAR OFF! YOU AND YOU'RE WHOLE LOT BOTH! CLEAR OFF!" Grogar demanded.

"Is this a joke?" questioned Jasper, hardly threatened. She for one only saw an angry and confused goat, so why jump in? Grogar grumbled. Blue Diamond then got up and went over to Grogar.

"You got exactly ten seconds to explain yourself, Grogar. We just started Era 3 before you arrived, and I'll have you know it's imprisonment to attack a Diamond."

"Be quiet, doll, I'm talking to a real creature here," Grogar snapped.

"Excuse me?" Blue gasped, deeply insulted. Being called a clod was one thing, but being called a DOLL?! A artificial figure what's only purpose is to be blindly played with? The other Gems started to feel a cold shiver on this kind of insult, but Grogar didn't care. In fact, he added onto it as he turned to Steven.

"Hey, Steven was it? Do me a favor and clean up this mess you made of my throne room! Pick up all your dolls and go play outside before I trample them all!" Grogar warned. Though, admittedly, his warnings just weren't all that impressive: him and a few others against an entire royal ball of hundreds of Gems with the Diamond Authority standing right there, not to mention the mane six and Equestrian company. Not to mention -

"I got it," said Yellow, frustrated by this delay.

"U-Uh, Grogar?" said Stubby, hiding behind him. Grogar cracked his neck as Yellow Diamond went for him, but he wasn't gonna stick around. Grogar waited for this moment, the bells chiming on his chest, and his horns starting to glow a ominous blue. One of the sapphires though suddenly rushed out, and was rushing towards her.

"My diamond!" she gasped, rushing in the way of Grogar's magical blasts. The sapphire flew off a few feet before landing on the ground.

"Oh my gosh! You alright?" Steven asked, bolting instinctively towards her. Yellow Diamond pinned Grogar down with one hand, his subordinates jumping back so they wouldn't get crushed, as Steven went to see the sapphire. Bray, Budgerite, and Stubby were grabbed and pinned too by those protecting Steven. The sapphire on the ground was jittery, unable to even get up as she was glitching out a bit.

"What's wrong? Is your gem cracked?! Say something, what's the matter?!" Steven pleaded. His sapphire moved in and pulled him back, but Steven felt her touch was a bit more cold than usual. Soon though, they found out why.

*HISSSSS!*

The Sapphire was suddenly no longer herself. Her hair, which just before was well-kept, now morphed into smooth skin along her head. Her face had altered into just a single, glazed eye. Her dress had formed into a wave of tentacles, like a jellyfish, and her arms had now withered away to nothing. The sapphire screeched and wailed like a tortured pig, trying to see something - ANYTHING, but with no luck. She felt scared, confused, and the only thing she could do to save herself was to keep as many away from her as possible, wailing and thrashing at whatever got close.

"C-Corruption? … You … YOU CORRUPTED HER!" Steven shrieked. Grogar finally pulled himself out of Yellow Diamond's grip, the diamond left almost as stunned as the others in the room. And for good measure, he aimed his horns and shot a yellow aimed electric light right at Yellow Diamond! Yellow Diamond screamed as the shot struck her right between the eyes, the aura of the blast traveling all around her. This blast though wasn't the same as the corrupting light, as they all found it branch off and strike Blue, White, and Pink Diamond next, them all screaming before Grogar, single handedly, poofed them all at once!

"See what happens when you oppose almighty king Grogar?!" roared Bray, laughing hysterically at the quick takedown of the diamonds. NOW it was serious, as all the creatures present trembled at what they just witnessed. When it came to the course of history, this wasn't the first time the diamonds had been poofed, but it was at least one at a time. Grogar took three down in just one hit! Grogar raised his front hooves above Pink Diamond's stone, but before he could crush them underhoof, a blue blur from Blue Pearl snatched them all up, and the Harmony Gems got in Grogar's way, Bismuth already armed up with her hammer hands and Jasper with her helmet.

"You again? Doll? give them here," Grogar said, in a tone like a mother to a child keeping a toy away as he held out his hoof.

"You really think we don't exist? You're working with a Gem right there!" Jasper said, pointing to Budgerite nearby.

"SHE'S half sparrow, she actually HAS a adapting brain. Now be good dolls, and hoof them over."

"Over our shattered gems," warned Bismuth.

"Shattered … Budgerite, translate," Grogar said.

"That means … *gulp* dead. Killed," Budgerite peeped, still shaking from seeing one Gem corrupted, and another four poofed on the spot.

"OH. Well, I can arrange THAT!" Grogar said as he charged his horns again. Steven rushed in, and just before the fire, got out his gem shield to reflect the hit. He didn't want his friends shattered or corrupted. Bismuth went on, and swung her hammer right at the ram, knocking him back a good ten feet. However, Grogar was barely even hurt by the hit.

"We won't let you take over Homeworld! THIS is part of our world!" Steven stated, standing strong against him. Grogar thought a hybrid like Steven would try to see on better terms, but apparently he won't listen to his reason. He rolled his eyes, and his horns started to glow.

"You're joking, right?"

"I only make jokes when it's supposed to be funny!" Steven said.

"Look at you: here you are about to be killed by me, and for what? A bunch of robots who don't know anything else except for what they're programed to know. And those diamonds you got don't know ANYTHING except conquer and destroy. Open your eyes detective: you're risking your neck for literal war machines!"

"Keep talking goat, and I'll break your neck!" Jasper warned.

"OOOO, proving my point, are you? COME ON THEN!" Grogar roared. Jasper gladly complied and rushed forward, meeting Grogar head on - literally. Both head slammed into eachother, and while it did make Grogar move back, it barely was enough to hurt him, as he charged for another electrical shockwave running through Jasper's helmet, and through her body. It was a very nasty blow, making Jasper step back briefly before Grogar's teeth met with her face! Jasper, panicked, slammed Grogar off of her … just for her body to briefly glitch.

"Dang it," she growled, feeling her gemstone had been struck with a good crack in it. ONE BITE did that, and it was protected under her helmet visors no less! Starlight and Peridot rushed to her to support her, as Grogar laughed and his subordinates cheered.

"Go, Grogar!"

"Seriously?! You're a Gem, aren't you?" Rainbow Dash said, pushing her hooves down on Budgerite's head.

"Doesn't mean I have to like you guys, geesh. That's kinda how enemy teams work," Budgerite shrugged. And Grogar heard the bird Gem.

"Thanks for the reminder," Grogar said. While his next electrical shock didn't strike everyone, it made Connie and Rainbow Dash get off of them, with only AJ getting struck and electrocuted hard. It was enough to send Applejack flying, and Bismuth catching her before she struck ground.

"Got enough, or do I have to stop your heart with another?"

"Stop talking, you monster!" shouted Pearl, aiming her spear.

"OH, so I'M the monster! Yeah, I kill, and maybe tortured once or twice, but I don't leave MY subjects as nothing but foundation and accessories! Yeah, I saw them: living combs, sentient walls, bloody thinking statues! You tell me who's the real monster here, with THAT kind of mindset," Grogar roared.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Lapis rushed forward straight for him, and Grogar literally snapped Lapis's head off in one quick swing of his sharp teeth, her stone flying in the air!

"Lapis!!" Steven shouted, rushing to get her, only for Grogar to ram him away. Peridot cushioned the blow, and rushed to grab Lapis Lazuli from the air. But there was even more danger now than ever with their strongest fighters cut out of the game.

"OH, you crossed the line goat! TIME TO GET THE BEATDOWN!" Amethyst shouted.

"I'M A RAM, GET IT RIGHT PEOPLE!" Grogar screeched before charging for Amethyst, but he wasn't just facing one as the others were charging for him. Nothing he couldn't handle though: he whacked aside Amethyst, pinned down Ruby, and in a 360 spin got Fulgurite in his mouth and crunched down on her neck before throwing her off aside, leaving just the gemstones to be picked up by Pinkie Pie. This crazy onslaught of one Gem after a nother continued more and more until only the following Harmony Gems remained unscathed: Pearl, Peridot, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, Sapphire, Connie, Bismuth, and Steven. The others either poofed or too injured to try and fight again, Rainbow not able to fly due to an injured wing. Grogar looked to Steven, but as he was there he saw the gemstone on his stomach. He sniffed the air, and he actually got a scent from Steven.

"Well what do you know. Budgerite, you got a brother after all," Grogar said, Budgerite seeing the gemstone herself. The ram spoke again.

"I could go on all day, kill you all one after the other. … However, if you'll like to join me instead, kid, I'll make it much easier on you."

"What? Of course not! I don't like fighting anyone, but if you're going to try and kill my friends, I'll fight you anytime!" Steven declared. Well it was worth a shot.

"Have it your way. But remember, this is your decision." with that final warning, Grogar's horns began to glow nice and bright in its yellow hue. Steven brought up his shield to protect his friends, as it seemed that was where he was aiming to.

… Just to quickly change to blue, and shot to everyone else in the ballroom! In a mighty roar, his corruption light spell struck every single other gem in the room, with the soul exception being Budgerite. Steven was left speechless, and mortified by seeing all the gems there being struck, and becoming corrupted right in front of him. All Gems turning into horrifying monsters right before their eyes. The Harmony Gems were scarred. Once Grogar was done, he turned to the remaining ones with such a demonic smile across his muzzle, licking his sharp teeth as if ready to taste blood. His joy was even more so seeing Steven pouring tears.

"Who's next?"

"RUN FOR IT!" Steven yelled. for those that remained, they were forced moving when Grogar shot another beam at them. This one missed just enough, but they had to get out of there and fast. Steven wanted to go back and help, to TRY and save them, but Yellow Pearl made sure to grab him and pull him along. She didn't want any more diamonds killed today.

"That's it! Run! Run from king Grogar like the ants you are!" Grogar bellowed, laughing like a madman as he saw them all attempt to run away, fallen gemstones and ponies in their grip best they could. There wasn't that much time to even think as they ran for it, knowing well that this monster of a ram had complete control over any Gem in his way, be it shattering or corrupting. Even worse, they were also hearing heavy hooves right behind them.

"All those gems. What do we do?!" Steven asked, terrified and still shaking.

"We can't do anything right now, we just have to leave. We'll figure out something later," Sapphire concluded. As much as Steven hated the idea. But what could they do? None of them can cure corruption, but Steven then realized there was someone who could.

"Nephrite! Soon as we get back, we'll get Nephrite!" Steven concluded.

"Think she'll help us?" Yellow Pearl asked, hopefully.

"She'd better," Sapphire thought. Sapphire could only hope that the two components would be cooperative.

*BAM!* And suddenly another problem suddenly showed up, as the walls in front of them suddenly began to close around them, blocking their way! They all were forced to skid to a halt, seeing these walls had faces on them, and these faces all were defying them. Only now did Grogar catch up to them, cracking his front hooves like knuckles.

"Oh, look at that. You found a dead end," Grogar said. "No matter. You're just in time for lunch, and some of my subjects are feeling peckish. first course: Crystal Gem Asada!"

"No me gusta," Steven muttered. Grogar charged up his horns, the others trying to get the walls out of the way, but those walls were not going to budge. Steven got out his shield, the size just big enough to cover the entire hallway frame, making the oncoming blast of magic just bounce back. Grogar had to duck to avoid his own shot, but seeing this was simply irritating. But then …

"Back off!" Spike yelled, more in worry. It wasn't until NOW that Grogar knew Spike was even there, but seeing him now made him actually back up. What was HE doing here?!

"WALLS, MOVE!" Yellow Pearl shrieked, trying her hardest to make the walls move.

"Pretty pretty please with ice cream on top!" Pinkie added, but these walls simply weren't moving an inch. Even with Grogar's hesitation, they had little time for any delays, so Blue Pearl took a more brutal approach: leaping off the ground, she aimed both legs forward like a spear, and skewered right through one of the walls. This poofed it immediately, and Blue Pearl made sure to grab it.

"Sorry," Blue Pearl said. With a whistle, everyone else bolted through. Grogar snapped out of it, now galloping behind them.

"Half of you, try and cut them off! The rest, check for more Dra - Dra - Dragons!" Grogar instructed, as the Gem walls started to go off to try and do just that as Grogar gave chase. Those four diamonds were still with them, poofed or not, and he wasn't going to let them get away from him THAT easily. This break off from those walls did give them some form of a lead, them dodging what shot Grogar tried to get on them with either a swift jump or a block from Steven's shield, but Grogar wasn't willing to give up on their escape.
Eventually, probably out of pure luck, they managed to get out of the palace walls, and reach the docking station where the Pink Diamond ship was waiting for them.

"Hurry, in those legs!" Steven shouted. Grogar finally had enough, and charged up for one more blast of energy. This time his horns glowed a hazy green, and it launched like a fast-moving grenade. They didn't know what it was, but Sapphire suddenly bolted forward, and summoned an ice wall just strong enough to make everyone stop. And just in time too: the blast landed right where they would've been if they kept running, exploding the path clear off, and even part of the ship! Pink Diamond's ship felt off balance with its foot blown off, and started to collapse to the side, crashing down to the world below in a heap of metal!

"Where're you gonna go now?" Grogar asked, "Don't think all of you are able to jump that far to your ship without your flying doll and pony to help you."

"I'm warning you, ram! One more step, and we'll -" Bismuth was silenced by another guttural bellow from Grogar.

"You'll what? Kill me? You wouldn't dare, not in front of your "little starlight". Besides, that won't uncorrupt your little playset in the palace, or handle that "North Star" of yours, will it?" Grogar mocked, referring to Steven. That infuriated them even more, but Steven was hot with fear all of a sudden.

"W-WHERE'D YOU HEAR THAT NAME?!" Steven gasped. They ONLY ever heard that name once, and they were sure that Grogar was not there at all, at least while they were there.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Grogar snarled, starting to close in.

"Grogar, don't do this! Please! Homeworld needs the Diamonds, they don't deserve corruption!" Steven pleaded. Grogar just laughed.

"There you go again, thinking they're actually alive! Why don't you just give me them and the rest of your mud dolls and we'll call it even?"

"Mud dolls?! WHY YOU -"

"Bismuth, no!" Steven pleaded, holding Bismuth back before she could just charge in blindly. However, Grogar gave a warning shot, which made Steven jump off the ground again. Bismuth caught him before he could end up floating off again. This spook though made all the gems he was holding tossed onto the ground.

"And to think you're actually in charge of this supposedly amazing group," Grogar mocked, "How can you stay in charge of you can't even fight?!"

"You don't have to fight to be a good leader!" Steven retorted. Grogar snorted.

"For you hairless monkey-faces! In the real world, might is what keeps you on top. You can spout all this "friendship" and "harmony" nonsense all you want, but you don't got a snowball's chance in Tambalon if you can't enforce it."

"You're wrong Grogar! Being a good leader's about caring the most for your people, it isn't just about who's the strongest," Sapphire said.

"And yet I won. Here's a lesson for you: neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."

"The stars does that mean?" Yellow Pearl asked. Grogar's horns began to charge up again.

"That means don't spout bullcrap to someone trying to kill you!" Grogar snarled. with just one jump to make it across, some did start to try and get over, but some still stayed over and readied to block Grogar's shot. The shot charged up more and more, the ominous green haze to signal the bombing spell again. They all armed up for Grogar's next attack, but the anticipation might've come a bit too soon, as Grogar continued to charge up the blast for a devastating hit. Grogar looked all over, signaling out the target specifically. They were focused on the horns, but not the hooves, them glowing slightly as well.

"GOTCHA!" Grogar said, suddenly stomping the ground. The power from his magic-enhanced hooves was enough to crack the ground, sending a board right under the shield skyward. This forced Steven to let go of the shield, and only THEN did Grogar fire!

"Steven!"

… silence. The attack was swift, but suddenly everything was quiet. All they could comprehend was Connie rushing in the way and taking the full hit, a pain-filled scream, and a thud onto the ground. Next thing they knew, Connie was on the ground, with her weapon of choice flying in the air before landing nearby. Immediately, Steven raced over towards her, Connie just sitting there and contemplating, eyes frozen wide and irises shrunken down.

"Connie?! Connie wake up! Wake up!"

"S-Steven … I - …" Connie felt her body start to shake a bit, her eyes trying to figure out where any of them were. Slowly, Connie began to realize the situation she was in when she looked to her arm.

"S-Steven, stay back!" Connie pleaded, trying to push him away. The more times she tried, the more forceful she became, eventually no longer an intention.

"What's wrong?!" Steven asked.

"S-s-s-s-steven …"

Steven felt his heart stop seeing Connie's face transform in her screaming: her mouth stretched wider across her face, and began turning jagged like a jack o lantern's smile. Her hands, which kept trying to push him away, now grabbed hold with serrated hooves, tearing into his shirt. Her hair began to harden and turn sharp, like porcupine quills jutting out of her back, and some shards of gemstones, from what Gem DNA she had in her now started sprouting out of her head and curving into ram horns. Her eyes, pain-filled yet primal, started turning red like the ram that forced this fate onto her.

Connie Maheswaran was now corrupted.

Corrupted.

…

"... No ……. C-Connie. …"

"HA! You should see your face! You should've listen to me!" Grogar laughed. Steven turned to Grogar. Connie went for Steven, but Grogar had the nerve to grab hold of her with his own magic, pulling her to him. Steven was quiet, just staring at Grogar as he was laughing at them. This ram. He corrupted so many Gems, toppled the Diamond Authority, and now was laughing at Steven's loss.

Something broke. In a pain-filled cry, Steven grabbed the sword on the ground, and suddenly he raced forward at the demonic ram. Tears pouring from his face in misery and anger, Steven swung the sword at Grogar over and over again. For the first time in his life, Steven was trying to kill someone. and it was as horrifying to everyone else as it was funny to Grogar.

"YOU MONSTER! MONSTER! MONSTER!!" Steven cried, continuing to try and land one good hit through his crying. That smile on Grogar's muzzle would not go away, and to further the point. Grogar smashed the sword with ease with a single bite of his incisors. Steven still tried to get him with his own fists, punching like crazy but barely doing much damage to him either. All Grogar did was swing his hoof and threw Steven towards the others.

"STEVEN, STOP!" Starlight said, grabbing Steven to keep him back from the homicidal creature.

"Starlight, let go of me! LET GO! GROGAR!!" Steven demanded. And to further pour salt on the wound …

"Go on, Bismuth. Let him go," Grogar insisted. 

"Change her back, Grogar, or so help me!" Bismuth warned.

"Help you? You know what, fine, I'll help you back home. I'd say this is even," Grogar said. His magic turned active again, and he sliced a decent-sized hole into the fabric of reality. Looking through, this actually wasn't any trick, but actually part of their home turf. They could even see what looked like the barn!

"We're not leaving without her!"

"She's corrupted, doll, she's useless with you. but don't worry, I'LL make sure she'll have a happy life with me. And besides, I'm the only one that can change her back. … Maybe." and then Grogar just laughed again. So even he wasn't sure if he can change her back?! Steven's anger was halted on this reality, Grogar using a spell he wasn't sure how to reverse, and now Connie was another one of Grogar's servants, the creature still trying to reach him. They weren't sure if it was out of primal anger, or if Connie was still trying to reach her friend.

"Sit down!" Grogar demanded, forcefully whacking Connie's head with his hoof, infuriating Steven even more as he tried moving. Connie screeched again, but was still caught in the magic aura by her neck like a caged dog. Connie struggled more and more, but behind her red eyes, there was a sense of urgency in her struggle. Too bad everyone else couldn't get to her before they began to hear the sound of the other corrupted Gems coming their way.

"So what's it gonna be? Heroes?" Grogar asked once more. The odds were stacked against them, and with a horde of Corruption coming their way, and their only exit they probably won't ever get again at this rate, the choice was the only one they had.

"We'll be back to get our home, Grogar," Sapphire said.

And they began to go. Grogar didn't really believe them, but found it satisfying that they're leaving his kingdom for the moment, giving him time to get himself together. Connie, growing even more desperate to get to them, struggled and lashed like mad to try and get to them. Steven was last to watch all of this happening, Connie screaming one more time before Steven was pulled through. Suddenly, the group was all through the portal, crashing down hard into the ground. Finally Steven forced himself free.

"STOP!" Steven cried, rushing back to the portal. He saw Connie there, crying, trying to do anything to get away from the ram, but Grogar refused to let him try, and slammed the portal shut on his face. It felt a bit bittersweet, but in the end they did get out of Grogar's grasp. For now at least.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Pearl.

"No. No, I don't think I'm gonna ever unsee that," Peridot shuttered, the images of screams and corruption being the only main thing that was filling her mind. Those images were all stuck inside their heads, but their attention began to go over to Steven, who was just sitting there. Connie was gone.

"C-Connie …"
> A Revolting Development
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a long day.

Long for Flint anyway. While everyone else was, as far as he knew, dealing with yet another friendship lesson upon Homeworld, he had been keeping himself busy with his own pursuits, and admittedly enjoying the peace and quiet. With well over twenty people going about the place in either the Temple, or the Barn, it was hard to find any actual silence unless it was away from either place.
For Flint, it was the latter option, and he was just getting his own activities finished with a particular area of the world, in this case in the form of some field study out within the Strawberry Battlefield. Been a while since the group had gone back to this place, the last time it being the main grounds for Chrysalis and her army. Typically he would be alone for this venture, but this time he had some company in the form of Rhodonite (the only other Gem around). And with the Warp Pad sounding off, both Gems returned back to the Temple. Flint and Rhodonite had gathered a few items already, with Rhodonite holding a ball chain mace whereas Flint was carrying a decently-sized Falchion sword. They also were bringing back a corrupted Gem, its gemstone inside of a bubble.

"Well, that was something. … So Rhodonite, how was your first corrupted Gem mission?" Flint asked, taking a few practice swings with the sword he had on him. Rhodonite was still shaking a bit in her boots from all that craziness.

"Why'd you ask me to come along again? I-I thought I was gonna get shattered out there," Rhodonite said. Flint took the bubbled corrupted Gem, and with a tap of his hand sent it off inside the temple.

"Well next time don't get a panic attack in the middle of a mission, ok? It would've gone smoother if you'd kept focused on the task," Flint stated, checking out the sword in his hand. Rhodonite got alarmed.

"Next time? OH NO, one time's enough for me thank you!" Rhodonite insisted, "I mean why should I keep throwing my neck out there if I don't have to? You guys got that done far better than I could."

"They're not here, remember? They're still at that Era 3 Festival thing. Anyway, didn't you want to try and not be so scared of everything anyway?" Flint pointed out. Rhodonite paused and actually flustered up. She DID promise she would try to be less scared, though it was a bit harder than it looked. Especially when it ended up in situations like this.

"W-Well … yeah. … But I don't wanna break doing that," Rhodonite murmured. Flint sighed, but with his mind on the subject of the others, he turned back to the permafusion.

"Speaking of the others, have you heard anything from them? I haven't heard much from them lately since they left for that friendship lesson."

"Um. No, I don't think so. You don't think something happened to them. …" Rhodonite's statement hung in the air before Flint answered begrudgingly.

"There better not be anything bad happening, or so help me. It's sketchy enough with White Diamond still there, and here they are playing party games."

"Wait, you're still against that?" Rhodonite questioned. Flint sat down for a moment.

"Not as much as before, but think: White Diamond is the same person that has experimented on Gems, Humans, and Ponies alike, conquered hundreds of planets -"

"OK, OK, you don't have to go through the whole thing, I get the point," Rhodonite cut in, not wanting to freak out any further. Flint sighed.

"Well anyway, let's just watch it ok? The others seemed a bit too willing, if you ask me."

"I know!" agreed Rhodonite, "I don't know what they're thinking. Off-Color or not, I'm not going near her until I KNOW she's changed. I mean what if this is really all just an act again?"

"I'm glad someone agrees with me," Flint stated, getting back up and feeling glad he wasn't alone here. "... But still. White did act so foreign when I saw her. It's so out of place."

"Foreign? How?"

"I found her cowering in her room, trying to hide that pink blush off her face for a start," Flint stated.

"...…. wha?"

"Yeah, I know."
Rhodonite tried to imagine it, but she couldn't really seem to get the right mindset about it. White Diamond cowering? Since when?! Flint decided to just switch the subject before they get too deep on it.

"Well, thanks for the help Rhodonite. I'm gonna go and see how the others are doing, maybe see if they'll come back," Flint decided, starting to head off towards the Warp Pad. It was a quicker method than simply walking there. Rhodonite turned to him.

"Is it gonna be enough?" she asked. Flint just paused briefly.

"We'll see." Flint simply said. He couldn't look on ahead into the future like any Sapphire, so at the end of the day he can only hope for the best. But they were never gonna figure that out by just staying in the temple. So, as Rhodonite stood there, Flint went over to the Warp Pad, before before he could activate it the Warp Pad went off on him, making him step back.

And someone suddenly shot out, knocking Flint onto the ground and making Rhodonite yelp.

"Gah! Pinkie, what did I tell you about - … Garnet?" Flint was taken aback by this "attack" and Garnet already had her visors missing, just to show she wasn't messing around and showing the actual trouble she had to him.


~~~~~~


For the rest of the group, things weren't looking up as much as they'd like. Many of those left standing could only make it over towards the Barn house before they had to settle down and regain their strength from Grogar's assault, be it either those poofed Gems still inside their gemstones or just getting themselves bandaged up and healed by Cadance's magic. Out of all of them, potentially, Cadance had the quickest recovery from the fight (aside from Amethyst of course), but she still had a bit of sore wings and ruffled feathers. Which is less than could be said for some of the others.
On the bright side, at least one healer was actually good enough to work, amongst a few others who didn't get injured. Only Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl kept aside from this, keeping close to the diamond gemstones. At the moment too, Cadance's next patient was Jasper, who rested along the side of the barn with her gemstone being tended to.

"Now hold still," Cadance said. Her horn glowed, and Jasper groaned and cringed as it touched the cracks on her gemstone. It wasn't exactly the perfect fix like it was for Rose's Fountain, but it did fill in the cracks in the gemstone just enough to keep Jasper stable.

"I did not see that coming. … Ugh, my nose," Jasper groaned, hand holding her gemstone and actually shivering a little. The foreign material used wasn't something she'll be getting used to anytime soon.

"We're still alive, so that's got to count for something - yow!" said Rainbow Dash, as she was being wrapped up by Jade with her front hoof.

"Sorry," Jade simply said. Nearby, AJ wrapped her own back hoof up in bandages, cutting off spare bandages before spitting it out.

"Well y'all, we know what that Grogar fella's capable of. And when the hay did he get an army? Thought you said he was just with that Budgerite and Bray," noted Applejack, looking over to Starlight, who was one of the more injured with her horn having a slight split in it thanks to Grogar's teeth.

"How was I supposed to know he had another bunch of aliens and Gems on his side? I only met the Ram ONE time," Starlight retorted, her hoof rubbing her sensitive horn. It was like touching a bum tooth, and gave her quite a headache.

"Alright, well the best thing we can do is not panic," insisted Rarity. Simple enough. Kinda.

"T-That's right everyone, don't panic," agreed Yellow Pearl. "Just because Twilight Sparkle is being taken captive, w-which leaves Equestria without a proper leader. And the fact that the Diamond Authority has been toppled in one day by this Grogar, and over half of the Royal court's now a bunch of corrupted monsters, w-which means that this planet is next, and it's completely finished - *slap*"

Fulgurite, who was still recovering a bit from her own regeneration, had to slap Yellow Pearl with her electric hair to get her back to her senses.

"Better?"

"Y-Yes … maybe."

"Alright already," Fulgurite said, "K, so before anyone else panics, anyone heard of Steven? I don't think he said anything since we got back here."

Steven. They all were a bit quiet about that for a moment or two on that one, before it was answered by Fluttershy.

"He's walking home. Oh … should we go talk to him?" Fluttershy replied. 

"Give him some space first, flutters," suggested Amethyst. It was probably for the best, with what loss they did get on their side giving Steven probably the hardest blow of them all. It was quite a lot to process anyway, with or without the missing member of their party. As they were getting themselves healed up, a few others were getting back to the barn.

"Found him!"

"Garnet, good you're back," said Rainbow Dash.

Garnet brought back Flint sure, but also the Off-Colors found their way with them back to the barn themselves. Flint, Rhodonite, Fluorite, the Rutile twins, Tiger's Eye, and Padparadscha were all in toe behind Garnet, and upon arriving and seeing the situation they all needed a bit to process what they were looking all. Four Diamonds poofed, most of the Harmony Gems taken down, Steven and Connie missing, and them all looking a bit beat up as well.

"What … the …"

"O-Oh my!" Rhodonite gasped.

"What happened to you all?!" Padparadscha gasped. Surprisingly in time with the others. The Off-Colors were beginning to go in and seeing the situation a bit better, as Flint was just trying to not just say "I told you so" to any of them. … Or he WOULD say that if he didn't see the four diamonds off nearby still in their gemstones, White Diamond included. Someone had to explain what happened.

"Ok, who wants to tell them?" Spike asked.

"I'll do it," Pinkie said, hoof raised. She'd be giddier about it if she wasn't sore. Spike just gestured her to go on. Pinkie took a deep breath.

"We were playing around on Homeworld, and Twilight then comes in to teach everybody about friendship, but then she passes out so we try bringing her back, but she ended up captured by a nasty hornless unicorn and a bunch of meanie beasts, and then Grogar arrives and is suddenly SUPER DUPER powerful and nearly wipes all of us out, poofs the Diamond Authority, and turns most of the court into mean nasty corruptions, and now here we are."

…

"WHAT?! Wait. WHAT?!"

"She said that Grogar's taken over Homeworld: he defeated the diamond -"

"I know, I heard you the first time," Flint said sternly. He had to take a deep breath to calm down a bit. "Are all of you at least here? I know Twilight's gone, but where's Steven and Connie?"

"Steven's still here, he's just walking back home. And Connie's …" Garnet couldn't finish the sentence, but she didn't need to. Flint just gave a quick sigh of discomfort on that answer. How were they gonna explain this to her parents? Well, they didn't have time to go over that now, they needed to regroup and re-work their situation. Garnet went over to the front of the barn, placed so she could see everyone there.

"Alright Harmony Gems," Garnet said, "We've relaxed long enough, now it's time to work our way back to Grogar. I'm not having Era 3 start off with a takeover by this demonic ram."

"You and me both," agreed Jasper, "That goat thinks he can clobber me and get away with it, he's got another thing coming!"

"Wait a minute Jasper," Garnet said, "We can't just charge in at him."

"Why? HE charged in and it worked darn well for him," Fulgurite pointed out, equally ready to go back like Jasper.

"That's exactly why we can't! … As much as I want to."

"Pardon?" Rarity asked. Garnet recovered quick, as usual.

"Nothing. Look, we got a entire Royal Court corrupted right now, the Diamond Authority left poofed right over there, and Grogar has the right kind of magic to make a straight attack pointless. He'll wipe us out in seconds …"

"So what about a plan?" asked Amethyst. Garnet thought it over a short bit, considering her options.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do! The first thing is figure out where Twilight has been taken to. After that, we'll go and heal the corrupted Gems Grogar has under his watch, and get them out along with Twilight. After that it's facing Grogar, and that'll be that."
It was a step-by-step process, but Garnet felt reassured that this would be the main method to go at it.

"That's a bit straightforward there," Flint said.

"Like all the best plans, it's simple to follow. Our main goal is to get Grogar out of power -"

"Garnet, wait a minute."

"Geesh, you NEVER like anyone else's plans, can't you just follow it for once?" Fulgurite said.

"Just hear me out," Flint insisted. So they did, and Flint took a step or so forward. "All of that is a nice plan and all, but if Grogar has THIS much power -" he presented the Diamonds as his example. "- he's not gonna just let us do this so easily and besides, what about those corrupted Gems? We don't even know how to heal them properly."

"You're not serious. We already have a method!" shouted Peridot. This got Flint's attention.

"Wait, you do?" Flint asked, surprised. Did they really discover the method behind corruption, and better yet a healing method? For a moment, he was giving them credit for not ignoring the main problem as Garnet went over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him eye to eye.

"Yes we do. Flint … We need Nephrite. She's the only one that can cure the corrupted Gems."

…

"Garnet, not again," Flint huffed, knocking her hands off of him. "We've talked about this hundreds of times already."

Garnet couldn't believe what she heard.

"Still? … Flint, this is different: Homeworld in serious danger, and Nephrite's the only one that can handle this before the entirety of Homeworld collapses."

"Garnet we've been over this," Flint retorted, "Nephrite's healing power is NOT a reassured fix. If she messes up once, there's no hope for any corrupted Gem she's working on."

"We don't have any other way, Flint!" Garnet insisted. Flint was not convinced.

"What do you think I've been working on these past few weeks? You deal with Grogar, I'll deal with the corruption," Flint said, turning to walk away. The others had about enough of this talk, Jasper being the first one to get up and get in his way alongside Amethyst and Starlight.

"There are hundreds that just became corrupted thanks to Grogar's attack Flint, how can you just turn your back on them? Just form Nephrite, and be done with it," ordered Jasper. Flint wasn't amused.

"Jasper, don't you start. I SAID I'm working on it," Flint restated, trying to walk by just for Jasper to step in his way again.

"There's nothing to work on! Dude, why can't you just bring Nephrite out and heal them already? If you do that we wouldn't be having this problem," Amethyst insisted, trying to put it in a way that he would get. But Flint didn't seemed convinced by any of it. Garnet was hearing all this and while she wasn't showing it, her anger was building.

"I'll give you two good reasons. One: Nephrite's healing comes with a chance they can NEVER be healed again! Two: even if she does decide to heal them and it works, Grogar will just go and corrupt them all over again! Get rid of Grogar first, and maybe I'll consider bringing Nephrite out if I don't find anything in time."

"Flint, you know we can't afford that. If we leave them alone longer than we should, they will tear Homeworld to pieces," Garnet sternly said.

"Don't be so dramatic, the Diamond Authority can handle them soon as they return, and the guards -"

"That's enough!" Garnet suddenly snapped. "Flint, I wouldn't have gotten you if we had any other option. You've had the answer to corruption for years, and even now you STILL refuse to use it! How can you stand there and say that?"

"I said no." And with that quick and firm statement, Flint pushed passed them and began his way back towards the Temple. At first none of them would go over to him, but they all were still feeling a slight bit of anger. Eventually though, one of them did end up getting in Flint's way again, this time again being Jasper.

"You selfish black beetle, you're one step away from ruining everything for all of us!" Jasper growled. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'm actually thinking, that's what's gotten into me," Flint stated, going passed her again.

"OH, RIGHT, thinking about how to avoid the subject!" retorted Jasper, "That's really why you won't do it is it? You already admitted you don't trust anyone here to watch over things, NOW you're saying you won't follow anyone either?!"

Flint spun around, giving Jasper a death glare. In his anger he wasn't thinking as straight, so ...

"What I'm saying is that if I make just one mistake, just like Pink Diamond did back as Rose Quartz, We'd all end up dead."

And then Flint stormed off, this time not giving any of them much time to go on and get him as he reached the Warp Pad. Nephrite was not going to come out, not if he could help it. As for Jasper ...

"... What? ……. WHAT?!"

…….

It took them less than a minute to get from the Barn House back to the Temple, which was where Flint would be going off to. They got there in record time, but Flint was just one step ahead of them, as the Beach House was simply empty.

"The hay - where'd he go?" Rainbow asked, frantically looking around. It wasn't until they heard the back Gem door shut up behind them that they knew where Flint had went to. Unfortunately, the door was already shut when they got to it, and strangely enough there was something keeping the door sealed. Amethyst was the first to try the door, but she couldn't even get her fingers in a good grip. It was no good.

"It's locked," Amethyst stated.

"These doors don't have locks on them Amethyst," said Pearl.

"That shows you how little you know," said a annoyed voice from the otherside of the Gem door. Pearl did try to get herself in through the form of her own gemstone, and while the gemstone on the door did glow, it refused to budge open. In fact, it gave a sort of "red-beeping light" on it, access being denied.

"Wha? What's this?! It's not supposed to lock us out," Pearl exclaimed in disbelief.

"I added a locking mechanism while you all were busy since someone decided to investigate my room. Emerald, I'm referring to you!"

Emerald turned his gaze away, giving off a nonchalance whistle. This only infuriated the others more, Garnet going right up to the door in question.

"Flint, open the door!" Garnet demanded, her fist hitting the Gem door with enough force to shake the Temple. This time though she wasn't met with any answer from Flint's part, who they could only assume was just handling what business he was talking about.

"I know you can hear me!"

Still no response. Garnet tried to force her way in, but that didn't do any good either. If anything it just cracked the wall rather than open the door. In the end, that door was not going to open unless Flint allowed it. Much to Garnet's dismay. …

"... K. I don't think he trusts us AT ALL," Pinkie said.

"What's your first clue? The fact he walked all over Jasper, or the fact he locked us out of the Temple?" Tiger's Eye asked. That was the least of the issue now.

"Well now what do we do?" Pearl asked, resting her hand on Garnet's shoulder. Garnet needed a moment to calm down after noticing Pearl's hands slightly hot thanks to Ruby's fuming from within. In the end, with Starlight's damaged horn, and none of them able to open the door with their own magic, the fusion had just one conclusion.

"He can't stay in there forever. …"


~~~~~~


Steven Universe's walk from the barn all the way back to Beach City gave him more than enough time to think about things as he continued going along through. The normally optimistic and cheery face of Steven wasn't all that much evident now, instead replaced by a Steven that was silent, and left to his own thoughts. He would be glad to be back home again after his latest experience, but with Grogar scarring him like that he just couldn't bring himself to be that excited about escaping him.

"How could this happen?" Steven thought, "And it started so fun too. Now all those Gems are corrupted … and now …"

Connie Maheswaran.

Steven felt a shiver run through his body on that fact. Those horrifying images of Connie's corruption had been plaguing his mind ever since he left Homeworld. Sure many of the others had been on his mind, but that was the one that stuck to him the most. His girlfriend, now a corrupted monster at the hooves of Grogar, going through who knows what back with Homeworld's new ruling king.

"I can't believe this, WHY did I have to leave her?" Steven thought aloud, actually giving himself a slap to the head. He even felt a tear come down from his face, and when he saw this he quickly wiped it away.

"No, Steven, don't start crying yourself all the way home. The other Gems are working with Nephrite, and when you get back, she'll be happy to help, a-and they'll cure her in no time at all! Yeah, you have nothing to worry about!" Steven told himself, trying to cheer up. He held a good smile for a moment or two, but the more he thought about it, the quicker that smile felt more forced on his face.

"... Please?"

"Yo Steven!"

Steven felt a bit startled by that noise. So pre-occupied in his mind he didn't even think of the fact that SOMEONE in town would probably recognize that he had come back to town. In this case, as apart of the late autumn run, Kiki Pizza was heading her way back from a good delivery, parking the delivery car nearby.

"Oh. Hi Kiki."

"Hey! Haven't seen ya in a while. How're things?" said Kiki. Steven paused a bit before clearing his throat.

"Oh it's going."

"Mmkay. And hey, glad I caught ya, got a little somethin for you."

"You do?" Steven asked. Kiki went to the trunk of the car, Steven standing there and waiting for whatever Kiki would have for him. Eventually Steven was soon met with a small-sized pizza box, and Kiki opened it up to show Steven what turned out to be a personalized pizza.

"Ta-da! Lars told us what you did out in space, so I thought I'd whip you up a celebration pizza. I got all your favorite toppings and made it just how you like it!" Kiki explained. Steven held the pizza box and looked into it for a bit. Boy did that pizza look good: a nice, freshly-made round pizza with the toppings made in such a way that spelled out "congrats" on the cheese. It sure smelt good, and it sure looked good, and for a moment Steven actually smiled ...

Have it your way. But remember, this is your decision.

"...…. Uh … Thanks, but … here."

Steven gave the pizza box back to Kiki, suddenly no longer feeling as good about this surprise. Kiki was puzzled.

"What's up, you don't like it?" Kiki asked, concerned a little. Steven looked down to his feet, Kiki now seeing Steven's sadder side.

"No, no it's great. But I … *sigh* I gotta go. I'll uh, see you later," Steven decided. Without another word, Steven turned and started walking down the street again. Kiki wasn't sure how to take this, but she was smart enough to know that it wasn't just the pizza making Steven feel down about things. She placed the pizza back into the car, and soon caught up with him.

"You alright, Steven? Looking a bit down in the eyes."

"It's fine, Kiki, really. I'll uh, I'll feel better when I get back home," Steven said, picking up the pace to keep ahead of Kiki. Kiki stopped and allowed him to go off further into town. She needed to get the car back to Fishstew Pizza anyway. Steven did stop briefly to look back and saw Kiki driving away back to Fishstew Pizza, leaving him all alone again. Only then did he say his thoughts.

"I don't deserve that pizza," Steven sighed. … only for his stomach to start growling.

"OK, maybe I should've taken it," Steven figured. Whelp, too late for it now. Besides, there were other places to go for a bite to eat in town, and with that in mind Steven started walking off again.

This kind of encounter kinda repeated itself as Steven Universe continued his walk through town. Some other friendly faces, happy to see him, would give their "hello's" and "how's it going's" and what have you, though while Steven kept a decent smile and wave, that was really all he did give. All the while, those words were still echoing in the back of his mind, and those images were still flashing in his head. It was gonna be a long time until he can come to terms with something like THAT …

"Ok, let's see … first thing I'm gonna do: see if Jade and Flint will form Nephrite for us. That's top -"

*growl*

"Er, second priority. Can't really be good at negotiation on an empty stomach," Steven figured. He could only provide enough nourishment with carnival food the last couple of days, and what the others brought back to him to balance that out.

"Got you covered."

Steven stopped again, but this time Steven was met with a recently-opened treat - a cookie cat ice cream sandwich to be precise. Steven's eyes lit up on his favorite dessert treat, and he looked over and saw that the one giving it to him was actually Buck Dewey. 

"Uh. Thank. You," Steven said, caught off guard, but for the sake of his empty stomach he took the treat anyway. Such heavenly treats probably wouldn't be for him, but it was his hunger having taken the treat, not him. Steven took a bite of it as Buck started talking.

"See you're back in town, Star child," Buck said.

"Yeah, I guess I was gone for a while longer than I thought," Steven admitted, nibbling on his treat. "How's it going with your band?"
Buck thought about it a bit, glancing up to the sky.

"We've been reaching for the stars, Steven. Been busy with our own time of life lately, but our trail's still there for us to walk down. … And how're you going with that Era 3 festival?" Buck asked. Steven needed a minute, taken aback with Buck's cryptic talk, before taking another bite of the cookie cat. Should he tell him? Should he actually tell someone about the potentially war-happy Grogar now taking over an entire world a teleport away? The idea was worrying him, and he glanced to the now half-eaten Cookie Cat.

"Oh, it went great. Here, thanks for the Cookie Cat, I'm not hungry anymore. That's just the thing to get that growling off," Steven said, giving Buck back the Cookie Cat. Steven only took a few steps though before Buck spoke again.

"What happened at the festival? I'm curious," Buck said. Steven stopped briefly, and then tried to do a sort of fake cheerfulness.

"It was amazing! We got to introduce Homeworld to all sorts of things: a shooting gallery, an art contest, WAY more games than you can count, we even did this SUPER incredible fireworks show at the end! Man, wish you could've seen it, Buck, but I didn't have the time to … invite you …" Steven trailed off when he saw that Buck Dewey was silent again, just staring at him.

"... Funny."

"Huh?"

"It's funny, Steven. Sounded like the best time of your life. And yet …" and Buck Dewey took off his shades for this part, having that knowing look Garnet would usually have. "There's something keeping it from being the best time of your life. It's funny, don't you think?"

Steven groaned.

"Is it really that obvious? I-I tried to make it look good," Steven admitted, feeling shy about it.

"I'd say your acting did good so far. … Now, what actually happened over there, star child?" Buck asked. Steven was still wondering if he should tell anyone about this or not, let alone Buck Dewey, finding himself clamming up about the subject. All he got out was a small groan.

"Steven?" Buck inquired. Steven still felt clammed up about it. He couldn't bring himself to say it, so ...

"I goofed! I tried introducing the Quartzes to some of the cake's specialty cupcakes, only until AFTER realizing that none of them like cherry! … And one of them got mad, and kinda smashed the rest."

To be fare, that actually did happen, and yes it did bug Steven a little bit. Not the biggest problem, far from it, but it was something.

"...…. Sounded like a rough time," Buck simply said, putting his shades back on.

"Yeah," Steven sighed. Buck thought about it a little bit, but then got an idea.

"Tell you what. We were planning on going out for a movie tonight with the other kids. Been thinking about inviting you. You know, you being so busy and all, strong kid like you deserve a bit of a break. What do you say?"

"Strong? …" Steven thought. Steven felt a bit conflicted about this idea. On one hand, he had little time to even consider taking any break from anything given their situation, but on the other hand, what was already given to him was A LOT to take in as it is. It took some thought, but eventually he nodded.

"I guess so … can I check something back at my house first?"

"We won't be starting the movies until three. I don't see a problem with it. We'll meet up over by the warehouse," Buck decided, giving back the Cookie Cat. Steven smiled and winked, confirming the invitation as Buck Dewey strolled off on his own way. Steven sighed, and took another bite of the treat.

At least he can check up on things before heading off for the show.

…….

From there, Steven had an undisturbed walk from there over towards the Temple. The walk itself took a bit longer than expected, it being about late afternoon by the time he caught sight of the Beach House in front of him. As Steven neared the Beach House a bit more, he accidentally was getting his hopes up.

"Ok, please, please be working with us," Steven told himself. If he could at least see Nephrite there, or at least have news that it did agree to help them, then it was one big problem off of his shoulders.

It was too bad that the others at said Beach House weren't doing as good of a job as they did earlier. For hours now, they've been patient with Flint being within that room of his, and yet so far he didn't come out at all. He didn't even utter another word since they last "chat", which left them wondering if he was still even there at all. Not ALL of them stayed in the barn, but there were still some sticking around just in case Flint would rear his head.
By the time Steven did get back to the Beach House and opening the door, for the moment, the ones on watch were Garnet, Jade, Fluttershy and Amethyst simply … well, waiting. Nothing specific to pass the time for him, but they were still there. Amethyst kept herself busy with some video games as Fluttershy and Jade were watching her play, Garnet just sitting there on the couch, arms crossed and waiting.

"Hey Steven, you're back," called Jade.

"Hey," said Garnet.

"Hi guys," Steven said, walking in a bit towards Garnet, "Sorry I took so long. Was just catching up with some Beach City friends on the way back."

"Nothing wrong with that. Hey, wanna play? I need a player two up here," Amethyst offered, waving a spare controller. Steven smiled briefly.

"Sorry but I have somewhere to go. First thing's first," Steven said. And then he turned to Garnet. The fusion already knew what was coming, and she was still feeling a bit rough about that particular thing as her eyes underneath her shades glanced to the Gem door.

"Hey Garnet. Ok, please tell me -"

"No," Garnet stated, begrudgingly.

"Huh? No what?" Steven asked, though his tone was begging that it wouldn't be what he was thinking.

"You were going to ask if Nephrite would come and help us with the corrupted Gems on Homeworld. Unfortunately Flint said no," Garnet said, her voice actually in a bit of a growl on that last part. Steven's hope for a better future was quickly dashed.

"Why not?!" Steven gasped. The others decided to chime in, Amethyst pausing the game briefly.

"Flint's being a big jerk," Amethyst said, "He gave us this junk like "OH, if I make one mistake we'll all be dead!" and he locked the Gem door."

"He didn't come out since then either … and to think I actually looked up to that clod," Garnet groaned. Steven couldn't believe it. As if by pure impulse, Steven went passed them and right over to the Gem door to be sure they can even get in there. Unfortunately, Steven tried pushing on the door, trying to pry it open, but that didn't work.

"He locked us out of our own house. When were we able to do this?" Steven asked, bewildered actually.

"He installed a lock system into the door himself since Emerald's been in there. ONE. TIME."

"Seriously? Hang on."

Steven didn't have a clue what conversation they actually had with Flint, but he probably was better off not knowing if Flint got Garnet this riled up. Steven glanced over back to the door, and eventually he decided to go for broke. He went over, and knocked on the door.

"Flint, you in there? I want to ask you something. … Flint?"

No response. Steven tried to open up the door again, but it just wasn't budging open for anyone it seemed.

"Pretty please, Flint? It's been three hours already, we just want to talk. If you don't mind that is," Fluttershy said. Still nothing from the other side of the door. This was just frustrating Garnet and Amethyst. Steven then started to remember something.

"Jade, did you try talking to him? Maybe he'll listen to you," Steven suggested. Jade however was feeling troubled.

"I thought he would. But ever since Pink Diamond was revealed … well, I'm not so sure anymore," Jade admitted. It may have been a long time since that whole Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond thing was revealed with all that drama, but Flint's harsh words towards her still left a bit of a hole. Flint wasn't as willing to follow her as he used to be.

"Oh. Right, he yelled at you. But he forgave us, and we forgave him. Now he's on our side," Steven stated. Garnet grumbled, and simply sat back down. She knows Flint will come out eventually, but her future vision didn't tell her exactly when that'll be. The whole situation was just awful.

"Sooo … where did you say you were gonna go?" Amethyst asked, nudging Steven.

"Oh yeah! Buck Dewey invited me to watch a movie at three today," Steven remembered, "But ... maybe -"

"Got room for one more?" Amethyst cut in.

"Huh? But what about - … this?" Steven inquired, referring mostly to Garnet since Flint wasn't there to gesture to. Amethyst sighed.

"We all want this done, but we're not gonna get anywhere while Flint's locked up. So, why not just pass the time, catch that flick and we'll touch base with them later?" Amethyst offered. No reason for Steven to push onto more trouble after what happened. Steven came to a quicker answer this time after looking back to the door.

"Okay, let's go. That okay, Garnet?"

Garnet simply gave a thumbs up to them, not answering them exactly but enough to let it by. Amethyst and Steven both went off from there, waving goodbye. All Garnet did was just look back at the door. …

"Come out," she grumbled.


~~~~~~


A bit of a bittersweet note to leave the Beach House on, but Steven and Amethyst were off and on their way towards the abandoned warehouse. They haven't been at that place for quite some time, for Steven since his first Stevonnie fusion, and Amethyst from her pro-wrestling days with "Purple Puma". Still, the warehouse was plenty far away from the Temple, at the very least outside of town, so they decided a bit more of a fun route in flying. In this case, Amethyst shapeshifted a helicopter pole and propellers onto her back like a particular robotic flying dog, holding Steven by the arms. Steven meanwhile had gotten a few snacks with him, which he kept hooked on his leg since his arms couldn't hold onto it.

"So, Steve-O, did dewey fill you in on the flick? What's he got in mind?" Amethyst asked as they flew along. Steven thought about it a short bit.

"Uh … actually, he didn't tell me. It might be a horror movie, with Halloween coming up next week," Steven admitted. Amethyst smirked.

"I can figure it out for ya."

"You can? How?" Steven asked.

"That's easy: just tell your big sis who's coming to watch the movie. Different people like different things, and if I got who's going, I can narrow it down for ya."

"I don't think he told me that either. He just said "with the other kids"."

"... Whelp, I got nothin."

"I guess it's a surprise. But whatever it is, I got plenty of movie snacks so we wouldn't need to take a break."
Steven lifted up his foot, still holding onto Amethyst with one arm and using his other arm to fish out a few snacks, one of which was the classic chaaaps bag.

"Buck didn't say there would be snacks, so I came prepared."

"Yeah, my man!" Amethyst beamed. Odds were she would gobble up much of the stuff anyway, so Steven made sure to bring a lot. Steven got the snacks put away, and took a look on ahead of them.

"There it is!"

And not a minute too soon either, as the abandoned warehouse was soon up in their sights. Kicking up the speed, Amethyst started her approach right to the sight, making sure to get a good landing for her passenger as she got closer to the ground. They didn't need Steven banged up before the movie. After Steven got to ground, Amethyst landed nearby and the flying chopper blades disappeared.
And turned out, they weren't the first to arrive. There was plenty of space for the movie to be set up, a large white sheet hung up along the back with some comfy chairs set up, much like an actual theatre. As for who was there (aside from Buck Dewey of course), there was also Jenny, Sour Cream, Sadie, and Lars. A decent crowd, really, and Steven and Amethyst were just the two to complete it. Their arrival didn't go unnoticed for too long, the first seeing them coming in being Jenny.

"Hey Steven, Amethyst!" Sadie called, waving to them as the two came in.

"Hey, y'all. Like what you did with the place," replied Amethyst, checking out the warehouse.

"We were trying to get an actual theatre feel, y'know? I mean, why spend your hard earn cash on an actual theatre when you can just make your own movie theatre for free?" Jenny pointed out. Decent point, and while a bit mundane it did have the basic essentials for a movie theatre to have.

"Speaking of movie, what're we gonna be watching?" Steven asked. Before any of them could answer though, Amethyst stepped in.

"WAIT, wait, let me try and guess," Amethyst insisted.

"Alright. K, Amy, what's the movie gonna be?" Jenny asked, humored. Amethyst smiled, and then got her thinking cap on. She took a few steps back, looking over who actually showed for the movie in question. Lapis Lazuli might've been a bit better at this than she would be, given her memory, but it couldn't hurt to try. She even did onto of those "frame shots" with her hands, going over each person in the room.

"Ok, ok … don't tell me … AHA! I'm guessing "The Lurch"," Amethyst confirmed with confidence.

"Nope," said Buck. Amethyst's smile quickly stopped, realizing the little slip up. "... But that's ONE of the options."

"You got more?" Steven asked

"Sure we do, check it out," Sadie said, showing Steven and Amethyst the options they got for the movie.
The group had quite a selection of movies, about five more including The Lurch mentioned already. Many of these did however seem to fit the whole "horror film" idea, or at least a B-movie horror vibe with either the movie's signature monster on the cover, splattered blood, or somebody scared out of their mind. You know, the typical movie choices.

"Nice selection," Steven said.

"Thanks," replied Sadie, getting out one of the options, "K, how about this one? Evil Bear 2: Bearly Alive."
Sadie made sure to add a sort of dramatic tone to her voice when saying the title of the movie, which the boxart for it seemed to show the titled bear (looking like a particular Brittle Bear from way back when), one of the female lead characters running in terror, and the words "come scream with me tonight" lined along the bottom.

"OOOO, good class -" Lars's enthusiasm suddenly stopped after a quick thought, "Wait a minute. What year is it?"

Sadie checked the box.

"Dang it, 2011."

"Pass," Lars said, "It's boring. And that stupid fake C.G. bear! Hardly looks like it's really killing anybody."

"I should've checked the date. Alright, so not this one," Sadie sighed, placing the apparent remake aside for someone else to check out. Amethyst checked out the movie a little bit as they went through some of the other options.

"Oh, here's a good one: C.E.L.L.."
This film did catch some eyes, showing a more futuristic kind of movie with what looked like a person, numerous green neon lines, much like those lines one would see inside computer chips. Amethyst actually felt a shiver run through her, the look eerily familiar to a Gem Destabilizer striking a Gem, the figure even having an arm missing upon further look, and eyes behind a cloth as if blind.

"I think Peridot actually talked about this. Apparently this is very scary," Steven said, thinking back a bit. It wasn't that long ago, sometime before his birthday happened, and seeing this picture wasn't that easy to forget either. Amethyst quickly heard that name ring in her head.

"It never got the best reviews for being a horror film," commented Buck, looking to the movie in question.

"If it wasn't for "Motor Wars III"," added Lars. "But yeah, it's not as scary as Evil Bear."

"OH NO, not that trauma again, keep that AWAY!"

… And everyone turned to Amethyst, who was actually shaking.

"Trauma? Girl, you scared of this? The film's hardly a horror flick," Jenny asked, showing the movie again, only making Amethyst shiver on seeing it as the memories flowed back into her.

"You kidding me? I couldn't sleep for a week and a half after seeing that thing! Whoever made that film needs to get his stuff together," Amethyst insisted, her eyes open wide as the thoughts crept back into her head. An organic Human probably wouldn't understand, but the nightmares Amethyst got from the concepts in the imagery and "traumatic scenes" she was not willing to relive again. The others didn't get it, but suddenly Lars got it with a snap of his fingers.

"OH, wait, that's right, Gems are like AI aren't they? Sorry, maybe not this one," Lars said. While Amethyst had to draw the line at AI, she was just glad the film wasn't gonna be the choice for the afternoon movie.

"No C.E.L.L. huh? Hmm … Ok, what about ... this!" Sadie said.

Then she pulled out one particular movie that seemed to light up the room a bit. This film here seemed like a more medieval kind of movie, showing nothing but a distant copse on a black-and-white backdrop. The roots underneath the copse branch downward through to a monster's tentacles, which branched out from a human-like head of a crying girl. And the title of this film read "Eldritch Harvest".

Steven and Amethyst were kinda lost, but the others immediately grew interested.

"Whoa, where'd you get this one? I thought they had to remake this," Sour Cream asked, as Steven took a good look at the cover of said movie.

"Yeah, well, I got one of the issues before they got pulled, so this is the original copy of -" Sadie suddenly looked over to Steven, "Oohh wait. You sure this is ok Steven?"

… Steven honestly wasn't listening, his eyes examining the cover art of the movie for a bit more. That girl … that crying girl …

"Earth to star child," it only took some snaps of Buck's fingers for Steven to suddenly come back to reality, blinking once our twice before getting back to  reality.

"Huh?"

"Dude, they're talking to you. This movie too much for ya or not?" Amethyst asked, catching him up to speed. Steven shook off the distraction and gave it to Sadie, giving his usual smile and charm.

"I can handle it! I'm 16 now, I can handle anything," Steven stated proudly. Despite the situation, Amethyst couldn't help but smile and almost snicker. Well the movie was all settled then.

"Alright then. Eldritch Harvest it is!"

Everyone got into position in the comfy seats on that note, with Sadie doing the main honor of getting the movie itself properly set up. It only took them at least about ten minutes before the movie was officially starting, everyone getting a good spot along the place. One little issue though: there was a reason that movies like this aren't shown during the day …

"Ok, it's way too bright," Steven said.

"We got you covered," Buck stated. All he had to do though was give a whistle, and Sour Cream (who was up by the big exit balcony), gave a thumbs up and pushed off one of the sandbags. Like a wave, a big sheet then stretched all across the back wall, soon covering up the backway in and making it just dark enough for them to better see the movie.

"Noice," Amethyst said. And soon, when Sour Cream and Sadie got into position, the movie soon started. As the main title went on, Buck briefly glanced over to Steven. Contemplating.

…

For the first twenty minutes, the film went on in a calm and collected pace, as most horror films typically do - establishing characters and some bit of backstory, so on so on, and at first nothing seemed out of the ordinary for those watching. Sure there were some rather freaky imagery, especially when explaining some bit on the harvest in the film, but nothing too scary so far. In fact, it was making Amethyst and Steven intrigued on a few things, even if it did look a little bit weird.
But after that first twenty minutes, the bets were starting to go off.

"So far, I'm game, but when does it get good?" Amethyst asked.

"Right around here," Lars replied.

"You sure -" Jenny got her hand over Amethyst's mouth to keep her quiet, giving her a shush just as the said scene started to shift.

The scene started with one of the main characters, namely the girl on the cover (Klail being her name) was going out nearby the titular tree. At this point in the movie, Klail's pet wether had just passed on, and here it showed Klail bringing her pet over towards the tree, and proceeding to dig a burial for her beloved pet. Nothing too weird yet, but Steven continued watching as the scene was playing out. Keep in mind, the female lead character looked very pale as she was digging this burial, even for the film being in color. In one shot, as she kissed her pet goodnight, and ducked down and placed her pet into the hole.

And then she stood back up.

Steven's eyes shot wide open.

"Huh?" Steven wasn't sure what happened exactly. The screen itself kinda flickered suddenly, and strangely, the pale girl … well, let's just say he didn't exactly see Klail for that two seconds until the screen changed back. Steven's confusion was now a little more noticeable. Steven rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and he didn't see anything else weird from there as the scene continued with her burying her wether, and walking away.

"OK … that was strange," Steven thought. But then again, it was a horror movie, and horror movies sometimes would throw its audience for a scary loop so he decided to just drop it. A few more scenes played on by, Steven trying to keep that odd glitch out of his mind, but his reaction to seeing Klail there wasn't entirely ignored either. Buck was at least remotely keeping an eye on him as the movie continued on, them giving a comment or two time to time.

Next scene was short, and no dialogue to give it much context yet: the cloudy sunset nearby the tree. Silence at first. The camera slowly began to move downward towards the ground. What was earlier a simple gravesite for a beloved wether was now an empty hole. Am empty hole with some footprints within the dirt, leading away from the scene, and a few stray roots not just outside it, as if something forcefully pulled them out that way. Steven started to build a cold sweat on sight of this, even moreso when the next shot was a little further away as the "corpse" was closing in away from the tree and towards Klail's home.

The screen was glitching again on him.

"A zombie? Really? I thought they were gonna make something more original, eh Steven? … Steven?" Amethyst only noticed now how worried Steven seemed to look, yet while that seemed okay given what they were watching, the eyes on him said something else was going on …

*bang!**bang!**bang!* … *baaaa*

"Huh? … Willian." Klail stated. That bleat was one that only she knew by the sound of it.

Everyone waited with baited breath, but for Steven, the screen was just getting too glitched for him to concentrate properly. It was enough to give him a headache, but everything the glitches happened, he kept on seeing someone else on the screen. Not Klail, nor Willian, even after Klail seemingly opened the door. To everyone else, they saw the background of the cloudy fields just passed the decerped-looking creature.

Steven only saw black. And the Ram to blame.

"G-Guys? Are you seeing this?" Steven asked.

Something was definitely wrong - no one was there anymore! In fact, everything wasn't there anymore, leaving only him and the scene playing out in front of him. His eyes tried to make sense of the whole situation, getting more and more freaked out with each second.

Steven? You okay?

You alright, buddy?

Steven could only see the Goat and Klail. Or rather, Connie and Grogar.

"Connie?!"

"Steven!" Connie shouted. She wore the exact same outfit as Klail in this situation, but Willian was slowly morphing into some demonic hybrid between a zombified ram and the demonic Grogar. Steven, panicking, tried to reach her but found he couldn't move.

"NO! Get away!" Steven shouted. But the demonic Grogar just smiled and laughed, bringing his hoof down on top of Connie. Connie screamed in pain as his hooves dug into her back.

"STOP! YOU'RE HURTING HER!" Steven shouted, tears starting to come from his pink eyes. Then the ram spoke.

Remember. This is your decision.

And then his hooves jabbed her back. Her blood-curdling screams snapped Steven into action.

"NOO!" Steven screeched, summoning his shield, and throwing it directly at him.

…

*SLICE*

The white sheet was sliced clean in two, the movie abruptly cutting short as it bounced off the wall and struck the projector. The gem shield bounced around several more time until it found its way outside, landing somewhere out in the ocean. Everyone jumped on this reaction, Amethyst immediately rushing to Steven.

"Dude, chill, it's just a movie! It's not real!" shouted Amethyst, holding Steven down as he kept his gaze locked onto the screen, even without the scene playing out. Then did everyone got a good look at his eyes.

"Whoa they've turned pink, man," Sour Cream said.

"You feeling alright, Steven?" asked Jenny, a bit more urgently this time as she held Steven by the shoulders. Steven looked ready to have a panic attack, his eyes pink as Pink Diamond for a few more seconds before he blinked. No Grogar. No Connie. Just a bunch of late teens wanting to watch a Halloween movie.

Oh boy.

"Uh … I … I-I need some air!" Steven said, before starting to rush away from everyone and right off outside.

What even happened back there? Did Grogar do that to him while he escaped Homeworld, or was it something else? Either way, seeing Connie get herself skewered in the back by Grogar just underlined that problem he had in the first place. Steven got himself outside, pushing passed the curtains to be greeted by the light of the late afternoon sun. His heart was racing, and his head was a bit scrambled by what was going on, and he took a breather along the warehouse outer wall.

"... Connie. … Oh Connie ...…. What am I doing?!" Steven's clenched hand hit the wall beside him. This was a mistake. …

"Ticked off at the wall?"

Steven turned back frantically, and found Buck standing there, along with the rest not too far away. Steven sighed.

"I'm sorry for wrecking movie day guys. Something just … happened," Steven said.

"Nevermind the movie Steven, we can get another projector," said Sadie, "Now what did happen?"

"I … I don't know. The movie started glitching out and everything kind got away from me. Did anyone else see glitching in the movie?"

"Oh boy," Amethyst sighed. Steven waited for a proper answer, but none of them said anything. That just confirmed that this was from Steven's head and not just some warped movie scene. Steven slumped as Buck and Amethyst went to his side.

"Steven. … You ready to tell us now?"

"Huh? Buck, I just said -"

"About the Era 3 Festival. What really happened."

"... You didn't believe the cupcakes at all, did you?"

"Come on, Steven," sighed Buck, removing his shades. Steven saw a Garnet effect with Buck doing this, and now Amethyst saw what was actually bothering him.

"What's he talking about?" Sadie asked Amethyst. But she knew that it was Steven who had to say it, not her, so she just shook her head and waited for Steven's word. Unfortunately, Steven felt a bit clammed up, a groan escaping his closed lips.

"Steven?" Buck said.

Still Steven kept quiet, though they could tell that he was feeling a bit more troubled.

"Steven," Buck said, this time more casually.

Steven looked ready to crack, but still kept quiet.

"Steven," Buck repeated, now more firm.

"OH, OK OK, I'll tell you. Just … promise me you won't freak out, or get too scared," Steven said, feebly. Buck nodded. Steven took a deep breath as the others listened to what he had to say. Steven took one more look at everyone before he finally started talking.

"... Ok. So. We had the Era 3 Festival, and at first everything was going great. Sure we had a few little bumps, but overall it was great the last few days. Lots of games, lots of fun experiences too. Even the Diamonds were having a lot of fun … even if they didn't join in too much. … But ..." Steven paused, only for the images to flash in his head again, making him tremble.

"Go on," Buck insisted. Steven took another breath, this time keeping his eyes closed.

"I goofed! For real this time! Twilight's worked herself so much she passes out, and now she's gone and taken away somewhere, and THEN a monster goat just storms into the Palace and takes down the diamonds, most of my friends, and corrupts the entire diamond Royal Court because I wouldn't join him! I made that happen! And I ran away and left them there! Now he's taken over Homeworld right now with the highest ranking Gems of Homeworld his slaves, Equestria doesn't have a ruler, and it's all my fault!!"
Steven's tears started to form up again for a moment or two. He didn't want to bring up Connie, not now, so he just summed it up. Buck contemplated what to do about this as the others went over to him.

"Dude, dude, hey, it's not your fault," insisted Lars.

"Yes it is!" Steven said while crying.

"No it's not! Steven, even if you did join that old goat, you think he'll just leave everyone alone after that?" Amethyst insisted, sitting by him.

"Well Maybe he would've!" Steven retorted, "But now that I didn't, there's a bunch of Gem monsters all over Homeworld!"

Buck stepped in next, sitting down by him after his contemplation. Steven waited to hear what he had to say, probably expecting a sort of Garnet-type speech to make him feel better -

"... Yep. It seems your fault."

... OK THEN.

"What?!" Steven gasped. No one expected THAT to come out of his mouth.

"Isn't that what you've been saying, Steven? Why so surprised?"

"W-Well, yes, but I thought you were gonna be trying to cheer me up, not shoot me down!"

"True that. Yet doesn't sound like you'll believe me, and it sounds like you don't even believe yourself, so ..." Buck shrugged. Steven paused, and simply looked back at his own feet. Buck was right on that mark.

"I don't even know."

"Well Steven, you can do one of two things: either sit here and mope, Crying Breakfast Friend style ... or stand up and try and fix this bunk. I'm not gonna tell you want to do, so ... what does your heart say?"

Silence. Buck may be just passed twenty by now, same with much of the others at this point, but he spoke as if he was the first person to walk on the planet. His open-minded attitude helped in that. Steven placed his hand not on his heart, but on his gem. He knew this whole movie idea was to make him feel better, but that wasn't exactly resolving any issues.

Grogar was still there, and no one's doing … well, anything. Not yet.

"Amethyst, we have to go back right away," Steven decided.

"Dude, I know you're game, but Grogar's gonna just pummel you if you just go in. … Gosh that sounds weird coming from me."

"Wha? No, no, back to the Temple," Steven corrected.

"Oh. Well, that case -" Amethyst took a few steps away from the others, shapeshifting back to her helicopter shape she had earlier, propeller ready and all. "- ready for take off, sir!"

Steven nodded, and turned back over to the others.

"Sorry to cut this short, but we got work to do. … Uh, before I go, you need a new sheet? For the movie I mean."

"We have another right here," said Buck, his thumb aimed at the sheet used for the open wall. "You go and handle what you have to do."

That was all Steven needed to hear. So, holding onto Amethyst's hands, both Gem and hybrid went off on their way back to the temple. It's go time, and they got a lot of work to do.

One thing first.


~~~~~~


"So, Steven, what's the plan now? I'm all ears," Amethyst asked as they were flying along back to the Temple. It took the two a bit longer to fly back to the Temple, now officially sunset by the time they ran aground by the Beach House.

"Well, before we do anything, we need to get everyone on board. It's not gonna work if some of us aren't taking this seriously at least," Steven explained.

"Got it captain. So, I'm gonna take a shot and say first thing's Flint right? He locked himself in the Temple, remember?"

"It's been all day, maybe we won't have to. Maybe the others talked him into coming out, and we all can figure out what to do together. What teamwork without a team?" Steven said, feeling enthusiastic. Amethyst smiled.

"THERE'S the Steven we've been missing," Amethyst said, giving her favorite little bro a fluff of the hair. Steven chuckled, but still kept himself focused. He and Amethyst went through the door and …

"Now Flint, we know you have your reasons, but perhaps if we can reach some form of an agreement -"

"Rarity, you can go on like this for the next year. As long as there's SOME answer for this Corruption problem out there, the answer's still no."

Another problem. There were some more there this time compared to earlier that afternoon, but the situation was still the same: Garnet, Rarity, Jade, Jasper, and Fluttershy were there now, and by the look of it they weren't getting anywhere still. And they were just frustrated over it as ever.

"They're still trying to talk to him," sighed Steven.

"Oh yeah," sighed Amethyst. Steven and Amethyst went over to the others by the door, who only noticed them coming in after a short bit.

"Hey guys."

"Oh, Steven, Amethyst. How'd your movie go?" Jade asked. Amethyst and Steven glanced at one another briefly. It wasn't exactly a good time for that subject.

"It went fine. But nevermind that, I want everyone together for a bit. Is Flint still in there?" Steven asked. A groan escaped Jasper's mouth.

"Yeah he's still in there, and he still won't come out, because he's still refusing to help!" Jasper stated, the last part with her glaring at the door. Steven shook his head.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, we got Grogar to worry about right now. He's still on Homeworld, Twilight's still gone, the Diamonds - … well, i dunno if they're still in their stones or not, but we have to do something about that," Steven explained. Garnet went over to him next, and brought herself down to his level.

"Steven. I know we got a lot to deal with right now, but the corrupted Gems will suffer the longer we keep them like … well, this. I want to stop him same as you do, but we need -"

"Will you STOP saying that?"

Speak of the devil. Finally, Flint was out of his room for the moment, apparently tired of this conversation. He heard enough about Nephrite for one day.

"FINALLY!" Jasper sighed.

"About time you came out, Flint," Garnet stated, arms crossed. Flint actually ignored her and looked over to Steven.

"Don't get too excited, I only came out because I ran out of materials. Now Steven, there're other methods for handling this problem aside from Nephrite, don't let them tell you any different," Flint instructed. Steven heard Garnet growl a little bit, and Amethyst growing angry as well. Flint just straight up called them liars after all, and that didn't suit either of them.

"I'M NOT LYING," Garnet growled.

"Wait, wait, don't," Steven quickly said, getting in the way before a fight could break out. "Maybe we can work something out?"

"It's okay Steven," Flint said, "They're just upset because I gave it to them straight back at the barn."

"We're upset, Flint, because you just walked all over us back at the barn!" retorted Jasper, "I mean what even was that? "OH NO, if I make one mistake, we'll all die. WOE IS ME!"." Amethyst even threw in some fake tears, which just angered Flint.

"I did NOT say that!" Flint snapped.

"STOP!" Fluttershy insisted. He and Steven had to physically push them away from eachother this time before he spoke again.

"Look, let's just try and talk about it and come with a solution. Fighting won't fix the problem on Homeworld, right?" Fluttershy insisted. Amethyst begrudgingly put away her whip, but Flint then started to walk by them, only Garnet getting in the way of the door so he wouldn't walk off.

"There's nothing to discuss," insisted Flint. "They want Nephrite, I said no. What more is there to say?"

Steven, Jade, Amethyst, and Fluttershy nodded and tried their luck.

"Flint, we know you don't want to fuse, but think about it," Steven inquired, "We all want to cure the Corrupted Gems, and Nephrite is strong enough to do that. If you do this, everyone on Homeworld will be so happy -"

"Will you just shut up," Flint snapped, getting impatient with all this bunk, "No one's using Nephrite, no one's going to Homeworld right now, and that's an order."

… Did … did he just order them? Steven, despite himself, got in Flint's way at the door.

"Flint, can't you at least consider the idea? you're not being fair!" Steven insisted. Flint brought his hand to his forehead.

"I'm not considering anything like that, Steven. I'm NOT using Nephrite and that's final."

"But why not? You said everyone will die if you make a mistake, there's got to be something behind that isn't there?" Steven inquired. Flint didn't feel like answering a second time, so rather than humor him he kinda pushed Steven aside and stepped out of the Beach House. He had his items to get, and he can't do that with them constantly bugging him about Nephrite.

"Flint, why not?!" Steven insisted.

"Don't you all have Grogar to deal with?" Flint stated. Steven needed to step up. This brief stop was just what Steven needed to catch up, and next thing Flint knew Steven was gripping his leg.

"Steven!"

"Flint, just tell me why. You're hiding something!"

"Let go!" Flint demanded, trying to make Steven leg go of him. However, Steven's grip was pretty strong, and he wanted to know that much at least.

"We promised we'd all be more open to eachother!" Steven reminded.

"No, you promised that! NOW LET GO!" Flint exclaimed, resorting to shaking his leg to make Steven let go of him.

"B-b-b-b-b-but w-w-w-w-w-what's w-w-w-wrong?!" Steven asked while being shook up by Flint.

Flint had enough of this. Bringing his leg up high, and in a downward swing, Steven was flung off of him and back inside the Beach House! Garnet caught him coming in, but she was left stunned. Flint reached his limit.

"You really want me to be blunt, Steven?!"

"That's a bad way to put it but … sure?" Steven said.

Then he said it.

"Because I DON'T WANT TO!"

"We know you don't want to, but -"

"I don't have any reason, nor do I need one!" Flint revealed.

"Wait. What?!"

"As far as I'm concerned there's nothing on MY line to make Nephrite happen because you tell me to. I'm my own Gem, and my life is MINE to control, not you, or White, or Jade, or that fusion holding you right there. The Crystal Gems is about freedom and individuality without dictation, but wait a minute: YOU'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO THAT ALL DAY! Well you know what I AM making my own decisions starting now! And my decision is: I'M NOT FORMING NEPHRITE, and you can't make me. I will handle the problem how I WANT TO, and you will not change my mind!"

Now it was out. No one said anything at first, not believing what they have just heard. Jasper tried getting in, but Amethyst and Fluttershy made sure she didn't tear the place apart first, pushing her back. Steven was placed down, and Garnet took off her shades, looking Flint eye to eye with a shocked and angry look.

"I remember once before you wanted to quit the team. But we found out you were just scared over what'll actually happen. Did you mean that, or did you just lie so we'd leave you alone?" Garnet questioned, one side smoking while the other side was forming ice. Even Flint was feeling intimidated, but he answered anyway.

"Of course I meant that, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna just bend my back for you now! If you said all that just to keep me around for Nephrite, then YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S WRONG HERE, NOT ME!"

"THAT'S IT."

"Garnet no!" Jade yelped.

But it was too late. Reaching her breaking point, Garnet had Flint by the throat, and started shaking him violently. This would kill him if he needed to breathe, but it still hurt him. Flint thrashed around, giving Garnet a few kicks to the stomach and legs to try making her let go.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA hold on, let's just calm down for a minute," Amethyst yelled. Sure she was mad, but not enough to escalate this much (despite initial thoughts).

"Stay out of this," Garnet instructed firmly.

"STOP! Please, no one's going to win this way!" Steven pleaded, trying to stop the fight before it could get any worse, with Fluttershy and Jade's help, but in her anger she forced all three back away. One of Flint's kicks struck Garnet in the lower jaw, making her let go briefly just for Flint to tackle her to the ground. He gave Garnet a good few punches before Garnet recovered again, bringing both feet up and launching Flint off of her, him slamming in the ceiling strong enough to crack it. Upon landing on the ground, Garnet stomped on his back.

"You are NOT the leader, Flint, and never will be!"

Flint snapped, before suddenly forcing Garnet off and, much to their shock, aimed his gem pistol at her and fired! Garnet was launched clear out of the Beach House, landing off over further down the beach.

"Oh man, this is going bad," Amethyst said, worried. Flint charged up his pistol as Garnet got up.

"DUDE, calm down! We won't ask you to form Nephrite, okay?! just quit fighting!" Amethyst said, jumping in the way. All that got her was a swift kick to send her aside before a pair of arms suddenly grabbed Flint and threw him outside. Jasper was the one who caught her, but even she was left blind-sided by this assault.

"You okay?" Fluttershy asked, helping Amethyst up.

"Yeah, but I think we can agree that we've kinda pushed him too far," Amethyst said. Just for them to hear a big explosion outside from either Garnet's rocket arms or Flint's pistol.

"Yep. Agreed," Steven stated, scared.

By the time they got outside, Garnet and Flint were face to face, still trying to pummel eachother out on the beach. With her gauntlets at the ready, she met Flint head on and going in for a few swings of the gauntlets. Flint dodged the punching fairly well, and on the fifth one he actually grabbed Garnet's arm and forced off the gauntlets from her hands, removing her weapon of choice, and kicking her to the ground. Or he would've kicked her to the ground in she didn't jump, grab him by the shoulders, and threw him into the rock wall.

"It's no use, Flint, you can't beat me!"

"Why don't you both come out here and say that?"

"I. SAID. STOP!"

Steven jumped in between the fray, and got out his bubble shield, forcing Garnet and Flint off of eachother. Out of all the things lately this was the last thing they needed. Both Gems landed roughly on the beach, stunned that Steven would be this forceful in intervening. As for Steven, it was time to get this problem solved.

"GUYS, what do you think you're doing?! You're both better than this! Fighting with eachother's not going to solve anything, it's only gonna make things worse."

"The only one making things worse is him, Steven! He'd rather turn his back on his own team," accused Garnet.

"But Garnet -"

"Well pardon me for trying to avoid force-fusing!" Flint shot back.

"Flint -"

"I'M NOT resorting to that level, but Nephrite HAS to help."

"For not resorting to it, you're doing a GREAT JOB at using it!"

"YOU'RE BOTH WRONG!"

Garnet and Flint stopped yelling and looked to Steven, who … looked a bit freaked out himself. Let's just say those three words came out without thinking. Lucky for Steven though, both Garnet and Flint had said just about enough for him to actually work out what he had to say. And he started that, by turning to Garnet.

"Garnet, I know what you're trying to say, but even if she is the only option, you can't just "make it happen"! Fusion is between two Gems that care deeply about eachother, and love eachother. Ruby and Sapphire know that better than anyone - YOU know that better than anyone. I mean, Isn't that what you were telling the other Gems back on Homeworld? How can you say and teach all that, and then just turn around and do this?!"

"Steven. …" Garnet didn't say anything else, looking to both her hands at the idea. She WAS forcing Flint and Jade into something she KNEW can't be forced. And while Flint got off the ground and brushed himself off, Steven targeted him next.

"And Flint, I know what you're trying to say, but The Harmony Gems aren't just about "freedom and individuality", they're about love and acceptance! And you've been acting really mean to my friends, and I don't love that. I don't accept that. You keep saying you're helping in your own way, but the second it wasn't about you, you stopped caring. This isn't the Flint club about making Flint feel good. This is our whole life! Do you care about that or not?!"

Flint froze, trying to think of SOMETHING to say to defend himself. But in the end, his Flint stubbornness and Zircon cleverness confirmed it would only support what Steven was saying to him. He couldn't think correctly and he was actually starting to feel …….

Then he fell back.

*POOF*

"Flint!" Jade gasped. Well out of all the surprises today, this one was a good close second from taking the cake.

"Oooo. You Honest'd him so hard, he died," Amethyst commented, cringing a little bit. Sure he wasn't dead, but seeing the now dormant gemstone on the ground did indeed leave them a bit of pause for thought. Rarity quickly galloped over to Flint, levitating him up and checking him over from top to bottom.

"Well?" asked Jade. Rarity needed a minute, and eventually sighed.

"Don't worry, he's just poofed that's all. I don't see any scratches or cuts anywhere," Rarity confirmed. She would know, given her eye for items like this.

"Oh, good. He'll come back," Steven agreed.

"I guess I must've hit him a bit too hard," Garnet admitted gravely. But Jasper still had one more question for the day. …

"Well what do we do with the Black Beetle now?"


~~~~~~


Wait.

For the rest of the day and through the following night, with Flint stuck inside his gemstone now and no way to actually talk to him at this point, that was really all they could do for now. Whether he agreed to the terms of Nephrite or not. There wasn't much point in arguing with a gemstone. At the least, nighttime went undisturbed and Steven made sure to keep the gemstone with him so nothing would happen to Flint throughout the night, keeping him right next to his alarm clock. It was the least he could do. Aside from Steven, the others also kept a visual over the fallen Gemstone, though some like Rarity and Fluttershy had more matters to work out, so they couldn't stay around. Jade stayed up the longest to keep her eye on Flint.
Even so, that didn't mean she was awake the entire night. Despite not needing any sleep, Jade actually did begin to doze off after a while, leaving technically no one watching over Flint's gemstone for the rest of the night. With no one else watching, or even there for that matter, Flint's gemstone was free to do what it wished …

And eventually, as morning started to come around once more, Steven was the first to find out just what was going on. Steven yawned, and took one look over to the alarm …

"Huh? … O-Oh gosh. Did something move him? W-Where'd he go?" Steven asked, getting worried. He tried to check around where he last saw him; peeking under the bed sheets, in between the bed, wherever else but no sign of him. As he was trying to find where he went, he accidentally tossed a pillow aside, hitting Jade in the head. It was just enough to make her stir.

"Flint? Flint!"

"Steven?" Jade asked, moving the pillow off of her as the others started to stir a little bit from the noise.

"Jade, did you see where he went?" Steven asked.

"See who went?" Jade asked, trying to bring herself around. However, Steven didn't need to answer her, as she also saw that Flint wasn't there. Next to wake up was Garnet.

"Morning Gems."

"Guys, Flint's gone," Steven said, "Any of you see him?"

"GONE?" Garnet asked, no longer so sleepy as she jumped up. This did wake up Amethyst as she ended up falling onto the floor thanks to her quick reaction. Amethyst shook herself awake.

"What's the game, jack?" Amethyst yawned.

"Amethyst, wake up. Flint's not here," Garnet explained. Amethyst wasn't sleepy anymore, getting up and checking where she last saw Flint's gemstone. Nope. Not there anymore.

"Oh no, we all must've slept when he reformed," Jade said. "He might've went away after what happened yesterday."

"You don't think that, do you?" Steven asked worriedly. Luckily before a manhunt could be called out, one more of this group spoke up, whom was casually leaning over by the door of the bathroom. She made her position known with a clear of her throat, bringing their attention to her.

"Jasper. You've seen Flint?" asked Garnet.

"Eeyup," Jasper sighed. And then she knocked on the wooden walls of the bathroom.

*creak*

"... Flint?" Jade gasped.

"... So … how do I look? …"

It was indeed Flint. Flint had reformed over the night, but apparently he didn't feel ready to just wake them up right away. But it wasn't just seeing Flint that made the two feel a bit taken aback. More rather, what Flint's new form had to offer.
It wasn't foreign for the Harmony Gems to get new forms time and again. In fact, every time they poofed a new form would offer something new in some aspect. However, Flint's look was a big step. Sure, his previous form still had less armor than how they first found him, but this new form didn't have any armor at all. Armor-like pattern maybe, but no true armor. His full bodysuit he had before now no longer extended to his feet, giving both his arms and legs some breathing room, though his feet were still shoe'd. His shoulder pads were a silver color, and he had a new silver belt, connecting some rounded cloth that went down his hips. Each one had the Harmony Gem star on it, each one a valiant silver.

The heavy and concealing armor no longer appeared evident.

Steven and Jade went down to the lower floor, and met Flint face to face, looking over what they were seeing.

"Flint. … You look amazing," said Jade. 

"And you FINALLY got your star!" Steven beamed. "Wow, it's shiny too."

"DANG, look at the knight in more drag. Loosening up?" Amethyst added.

Flint sighed.

"Well, I guess so. If I am apart of this team, I was bound to get a star sooner or later," Flint shrugged, his hand placing where the star was on him. As they were checking him out, Garnet went over to Jasper, who just filled her in.

"He reformed, but made me promise to wait until morning. He was … in a rough place."

"I know," Garnet sighed.

There was a … bit of an awkward moment between Garnet and Flint, but Steven gave at least one of them a push and brought them out to the center of the room. He simply "introduced" them in silence, and allowed them both to speak. The least they could do was talk about things.

"Flint? ... I -"

"Uh, Garnet. Please, me first," Flint said, though a bit more humble than usual. Garnet quieted and allowed him to talk.

"Garnet, look. I know I could be … selfish, a lot of times. What I want to do, how I wanna do it, when I want to. But … yeah, Steven's right. I've been treating the Harmony Gems more like just "The Flint Club" to make me feel better when I should've been treating it better. … And …"

"And … what?" Amethyst asked, curious. Flint grunted.

"... I'm scared. I know I act like I got all my act together, and I have this "great leader" look sometimes. But the truth is I barely know what I'm doing! I don't have a bloody clue what's going to happen with what we do - what I do. I feel comfortable just handling something my way because at least I have some idea what'll happen next. I'm too scared …"

Flint paused briefly, but he gathered up courage with a clenched fist before sighing, looking to his feet with a sort of sorrow look.

"... Sometimes, I wish I was more like you. You get these "Future visions" of your thanks to Sapphire, so you got SOME bit of your act together. You can look ahead, think about what to do, and act on it. … All I got is some good guesses and a fancy spark pistol to do my decisions for me. … But I have to face it: I'm no better than you. And I should, at the least, try to be more like you. Considerate. Caring. … Calm. … You're all right. I'm just a selfish Black Beetle."

…

"You're wrong."

Finally Flint looked up to Garnet, who by this point also had a bit of a worried and concern look in her eyes, her shades already well off of her head.

"You're not the only one worried about the future all the time. When White Diamond took us all away. Our friends, our home, our memory ... I became lost. I had NO IDEA what to think then, and I tried my hardest to pretend like it was no big deal. But THEN, Pink Diamond was revealed to me! … I can't even tell you how shocked I was. Ruby and Sapphire broke up over how she deceived everyone! I came undone …"

Garnet rubbed away a tear from her eye, the tears from both sides of her.

"I'm not as amazing and perfect as you think, and in a way I really wish I was. … But I have weaknesses too. I try my hardest not to let them consume me, because I know the impact I have on everyone, and I struggle with that every day I stand here. But there're times I still fall. I STILL fail, I STILL get scared over what'll happen! … Like yesterday."

She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Flint, I tried to make you and Jade form into Nephrite, because I was scared of what'll happen if I left all those Corrupted Gems alone on Homeworld. But I was wrong. It's not my place to decide something like that, especially with Gems as close as you and Jade had been. … And … I wanted to be more like you too."

Flint quietly placed his own hand on Garnet's hand, seeing a bigger picture of her than he thought. Everyone else didn't say a single word, letting this sink in for both of them. However, the silence was broken, not by Flint, Garnet, or the others, but instead by the Warp Pad. And standing there was Peridot and Emerald.

"Guys! Guys, come here, we -" Peridot quickly stopped herself when she saw the situation. "OH! … Sorry, y-you in the middle of something?"

"Yeah, we can pop back in a minute for you to finish up," added Emerald.

Flint and Garnet looked to eachother, and smiled.

"Everything's fine," said Flint. On hearing him speak, both green Gems saw his new form.

"WHOA, Flint look at you man! Liking the stars," said Emerald.

"Thanks. … So, what is it you were saying?"

"OH! It's the others! Everyone's back and reformed now, including the Diamonds!" Peridot revealed.

"Whoa, already?!" Amethyst gasped.

"I KNOW! Come on, everyone's waiting to see ya," Peridot replied, very eager for them to come along with her. That sure was a nice bit of morning news to hear, and they began to come along with her. Flint and Garnet went side by side, now having new respect for eachother. Steven couldn't help but smile, and Jade especially was pleased.

"Thank you, Steven," said Jade. Steven nodded.

Though, mentioning the corrupted Gems … it did remind Steven about Homeworld's situation. Grogar was still there. And they had to do something.

And it was good too that Jasper was right there, him thinking a bit over it still. Eventually, Steven went over and before Jasper could go, Steven tugged on her hand.

"Steven?" Jasper asked. Steven sighed.

"Jasper. I've been thinking lately since we got back from Homeworld, and … I want to ask you something."

"Hmm. Well, sure, what is it?" Jasper asked.

Steven took a deep breath.

"... I want you to teach me how to fight."
> Punch Out!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

If someone said all four Diamonds wouldn't be on Homeworld because of a mad goat before any of this happened, they would think that they were losing it. Well, unless it was a Sapphire involved, and even then it was a bit sketchy. Yet, here they were. White Diamond, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Pink Diamond all on Earth, which at the point was their main place of safety away from Grogar for the time being. Especially since Grogar's little trick of poofing ANY type of Gem in seconds with his magic, going back willy-nilly would basically just be throwing themselves at him.
As for exactly where they ended up, the entirety of the Harmony Gems (except for Twilight of course - she was still missing) were all within the Sky Arena. As Peridot said, they were all reformed pretty well all and all, some newer forms some not, but they were all there as promised by the time the others showed up. Of course, some catching up had to be done with Flint's new form, since none of them remembered him being taken out by Grogar before they all had to go.

"Afraid. … But you've done a lot of brave things, how can YOU be afraid of anything?" Rhodonite asked, not believing her own ears when hearing this story of his.

"How can I not be afraid of anything, more rather," Flint sighed, "... I just didn't want to admit it. Until recently, that is." He looked over to Garnet, who gave him a smile. Sometimes it was good to know that there was someone else in the same boat, so one didn't need to feel alone. Yellow Diamond though spoke up next once he was finished.

"This is fine and all," she noted, "But this still doesn't help with our … situation, on Homeworld. My Pearl told me about a being named "Nephrite" that could do the job."

"Wait, wait, maybe we shouldn't jump into it so quick," Steven suddenly butted in.

"Oh no, not you too, Steven! Nephrite's required here: you know anyone else that can cure corrupted Gems or not?" Rainbow Dash insisted.

"I know guys, but we can't force him into doing this. As a wise man once said: if it's not what Flint wants, then it's not what Nephrite wants. Right?"
Amethyst suddenly realized where he got that from, but didn't say anything. Unfortunately, Yellow Diamond wasn't as understanding right now.

"Hundreds of Gems are left corrupted on Homeworld, and you're telling me the ONLY help we have will NOT come because she simply won't?!"

"Y-Yellow wait -"

"I will consider it!"

Everyone looked to Flint again after he said that.

"You will?!" gasped Pinkie.

"Easy Flint, you don't have to if you don't want to. We understand," Garnet reassured. Flint already knew that, but he also knew that they'd just keep trying until they do. Plus he'd been selfish long enough.

"I know you do Garnet, but everyone's right: I've been very selfish about everything lately. So look, I'll consider with Jade about using Nephrite for the problem, and if we don't stumble on another alternate solution then I'll use her without any objections."

At first none of them said anything, considering things first before giving their answer. It wasn't a full on yes for Nephrite, but not entirely a no either. At the least he was more open about it this time over yesterday.

"Eh, I'll buy it. I think this is the best we're gonna get with you, huh?" shrugged Starlight. Flint flustered slightly, but quickly recovered himself. Despite that though it was Garnet who went forward to speak to everyone.

"Even if he said yes, he does have one point," concluded Garnet, "Grogar's still there. If we try to cure the corrupted Gems, Grogar's capable of just corrupting them all over again. We have to deal with Grogar. Or get the corrupted Gems out of his reach. Whichever comes first."

"Didn't I already say that?" Flint silently commented to Jasper.

"Yeah, but there's saying words, and there's yelling words," Jasper replied. This made him even more embarrassed, but again he tried not to get too troubled.

"Is there even a contest? We'll just fly back over there and give him the ol' one-two-WAPOW, and be on our way! No one beats up the Harmony Gems and gets away with it on my watch," Rainbow Dash said, giving a few punches and kicks before starting to fly away. She however felt her tail get grabbed by Blue Diamond, making the Pegasus stop.

"I want to save my world just as you do, but we can't "fly in". He took down all of the Diamond Authority in just one hit, not to mention nearly all of you. Please, I don't want to see anyone else get hurt like that," Blue Diamond said, concern and trying not to say it and be insulting Rainbow Dash's talent in fighting. However, Rainbow Dash was already pumped.

"You know who you're talking to? We already saved Homeworld before at least three times, ol' Blue, and we can do it again! Right guys?!"

A typically tactless comment on Rainbow Dash's part, since White Diamond herself wasn't too far away and had her involvement in two of those Homeworld "threats".

"Rainbow. Come down," said Garnet.

"Guys? …" Rainbow asked, coming down to their level.

"Blue Diamond's right, Rainbow. As much as I would love to find that Grogar. Get him by that head of his. Try to rip his horns out, and MAKE HIM SORRY -" Bismuth needed to relax a little bit, her anger starting to grow a little bit. She sighed and said "He's got the upper hand here. Or, hoof."

"So what? You forget our track record here? He's just some old goat with a bit of magic."

"You can't fly after him by yourself!" Padparadscha shouted.

"That MAGIC shot down the Diamonds and nearly killed everyone else, remember?!" Applejack reminded, "Let's everybody calm down and try to think of something, alright?"

"Oh … fine," Rainbow groaned, landing on her hooves, "... But can it involve "pummeling the goat" in your plan."

"Oh, yes, of course," Bismuth said casually.

"What you need," said Fluorite, "is to cover all of your problems, and resolves them all within one fool-proof plan."

"Sounds about right," agreed Left Rutile.

"Do you have it all listed?" asked Right Rutile.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Turned out, with all of this happening so soon, Starlight Glimmer had already gotten her own list of the events down to better help them all try to figure out the situation. With Spike giving a helping claw in getting it out of a handbag they brought with them, Starlight and Spike went over with a decent scroll of a To-Do list.

"Ok, so while everyone was recovering yesterday, me and Spike got this jotted down," said Starlight Glimmer.

"Convenient. And what did you write down?" Yellow Diamond asked. Spike looked over the list and, clearing his throat, he started reading it out.

"Okay, so Twilight Sparkle is taken captive by a hornless Unicorn, Connie Maheswaran has become corrupted and now under Grogar's hooves along with all of the royal court, whom is now taken control of the Diamond City, and potentially all of Homeworld. … And that's all we know."

As they were all trying to work out what to do with all of these problems, Steven took a glance over away from the main pack, and over towards White Diamond. Unlike everyone else, the North Star had become exceptionally quiet ever since she reformed and came back from her encounter with Grogar. She simply sat there beyond the rest of the crowd, on the edge of the once glorious Sky Arena, and the morning sky ahead of her.
Steven, as her teacher of Friendship and first true friend, cannot ignore his student's troubles. So, as the others were busy, he walked over to her, having a seat right next to her.

"Hi."

"Oh. Hello, Steven," sighed White Diamond. "And no. I'm not okay. …"

"Well. Ok. …" He probably could've guessed, though should've expected the scenario to be a bit different in how to venture into the subject. "... You're thinking about Grogar?"

"I can't figure out how, Steven," White admitted. "We're the Diamond Authority - the strongest of all Gem types. Hypothetically. How can we all be defeated so easily by some … some random. OLD, CRAZY RAM? So embarrassing." White's hand started to clench into a fist in both anger, and a hint of shame. What a disgrace for even her to fall so easily to this sudden arrival. Steven got up and placed his hand on her own.

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault. He caught everyone by surprise, that's all, no one's gonna blame you for that. Besides, Kyra fought you all and won before, and no one blamed any of you for that," Steven reminded. It'd been quite a long time since either of them recalled the white Draconian with the rose on his scar, and recalling that, while it did bring up a good point, did not make White feel much better.

"But how could he even do such a thing? Kyra had the skill and strength to fight us, and all this "Grogar" did was just zap us!" White gripped the edge of the sky arena, making it crack slightly much to Steven's surprise, enough to make him move back a little bit.

"That kind of power. … That's not Equestrian magic, that's not normal magic," White stated. Strangely, this made Steven actually smile, almost giggling a little despite the situation.

"Magic never really followed any rules," Steven shrugged.

"You don't understand: Equus never had the Gem technology to rival Gemkind, so how did Grogar manage to have a spell that can destabilize a Diamond?"

Steven paused and thought about it. He didn't have any idea about it either, but he did have at least one theory.

"Equestria and Earth had been swapping with eachother ever since I met Twilight and her friends. Maybe while Earth's been getting magic, Equestria's been gaining knowledge about Gems? Maybe he picked up something."

"Whatever he picked up, it made him too dangerous for a Gem to even touch him. … That's why we can't fight him."

Steven stood up.

"That's why we HAVE to fight him!" Steven insisted. White looked down to her friendship teacher.

"Look at what happened: he took over Homeworld, took away Twilight Sparkle, and - … A-And he corrupted my best friend, and ALL of Yellow and Blue's Diamond Court. We can't just leave that alone!"

"But he can destroy a Diamond in seconds," retorted White.

"Maybe a Gem can't fight him, we still have Humans, Ponies, and a lot of other creatures that can help us. We never gave up on Earth, Equus, or Homeworld, and we're not giving up now," Steven reassured, presenting those very Gems in question to her. White Diamond thought about it more and more, and slowly started to understand the point. After all, she placed them in a scenario where any sensible person would've given up on all of life, and everything else, yet they've all managed to get their way out of that pain no matter the circumstance.

"You never stop, do you?" White Diamond sighed.

"How do you think we've come this far?" Steven asked. This admittedly made White Diamond chuckle. However, this was brief as she thought about it again.

"Once upon a time, I thought you all were just crazy. But what it's really is determination. … Alright, if you're not going to give up, then neither am I. We will get Homeworld back somehow."

"Now you're getting it," Steven said, thumbs up and a wink to the diamond.

"One question though. … What are you planning to do?"

Steven then brought out something from his pocket. The object itself looked small, and pretty insignificant all the same, but in the grand scheme of things Steven felt this thing was vital. The object in question: a piece of cloth for a tie-able headband, which Steven happily got tied onto his forehead as he got his game face on.

"I'm gonna learn how to fight!"

"Fight? But, don't you know already? You've beaten me before, fairly well," White Diamond pointed out, confused by the statement. Steven sighed.

"Well, actually I don't really do that much physical fighting. Yeah I got my bubble, and my shield, but these soft hands don't beat up bad guys that much," Steven said. White diamond, curious, brought her hand down and the very tips of her fingernails felt Steven's arm. For such a prominent fighter, he actually felt pretty soft on those arms of his. Quite the irony given the track record.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So I thought I should start building myself up a little bit. If we are gonna face Grogar again, I want to be ready for anything," Steven said, flexing a bit. He'll get himself more pumped up, he was sure of that.

"Then why don't we get started?" said another voice.

White Diamond and Steven turned around and saw the group behind them, namely Jasper at front of them.

"She's teaching you?"

"You know I am. If there's anyone that can toughen up a Gem, it might as well be me. Plus he asked me to teach him before we got here," Jasper said, not forgetting who asked her in the first place. Steven was more than ready.

"Alright Jasper. LETS GET BEEFY!"


~~~~~~


It didn't take very long until they set up the area. Now, one would think Steven would be practicing up in the Sky Arena, and indeed that area was gonna be part of this (how can it not be?), but for the very beginning it was instead off down to the Strawberry Battlefield far below the arena. Pretty convenient too with the first battles and last battles of the Gem War being over in pretty much the same place, and with the clear weather of autumn it was just the right place to go as many of the others were busy.
Steven was more than ready, standing at attention like a Ruby Soldier at attendance, as Jasper was starting things off, her position less like a quartz and more like an Agate as Gem standards go.

"Alright, my little soldier, you wanna learn how to fight do you?" Jasper began.

"MAM, YES MAM!" Steven said, again treating this like a military line up.

"Well said, but it's gonna take a lot more than just a bunch of "yes mam's" to defeat the enemy. Out in the field, your enemy will NOT give you any chances or free-Bs or opportunities. If you're gonna fight, you have to give it your all! Go big, or go home!" The last few exclamations were right in Steven's face, which while he tried keeping composure, were already humbling him a bit as Jasper straightened up and continued the pacing, "Don't you worry, I'll make sure to make you a warrior yet. When we're done here, no one in any world will be able to push you around again! Any questions?"

While Steven didn't have a question, a hand was raised.

"Why're we here again?" asked Rhodonite. Steven wasn't the only one here in this line up. In fact, quite a few were there as well: Steven, Emerald, Rhodonite, the Rutile Twins, Amethyst (just because), Fulgurite, Pinkie Pie, Peridot, along with Rainbow Dash, Bismuth, and AJ as more extra helpers to Jasper rather than students.

"You really think I'm just gonna be training just Steven in all this? Everyone needs to be game, and I'm gonna make sure of that," Jasper simply replied.

"It'll be fun guys," Steven added, "We can all train together! Think of it like a group activity."

"You call training fun?" Emerald questioned. This response only got Jasper over to him, a hard stomp on the ground bringing him to attention.

"Listen up, if you got the stones to stay in my course, then I expect nothing but everything you got, and I don't take slacking off. EMERALD I'm looking at you. Yes, I'm signaling you out."

"Don't start pointing fingers, I'm no slacker!" Emerald snapped … which actually made Peridot snicker. He did NOT just say that.

"What?" No one gave him an actual answer to that one as Bismuth continued, Jasper, Rainbow and AJ going off to get something.

"We know you got some fighting experience under your belt, so let's just see how much we got. K, gang, bring in the stone!"

"The stone?" Steven asked. His only response was a shrug from Amethyst, but they got their answer shortly afterwards with a giant silver stone was placed down. This wasn't a natural rock just brought in from the field, but smoothed out and looked vaguely similar to one of Bismuth's practice dummies, the surface glistening in the sun.

"K, soldiers, give this the hardest hit you got. Right here," Bismuth instructed, patting the center of the piece. She removed the main gem symbol for the sake of Steven's morality code. The task seemed simple enough, but as they were bringing out their gem weaponry …

"Without the weapons," Jasper firmly stated.

"What?!" gasped Emerald.

"I'm building your strength, so THAT means you gotta fight with your dukes," Jasper explained, showing both of her large fists, "THESE are the weapons everyone has, and they can't be just knocked off of ya, so if there's any weapon we're gonna boost it's what you already got. Not one weapon in MY course. Now line up and give this the biggest punch you can give."

"But won't we smash it?" right Rutile asked. "We can't test it if that happens."

"Just watch."

Rather than answer, Jasper just decided to demonstrate, clenching a single fist and punching right into the object. The punch was hard enough to crack bones, and left a shocking amount of cracks in the stone, enough to wrap around it.

"WHOA! … but -"

"Wait for it," Bismuth said. They all waited and watched the object. It took about twenty seconds before the object began to react to the punch, and right before their eyes, all the cracks on the object began to disappear. Pretty soon, it was good as new, not a crack on it.

"Cool!" said Steven.

"Yep. The only way to take this down is to smash it completely, ONE-HIT-KO," explained Jasper, "If you can do that, then you're good to go."

"I get it, it's like one of those "Ring the Bell" games you find in the carnival," Steven realized.

"You got it! Now who's first?" Bismuth asked.

"Hmmmm …" the first one to step over to the object was actually Pinkie Pie, but not with the method of actually hitting the thing. She gave the piece of rock a good look over, almost crawling around it like a bug would to study it up close and personal.

"What's your verdict, Pinkie Pie?" Amethyst asked. Pinkie eventually stopped and hopped off.

"I got this, guys," Pinkie Pie said, cracking her hooves and cracking her neck. She eyed the particular spot closely, tongue sticking out as she did so. Once she got the spot down exactly right, she raised her hoof, and …

"HAKIE STAKIE!" *BAM!* It was a rather quick swing, Pinkie giving her front hoof one of those spinning loadups before slamming it right on the direct spot on the object. At first, nothing really seemed to happen, but the strike did actually leave a LOT of cracks in the rock … 

And crumbled it!

"W-WHAT THE - hold the phone!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, going right next to the pink mare and checking the rubble left behind. She grabbed one part of the object after the other, and eventually went right to Pinkie Pie as the rest tried to better comprehend what they just saw.

"HOW are you that strong?!" Fulgurite had to ask, "I don't recall you taking leg day!"

"What? I grew up on a rock farm, smashing rocks is family business," Pinkie Pie shrugged innocently. … Not something they really wanted to know, but they were glad she was on their side anyway.

"... Well, you wanna just get started?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah, it'll give me time to make another one," Bismuth replied. Bismuth began going off to do that, as Jasper turned to the troops. She got her plan for this lot, and she wasn't gonna be holding back anything.

And so it begins. ...


~(DAY ONE)~


"FOLLOW! Come on, keep up!"

Next thing they knew, they were off and running. The whole group was in a lineup here, Jasper leading the way, AJ and Rainbow close with her, as everyone else was put to follow her around the area of the Strawberry Battlefield. The task sounded simple enough, but the path Jasper was taking did NOT make it so easy.
The first part was alright, mainly because that path was laid out on the firm ground with only the bushes and strawberries to worry about hindering progress. They all kept up fairly fine as far as Jasper could see, even if they were going a bit quicker than a typical jog. In fact, at least one of them thought this was more of a joke than anything.

"Fulgurite, quit fooling around back there!" Jasper called. Fulgurite decided to show off a little bit, catching up to Jasper with ease by running backwards, hands behind her head casually.

"This is nothing for me, Jay, where's this challenge you're talking about?" Fulgurite asked. Jasper huffed at Fulgurite's cockiness in this foot race, but Jasper had her answer just coming up.

"Keep running backwards like that, and you'll find out. UP!" and suddenly Jasper jumped above Fulgurite, just moments before she ran back first into what felt like a wall. Now came the tricky part of the run. The others stopped briefly to see that Jasper was taking the more tricky route and jumped along the scattered floating islands of the area. The only who didn't stop was Rainbow Dash, but only because she was the only one allowed to fly with Jasper as she jumped from one platform to the other, Ramicorn goat style.
Eventually they all got moving after a bit, Amethyst leading on from there and the others soon following. Naturally, it was Steven and actually Applejack who were having more trouble keeping up with the pack, not having the natural jumping ability of normal Gems. Even the Rutile Twins with some work were keeping up fairly well, though they only slowed down for Steven and AJ's sake when seeing how far behind they were.

Then they came to the big jump. There was a large gap between the final large island and the smaller platform, which Jasper made it over just fine along with much of the others. By the time Steven and Applejack caught up, everyone was already on the otherside.

"You got this, Steven! Give a big jump!" called Peridot in encouragement. Applejack decided to get a good jump first, backing up as far as the platform will allow. Using all her strength in her back legs, she launched herself well across the gap, though she did stumble upon landing on the otherside.

"Ok. Three. Two. One." Steven backed up, and then made his mighty jump as far as he can go. His jump was a bit slower though, and Steven closed his eyes, waiting to find that landing of his … only to not find it. When he looked at where he was. …

"Nooo I'm floating again!" Steven groaned. Like a cloud in the sky, Steven was stuck at least ten feet above everyone else, his jump just a tad too high. He tried to get himself down, but his feet and arms just swung around like crazy with him stuck there. All he did in the end was pout. He can't train if he's floating above everyone.

"Oh boy. I forgot he had that problem," Jasper sighed.

"Hang on, I got it," said Amethyst, shapeshifting to have that helicopter blade attachment on her back and flying up there to get him. Steven was still pouting when they got back to the ground.

"Thanks, Amethyst," sighed Steven.

"Looks like we all made it," said Peridot with pride, "So Jasper, what's the next task? … Jasper? Where's Jasper?"

Amazing how quickly a simple distraction can change the playing field. The group were left on the platform without their mentor anywhere to be seen. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie began to feel a bit of a twitch in her tail, immediately making her look up to the sky.

"Incoming meteor!" Pinkie shrieked, making a bolt for it.

"Meteor - AAHH!"

There's Jasper. Finding a smaller platform nearby to jump off of, Jasper launched herself high up into the sky and rocketed down to them, helmet out and coming in like a fiery star. Pinkie's Pinkie sense was just the thing to get them all out of the way. What they thought was Jasper coming in to crack the platform, was actually the teacher spinning around and landing on the opposite of the platform. The sheer force was enough to make them all stumble in their step, and the entire floating island to shift.

"How about a warning before you try to kill us, huh?!" Emerald shouted. Jasper ignored him though, and she got down on her hands and knees. Then she began to move. Or at least, it seemed like she was moving in a four-legged rush but she technically wasn't going anywhere. But the whole platform surely was! Everyone suddenly found themselves spinning along the giant platform as it spun faster and faster, and only until AFTER getting it at a high speed did Jasper jump off.

"FOLLOW!" Jasper called, before going off again.

"You gotta be kidding!" Amethyst shouted as the whole group was left spinning around like crazy. Jasper had the decency to at least wait a few platforms down, but she wasn't gonna help them out. That would ruin the point. The whole group just managed to get themselves to the center of the platform, where the pull wasn't as strong, but they still had the issue of actually getting to the next platform. Applejack was given a free pass since she technically wasn't one of the students, and Rainbow Dash got her out of there.

"We have to get off this crazy thing!" Steven concluded.

"HOW?!" asked Rhodonite, who was lucky to just keep standing. They couldn't even look on ahead without getting too dizzy, only able to look down to their feet from the spinning. As they were spinning though, Peridot started to try and think about what to do, the only one staring off ahead rather than below.

"One. Two. One. Two. … I think I got it!"

"What is it?" asked the Rutile Twins. Peridot began to demonstrate, repeating "one, two" a few times before splitting herself off from the group. The G forces began to take their toll on her, and she had to sit down, actually sliding on the platform towards the edge.

"One. Two. JUMP!" In a cry, Peridot leaped as far as she could! The momentum launched her right off the spinning platform, and actually got her right on the smaller one! … Albeit, slamming into the side first. Climbing up and standing, she waved to the others to catch up.

"That's it! Come on, follow me guys!" Steven exclaimed, starting to make his way down as well. Peridot made sure to jump another platform up to give them space to continue their way along. One by one, timing their jumps, each of the troops just barely got themselves from the spinning island and onto the other platform on the otherside. Fulgurite, Emerald, and Amethyst made it over alright, though as Pinkie Pie landed she had to catch Steven in his jump so he wouldn't fly away again. The Rutile Twins and Rhodonite, however, almost missed their mark and if it wasn't for Fulgurite's quick grab with her hair the two would've flown off.

"Gotcha!" Fulgurite called, before pulling both of them in like a fisherman with a pair of large tuna. And probably just as heavy. Steven gave a hand here, and with combined strength they reeled the two in, all four stumbling back onto the next platform.

Landing right in front of Jasper.

"All present and accounted for, mam!" Steven reported, thumbs up from underneath everyone else. Jasper smirked.

"Nice of you to go back for your soldiers," said Jasper, as they all began to line up again, now caught up. Rhodonite was still trying to calm down.

"Ohmystars, ohmystars that was terrifying."

"Geesh take it easy we're done. We all can have a seat and calm down now," reassured Fulgurite. Only for Jasper to say ...

"Alright, nice job on the warm-up. A bit hesitant though, but keep at it."

"ALL THAT WAS WARM-UP?!"

Rhodonite collapsed. This was gonna be a long day.

…….

"I feel like I'm gonna break."

That basically summed up how the first day went for much of them once they got back. Many of them split up from there, with Amethyst and Steven taking their portal key path right back to the Beach House along with Jasper. Both Amethyst and Steven tossed themselves onto the nearest couch, exhausted but feeling pretty good. At least Steven did.

"For the first day, you shown good sport, kiddo," said Jasper.

"Thanks," Steven sighed, "And I'm *huff* gonna get even better *whoo* just you watch me! … eeehhh."

"Okay warrior, let's get you a drink," Jasper decided. The two warriors laid there for a bit more as Jasper began to do just that.

"Jasper's no pushover with her training. And we're only on day one," Amethyst said.

"Yeah, who knew Bismuth's dummies could be that strong? I don't know how we made it," Steven agreed, still slightly sore from what the dummies did to them. Sure they were just shifting stones, but it was never fun getting bumped around like inside a pinball machine.

"Word. … But hey, we did great, and boy you went all in," Amethyst complimented as she sat up. Steven smiled, looking up to her.

"I'm just trying to be the best I can be," Steven stated. Amethyst gave him a playful punch to the shoulder, him chuckling a little bit. Soon, Jasper came back to them with their drinks, though the exact type of drink made Steven pause on it as Amethyst gulped hers (with the cup).

"Wait, what's this?"

"Peridot recommended it - it's that Metallixer she's been getting into lately. She said it's been making her feel stronger, so I thought you can gulp some down and do the same and toughen up," Jasper replied. Steven looked into the cup of the grey liquid with a mixed reaction.

"Jasper, I can't drink this - Humans can't drink metal," Steven retorted.

"YOU ate raw flour before."

"Sure, but I stopped eating it … maybe."

Steven flustered on it, but Jasper decided not to push it further. Measly water and hardcore metal weren't gonna yield the same results, yet as they say "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them gulp it down".

"Fine. Well it's here if you change your mind. AMETHYST, that's for him," Jasper made clear.

"Alright, alright," Amethyst said. She was probably the only other Gem aside from Peridot who liked the drink. With that figured out, Jasper walked off back to the Warp Pad.

"G'night you two. See you both in the morning."


~(DAY TWO)~


"What're they doing in there?" wondered Peridot.

The group under Jasper's command were well away from the Strawberry Battlefield after their first day, taking their position now a bit closer to home. In fact, their next stop was actually over by the barnhouse with many of the troops waiting over by the barn doors as Jasper was seemingly busy inside. She was clearly doing something in there by all the noise. While many of them didn't have much to do but either shoot the breeze or (in Peridot and Amethyst's case) listening to Jasper's antics in the barn, Steven did end up finding something for him to do in his spare time in the form of some basic punches on a plank of wood.

"So, what's this thing with you and that plank?" Fulgurite asked at one point, not having anything better to do as she glanced over his way.

"Practicing," Steven simply replied, continuing some of his punches on the wood plank. Fulgurite got up off of the haybale she was sitting on, and walked over to investigate a little bit.

"Still? You do remember nearly passing out yesterday, right, or did you get bonked in the head at some point?" Fulgurite questioned, skeptical.

"You can't get rock hard muscles in one day. To get strong, you gotta keep at it," Steven pointed out. He then gave the wooden plank one more good punch, strong enough to leave it shaking for a solid four seconds before actually falling over. They all saw that Steven's fists were a little red from the punching, but that was par for the course.

"Woo, knockout!" Steven exclaimed upon defeat of the plank.

"At least someone's enjoying this," said Rhodonite, troubled as per usual, "What's next? Make us fight a dragon? March through the desert?" Those thoughts alone were making her a bit uneasy.

"I don't think Jasper's THAT crazy to do that, dude," Amethyst said.

"Oh you think so?" Emerald said, "She's already been driving me up a wall for days, she can and will be that crazy!"

That didn't make either Gem feel better, but Amethyst didn't want to leave Jasper with worrywarts today.

"OKAY tell your Ame - sister what're you worried about," Amethyst inquired, standing up and looking to the others.

"Where do I even begin? I'm made up of a Ruby and a Pearl, I'm not MADE to fight. And Jasper and Bismuth nearly shattered us yesterday, who knows what they're gonna put us all into now?"

Amethyst could see the problem a mile away, and when thinking on it while glancing to Steven, this might actually help everyone. So, she got herself a haybale and hopped onto it.

"Well you just gotta roll with the punches," Amethyst said.

"Huh? Just "roll with it"?" asked Rhodonite.

"Yeah sure," agreed Pinkie Pie, "You can't find the fight, it finds you! You just gotta go with the flow."

"Is that how you always fight? Just blindly going in, not thinking about what you're doing?"

"Pretty much," Amethyst shrugged.

"Wha? NO! … really?"

This was being overheard by Steven, who came back with Fulgurite.

"Alright, time for a lesson with Amethyst," Amethyst announced, clearing her throat first. "It may seem like getting the right stance, or the right grip's important - and it can be! - but the truth is it's not gonna matter in a real fight."

"But it does though," Steven said, "We're training to face GROGAR, Amethyst, and we saw what happened already. There's so many left behind back there … we have to be ready for anything. Who knows what Grogar will do now?"
They weren't sure if Steven was referring to all of them or himself there. Still, Amethyst smiled and shrugged.

"We don't know, THAT'S THE POINT," she explained, "In a fight, you never know what's gonna happen. You can't just watch it on tape, replay it, and figure out how it'll work! NOPE! A fight's always gonna be different each and every time. I mean, how can you be ready when you don't even know what you're getting ready for? What really matters is that you gotta be … loose."
And to emphasize her point her stone started glowing, and her arms were shapeshifting to resemble flags blowing in the wind.

"So … what you're saying is …"

"What I'm saying is that don't get so worked up and scared over what could be nothing!" Amethyst concluded, "Whatever Grogar's doin, long as we go with the flow we can handle it!"

"And I thought I'm the teacher," said an amused voice.
By this point, the barn doors finally opened up, and Jasper stood there at the ready. Just her showing up got them up in lined up (as instructed) with Steven being there first.

"Alright Gems listen up. When out in the field, as you know, we all have to pull our own weight, right?"

"Yes mam!" they all said. Good answer.

"Right. Now here's what we're gonna do. If we are gonna be getting our Gems out away from Homeworld, odds are we need to carry a lot on the way out, so …"

And then Jasper opened up the doors.

"It's time to see how much weight you can pull!" Jasper declared. Everyone looked inside and found that the barnhouse was PACKED! All huge pile in the middle of the barn with all sorts of scrap metal of all sorts of things, most of which seemed to be from car parts or just lumps of metal.

"Holy," Steven gasped.

"Yeah, I know. Alright troops, take as much as you can carry -"

"Where'd you even get all that?" Peridot suddenly asked. Jasper's confident look turned to a more deadpan one.

"That doesn't matter, just take some," Jasper instructed. Well, some of them did begin taking some of the metal out of the pile, but Steven still had some questions about this, walking up to his commander.

"Did you steal it?" Steven questioned, looking over the whole metal pile.

"Wha - of course I stole it! You think I just bought all this scrap?" Jasper questioned. No one really missed the metal so she didn't see the harm in just taking it for the sake of training. Before she could yell, she calmed down.

"Jasper, you can't just take it, what if someone needs some new bumpers for their car?" Steven asked. Jasper shrugged.

"Listen, it's two tons of molded steel, and we're gonna walk it back to the Temple. Now get as much as you can carry and start your way back with the rest, Ok Steven?" Jasper instructed. While he didn't want to steal this, he went over and got the metal anyway.

"That does make someone beefy quicker. … YES MAM!"

…

Eventually, no piece of metal was left at the barn, and they began to make their way from the barn and off through the trek back home. It would only take them a short minute or two just to take the warp pad, but that would really cut this whole thing short, and Jasper wasn't about to cut any corners here. As before, Jasper took the lead in the walk back to the Temple as everyone else followed with a huge amount of metal in their arms.
This task was actually a bit easier for them, being Gems and with more natural strength than your average pony or human. Steven though had an easier time with his Diamond strength, and his load was basically like an ant single-handedly carrying a stone.

"Now THIS is more like it," said Amethyst, showing off a little bit and doing it with one arm. "So this is all we gotta do before we get back to the Temple, J?"

"It's the main idea, but don't let it get to your head," advised Jasper, "I made sure there's more to it."

"Well as long as we can at least see straight, I'm down for it," Amethyst stated. Unfortunately, not everyone was so easily enthused. Sure, Amethyst, Steven, even Pinkie and Emerald were handling it pretty well all and all, but Peridot, Fulgurite, the Rutile Twins, and Rhodonite weren't so keen on it. Peridot may have been beef'd up before, but carrying objects like this was still difficult without her metal kinetics, and Rhodonite and the twins were just Illy practiced. At one point, the Rutile Twins collapsed on the ground, scrap stumbling off of them.

"You two okay?" Steven asked, heading back to them.

"W-We're really sorry, it's very hard to carry them like this," said Right Rutile, a bit winded as Left Rutile wiped her brow.

"It's hard keeping balance with all of that," added Left Rutile.

"Don't sweat it. Here, toss it up with me, I'll carry it for ya," Steven offered.

"You sure?"

"Totally! Just get yours up on top of mine," Steven insisted, ready for the extra load. The idea was to get stronger, and Steven had the most reason to do this so he wanted to boost himself for a bit more. The twins looked to one another, and decided to let him give it a try. They gathered their metal, and tossed it up on top of Steven's pile.

"K-Keep it together, Steven. Remember why you're doing this," Steven told himself. That was just enough motivation to not just topple over himself carrying his extra load. Straining and sweating, Steven started to continue the line back home. Him already making the walk from the Warp Pad to home, he knew the way already from there.

"Dude, let me carry that, you look like you're gonna topple," Amethyst quietly insisted.

"I'm fine, really!" Steven retorted, "Gotta build myself up, right?"

"Steven -"

"Halt!" suddenly the whole group stopped altogether, only Pinkie bumping into Jasper by mistake, stumbling down with her scrap. Mere moments after being covered, she popped her head out.

"Why the stop?" Pinkie asked. Jasper was about to answer, but then she saw what Steven was doing to himself. She can get why, but he'd also proven before how much ambition can kinda blind health sometimes. So, she walked over to him, and took the piles.

"Jasper, I'm carrying that."

"Not now: when you're in the field, it's important to obtain as much knowledge about the area as possible, so you all have the tactical advantage to crush your opponents!" Jasper explained, holding Steven and the twins' scrap metal piles with one arm fairly easily.

"Now Steven, find a high vantage point and report what you can see important," Jasper instructed. Steven wasn't exactly sure where to look, nothing looking like a good vantage point at all. Though another Gem spoke up again.

"What's wrong? Nothing's here, and we can see for miles," retorted Emerald. He did have a point, considering they were out in open fields and all. Jasper snorted.

"WE can be seen for miles, and heard. Besides, I asked Steven," Jasper retorted. Meanwhile Steven was trying to figure something out, but then an idea quickly popped into his head after something came to him from yesterday.

"I know!" Steven exclaimed.

Steven took a few steps away from the group, as everyone else watched him. The answer was so simple: all Steven had to do was give the ground a good stomp, and off he hopped right into the air. Steven got himself up a good twenty thirty feet off of the ground before he slowed down, and sure enough he was stuck high up in the air again.

"Soldier, that's cheating!" Jasper called.

"No it's not: you said don't use Gem weapons! Floating isn't a weapon!" Steven called back.

Well Steven got her there.

"Smart. What can you see up there?!" called up Fulgurite. Steven stayed floating up there and looked off to the trails ahead of them, his hand over his eyes to remove some glare.

"I see more hills. An open field, and some patches of trees along the road. And just passed that, I think I can see Brooding Hill from here. And …" Steven paused as he observed the ground ahead a bit more closely. Just by one of the patches of trees, something was moving about a bit just up ahead. It was too far away to tell exactly what it was, but there was enough rustling in the bushes to tell him that there was indeed something about the place. Suddenly Steven's eyes lit up.

"RAINBOW I SEE YOU!" Steven shouted.

"WHAT?! COME ON!!"

Even Jasper couldn't help but laugh on the distant screaming of a infuriated Rainbow Dash. Rainbow did come out and flew right back to them.

"Ok, THAT wasn't fair, we didn't even get to come out and jump ya yet!" Rainbow grumbled.

"Jump ya?" Rhodonite asked.

"You really thought it was just gonna be a walk back to the temple?" Jasper huffed. "Which reminds me …"

*FWEEET*

"OH GOLLY - AH!" and suddenly, out of nowhere, another third jumped the group. This time the figure was Bismuth, who was actually underground, and her sneak attack got Rhodonite right off her feet. Fulgurite quickly got the other scrap pile as Rhodonite was being held.

"HA! Gotcha Rhodonite!" Bismuth laughed. Rhodonite was scrambling in panic on this capture. Steven would go in and help … you know, if he wasn't floating high up in the sky like that.

"O-Oh no you don't! BATTLE UP, ROCKS!" Amethyst shouted. By the time Rainbow Dash got Steven down, Bismuth was already up to her head in the others, more like a rough-housing play than actual training. But heck, the idea was still there, and they were quick to go for their teammate so Jasper just allowed them their moment for today.

Eventually, the group got off of Bismuth and allowed her to get back up.

"Alright, you found all three, but we got a long way to go. AJ, RD, B, head off ahead and set up. The rest of you, regather and move out!" Jasper instructed. AJ got her portal key and opened up a portal for all three to go through as everyone else got their respected piles.

"Let's go team!" encouraged Steven. Soon they all were off on their way again.


~(DAY THREE)~


The area was quiet. Most of the world may not have felt winter's grip just yet, but the northern area was already seeing its first signs of snow falling gently down to earth, covering places not on the ground in a small shade of white. Snowcapped pillars, and old ruins were scattered around the place from Gemkind's attempts to colonize, now covered in both the snow and the surrounding plants. A very few of the specks of snow also was falling down to Earth with the gentlest of landings.

Eventually, there was indeed a commotion off within a snow-covered clearing (or was snow-covered rather), as a Warp Pad suddenly went off. The people in the area now?

Garnet, Lapis, and Yellow Diamond. A bit of a strange set to just wander into the place.

"This should be it," Garnet said, taking the lead into the area. Yellow Diamond looked around the area some more, not too impressed by what it had become over the thousands of years.

"Thousands of years had not done well for this place. Had any of you considered actually cleaning these places up?" Yellow Diamond questioned, flicking off a bit of snow from a nearby ruined tower.

"We had far too much to do already. Besides, most of the ruins typically get … well, ruined," Lapis shrugged. That, Yellow Diamond could see for herself as she kept looking around.

"Ruined by WHAT? You? The Corrupted? Some random Earth creature?"

"Yes," Garnet simply replied, going on ahead a bit. Yellow Diamond decided not to go into it any further and just continued following them for a bit more. This wasn't her colony anyway, so what could she do?

The trio went through the area a bit more, observing much of these ruins as they went. It didn't seem like there was anything around them except for what remained of the past, and present's snowfall. Lapis and Yellow both were a bit lost on why they were here anyway, but since Garnet insisted for them to come along it at least had to involve them somehow. Although Yellow Diamond did feel there were far better things to do than wandering around some ancient site.
Eventually, the three began to find another clearing off out in the middle of the ruins, and Lapis Lazuli decided to fly around a bit more, perching on one of the pillars and seeing if there was indeed something there or not.

"Ok, where are you?" Lapis wondered, trying to find out their main target.
At first though, like the rest of the place, there didn't seem to be much there. It took them a minute or two, but eventually they did begin to see someone out in the open.

"HEEEYYY JASPER!" called Lapis Lazuli. Jasper was simply standing out in the open, eyes turned away from one part of the ruins themselves, arms crossed.

"Hey Garnet, Lapis. My Diamond," Jasper said … admittedly humbled by seeing Yellow show up.

"What're you doing?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Training," Jasper said. The three looked around, though Garnet and Lapis didn't see anyone.

"... You do know there's nobody here, right?" noted Lapis curiously. She didn't see anyone during her fly around after all, but Jasper wasn't deterred.

"Yeah, and they should be. I'm training them in disguise, and stealth. It's one of the key skills for any good combatant to gain the upper hand over your opponent, so I had everyone go off and conceal themselves before I come in and track them down," explained Jasper.

"Well that's - wait, isn't that hide and seek?"

"... Yes?"

The others looked on to the field, and almost naturally Yellow wasn't too impressed.

"They need to do a better job," Yellow commented. Jasper turned around to begin looking, but she didn't actually see what Yellow Diamond meant. She didn't see anyone at first.

"Alright, then where're they?"

…

Yellow pointed ahead. "There -" then pointed right. "- there -" and then pointe left. "- and there."

And just like that, everyone kinda "popped out" from exactly where Yellow Diamond said they would be.

"Oh man," Steven groaned. And he worked so hard on his spot too. The real angry ones were Fulgurite and Emerald.

"FOUL! I'm calling foul! … YELLOW?!" Fulgurite snapped.

"The heck's THIS trick?! Of course you'll see us with her here!" Emerald snapped.

Yellow Diamond ignored them both, and everyone was called out with a whistle from Garnet. Guess training in hide and seek was gonna have to wait for a little bit more.

"Garnet! Lapis! Yellow!" Steven called, waving to them. Lapis

"Hey Steven, how's training going?" Lapis asked, coming over first to see him and giving her favorite human a good hug on meeting up. Steven gave a good flex of his muscles once she released him.

"I'm feeling STRONG!" Steven stated, trying to look as buff as he could, "Super tough and strong!"

Lapis couldn't help herself, and a water wing started to slip by Steven's stomach.

"Strong enough to stop this?" Lapis teased, beginning to tickle Steven's tummy with her wing. Steven at first didn't react, trying his best to look as strong as ever. But of course, it was so hard to ignore a tickle monster.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA -L-LAPIS STOP! - HAHAHA - I GIVE, I GIVE!" Steven exclaimed, laughing himself silly.

"AHEM!"

Yellow Diamond's voice got their attention as Steven calmed down from the tickle attack.

"What is it? The team's all ears," Amethyst asked casually, helping Steven on his feet. Yellow Diamond didn't want to stay any longer than she had to, confronting much of Jasper's trainees.

"We feel it's necessary to inform you that we've decided to send a few of the Harmony Gems to Homeworld."

"Right now? But Grogar's -"

"Controlling the empire, I know that," Yellow groaned, cutting Steven short and not liking to constantly remind herself that, "THAT'S why they felt they have to go in - to study what Grogar had done so we can make a plan of attack. Your Flint and Pearl came up with the idea this morning and are setting out for the nearest Warp Pad tomorrow."

"And suddenly that makes a lot more sense," Fulgurite shrugged, "Leave it to Flint to come up with all those risky ideas."

"Partially why we're here," confirmed Garnet, "... Emerald, Peridot, I'd like you two to go with them once they leave. Tell them Garnet sent you."
Garnet didn't need to explain why exactly, and all she needed to do was adjust her shades again, the shine off of them contributing to the possible future vision she had in mind.

"Yes mam!" Emerald said.

"I'll catch you up on training when you get back, Emerald, so don't think this is just a chance to ditch out," Jasper quickly informed. Suddenly Emerald wasn't as enthusiastic. Pretty good, but not as good as he'd like. Emerald just grumbled, but something still crossed some minds.

"So everyone agreed to this, huh?" Amethyst asked.

"Well … yes and no," Lapis said, "White Diamond was a tad bit spooked when she heard this."

"A tad bit? She tried to attach a tracker onto Pearl to make sure we don't lose them!" Yellow insisted.

"It's less than what she's done before."

"True."

"So they're going to Homeworld. Are they going to try and get them out?!" Steven asked, hopefully. Garnet kneeled down to Steven, seeing right through him and seeing the concerns.

"Steven, we know you're worried about Connie, Twilight, and the other Gems. But we can't do anything about that right now. We'll figure it out as soon as possible, but for now we have to be patient. He's too strong to deal with up front right now," Garnet insisted. Steven looked down to his feet.

"I know. … will they at least be okay when we do find them? This … did kinda of come suddenly," Steven asked, trying both not to insult Garnet's future vision, but also not to force the matter onto her. Garnet paused briefly to check said matter to be sure. Unfortunately Steven noticed a slight twitch in Garnet's lips, turning into a small frown.

"I'm … not entirely sure."

Not the best answer for Steven to hear. And neither for Yellow Diamond.

"Excuse me?" Yellow Diamond stated. Steven quickly started talking before something could begin.

"Yellow, wait, don't be mad at her. Nobody's perfect, and if she can't see what's happening right now, then that's fine. Let's keep at it and be the best we can be, right guys?" Steven insisted, getting a good yes out of his fellow trainees. Yellow Diamond might as well go with it, considering that this Sapphire was the only one she had access to right now. However, suddenly something seemed to flash over Garnet's mind, and she looked to Steven.

"And do me one favor, Steven? … Don't go outside tonight."

"Uh … ok," Steven said.

"Well don't let us hold you up," Yellow simply stated. Only Jasper really caught onto the gesture, and she turned to the trainees.

"Alright, you heard her, get back to hiding. And I don't want to see any butts sticking out this time. MOVE!"
Jasper turned around and closed her eyes again as the others began to go off and try to find a better hiding spot. Many of them got to a good hiding place, but as Steven and Pinkie were getting a hole in the ground dug ala Pinkie Pie's rock-crushing hooves, Steven glanced back to only find Emerald and Fulgurite being … well, a bit playful. The two just sat down, getting a clump of the snow behind them to cover the ground, just enough so their legs and behinds were snow-covered.

"Oh boy, they're asking for it," Steven said. And indeed they were, as Fulgurite gave a tiny zap to Jasper's foot.

"Ow! What the - …"

"AHEM. No butts sticking out, MAM!" Fulgurite said, she and Emerald trying not to just laugh. Despite this, Amethyst couldn't help but chuckle, yet Jasper was not finding it funny.

"WILL YOU TWO GO AND HIDE ALREADY?!" Jasper roared. That enough made them both bolt for it. They'd better find a pretty darn good hiding spot until Jasper cooled down.


~~~~~~


Nightfall. And another day of training finished up for the time being. Training had been long, and plenty more than just a simple game of hide and seek as they've stated already. That was made more than clear as Steven was getting ready for bed, going through a nice shower after such a long day, and drying off. He could feel himself cringing slightly from the bruises he got today, one particularly on his arm from "duking" with Jasper. He made sure to clean that up and patch it up too. As he wrapped in his towel, and washing his face, he took a look in the mirror at himself briefly.

"Well Steven, that's another day of training for ya," Steven said to himself, "Won't be long until you get strong enough to march right up to that jerk Grogar and take Homeworld back."

Those words were encouraging, but his mind still was a bit muffled about what Garnet told him earlier.

"Don't worry Connie. We'll be there soon, I promise. We'll get you back, Twilight back, and everyone else back and we'll get you all healed up in no time. … Maybe Flint, Pearl, Emerald, and Peridot will get them out once they get there. Yeah. You'll be home soon."
Steven felt concluded. So, after washing himself off and cleaning himself up, he got his PJs and got himself right off to bed. Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald will get some of them out, he knows they will. At least, they will try to. That's the most you can ask of somebody, right?

"Goodnight, soldier," Steven sighed, getting himself comfy in bed. With one more yawn, and a tug on the blankets, he settled down and began to drift off to sleep. The images of Connie good as new, and returning home was just the reassurance he needed to have for at least some decent sleep. Not saying the others weren't important to him, but his love was his biggest worry out of all of them.

…

"Don't go outside eh? We'll see about that inspector loose lips."

…

One hour. Two. Three. Nighttime continued on like this, and so far nothing was bothering Steven for the most part. Sleeping soundly, and without incident. The only real thing that stirred was Steven readjusting himself in his sleep, but nothing else really seemed more troubling than that. But in the dim light of the autumn beach, the snow and water were showing signs that something was amidst, footprints leading down the length of the sand. … Leading to the temple … and right to the front steps as the door creaked.

"Lovely evening.~"

Steven didn't wake up at first, only stirring slightly and trying to get some sleep from that voice.

"I said it's a lovely evening for whatever you fancy," said the voice again. Steven still tried to keep himself sleeping, getting the pillow and covering his head.

"Come back later … sleepy time now," Steven murmured.

"Oh dear. Whatever shall I do? …"

And suddenly Steven woke up with a startle when something grabbed him by the leg and knocked him out of bed, landing on the ground floor! Suddenly Steven found himself pinned down, strong hooves keeping his arms down as he stared up at his attacker. Speak of the devil.

"Oh did I wake you? I am sorry."

"GROGAR!!" Steven shrieked, completely caught off guard by this sudden visit by the demonic ram. Instinctively he tried to attack, his feet trying to kick the ram off of him and while they were strong, Grogar didn't budge off yet. Grogar actually got off when he stepped back, actually letting him spring back to his feet his immediately getting out his shield.

"GUYS, we got an invader in here! GARNET! PEARL - ACK!" Steven was shut up when he felt his throat tighten by Grogar's magic, a notable chime of the bell echoing in the air.

"Sssshhhh. You'd better keep that yapper shut, boy, or they'll find a cute corpse in the morning."

Not even remotely a bit of cushioning on THAT warning. Steven tried to seemingly grab whatever was on his throat, but he couldn't grab magic. Grogar brought him closer to him.

"W-What do you want now, you big jerk?" Steven choked out, angry as ever. Bad enough he corrupted his friend, how dare he come crawling back now?

"Just here checking on my little "soldier" that's all. A walk outside?"

"N-No! You can't *ACK* m-make me!" Steven said, feeling the magic tighten. This was just the thing Garnet told him NOT to do! Unfortunately, Grogar just gently opened the door, and threw Steven outside, making the boy land onto the snow and sand with quite a tumble.

"Maybe you can," Steven groaned, his voice straining a little thanks to the choking. Grogar closed the door behind him and caught up with Steven. Steven though got out his shield just before Grogar could crush him underneath his hooves. Steven reflected the ram back, giving him enough time to stand up, cold and now on alert.

"Get out of here! This isn't your home!" Steven shouted. Grogar was hardly intimidated by the brat in front of him, and actually sat down casually.

"So what? I'm the king, I'll go wherever I like. Besides, what're you gonna do about it?" Grogar mocked. Steven grew angry, hand gripping his shield.

"This is not your world Grogar, I won't let you take it! and if I have to fight you again … I WILL!" Steven warned. Grogar just scoffed at the idea, waving his hoof at him.

"Please, I'm not interested in this world. Yet."

"Huh? … B-But then what were you doing inside my room? I'm not making you my roommate!" Steven demanded. Grogar rolled his eyes.

"God forbid," the ram huffed. "Nah, I just wanna see what happens when you're stuck outside. That is what Garnet said NOT to do right? To not come outside tonight, right?"

"What?! Y-You know that too? How, A-Are you spying on us?!" Steven gasped. He would know darn well if Grogar was there or not, ALL of them would. Grogar just gave Steven a grin belonging on a trash can.

"Sure, I'll let you think that if you want," Grogar said. That just frustrated Steven even more with Grogar's cryptic talk.

"GET OUT OF HERE, NOBODY WANTS YOU!"

"What else is new? But if you want me gone, then go ahead. … Right here. I'll sit still, I promise," Grogar encouraged. He sat down casually, and made a cross mark on his chest, right where his heart would be. Steven hesitated, and unlike before he was thinking a bit more straight.

"First of all, no you won't. Second, NO, I'm not gonna kill you Grogar - that's terrible. … And I'm not like you."

"O really? You seem eager to slice my head off back on Homeworld, remember? Or was that just one of your "diamond powers" going haywire?" retorted Grogar quizzically.

"Seem eager? Seem eager - YOU corrupted Homeworld, you corrupted my girlfriend! How can I NOT be angry at you for that?" Steven shouted, his hands feeling very trigger-happy at just throwing the shield at the ram to shut him up. Grogar found it amusing how angry he was getting, seeing the o so ready to strike hand begging for a go.

"GIRLFRIEND you say? Now that's a different matter, thank you for the info."

"Wait, you didn't know?" Steven asked.

"Course not! Well, not until you told me." and Grogar just laughed at him, making Steven blush up. Guess he got too caught up in the moment there. Grogar then had the stones to speak again.

"Ok, Mr. "angel" answer me this question: … Why leave her all alone like that? Hmm?"

Steven froze. They both knew what he meant by that. The images of those corrupted Gems shot through his head again as he tried to look tough. To not show fear. … And it wasn't working.

"I didn't want to leave Connie, but you -"

"I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about Pink … Pink Pearl that is."

"... OH NO. … I forgot Pearl." Steven was horrified. Pink Pearl was still behind on Homeworld when he left! He thought he at least lost one person when leaving, but this was even worse! It was enough to make him drop his shield in shock.

"Smooth on your part. That Pearl suffered under White Diamond's mind control, and just when she got her life back, you ditch her. And you keep calling me horrid."

"But I didn't mean to, I mean you were -"

"You wanted to stay behind and fight me while the rest tried dragging you out, so you had the option to either stay or leave. And you chose the latter. I offered you a way out, don't forget, and you'd rather save your innocence than save others' lives."

"That's not true at all, I didn't want to leave anyone behind! And if I was thinking right, OF COURSE I wouldn't kill you!" Steven insisted.

"OH that's right, the others made you leave. So we agree it's their fault right?"

"No it's not!" Steven finally threw his shield at him, which much to both his fear and anger, just bounced off his horns like throwing a pebble at a steel wall. And it worked just as much. Grogar chuckled.

"STOP! LAUGHING AT ME!" Steven demanded, tears starting to come up now.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just so humiliating how quickly I can break your mold," Grogar said, "You're character has always been this "Sweet and considerate and only occasionally obnoxious" kid that somehow has all the answers while still being a relatable little cinnamon bun. You can't keep that up forever, you found that out during your last birthday party! By the way, did Stubby tumble your rocks too much?"

"Stop! Please!" Steven asked, covering his ears. Grogar rolled his eyes, and actually swatted Steven in the head. This hit was more like a mother's slap to a child's head to discipline him, but they knew he could easily knock his head off.

"See what I mean? You were ready to kill me a minute ago, and suddenly you're pleading with me! Make up your mind."

"I'm not perfect!!" Steven yelled through tears.

"WATCH YOUR TONE TO THE KING!" Grogar yelled, suddenly ramming Steven, and charging him right into the wall of the beach rock cliff, making a nasty divot within it, Steven-sized. Steven coughed, getting the wind knocked out of him as Grogar took a step back. This humiliation was just o so fun to watch, and seeing him angry made it even more fun.

"Why're you doing this to me? … I know we fought at the festival, but I didn't do anything to you before. …" Steven asked, now quieter. Steven looked up and saw Grogar's gleaning teeth in his smile.

"Welcome to the real world, kid. Where there's always someone, somewhere, ready to rip your heart out. I'm trying to take over the world, and you're just in my way. Besides ..."

Grogar leaned in close to Steven's face, his muzzle right at Steven's ear.

"You won't kill me. … So why should I stop for you?"

"No. No, Grogar, I won't become a killer, and I never will. You can't make me," Steven stated, knowing what Grogar was trying to do, standing up as good as he could.

"We'll see," Grogar simply said. The ram turned to go, but had one more thing for Steven.

"Oh, and don't look now, but you got some thieves in your house."

"Wait, WHAT?" Steven bolted around to check the house. Just as Grogar had stated, someone was indeed going about inside the Beach House. Suddenly, the beach door swung open, and suddenly two figured were there and ready to go, one of which was holding some sort of round object in her hands. He knew what Gem that was.

"NO, don't take her, GIVE THAT BA -" Grogar took his chance, and clocked Steven right in the head, pinning him underhoof again.

"HA! Too easy."

*BAM!*

…

"Gah!"
… And just like that, it was over. Grogar was gone, the thieves were gone, and Steven was back in his room. It was morning now, sun just about overhead enough to wake him up. Steven would say that it was just some twisted nightmare involving Grogar, but as he went and sat up, he already could feel the headache he received thanks to Grogar's hoof. In fact, as he groaned and felt his head, he found it was actually bandaged up already. He can confirm that it wasn't just a dream, as he got himself out of bed. No one else was inside the Beach House with him, so he can't be sure if any of them either found him and brought him in or that the enemy had some form of morality and didn't want him to die out in the cold.

"They … saved me? But I was sure Grogar wanted to get rid of me. Why'd he - … did he bring me back here? … I better check this," Steven thought. The first place Steven went over to after his sleepless night was the bathroom to check himself out. He went right into the shower to check himself from top to bottom, down to his underwear and checking to see if Grogar did anything funny. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Well, everything except for the bandages of course.

"Ok, Steven, prepare yourself. Three … two … now!"

And he took them off in one clear pull.

What he saw in the reflection in front of him shocked him down to the core, making him gasp. Grogar had left his mark on him, quite literally, as Steven saw a curved cut right around his forehead. A hoof-sized cut, shaped like the crescent moon of the night before, dangerously close to his eye. Any lower by an inch or two and he wouldn't have an eye to even worry about. Steven's hand pressed against the cut, still feeling it sting him a bit again.

"Ooo, that smarts. … How am I gonna explain this to everyone?" Steven wondered.

But slowly, something began to come to him.

"Wait, let replay what happened. … So. I went outside last - wait. No, Grogar made me go outside. We talked, someone got stolen, and he knocked me out. I wake up in my home with a cut on my forehead, bandaged up and … nobody else is here. …"

It struck him what was going on now, snapping his fingers.

"He wants me to tell them," Steven gasped. Grogar, far as he understood, is someone who tried to make fear number one, and if everyone saw Steven like this, and knew what happened, no doubt someone was gonna be a little bit scared for him and whoever else was there. …

Steven sighed. He continued his routine, as per usual, though he kept an open ear to whoever else might be out of the bathroom. By the time he was finished, no one else was still there so he was by himself again. Quietly, and without another word, he went up to his bed, and got his headband. He got it on, the headband stinging his cut a little, but turned out he looked no more different than he was yesterday. The cut was concealed.

"I'm sorry everyone. No one can know."
> Tambalon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The outskirts of Homeworld.

Not exactly the best place to start off any exact investigation, but unfortunately for Flint and Pearl, that's where the two had ended up shortly after they set foot on ground of Homeworld. At least the planet's landscape was the same: empty and barren as it usually was. Unfortunately, the outskirts they've been placed at was far.

Very. Very far.

"Why couldn't it spawn us closer to the city?" wondered Emerald, "We're WAY out of the way over here."

"It's probably for the best," Flint stated, as he began heading up the next hill, "If we did spawn right in Homeworld, Grogar would probably find us. Besides, the Warp Pad leading to the Diamond City didn't work anyway."

"And just as it was fixed too," Peridot sighed. It was a shame really, though Grogar must've known about it. Why else wouldn't it work, and for that matter, the only working one being this far away? As the group got over the next hill, Pearl began talking again.

"Alright, recap the mission for us," Pearl instructed.

"Why, don't you know?" Emerald questioned.

"Yes, but I wanna make sure you know," Pearl said. Not the best answer, but they might as well humor her. Peridot glanced to Emerald, who gestured her to go on instead.

"Our objective: infiltrate Grogar's army and get a proper layout of his security and sentries," Peridot said matter-of-factly, stopping briefly on top of the hill.

"Yes, very good. Now, we need to be especially discrete and cunning if we are to be successful, so stay sharp alright?" Pearl advised.

"There's no end to this place," Flint stated.

And they all looked on ahead. From their hillside, the expanse of Homeworld's outskirts almost seemed endless. Not that they didn't expect it, but they SURELY wanted to arrived in Homeworld sometime this week. The only real sign that there even WAS a Diamond City at all was a very small speck of artificial light off in the distance. And even that was something only Peridot could see.

"Stars, it's gonna take forever to get over there," Peridot exclaimed, her voice echoing across the empty landscape. Flint started off a little bit ahead.

"All the more reason to keep going I guess," Flint said, "If we're lucky we can make it half way by nightfall."

"Can't we stop just for a minute? I'm worn out already thanks to Jasper's training, thank you," Emerald said, as Pearl and Peridot began going off themselves.

"You didn't have to -" Flint was suddenly stopped when Pearl raised a finger near his lips.

"I'll handle him, Flint. Watch," Pearl said. Flint quieted down, and she looked to Emerald with a "comforting" look.

"Now, Emerald, we understand if you didn't want to keep going. If you want to go back, then you can go right ahead."

"THANK YOU. Now if you -" Emerald turned around to head back to the Warp Pad. However there was a tiny little issue in the form of navigating. Even if up on the hill, there wasn't exactly anything to signify the Warp Pad during the day, unlike Diamond City. Peridot tried to keep from laughing at Emerald's expression.

"We've gone too far to turn back, did me?" Emerald stated.

"No, no, by all means Emerald, go on back. We'll handle the mission from here," Pearl insisted. Emerald was NOT amused, and looked back to Pearl who had a smile. A particular smile. Amethyst told him about this "look" Pearl would get when she was right about something: a sort of cheeky smile saying "I'm right and you're not". And she had THAT look written all over her face.

"... I'll just shut up now."

"Thank you," Pearl said, as Emerald went on and caught up with them, the group of four starting to go on their way again.

"Well that was something," Flint commented.

"I've lived with Amethyst for thousands of years Flint, and she acted … well almost the same way. Uh, don't her that."

"So … experience?"

"Yeah."

Well, they still had a lot more ground to cover before they could reach the Diamond City, so they went off from there. They can't spy in on the city if they don't make it there.


~~~~~~


The hours ticked on by, the Homeworld sun starting to set and nightfall just beginning to peek its way around the next corner. And after all that travel they still weren't that much closer to Diamond City. It was getting WAY too long for some of them, though Emerald and Peridot weren't getting annoyed by the long trip ...

"Believe me, I want to go into the city as much as you do, but I'm telling you if we can just "play along" with them, then it'll go by much smoother."

"And tell me exactly HOW will that make things smoother? And it's not like we haven't snuck in anywhere before."

"How long has it been?" Emerald grumbled.

"Approximately five hours," Peridot answered, covering her ears. It only took one mention on "what do we do when we get there?" to kickstart this long discussion between Pearl and Flint. While seeing him argue with Jasper or Garnet would mainly just revolve around one solution to a problem, these two were juggling around scenario after scenario, idea after idea, and it almost seemed like it wouldn't end until after they arrive.

"Well, at least with my plan, we wouldn't even have to worry about sneaking anywhere. We can just go along with them, observe the area from inside, and then when we find out moment, escape and head right back," noted Pearl, as they briefly stopped over by a drop in the path.

"But they're not just gonna let us have free range of the city if they catch us. They said full layout of the security, and that's what we're gonna give them!"

"Well say we do just decide to sneak in, and then let's say we somehow end up spotted by one of their patrols. We'd get captured and put under arrest anyway."

"Look, with my plan we have more freedom than yours does. I'm all up for keeping us safe, trust me, but how're they gonna let us go if they already got us locked away somewhere? We can't let them know we're here."

"And we can't let them know that there're Gems spying on them, they'll increase security before we can even work anything out," retorted Pearl, "What we need -"

"THAT'S IT, I'm putting a stop to this!" Peridot cut in.

"Please do," Emerald muttered. Even the great and lovable Peridot couldn't stand it anymore.

"Look, why don't we just get to Diamond City, and then figure out what to do, OKAY?" Peridot suggested.

And surprisingly, with Pearl blushing, the two did stop their discussion. For now.

"Uh … right. Sorry. … Eh, here, it's almost night, so let's stay here for the night before we go on. Sound good?" Flint said. The four looked down into the drop in the path, them finding a decent-sized ditch.

"Here? Right here?" Pearl asked, a bit unsure about this spot in particular. The other three went down, and Pearl eventually joined them … getting covered in dirt upon landing. Not exactly the best landing, and Pearl felt disgusted covered in dirt.

She just kept quiet. This was their spot for the night.

…….

The night out over in the outskirts of Homeworld's city was far less welcoming than any of them would like. Pearl, Flint, Peridot, and Emerald were still a bit on edge as the Homeworld moon looked down upon them, leaving seemingly only the four and the rather empty landscape. Not a bit of life outside of the four to say that they were alright, or even if there was it probably wasn't gonna be of any good company. Their small ditch didn't seem to do them any favors either, leaving the four, while covered, strangely exposed to whatever might by lurking around there. Call it ironic that they would be this terrified of foreign land on a planet that all were familiar with to some degree.
As for sound, well, the only sound they could hear was the distant echoing of whatever wind the Homeworld atmosphere could carry, and nothing else. Flint made sure to keep his pistol up and armed just to be safe, though admittedly he too was feeling a bit more on edge than the other two. On occasion, Pearl would peek out to see if there was anyone around the place, but all she saw was empty landscape, and the city WAY far away. Nothing else it seemed. But that didn't leave them any better, considering what had taken over the place. And of course, what it can do.

And just as well, what others were under its power it seemed, from what Pearl could remember.

"Uh. Hey, Pearl? Y-You don't have to, but … think you can spin a yarn for us or something? To pass the time?" Emerald said meekly.

"Wha?"

"He means tell us a story. … Please?" said Peridot. The term she heard a few times before, just enough to get down what it meant. Since they didn't have that much to do other than stand there and be worried, she might as well figure out what story to tell. Gemkind didn't have too many, so her options were kinda limited.

"Well. Ok, let's see now …" Pearl tried to think up of something that would do them good. Eventually, Pearl did remember one story.

"... Several thousand years ago. O-On the planet of Corithral, the cuts of Blue Diamond were struggling. There was hardly anywhere to create more Gems, and those that remained hardly could keep together, unable to reform and unable to regenerate after an attack. … So, Blue Diamond set herself out to find one that she thought could possibly help her and her people. The Red Diamond. And it so happened that her latest place of stay was on the very planet gemkind was struggling over. So Blue Diamond set out for months on end, until eventually she arrived at her stronghold. A large, towering palace, so tall that it almost looked like it could touch Homeworld. And -"

"AND -" a voice suddenly rang out, making all of them jump, "before the humbled Blue Diamond, the great figure in red emerged from the depths of Corithral, like the mists of Orthix. And one sight of her to rival even White herself, in her soul, Blue Diamond knew that there were no more deals to be had."

If they weren't on edge before, they surely were now, and it didn't take them very long until they found out where that voice was coming from. Coming in from the top of the ditch, right above them was no doubt one of Grogar's esteemed patrol. This one specifically appeared unlike any creature from Equestria, Earth, or the other planets they've seen during White Diamond's "vacation". The thing was as black as tar from head to toe, skin like that of a dolphin, four-legged with stubby legs, and with a head that admittedly looked more like a sock puppet, its eyes beady but white like stars. A creature from uncanny valley.

"Ah, the old yarns are always the best, aren't they?" said the creature. Flint and Pearl got out what weapons they got, but it was quick to see that this wasn't the only creature wandering the Homeworld hills. Soon, others were coming around, each one a different shape but all working against the four Gems.

"W-We're found out! Guys, ideas?" Emerald murmured, hoping for a good answer.

"Stay calm," Pearl said, weapon at the ready. However, their "guest" took quick note of the weapons.

"Eh, I wouldn't start a fight out here if I were you," the creature advised, "You see, the king himself requested all Gems of this world to come to him peacefully, and in one piece, and I'd hate to have to bring him all your followers as a bunch of shards."

"We're not afraid of you!" Peridot insisted, getting in one of her ruby-style fighting stances. However, the creature came down along with his sergeants.

"I don't believe I was talking to you, my little green doll," the creature stated, looking her down a bit … before looking Pearl directly in the face. Pearl was already feeling squeamish in the face of this creature.

"Do keep your followers in line, my dear, or we might have … some problems," the creature advised.

"Wait. He thinks I'm in charge?" Pearl thought. Not that she didn't mind that much, but it did seem a bit backwards by homeworld rules. … Then again, the creature wasn't Homeworld at all. The creature then started moving away, the others starting to close in.

"If you think we're going to follow you back, then you got another thing coming," Peridot warned, spear at the ready.

"Oh, I don't think you're going to follow me, I KNOW, you cute clod," the creature said. 

"I got your clod right here you little -" Peridot wasn't gonna be taken so easily, but Pearl brought her spear down to block her.

"Peridot, don't! We can't fight them. We tried our best but we can't POSSIBLY beat them now, especially surrounded like this. We come in surrender!" Pearl stated, loud for them to hear, and dropping her spear. The creature, despite this, actually seemed to buy it, and laughed silly.

"Some leader you are, dropping your spear like this. Come on, we wouldn't want to leave you out here to shrivel up. Quickly now," the creature instructed. 

Their plan wasn't to just fight them all, and Peridot started to calm down, though taken prisoner by a tar-colored sock puppet was NOT a good color for her.

"Well, I stand corrected," Flint said. Pearl took that as a compliment, but Emerald didn't enjoy it.

"Yeah, good thinking. Did we have to play the damsel card, now they think we're a bunch of wimps," Emerald whispered as they went.

"Our main mission is to layout Grogar's army, so what better way than going inside with them as harmless prisoners? Soon as we find that out, then we get out and head back. And maybe even get our friends out," Pearl quietly explained. Flint now really was impressed.

"Well let's hope so … but color me impressed Pearl," said Flint, "I should work with you more often."

"Oh, come on," Pearl quietly chuckled.

"Keep moving!" one of the guards said, pushing forward Peridot roughly and reminding them that they do indeed have company that could've heard them if they spoke too loud. It wasn't the safest way in, but it was a way nonetheless, plus it removed the complications with "sneaking in" to begin with. They were on their way.


~~~~~~


Throughout the night back on Homeworld, the group was still being brought along by many of the guards that found them. Comparing the Gems' stamina to the organic creatures, they kept up pretty well and didn't stop once throughout the night to give any Gem a break or rest.

"I know we're supposed to be your prisoners and everything, but can't we stop for one second?" Emerald asked. Again. All that got him was a rough shove forward by the guard behind him, nearly making him trip again.

"For the twelfth time you don't have any authority here," said the guard. "Now keep moving, doll!"

"Alright, alright!" Emerald replied, but he was not enjoying one bit of it.

Pretty soon, they began to reach another area. This part wasn't exactly recognized as a addition to Homeworld, but they were getting closer to the outskirts of the city. It was just along the borderline where they got a bit of what Homeworld was becoming, with other creatures lined up to see them. With the morning light they got a better view as to what they got going for them, many of these either some sort of Equestrian animal or something alien, or perhaps both. They did feel a bit humbled by some of these creatures: Flint noting a raptor-like creature with stingers on its tail and back, hissing ominously at the group as they passed; Pearl stepping away as a horse-like creature glared at her with a head more resembling one of those prehistoric armored fish.

And then they stopped when they saw Homeworld up close. It may seemed fine from farther away, but now here, it was already looking like it was a bit different just from the two days since Grogar's takeover. Different members of Grogar's army had easily made short work of Gemkind's hold on the city, and they could already see some "alterations" around the place, including some banners along the buildings to respect the new king.

"We haven't been gone for even a week, and he ALREADY messed up everything," Emerald said.

"Yeah. I'll give him credit: He did not waste any time," added Flint.

And then the creature that found them stepped out in front.

"My esteemed guests," he said, "Welcome to Tambalon."

"Tambalon? … But that's the Diamond City," Flint pointed out. The creature smiled wickedly.

"Not anymore." And the creature simply laughed and started on ahead, as his fellow creatures "persuaded" them to follow with a few good shoves.

"Here we go," sighed Pearl.

None of them really enjoyed the treatment they were getting, but it was nothing compared to what they were about to see.

The four kept close together for some bit of protection as they were heading through the interior of the city, the city as expansive as ever. However, Gem activity itself now looked very low, and the four hardly saw any Gems outside anywhere as they went. For those that they did see they were being given some very bad treatment and respect, and worse yet some by their own Corrupted Gemkind. Many of these too were normally high-ranking Gems of a sort, possibly to better hammer in how inferior they were to the army that had settled in. Many Gems were left at the mercy of these creatures, some being pinned down and ridiculed while others simply were being watched in particular spots, the soldiers under Grogar's command making sure no one made a bad move.

"Not even the old Homeworld was like this. What did Grogar do to the place?" Flint quietly said.

"Just stay calm, everything will be fine," Pearl insisted.

*BAM!* Just as she said that, one of the Gems did try to gain some distance, only to be forcefully pinned down by one of the aliens under Grogar's command. The trooper wasted no time in snarling and sinking its teeth right into her head, making sure she didn't try that again. The group was left stunned.

"Move it, gremlin," huffed the guard behind Peridot before shoving her along. The group continued along, though they wished they could do something to help that gem out as she was being dragged away.

And that was just one of the examples. As they were ushered along, there was another sight that was seen in front of them as they kept being moved along towards the palace itself …

"Get back to your mark, you rocks." *BAM!*

Specifically, another assault on some Gems. This time, specifically it was one of Blue Diamond's Sapphire and Yellow Diamond's Ruby Gems being assaulted this time, the hit specifically on the Sapphire.
The creature this time looked a bit more like some strange alien creature. Its body was smooth, but the patterns made it look like it was covered in sludge or mud. It stood in an awkward position, much like that of a sitting monkey, with the feet looking like Equestrian Pony hooves. The head like that of a salamander, with eyes glaring down at the Gems, a pair of long whip-like antenna flicking behind it.

"You can beat me down, but I will never stop my respect to my Diamond!" the Sapphire said. All that gave her was another slam of the creature's front leg.

"Save those kind of comments for the executioner if you wish to keep them up," he warned. Flint did take a few steps to intervene, but their own "leading guard" got in his way, making him stop altogether. He couldn't get a fight started here … but he really wanted to. Him and the others behind him. The alien creature removed his front foot off of the Sapphire after that, and its attention moved over towards another creature nearby.

"Are you the fool that's supposed to be in charge of this mark?"

"Well I -" the other creature didn't even finish before the larger one pinned it down with a hit of his front foot.

"Concentrate. If these dolls are injured anymore, they'll be gone. Now get them down," the creature instructed. He quickly understood, got up, and started ushering the Ruby and the Sapphire away from the scene. Pearl looked and saw Peridot with fists trembling.

"Just let them do their thing, we'll more than happily beat them up later," Pearl quietly instructed.

Once the ruby and sapphire were moved away from the situation and back towards their mark, their "host" soon got his presence known to the alien creature.

"Eh, Commander Cerrosafe."

"Captain Nichrome. What're these four? Picking up loose trash again?" the creature asked, seeing the new Gems coming in with Nichrome.

"We are not -"

"SILENCE!" Cerrosafe shouted, quieting Emerald, "You dolls will only speak to your superiors when spoken to directly, and not before."

"I wanna beat him up … let me beat him up," Peridot murmured, fists clenched and shaking a little bit, just to be shushed by Flint. Lucky for her (probably) Cerrosafe didn't hear her that time. Nichrome went over to Cerrosafe next.

"I picked these up on the patrol last night," explained Nichrome, "Mixed bunch, aren't they?"

"Head back to the council. I'll take it from here," Cerrosafe instructed.

Nichrome gave them a few chuckles, knowing what was coming next for the four as Cerrosafe took his position and lead on ahead towards the palace. The four were forced along and they could only follow the alien. They weren't sure what was gonna happen, but they still had to play along a bit more to get the laydown of the place correctly. Even if it meant seeing all this torment to Gemkind.
Normally they would be glad to enter the Diamond Palace, but under these circumstances it seemed more like entering Tartarus. The halls were their own form of guards, with the harvested wall Gems now keeping watch and while none of them could "walk", some magic did have them sliding around the place as they continued along. Eventually, Cerrosafe brought them into another part of the palace. The area was made into a sort of "waiting room" for all four of them.

"Alright, vermin. You wait here while the council is preparing itself for you. Any of you found missing ……. well. Do yourselves the favor," Cerrosafe simply stated. Cerrosafe only took a few steps onward from the spot when -

"Commander?" Cerrosafe stopped briefly when another figure came from another nearby hallway. This time it was actually a Harvested Gem (one of the wall Gems), and she seemed to be holding something in her "hands".

"Now what is it? I'm preparing the council," Cerrosafe reminded.

"Sorry but -" the wall Gem then noticed the other Gems nearby, and swiftly clammed up. Much to Cerrosafe's annoyance.

"If you're going to interrupt me, the least you can do is finish what you had to say," Cerrosafe said, actually bringing himself up to her level with a good stretch of his neck, his eyes locked with hers. That was enough to quickly shake off the fear.

"S-Sorry, sir. Well, those other Corrupted Gems just came in. Also … well, Grogar's dearest is ready," the Gem instructed. Cerrosafe glanced over to the four Gems first before making his response. He then gave a sinister smile.

"In that case, Grogar wanted Connie Maheswaran to be used as a proper example to the other dolls in our marks. Have her seen by him first, and then, take her down to the deep underground," Cerrosafe stated. Everyone else couldn't believe their ears.

"Oh Connie," Pearl gasped quietly, as the wall Gem began to move off to do just that. On the bright side, they at least know now that Connie was still there somewhere, but the only question was where this "underground" was. To think though that they were using Connie as an example was just … sick. Cerrosafe looked to the four again.

"You'll find out soon enough. Meantime, none of you move an inch by the time I get back here," Cerrosafe instructed, turning and starting to move away. ...

"Shut your trap, you clod."

Cerrosafe stopped.

"...…. What did you say to me?"

"Peridot, don't!" whispered Emerald, but Peridot was too angry to listen.

"I said shut your trap, you CLOD! We're not gonna follow anyone like you! Not now, not EVER!" Peridot said, her voice shouting venom to Cerrosafe.

Two seconds. That was how fast Cerrosafe pulled Peridot out of the crowd, swung her to the floor, and suddenly having something sharp striking her gemstone! The others gasped in shock, finding one of Cerrosafe's feet turned into a dagger-like spear, Peridot stunned and feeling the blade just inside the surface of her stone. It was enough to keep her quiet now.

"One move of my foot and you will be gone. … Now listen. Closely. Doll. …" And to make sure she heard him, he brought his head down right to her ear. "... If you speak out of tone to me again. I will have your tongue. … Next time you see me, you better wish yourself invisible. ..."

Only then did he remove his blade, it turning back into his foot, and pushing her back to the group. The mark was left there as a nice-sized hole, Peridot's anger replaced by fear in that moment.

"That goes for the rest of you. … Unless you want to be turned into jewelry."

And Cerrosafe turned and moved on, leaving them completely stunned and horrified. The scariest part was that Cerrosafe was NOT the one in charge.

"You ok, P-dot? … Wait, that's a stupid question, of course you're not ok," Emerald said.

"I could be worse. … That good-for-nothing … clod," Peridot said, feeling herself glitch slightly and feeling a little sick already. Flint was horrified, and looked on to where Cerrosafe went off to.

"... What did we get ourselves into?"


~~~~~~


If there was anyone that benefited from all of this, it was Grogar himself. Content and full of power with the Diamond Authority out of his way, the demonic ram settled down within his new and improved throne room full of pride. With only one king, he had the three other thrones removed personally, leaving only one for one ruler to be had. The throne left for the large goat was White Diamond's throne - perfect size for him honestly over the other three, as the rest were reduced to just the rubble of the foundation (hidden out of sight of course for the sake of appearance).

"Oh isn't this the life," Grogar sighed contently, stretching himself along the throne as if it were a bed for him, which it was more than big enough to be. In fact, he was just about to settle down for a good nap on said throne when he began to hear a noise from the throne doors.

"Mighty Grogar," called a voice. "She's ready for you."

"She? She who?" Grogar questioned, slightly bugged as he swung himself off of his back and onto his hooves.

"Uh … your dearest," replied the voice. Grogar would just shoo it off, but he'd been waiting all day yesterday for this to come around, so he smiled.

"Good girl, send her in," Grogar said.

And the doors were opened up. Those awaiting on the otherside were a set of wall Gems coming in with the "dearest" Grogar wanted to see. About four of the Wall Gems arrived inside, but their quarry were not as easily brought up, or as easily swayed as they were, having to kind a be dragged in by them. The first was Connie Maheswaran herself, which they had to bring in by metal chain and collar like an aggressive dog, as she tried to resist with her hardened hands digging into the ground, but to no avail. A yank by the chain made Connie stumble at Grogar's presence, Connie herself NOT happy to see him in the slightest.
However, there still was matter of the secondary arrival. Dragged into the throne room as well was a particular purple Alicorn locked up inside a black, magically-enhanced cage, with her legs and hooves chained up to the bottom so she couldn't move, her wings tied down to her body to keep from flying, and her horn damaged so magic was out of the question. While intrigued about seeing these two, he only expected one of them to show up this morning, not two. Not that he didn't mind multi-tasking, but still questionable.

"Why'd you drag Connie in here?" Grogar questioned. "She's supposed to be put in the deep underground by now."

"Cerrosafe wanted her brought here first," reported one of the wall Gems.

"Why?" Grogar questioned. The wall Gem didn't exactly answer, flustered up again. Unlike Cerrosafe though, Grogar was a bit less forceful on her. After all, she suffered enough thanks to the Diamonds and their twisted sense of "value".

"I guess I can use a witness. Alright, clear the room," Grogar simply instructed. The gems left the room from there, leaving only Twilight Sparkle and Connie Maheswaran in Grogar's presence. Connie hissed and growled at the presence of this monster in front of her, her judgement being very fuzzy since the corruption took hold of her mind, as Grogar hopped down from the throne towards the two. Twilight however looked more defeated with what she had gone through, as Grogar could plainly see. Sure, she tried to move, but her binds made that too hard to do.

"I see you both had been marked," Grogar noted, checking what injuries they had, "It's a bother, I know, but something we're trying out. Wanna keep order in my kingdom, you know. I'm sure you know how that feels, eh princess?"

Twilight felt angry, but she didn't answer him. Part of her blamed herself for all of that hard worked and no rest, and that was what got her in this mess in the first place. Grogar began circling them a bit, checking them both out to an extent.

"So. They've put you in charge of Equestria?" Grogar inquired. Twilight looked to Grogar.

"Why should you care?" Twilight questioned.

"Oh, so you do speak. None at all, but clearly you're not fit for the job if it only takes overwork to topple your empire. Did my colleges give you a hard time?"

"They were from you!" Twilight gasped.

"Of course they were from me," Grogar scoffed, "Why else would ANY of Celestia's guards force you into any work, eh? Seriously, you ponies can be so gullible, it's almost not fun when tricking you. Almost."
Twilight felt so stupid for not putting the pieces together. Even if she was caught up in queen's work, she should've suspected something was amidst with those two guards of hers. Connie would tell her to not listen to Grogar, and indeed she tried, but her strange mouth only got a few grunts and moans instead. Connie was strictly a witness for this interaction. Twilight thought of one trick.

"So what're you gonna do with me now, Grogar? If you're going to kill me, or take over anywhere else, that the least you can do," Twilight asked. Might as well see and get that out of the way.

"I'm taking over, my dear, what more is there to know?" Grogar questioned, unamused by that question. But he was amused by the plan he had for her. Grogar heard more grunts from Connie, trying to get herself free, and slammed a hoof down close to her.

"That you won't find it easy, or that we won't let you," Twilight said, "Me and my friends had faced challenge after challenge, and we won't let you take over anywhere else."

"I don't know if you're aware yet, puny pony, but I single-hoofedly destroyed the Diamond Authority, and over half of your friends in just an hour. Besides, the only one that kept me at bay was Celestia for the longest time. O wait a minute, that old mule's dead now. Kicked the bucket, threw in the towel, stuck in that big sleep of hers. So what's stopping me now?"
Twilight, despite her injuries and shivering all the while, tried blasting him with her horn, but all that did was hurt her more as the electrical sparks bounced off the walls of her cage, zapping her. Grogar laughed as Connie yelped and tried to reach her.

"How dare you talk about Princess Celestia that way? If this is how you rule, then she ruled Equestria better than you'll ever do!"

"She never had the right to rule in the first place!" Grogar roared, slamming his hooves on the rims of her cage, making Twilight step back.

"She was princess Celestia, and I'm king Grogar. And in the rules of hierarchy, that automatically makes me above Celestia in every way. She had no authority anymore than you did before you got those flappers."

"You don't know anything about her! She's the most caring, selfless, and beloved Alicorn I've ever known, the greatest mentor I've ever had the pleasure of working with!" Twilight shouted. Grogar rolled his eyes, and began to move back over to the throne with just one question to shut Twilight up.

"And you thought you could fill in her horseshoes?"

Twilight thought of responding, but the proof she already knew was there from her being in the cage anyway, so she just lowered her head.

"If it makes you feel better princess, I've actually considered something … I'm gonna let you go."

"... What?! You're … letting me go?" Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Here she was locked up, mangled up, and horn broken, and Grogar thought the best idea was to let her free? There had to be something to this, they wouldn't treat her like that otherwise.

"See? I'm not completely heartless, ain't I?" Grogar stated.

"Well. Ok. What's the catch?" Twilight questioned, locking eyes with his with suspicion. Grogar huffed.

"You are smart. … You saw what my troops do to their prisoners, so here's how the dice is gonna roll here on out. We show up. You look the other way. There'll be a few lads missing here and there, but you're gonna keep your eyes blind to it all. Capiche?" Grogar said. Connie roared at Grogar, and the ram got just close enough for her to actually bite into his back hoof. It was strong enough to draw blood, but all Grogar did was shake her loose and clock her head. But, not too hard, strangely.

"And what if I don't?" Twilight questioned. Grogar was hoping she'd ask that, and laid it down hard with him snapping his teeth close to the unicorn's already cut horn.

"We slaughter every animal in sight," Grogar stated, giving a slicing motion across his throat, right where the bell is. Twilight gasped slightly on this, and with what they've done to her already she knew this wasn't just a scare tactic. They would go and slaughter a species if they so were told to, and without much hesitation.

"Here, I've sent your friends back to Earth, I can send you right back to Equus no problem," And to prove that he could, he chimed his bell, and slice the air in front of him to open his own portal to Canterlot. Twilight peered through from beyond her cage, and could even see the familiar Ponyville street corner.

"Now you walk your flank right back there, get everypony nice and safe, and we'll be seeing you by next week. That's a date." And he clamped his jaws close to her face again, almost making Twilight Sparkle stumble a bit.

None of this seemed to make any sense to Twilight, and Grogar was making freedom FAR too easy. In fact, Grogar even went ahead and opened the cage for her, and with his magic un-hooked the chains! Connie couldn't help but actually pinch herself, thinking this could be some weird dream or something. As for Twilight, the Alicorn only felt the restraint on her wings, though she didn't need those to actually walk. Twilight looked to Canterlot. She could go back right now. She could rush back and warn them just how bad things were getting, to see what kind of monster that was threatening the world now. Grogar almost seemed to encourage her, sitting and waiting in anticipation as Twilight took one step forward …

But then two steps back. Twilight kept her gaze down, thinking what the alternate motive is here besides just to give Equestria false hope. She couldn't do that.

"No."

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right?" Grogar questioned. Twilight went back into the cage and sat down, not answering the power-hungry ram.

"I'd rather rot in here than lie to everyone. The truth is always better than a well-meant lie."

"Who said I wanted you to lie? Tell them that Grogar's coming next week -"

"But then we'll run around getting prepared for an attack next week just for you to jump in when we're not ready and strike fear into everyone! I will NOT arrive back if it means making everyone fear you, Grogar," Twilight cut in, "Besides, if I am going to get out of here, I'll do so with my friends, and give everyone the truth instead of guiding them on lies. What do you say to that?"

Grogar dug his hooves into the ground he sat on in a manor like someone clawing their fingernails on their desk, or scratching a chalkboard. In a swift swipe out of anger, the portal closed and he glared at Twilight. The chains relocked on her, and the cage shut tight.

"GUARDS, GET HER OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Grogar called. The guards outside came in, got her cage and dragged it out, leaving Grogar with a migraine. And here he thought that it would actually be easier to get his name out there.

"WHY do I have to do everything myself?" Grogar groaned, hoof between the horns, dragging his face down in his annoyance. So much for "striking fear into their hearts" today. Well, at least he had Steven's injury to accommodate one side of the coin. For now, anyway.

Speaking of which …

"… Connie?"

Connie growled a little at him again, snarling a bit like a dog. Grogar didn't mind the horns and "hooves" but the snarling teeth was bugging him just a little bit too much. She was feeling angry with him with a mixture of unsureness. What was going through this ram's mind as he began to approach her. Instinctively, she lashed out and got her teeth into his leg again.

"OK, this is annoying," Grogar huffed, before his free hoof chimed the bell again. His horns glowed the ominous blue, and for a moment Connie thought she was gonna become completely corrupted. Instead, the mist coming from those horns seemed to suck away rather than fill in, and those sharp jagged teeth reverted back to her normal mouth. She released him by them, coughing a little bit.

"W...wh... y-you -….why?"

"Because I don't want to keep having my legs chewed on by jagged jaws. Glad you can speak again? A bit broken of course, but hey. Nopony's ever perfect," Grogar stated. Connie tried to speak properly, but her mind was still very muffled up so she couldn't really get proper words out right. Grogar slowly went around behind Connie Maheswaran, checking out the girl.

"... So we were here thinking you were just some other common human running around with that Gem lot last few days. But then I've heard from the grape vine that you're. Actually. A human Gem hybrid."
And he emphasized the word Hybrid as if that was a very important detail to note, saying that rather close to Connie to her liking. Grogar continued to slowly loop around her.

"Few know here that I'm actually a hybrid. And like you. I had to try and prove myself. … And here I am. Outcast to ruler. King of Tambalon."

Connie did NOT like where this was going at all. Grogar wasn't as manipulative with Connie however, his words holding some sense of secureness to them on the fact she was a hybrid like him. What he said next began giving Connie shivers.

"As great as my reign is, I suppose that someday even my turn will come. … And an empire's not born in one lifetime. A king needs a Queen. Don't you think that's right?"

Connie freaked out, her hardened hands slashing at Grogar to keep him away. The hit stung Grogar a little bit, a tuff of fur off his face.

"N-NO! I-I-IIEE TO YOUNG! Fifteen!" Connie tried to say through her messed up grammar and speech, pointing to herself. Grogar rubbed the hit she made with an impressed smile, just for him to actually flick her away. That flick sent her flying to the wall!

"You need time to better settle in. Guards, get her prepared for her example presentation," Grogar instructed. A few guards heard him and come in to collect her, Connie still left stunned by what could've easily been a killer hit. Grogar though had one more thing to say as Connie was dragged out.

"Oh, and Connie? Dearest? … I don't like to be disappointed."


~~~~~~


"The council's ready for you."

That was the main message Flint, Pearl, Emerald, and now sickly Peridot was given by Cerrosafe. But rather than him just leading them along (thank the stars), the four were just ushered along by some more of the guards Nichrome had on him earlier. They tried keeping Peridot fine, and while she could walk well she still felt uneasy thanks to her cracked gemstone, which she was either holding or lead to her shaking her head.

"Everything's going to be fine, just keep your stone out of sight," Pearl said, trying to comfort Peridot. She'd give her remark if she wasn't distracted already. As they neared the council's room, Flint had another message for them.

"Okay guys, nobody jump in to attack this time. We don't want to be hurt anymore than we already are, ok?" Flint asked.

"We're good on that chief," Emerald said.

"... Ok," sighed Peridot. "But can I say this right now: Pearl, this is your fault!"

"Me? I didn't know they'd do this," Pearl insisted.

"But it's your idea - aaahhh! Aahh!" Peridot's blame was cut short when she started glitching again, "Oh forget it."

"I know, and I'm sorry. Peridot, I promise you when we get out of here, we'll go straight to Steven and get you healed up in no time. We just have to get through this together, ok?" Pearl proposed. All Peridot did was nod her head a little bit, Flint observing it all from a shoulder glance. He just sighed, and looked on ahead to the door to the council room.

And then they were brought into the room.

"... Oh boy," Emerald said.

Blue Diamond's bath. Or at least, it would've been if not for Grogar's involvement. Everything that Blue Diamond had in there to make it her own was simply not there, and instead the area had numerous amount of the guards, and high-ranking Captains and Commanders. A number of different creatures, but one did catch their eye: the broken-horned Commander Unicorn. The most pony of the creatures in the room.

"Is that a … unicorn?" Peridot asked.

"I think so, but where's her horn?" wondered Emerald. They didn't have an answer for that, and were brought before everyone there. The unicorn was over with the commanders, as the captains were over further near the bath, including Nichrome.

"This lot was found by Nichrome's patrol, captains, with at least two of them considered Defective," Cerrosafe said, emphasizing the word "defective" as a means to tick them off.

"They were out by the southwestern ridge," explained Nichrome, "And their Pearl, heh, knows some of those old Gem stories. She was telling her followers there a good spin."

"Pearls don't have followers Nichrome," stated the unicorn, unamused. Nichrome "remembered" that detail.

"OH, that's right! So if a Pearl's the lowest on the chain, and you're following her, what does that make you?"

"If I hear one more word out of him, so help me -" Emerald looked ready to just jump up there, but Flint got his foot down.

"Don't. You. Dare. What did I say about trying to start a fight?" Flint said, quietly and urgently. With so many of them right there, a fight would be suicide.
One of the captains stepped forward from the top of the pack. This particular creature was bipedal, and stood easily taller than each one of the Gems there. If compared to anything, this creature looked like one of those Satyrs crossed with a baboon. His fur was clad in white, and what skin that wasn't covered in the fur was grey. A set of curved horns jutted from his skull, and fangs lined his lower jaw. Hos torso was lined with the same sort of darkened armor that the unicorn had on her, and when he saw the four he had a look that immediately said he meant business.

"Alright, the uh … bird at the front. Speak," he said. None of them moved at first but Cerrosafe was more than willing to "fill them in".

"He's talking to you. Now go!" Cerrosafe said, shoving Pearl a few steps forward. Pearl … well, she didn't comment on the bird thing.

"Start by telling his excellency where you're from and why you think you're here," the unicorn said. Pearl took a look behind her at Flint, Emerald, and Peridot, trying to come up with something. No way was she gonna just blabber on about where they came from, and she cleared her throat.

"W-We uh … well, we thought we were going to see the Diamonds. We were … told to come to Diamond City a few weeks ago," Pearl said, avoiding the first question and getting the facts for the other one.

"OOOO, that's your story. Well, birdy-beak, your Diamond's gone on a little trip right now. We just decided to fill in," the excellency said, shrugging as if this was innocent.

"I'm a Pearl," Pearl corrected. This got a bit of a nasty response, the excellency going up to her, towering over her.

"And I'm not stupid either, bird," he growled, his face inches from her, and him leaning in such a way it nearly made Pearl fall onto her back.

"... Noted. … Uh, anyway, we've come to hopefully see to some of the Gems. There were a few that were scheduled for uh … Aredox!" Pearl said. Under pressure she was.

"Let me get this straight," said Cerrosafe, "You came here from Aredox, to ask, if you can take our Gems?"
The very idea got both Nichrome and the satyr laughing, which further hit the point that none of them were ever going to listen to any Gem.

"You know, you're funny. You really are," said the satyr, actually pinching Pearl's cheek like a granny would to her grandson. The claws actually stung her, and he and Nichrome began heading back to their positions as Pearl rubbed her cheek.

"Whatever reason you have for coming here aren't remotely needed anymore," explained the unicorn, "but I should thank you for making our job just that much easier."

"N-No no, we can't leave here without putting our case -"

"Leave here? HA! Who said you're gonna leave here?" The satyr laughed, before he started giving a signal with his three-clawed hand. Soon, the unicorn began to force them along ahead towards the bath, using her broken horn as a sort of hog taser (and worked just as painful as it worked well). The captains and commanders moved out of the way to make a clear path to the bath, as the unicorn kept forcing them along. However, there still was one more surprise for them, as they found themselves at the edge of the bath. …

"Who first?" asked the unicorn.

"Oh no. No no no, that's a no for me captain," said Emerald, trying to back away from the bath only for the Satyr to block his way out.

"Thank you for volunteering," said the Satyr, before literally kicking Emerald right into the empty tub, leaving him down a good ten to twelve foot drop. Emerald landed hard at the bottom of the tub in a splat, and when he got himself back around their surprise was more than happy to see him come around.

*SNORT*

"Remember Trotter, we want them alive," reminded the unicorn. Emerald found himself backing up to the wall, as Trotter eagerly moved closer to him, snickering all the while as he licked his chops. It'd been a while since they last met with eachother, and now it was time for the hog to play around some more with Emerald.

"N-Nice pig, good pig, e-easy now - OOF!" Trotter got his front hooves on top of Emerald, the hog grinning good and wide. Emerald, if memory served, knew what was coming next and the pig readied to get his teeth into him … but then his sensitive snout started picking up a better target. Looking up at the others remaining, he gave a loud squeal.

"Handle him first, porker, and you can move on!" shouted Cerrosafe. But Trotter didn't continue his job, sitting down with front hooves still keeping Emerald down.

"Didn't Emerald mention something about a pig at that trash site? … That must be the same one," Flint thought. The captains were getting impatient with him, but it seems even the executioner had his own bygones to look after. Cerrosafe decided to humor him, and forced Pearl down from the edge, though unlike Emerald she landed on her feet. Pearl found herself disgusted by the swine, already turning up her nose at the stench she was getting.

"A-Alright, what do you want?" Pearl asked. Trotter snickered at his prize, and he turned Emerald around.

"Wait, wait, don't you DA - AAAHH!"

*crack*

One hit of his sharp hoof and Emerald was quiet, his gemstone now no better than Peridot. Pearl gasped and stepped back, Trotter literally walking over him to reach the Gem before him. As for Emerald, he took a bit to get himself around, but found that his mouth couldn't move.

"SERIOUSLY?! SERIOUSLY!" he thought. He would scream it, but his mouth just wouldn't let him do anything else besides a big, straining grin. Another detail now was that one of his eyes looked cracked, like broken glass, which only frustrated him even more.

"What're you doing to them?" demanded Flint.

"Oh, just a little procedure called "marking". We can't keep marks on your body, so we set them marked … in stone," Nichrome snickered as he nudged the Satyr, who joined his laughing. BAD joke. Pearl instinctively brought out her spear in some defense of herself, but Trotter had an extra gift for them that he didn't bother showing Emerald back at the garbage dump. With a push up from his front "legs" he actually managed to rear back and stand upright on his back hooves without trouble. Then, this natural monster casually started to pull off his front hooves, to reveal a pair of well-developed human hands. …

"FREAK PIG!" shouted Peridot. Only now did the pig start to close in on Pearl, his muzzle twisted into a sinister grin, as his fingers stretched and ready to grab her. Pearl was just stunned, but suddenly she snapped out of it and she would've attacked …

"Wait. No. Just endure it. … Just endure it," Pearl told herself, dropping the spear as Trotter got his hands on her. Pearl waited for her gemstone to get cracked, and indeed Trotter planned to do that. After all, as executioner for Grogar that was part of his job, but the porker lifted his head up, and he began to gurgle. His mouth filled up with a concoction of saliva …

And he spat a water-balloon of disgusting saliva right at Pearl's face. It reeked of the pig's breath. 

".... EEEEUUUUGGGGHHH," Pearl groaned, feeling ready to puke. Peridot and Flint were struck sicken when they saw this, and only then did the trollish porker knock her down, and brought his back hoof to her gemstone.

"I think I'm gonna hurl," muttered Peridot.

"Good call. You're next," said Nichrome. Peridot was horrified, but Flint didn't want to see her get hurt any further. Lucky for them both though, the unicorn stepped in.

"She doesn't need to. Cerrosafe already told me about her, and she's already got her mark right there. Her friend can get his, and then we'll send them on their way."

"Commander Tempest, no one said to jump," remarked the Satyr in annoyance, "shooing" her away, "Now be a good pony and go stand over there like you're told to do."
Tempest nodded and took a few steps back. Only for the Satyr to say …

"You know what, let's let the gremlin slide. She had hers all along," he remarked.

Seriously?

Flint and Peridot took a step back when they began hearing Trotter squeal down below. Soon, Pearl and Emerald were tossed back up, and while Emerald got on his feet somewhat, his crooked smile annoying him a ton, Pearl and her cracked Gem couldn't connect enough to get her landing right, and she actually almost fell back in again. Peridot and Pearl knew this all too well, and both were left worried and remembering the trouble they had before.

"Move it," said one of the other creatures. Flint knew he was next, so he just got it over with and jumped in, as the other three were huddled together. They were not going to stay around any longer than they had to.


~~~~~~


"Aaahhh. aahh."

With a few more gasps of pain, and another shove, Flint and Peridot caught up with Emerald and Pearl to their "mark location" as the others put it. They were lucky to be still standing after that kind of punishment, and could only imagine just how many other Gems had to undergo this same process. And with most of the group having the Gem on their heads, it was giving them a bit more than just a headache.
The four were placed within what looked like one of the training fields for Yellow Diamond's quartz soldiers. Now though, Grogar turned it into a sort of outside camp for the head Gem mark, as most if not all of the Gems there had their gemstones somewhere on or near the head.

"Over here, guys," Pearl said, waving to them, though even that seemed a bit less proper as she couldn't exactly focus too much. Flint and Peridot sat down by them, Flint feeling a migraine coming on.

"This is sure a nice bit of Tambalon hospitality. That hog cut in deep," Flint said, rubbing his gemstone of the cut, which almost looked like a knife was jabbed into it.

"I'm very sorry, I should've known it would be more to it than just getting locked up," Pearl said.

"Well we figured out what happened to Homeworld, that's something -" Peridot cringed when her body glitched a little again.

"We only found, what? The main hall, the bath, and now here. That's only three things out of all of Homeworld," Flint said gravely. Feeling her gemstone make her body glitch again, Pearl thought about what to do, and them looked to everyone.

"Well they all somehow know the workings of a Gem if they immediately cut their gemstone upon being captured, so we got a choice to make. We can either stay and risk further pain, or we can run with what we know. … So what're we doing?"

"But what about -"
Before any of them could answer, a commotion nearby got their attention in the form of Cerrosafe arriving on the scene, him being in charge of this mark.

"Listen up, Head mark," said Cerrosafe, "I want to introduce you all to … Maheswaran."

And then they saw her. Pearl and Peridot were seeing a tortured-looking hybrid from before as Emerald and Flint were humbled by what they saw. Connie hadn't gotten any better since they last saw her, her walking around with a bit of an unsteady movement, the front "hands" weighting her down to walk on all fours, and the horns keeping her gaze lowered.

"Oh. My. Stars …" Pearl was horrified. Her pupil, now into the example Cerrosafe talked about earlier.

"Look hard at this creature, and remember her when you think of disobeying King Grogar. Remember her when you think of running away. Remember her when you think of fighting back," Cerrosafe explained, as Connie was being ushered along by the other guards, each one armed with a Gem Destabilizer just in case someone tried to get in the way. Connie only stopped when she saw her friends.

"C-Connie," Pearl murmured, tears going down her face. And to make matters worse. …

"... P-Pearl. …"

"MOVE IT," the guard demanded, giving her a shove forward despite her injury, which made her hiss and snarl like an animal. Hearing that one word told them all that Connie was still in there somewhere. …

"H-How dare they …"

"Well. That helps decide," Peridot said, feeling angry.

"Yes. I think it does," agreed Flint.

They all knew what to do next. It was a risk, but more than worth it if it all worked. Flint looked on to Cerrosafe, who was distracted a little bit with talking to a sargent. And looking on, the Head Gem mark was actually a straight shot to outside the city. If they can make this work.

"We all talking the same here?" Flint asked. All of them nodded. They will NOT let this go on for her.

"Steven would do it if he were here. Any of us would," Pearl stated.

"Good. … Get ready to run."

…

*BAM!* "ACK!"

Even if cracked, Flint proved to be a deadly adversary, as both guards were suddenly struck in the back of the head, sent off a good ten feet. It was too swift to use the destabilizers on, and this of course raised quite the alarm around the whole mark. Connie hissed a little bit, but her old memories and new "instincts" were contradicting eachother.

"Let's get a move on," Flint said urgently. He didn't have time to explain anything.

"YOU THERE!"

"Run!" Pearl said. She, Peridot, and Emerald got a running start, and it took a bit of time before Flint just grabbed Connie and ran for it. Cerrosafe and a few other guards (including the knocked over ones), swiftly got to their feet and got together just as the five got out of the training grounds and made their mad dash for it.

The chase was on.

"We got runners! GRAB EM!" Cerrosafe exclaimed. The guards with him made a bolt right after them, fast as they could to keep up with the cracked Gems. Cerrosafe would go off too, but before he did, his antennae straightened up like poles, and suddenly began to light up. His kind's version of police warning lights and alarm.

"He's got an alarm too? Make tracks!" Peridot yelled, trying to gain some more speed.

The five were on the run. Now out of the perimeter of the palace, it was a matter of getting out of Homeworld and reaching the Warp Pad, Flint and Pearl keeping themselves in between Peridot, Connie, and Emerald to keep them protected and moving forward as Cerrosafe's patrol was rushing for them. They may have gotten somewhat of a headstart, but the patrol behind them were not only faster, but they weren't damaged like they were, with the others occasionally having to pull Pearl along just for her to keep up. Whenever they had to turn, it wasn't as quick as they'd like as they either had to slow down or actually trip and stumble just to keep up to speed. Ironically, the only one keeping up at full speed was Connie, in a more monkey-like locomotion in her running.
In this mad dash, with a few still behind them, two of the faster guards actually overtook them, and soon were blocking their escape route! The two stayed firm, expecting the runaways to stop at one point and get themselves cornered. However, the act of "helpless prisoners" was given up the moment they started running.

And Flint and Pearl rammed into them HARD! Peridot, Connie, and Emerald didn't remotely stop, and while Pearl stumbled in her dash, Flint got the harder hit, knocking one unconscious. Both Gems scrambled back to their feet before running off ahead again, though Pearl had to be pulled along first.

"Flint, I can't run fast enough!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Just focus on where you're going, we'll make it to the Warp Pad," Flint said, the five trying to continue forward on the path they got taking them. However, it seemed that no matter how fast they were going, the guards seemed to keep trailing them wherever they go. Hearing Flint remind them on where to go though, one of them actually skidded to a halt abruptly, making them all stop.

"Emerald, what'd you stop for?!" Pearl shouted. Unfortunately Emerald couldn't talk, and with them on their tail, Emerald just bolted away from the main path.

"What the - EMERALD, THIS WAY!" shouted Flint, but Emerald didn't stop. In fact, he was waving his arms, trying to make them follow him. The guards closed in on them from both sides though, one from where they were and where they were going. No choice now. The four made a bolt down towards Emerald, and the green Gem got back to running.

"You clod, we're going the wrong way! The Warp Pad's that way, remember?!" Peridot shouted, running next to him. Emerald REALLY wanted to talk to them, but his crooked smile just won't give him the chance to. The others weren't sure at first what this was, but as Pearl began to feel her gemstone make her glitch a bit, she started to take a good look at Emerald's eye. He was smiling, but his eyes …

"Everyone, we have to split up!"

"What?! Not you too!" Flint said.

"LISTEN: none of them know about the other Warp Pad, so before we - AH, I DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN!"

"GAME'S UP!" And just like that, Cerrosafe found his way in front of them all, making all of them stop briefly (and Pearl accidentally falling over her own feet). Cerrosafe targeted her first, his hoof slamming on her legs and leaving her stuck and hurting.

"You dolls had made a VERY. GRAVE. ERROR," Cerrosafe snarled, his antennae now electrified and ready to take down the renegades. Pearl closed her eyes for the blow, the other three unable to use any of their Gem weaponry to help. But one wasn't gonna stand by.

*RAAAHH*

"AAAHH! Get off! GET OFF!" All at once, Connie leaped right onto Cerrosafe's face, making the alien buck around like mad as Pearl had to drag herself away a little bit before comprehending what happened. At least one advantage for being semi-corrupted was that built-in weaponry was guaranteed.

"Connie!"

"GO!" Connie shouted, just before Cerrosafe dislodged her from his head, slamming her to the wall. Cerrosafe was left distracted for them to get a headstart. They could hear the guards closing in on them not too far away.

"I'm sorry, Steven." Pearl thought.

And they all ran for it.

"ALARM! ALARM! Get after them! Hunt them down!" Cerrosafe roared, as the other guards raced passed him and Connie to get to the other four. Connie struggled a bit, groaning underneath the strength of Cerrosafe. She even tried biting into his foot which, while stinging, didn't waver him one bit.

"Enjoy this moment, Maheswaran. … Because it's the last time you'll ever going to stand beneath the stars."

And in one swing of his foot, Connie was knocked unconscious. Just like that. Cerrosafe left her behind from there to catch up to his own group. She won't be a problem when they loop back for her.

"So, what were you saying before we nearly got shattered?" Flint asked as they ran.

"Split up: we can't let them know where the Warp Pad is. Lose them!" Pearl said quick. Flint felt like an idiot.

"Stupid cracked Gem, why didn't I pick that up? You heard her! SPLIT up! Make sure you lose them before getting back to the Warp Pad."

And so they did. In a quick second, and at a good spot in Homeworld's city, all four of them bolted off in different directions down different paths. Cerrosafe snarled when he saw this, and the guards were forced to split off into different parties to try and get each one of them. Each Gem now only had two to deal with at most, which evened the odds a bit better.

...

First one to handle his part in this crazy run around was Emerald. Out of all the cracked Gems, Emerald had it the easiest, having years of being cracked behind him. His small size worked to his advantage here, and he just managed to find himself a pathway in between two of the buildings just big enough for him to go through, but not the guards behind him, who slammed into the wall. Emerald snickered seeing them before bolting away, the guards climbing up the buildings to the otherside … only to find him completely gone.

"Gone already?" one of them wondered.

They both then heard some snickering off nearby, only to find Emerald on one of his hexagons, floating just out of reach. Both guards were dumbfounded at first, seeing a cracked Gem still have his Gem weaponry on him, but they shook it off and tried to get him, only for Emerald to chuck another hexagon at both heads, knocking them out cold.

"K, that happened, let's scram," Emerald thought, hovering away from the situation.

...

"Help me, help me, help me, help me!"
The second one came with Peridot, though she had a bit more trouble with hers. Her running had two guards, but these were brutes and she couldn't find any quick route out like Emerald did. Peridot looked back to the guards to try and regain some distance between herself and them, but her body glitching made her foot unstable, making her fall forward and spiral for a bit. Probably a luck break, since the next thing she saw was a vertical drop down to at least seventy feet!

"We got her!" one of the guards shouted, more confident in the hunt this time.

"EEP! Okokokokok, Got to lose them … HOW?" Peridot scrambled to try and think. Her gemstone however was becoming severely damaged, her groaning and trying to keep together. This time the glitch was so bad her whole body disappeared briefly, only to reappear after about five seconds. She was REALLY in bad shape. If she was gonna get shattered, it would be by a fight, not by a run.

"Alright you clods. ... If you want me. -" she aimed her gaze to her enemy, battle ready and all, "COME AND GET ME, YOU - ooooo where'd you go?"

… And suddenly she saw no one there. She could've sworn she had two guards chasing after her. But then she heard a bit of a groan from behind her, and when she looked down the cliff, both guards were not only at the bottom, but left in pain.

"Ok, that'll work," Peridot shrugged, before bolting off on her way. As they say: there's more than one way to skin a cat.

...

Emerald and Peridot may be all good, but Pearl was a bit more trouble than needed. She was having the most trouble keeping her guards off her tail, unable to cut corners as tightly as before thanks to her gemstone messing with her head. In fact, she was actually getting tired, her speed dangerously low. It didn't help that in her panicked state she was constantly stumbling in her turns, either hitting a wall or landing on her knees before running again.

"Surrender now, and we'll let you live!" shouted one of the guards.

"Over my shattered body, you scum!" Pearl shouted back. Unfortunately, this made her stumble slightly again, making the two guards charge close. Perhaps though, this may be Pearl's lucky break: as she tried to get moving again, she actually slipped on the ground, and fell forward, lowering just enough for the guard to fly over her and slam into the wall, getting his head stuck in one of the building's holes.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" the guard demanded, trying to get his head loose. This distraction was just enough for Pearl to gain her lead, as the other guard tried to get his companion out of this situation. It only took a few yanks, but by the time they got themselves out, it was just too late to get Pearl. The two looked through the area, unaware Pearl was hiding just above them within one of the building holes.

"That salty snack of a Gem, where'd she go?!" the guard snapped, trying to relocate his target.

"Salty?" Pearl thought, insulted.

"She can't have gone far. You look back, I'll look over here," the other guard instructed. Both guards split up and left Pearl by herself up in her hole. Once it was clear, she got herself down, making sure NOT to fall over this time. She was just about ready to run when something up in the sky caught her attention. And lucky for her, this was a sight she was hoping to see.
Emerald and Peridot, flying in on one of Emerald's hexagons.

"I'm so glad to see you. Did you lose your guards?" Pearl asked. Emerald and Peridot nodded, and Peridot extended a hand.

"If you want to be free, come fly with us," Peridot said. They didn't need to ask Pearl twice, and she held on as tight as her form will allow, and all three started to fly off on their way. There was only one in their party left …

...

Flint didn't stop his bolt around Homeworld either. And with many of the guards rushing around and trying to get he others, Flint was left with Cerrosafe and just one other associate on his tail as he tried his best to get away. Just one moment will be all he needed to get out of Cerrosafe's grip and towards the Warp Pad in the outskirts, but Cerrosafe just wasn't giving the runaway anytime to actually do that. Along with running, Flint had to also dodge the stabbing front legs of Cerrosafe's moldable feet, each attempt leaving cracked holes in the ground behind them. One particular stab was so close to him, he felt it actually make a very slight cut into him, strands of hair cut off as the ground shook from the oncoming stomp.
That stomp specifically actually gave Flint a head start, as Cerrosafe got stuck in it briefly. Unfortunately, while he did smile on the getaway, it was short-lived as he found himself stuck in a dead end. Flint skidded to a grinding halt seeing this problem, just as Cerrosafe got himself free.

"You thought you could get away?" Cerrosafe warned, starting to close in on him.

"I didn't come to Homeworld to be put under arrest, thank you," Flint stated, keeping what defense he had armed, "I'm not getting locked up that easily, so you better back off."

"You're nearly dead. And I don't take orders from dolls. On my word, go straight into him," Cerrosafe ordered. His associate nodded, and prepared to do just that. Flint tried to work something out, but in his injured state he wasn't seeing any easy way out. All he could do now was fight his way out. If he could keep himself together.

"Nevermind what Grogar said. I'm bringing you back in pieces," Cerrosafe stated, his front foot morphing into the dagger of his. Flint wasn't sure if he was gonna get out of it, but the least he could do was try. He clenched his fists, got them up and ready just as Cerrosafe took a step forward. ...

"SIR!" *STAB*

Suddenly everything went nuts: Something (Flint couldn't tell what at first, it moved WAY too fast) suddenly jumped in from the top of the building behind Flint. Cerrosafe never saw it coming, a loud slice going straight through his head! Cerrosafe's head popped like a muddy bubble, as his whole body suddenly deformed into a puddle of goop. The explosion made Flint jump back, his back to the wall and getting slightly covered in the stuff. As for the associate, all he did was panic and bolt away from the threat, screaming like the "warrior" he was. As for Flint, he checked himself, quickly getting off all of that gunk off of himself.

"Ok, this is gross. More than usual," Flint said, wiping it off himself as whatever practically own'd Cerrosafe went over towards him. And offer out a helping hand. Flint looked to said hand for a brief moment, the coloration and look oddly familiar. He slowly followed the hand up to the face of this savior of his.

She greeted him with a smile.

"It's you," Flint stated humbly. Flint wasn't sure if he was seeing things or not. After all, all the other Gems he saw so far had been locked up tight, so how was this one free and actually keeping up with everyone? At least she wasn't after his stone. Still, without a word, he took her hand and she helped him up to his feet.

"Did they do this to you?" she asked, looking to his Gem.

"Head mark. Cracked my gem like sand. They said it was "required"," Flint growled.

"Oh dear. ... You're the "Crystal Gem" Flint. Right?"

"We call ourselves "Harmony Gems" nowadays, but yeah," Flint replied. No one else was around to hear them, so he wasn't as bothered by the question as much as he should be. The Gem leaned in.

"And ... are the Diamonds alive?" she asked, slightly hoping for a good answer.

"Don't worry, they're all fine and back on Earth with us. We won't let them get shattered by anyone," Flint reassured. She gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank the stars. You have to hurry, they'll be coming back soon," she informed, both looking to the mess left behind. Flint saw her point.

"That's what I'm trying to do. If we go for it, we can make it to the Warp Pad -"

"N-No. Not me. Not yet."

"What? But don't you want to get out? I think they'll be glad to see you," Flint asked, taken aback. All those Gems might as well be dead under Grogar's reign, and she was saying she wanted to stay here?! The Gem with him didn't actually answer his question exactly.

"Hurry back home."

"Wait!" Flint said. But all it took was a quick jump to get her away from Flint and back up on the building rooftops. Flint was just left with a head full of questions as she left him there. But despite what she said, it wasn't the guards that found him first, as a hexagon shadow came up over them.

"Hey, Flint, up here!"

The other three found him first, the sound of Cerrosafe's defeat enough to bring them back over. Flint waved to them as they hovered on down, taking note of the mess around him.

"What in the stars happened here?!" Pearl asked, not daring getting off the hexagon for any moment. There was just enough room for Flint to get on the Hexagon, and all four began to fly off from the crime scene.

"I'll tell you all later. You all in the clear?"

"Yep! Now let's get outta here. FLY US OFF Emerald!" Peridot said, pointing off ahead as if this was a victory. First time today they were feeling good to get out of the city, and out of range from Grogar's troops. Plus, in some twisted stroke of luck, Grogar was down at least ONE high-ranking force that would've given them trouble. None of them were eager for a rematch with him anyway. Pearl looked back to Diamond City as they were flying off, thinking about the one person they most wanted to get out, but failed to do so. Flint rested a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get back for her," Flint promised.

Her, and whoever else was still there, and still out of Grogar's hooves.


~~~~~~


As for Connie in question ... well, she couldn't recall much of what just happened to her. For one moment, she was outside the prison that she was forced into, fighting off Cerrosafe to save her friends. and the next, as she came to, she found herself right back in the deep underground. Back inside of her cell with so many others scattered amongst the place. The cell she was throne into, unlike the cells one would see in Homeworld, was reinforced to strictly deal with organic creatures, strong bars and all made up of the titanium and obsidian that possibly was apart of Homeworld's many mineral standings. Beyond her cell, she couldn't exactly see any of the other prisoners so easily, but she knew there were many there.
There're were more than plenty of them inside Homeworld's supreme Kindergarten, after all. And all Grogar had to do was add the bars, and there was the highest level security cell he could muster. Connie's cell specifically was along one of the walking paths, several holes away from a bridge to a tunnel across the bottomless riven. Different members of Grogar's alien and monster army patrolled much of the area, and it was actually their voices that woke her up.

One in particular.

"Did you have a nice nap. Maheswaran?"

"G-Grogar?" Connie muttered, feeling the pain of Cerrosafe's attack catch up with her as she groaned, hand to her head, between the horns. She eventually brought herself over to the bars, and saw who was talking but it wasn't Grogar, nor was it Cerrosafe again. Nope, this time it was Nichrome. Nichrome sat there, his front foot gently pushing around some pebbles in front of him as if he was waiting for hours for her to wake up.

"I'm fine," Connie simply said. Nichrome continued pushing pebbles around.

"Very good," said Nichrome. Connie's head was still off, but she could tell that there was a hint of anger in that compliment out of Nichrome.

"... I suppose you're wondering how're you still alive," Nichrome stated, "After all, your involvement in the last excursion had resulted in four escapees, not to mention the injuries of ... six guards. ... And the death of my BROTHER!" That final bit made Nichrome stomp on the stones, crushing them under his feet. Connie admittedly didn't realize this.

"Y-You're brother? I didn't know he died, I-I'm sorry."

"You would be," Nichrome scolded. He did calm down fairly quickly though, and then turned to Connie.

"The only reason you're still alive, Is that Grogar wanted you to be, you being his "dearest" -" he said dearest will rolling his eyes, as if it he thought it was as bad of an idea as Connie thought of it as. "- ... Word of advice: I suggest you stop trying to make freedom happen. There's no point in doing it now, especially for you."

"What do you mean "especially for me"?" Connie asked. Nichrome leaned close.

"... Because word spread that your dearest didn't survive his latest encounter with my king. He went by there a day or two ago, and gloated over some hay that all it took was one, well-aimed blow to crack him open."

That began breaking her heart.

"You're lying. He's still alive, I know he is," Connie immediately said, her nerves coming up on her. Steven Universe wouldn't be dead, not so quickly.

"That just proves how little you know. ... Now get yourself comfy in there, and presentable, you'll be walked through again soon enough. Not like you got anywhere else to go now."

And Nichrome laughed on that note, leaving Connie to what thought she could come up with. Nichrome had that sort of way with words that, even when he was lying to your face, you couldn't help but believe him. Or if he was telling you the truth, it would be twice as harmful. Connie slid down slowly, her weight on the bars until she collapsed to her knees.
Her friend for so many years, and her love for months. Now gone. Connie felt tears come up, whimpering softly, as she remembered the sweet smiling face of Steven Universe, only imagining now just how distraught everyone else must be with him no longer apart of their lives. The Crystal Gems, the Elements of Harmony, the Diamond Authority even had been changed in their own way thanks to him, at least in some part. ...

Steven Universe was dead. ...

.......

"....... No Steven. I'm not gonna give up on you. ..."

And she was in a good position to start. Backing up a bit from the bars, Connie laid herself down on the floor, and got her palms to the ground, and she started to do some push-ups. ...
> Cause and Effect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a few days since Flint, Peridot, Emerald, and Pearl had first left for Diamond City, and throughout that time the question of the state of Homeworld was hanging practically over everyone's head. None of them could go off after them, at risk of getting themselves caught by Grogar's many followers. At least, that was the warning Garnet made more than clear to everyone when the four departed off on their way in the first place. Whether or not it was a high or low possibility, they couldn't take the chance so all they could do was wait there back on Earth and hope for the best. They could at least say that they sent the right people for the job: a very agile Pearl, a cautious Flint with a cloaking ability, a Peridot with Homeworld layouts like the back of her hand, and an Emerald with gem weapons even when cracked. That kind of roster was the best Garnet can give safely.
This wasn't the only thing they had been thinking on though, especially for Steven. The days hadn't been that easy for him, keeping Grogar's latest encounter with him quiet from everyone. It wasn't hiding it that was hard for him, he just had to keep the headband on, but it was emotionally that was bothering him so much. After all, they all did promise that they should be more open to eachother ever since the Pink Diamond revelation. And here he was keeping yet another secret from everybody. How wonderful.

Well, if there was something to gain from this, it's that going through training got some bit of the frustration out. Winter was beginning to come to Beach City by now, the first snowfall coming down onto the middle of the training course by the beach. Steven, joined by Amethyst, the Rutile Twins, Fulgurite, and Rhodonite were off doing more physical training in the slightly chilly weather. There wasn't much activity for the brief moment, Rainbow Dash giving them a lecture somewhat.

"Alright, what have we learned?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying around the group.

"Let's see. … Aim it right," started Steven.

"Correct."

"Use all your force," added Right Rutile.

"Good. And most importantly … what?"

"Uh … Balance," finished Rhodonite.

"Got it. Now you all know the elements of a well-aimed buck, let's see one! Who's up first?" Rainbow Dash said, bringing over a fairly large dummy to test their bucking skills on.

"Uuuhhh can I ask you something first?" Rhodonite asked. Rainbow Dash was suddenly in Rhodonite's face.

"NOPE! When you're in a fight, you don't have any time to ask anything. NOW GET THERE AND KICK WITH ALL YOU GOT!" Rainbow shouted, even bringing out what looked like a coach whistle and blowing into it hard. Rhodonite freaked out slightly, but she did go off first to handle the task at hand.

"This should be easy for ya, Rhodonite, you got four arms!" called Tiger's Eye some of the crowd nearby. They weren't training alone here, having a decent crowd over by the beach in the form of Tiger, Lion, Padparadscha, Lapis Lazuli, and Rarity. Applejack, Bismuth, and Jasper were there too of course, being training them in the first place.
As for Rhodonite, she went over to the construct in front of her, at first unsure of how to exactly confront this thing. She looked it over a little bit before getting into position. She got down on her hands and hands and knees, and suddenly she lifted herself up on her four hands. She got the balance, but her kick … well, it hurt her more than it even scratched the construct.

"Ow. OW!" Rhodonite said.

"Ok, ok, you're half way there. Now you need to focus the gluts, and SLAM THAT THING," said Rainbow.

"What is that even?" Rhodonite exclaimed, as she got herself up to her feet again. Well it was a good try anyway.

"Ok, soldiers, who's next?"

"I'll go!" Steven quickly said, getting the call first on this training session. He saw how it was done, and he went right up the construct. He too got down onto his hands and knees.

"Ok. One. Two. Ka-po - ouch!" one hit of his back feet didn't do much better. Feeling the hit, he fell to the ground. Sure he can balance somewhat on his arms, but this was something different to deal with. Steven tried to think as Applejack trotted over.

"Good one, Steven. Keep that up, and you might be helpin me buck apples off the farm," AJ complimented. Steven still didn't think it was all too good.

"But that one sucked. Maybe if I try from over -"

"Stop," Jasper suddenly said, going over and grabbing him by the shoulder before he could go at it a different way.

"Listen, strategy's good before the fight, but when you're hitting there's no exact "plan" or "right way" of doing it. You just gotta face it head on! … And when I mean head on, I mean this."

And then she proceeded to jump into the air, and right in front of them, smash the construct into pebbles! She took the term "head on" a bit literally and actually used her own forehead to do that, not even using the Gem weapon helmet to do so. Rhodonite was humbled more than most, seeing all the rubble scatter around from that. One of these stray stones almost got the crowd not too far away, with Bismuth catching it and Lion pushing back before anyone could get hurt.

"I don't think "head on" literally means using your head, Jasper," Steven said. Tell her something she didn't already know.

"Yeah, so what's your point?" Jasper said, wiping off some pebbles from her head.

"Aww yeah, my turn!" Amethyst said, eager to get her own head to use. Some of the construct looked good enough for her, and she leaped up, readying her head to slam down onto the rock. However, Amethysts and Jasper had their different constructs about them … and Amethyst was not as durable just yet.

Next thing she knew, she had a rock horn right between the eyes. Not one of her best decisions, as she yanked it out of her head.

"Let's stick to bucking for now. ALRIGHT, come on up," Applejack said, opening the door for whoever was next to give it their try. Meanwhile, Steven was finding himself another rock to practice his bucking with. Sure the others saw him do so, but at first no one really bugged him since it was part of this training course anyway. He began to handle the bucking once again, getting a few more hits of his back legs into the rock best he could, trying to copy what Rainbow Dash and Applejack were demonstrating. The first two times he tried this though, all that happened was that he kept falling face first into the sand, his kicks pushing him forward each time. In the second fall, he actually felt his headband become a bit loose, so he quickly got it tied back up tightly over his head before getting up. Making sure the cut was covered.

"You can do this, soldier," Steven told himself. "Maybe just … imagine. …"

And suddenly he felt his anger begin to come up as his imagination turned the rock in front of him into the ram that caused all this problems in the first place. Of course, his imagination made him look more stupid, but it was still the same ram. That was more than motivation he needed to turn around and keep trying. Over, and over again. His single bucking though just turned into him kicking wildly at the rock until that alone made him somersault over onto his back. And STILL not too impressive.

"Come on," he sighed, taking a minute to breathe.

"You ok, Steven?"

Steven looked up and saw Rarity by him, looking down to him. Guess his little desperate attempt to beat up the Grogar rock didn't go unnoticed.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Steven replied, getting back up to his feet, which were now a bit sore from all that rapid kicking. It wasn't bucking, but it still was some form of exercise to get his leg muscles up. Even if it looked like he just had a temper tantrum.

"Darling, I know you want to be stronger, but that's no reason to try and uh … what's the word? … Over-do yourself," Rarity advised, getting some of the sand off of his short for him. She was just about to actually move the headband to get the sand off, but Steven quickly caught that action and wiped it off himself before the unicorn could get the chance.

"I'm fine, Rarity, I just a little frustrated I guess. Am I doing it right?" Steven asked, looking back to the rock. The kicking might've chipped off a small piece of pebble, if anything at all.

"Speaking as a pony myself, I say you're doing it just fine Steven," Rarity reassured him. Steven huffed.

"You sure? I mean, look at that," Steven said. He and Rarity looked over just in time to see Fulgurite turn around and give a strong back kick, which was enough to crack the rock. And she didn't even need to use her cleats to do so that time (as if that was allowed anyway).

"Well, they are Gems, naturally they would be stronger than we are," Rarity pointed out.

"I guess so," Steven sighed. Though, compared to the crowd he just felt a lot weaker. How could he compete with beings that can crumble a mountain if they wanted to?
However, as much as he wanted to get stronger, training would have to wait for a little bit more, because just before he could get himself back to it, they began to hear someone off in the distance calling out to them. Just off in the sky, flying as fast as she could, Fluttershy managed to get herself back from her location down to their spot on the beach.

"There you are! Oh, uh, sorry for interrupting your training," Fluttershy said upon landing.

"No, it's cool," said Amethyst, "So what's up?"

"Ok, good. I've got some good news: Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald are back! They just came back earlier this morning," Fluttershy revealed. For Steven that was the best news he heard all day, jumping up to his feet and going over to the Pegasus.

"They're back?! Great, they made it!" Steven said eagerly. However, Fluttershy didn't entirely share the enthusiasm, having a slightly different kind of look to her face.

"Wait. There's some bad news isn't there?"

"Uh … M-Maybe," Fluttershy admitted. And just like that Steven's enthusiasm shifted to troubled worry.

"So what's the bad news?"

…….

"They turned my bathroom into an execution chamber?" questioned Blue Diamond.

A quick Portal Key jump later, and they soon saw exactly what bad news Fluttershy was talking about. The four arrived over, not by the Gem temple, but instead over in the Sky Arena. A bit colder nowadays thanks to the weather, but it was really the best spot currently to handle these get-togethers for the Diamonds' sake. And the four returning "heroes" were worse, their appearance alone giving them all an idea of just what kind of danger was going on now.

"GUYS!" Steven gasped upon showing up. He needed only a few seconds on seeing their cracked Gems.

"Steven," Peridot said, Steven going to her first.

"You're cracked! What happened over there?" Steven asked.

"We're just about to get to that, but nothing a bit of healing won't fix. Uh, if you wouldn't mind ..." Flint said.

"Oh, sure, hold still," Steven said, already getting his healing spit together as Flint brought her head to his level. As they were finally getting healed of their problems the others continued the discussion. Or they would've if not for Amethyst getting a small whiff of Pearl first.

"WHOA, Pearl! What's that?" Amethyst asked, plugging her nose. Pearl did NOT feel too keen on it herself, a shiver running down her back.

"So what did happen over there?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Apparently," explained Peridot, "It's a requirement in their kingdom called "marking", and since Gems don't get scarred like organic creatures do, they had to crack us. Something about it being "necessary". How's it necessary to cripple a Gem, huh?!"

"And all of the Gems in there are cracked right now. Poor things," muttered Jade. Soon, they then began hearing a gasp as Steven finished healing Emerald's gemstone, the Gem finally able to talk and get his mouth unhinged from that big twisted smile of his. Steven didn't ignore what they were talking about.

"Is it really that bad over there?" Steven asked, worriedly. There was a pause amongst the others briefly, Steven looking worried over the situation more than most. Connie was still over there, after all.

"... Eeehhhh … you want the blunt answer, or the sugar-coated one?" Pearl inquired.

"As much as I like sugar, I want it blunt please," Steven insisted. Pearl and Flint glanced to one another, and eventually it was Pearl who went over to him.

"It's far worse than we could've imagined," Pearl said gravely, "You can't get an idea until after you've been there: the training grounds is the head mark hold, they have this "deep underground" somewhere, and there's this horrid. Disgusting pig! UUUGH!" Pearl shivered on the memory in absolute disgust.

"A. Pig?" Applejack asked.

Pearl's eyes opened wide and looking scared as the incident repeated in her head, another shiver running through her body. Emerald went to her side, resting a hand on her.

"I feel you, sister," Emerald stated. It took him way too long to get the smell off for one thing, and now Pearl was stuck with it.
That was the least of the problem though, Steven trying to process just what kind of world that Homeworld had turned into. His hand moved to his head for a moment, feeling where he knew that cut was. But then the inevitable question began to come out.

"And … and Connie? How's she doing?"

This question was even harder than the first one. But still, Steven told them he wanted it blunt, not sugar-coated, so this time Flint was the one that gave them all the news on their other Human Gem hybrid.

"You asked for it blunt so. ……. They're using her as an example to all the other prisoners, so no one will think of defying Grogar or running away."

That seemed to chip away Steven for a moment.

"AND YOU LEFT HER BEHIND?!" Steven suddenly shouted, enough to even make Flint step back. Steven quickly regathered himself.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"No, no, we understand," said Pearl, "None of us wanted her to stay there either, but we …"

"We didn't have a choice. We'll get them all out of there, you have my promise on that," Flint finished.

"Then we're going."

Everyone suddenly turned to Yellow Diamond, who for the whole time was simply trying to keep her anger inside her, and try not to just explode into a electrical rage from what Grogar was doing to their empire.

"Yellow, use your head please," Blue Diamond insisted.

"NO! I'm not going to stand by any longer and watch this - RAM tear everything we worked on for thousands of years! If you don't wanna come, fine, but I'm getting my home back THIS YEAR!" Yellow Diamond insisted. She felt someone else suddenly grab her, this time being Pink Diamond and White Diamond both.

"Pink, let go!"

"Yellow, let's just calm down okay? We know you can be a bit of a hot head, but let's not just jump around and see what we can do, eh? … Ok?" Pink suggested. Not the best response ever, and it only made her angrier.

"How dare you call me a hot-head! NO ONE ELSE THINKS THAT! Who else thinks I'm a hot head?! HUH?!" Yellow Diamond demanded.

"...…. I predict that no one would want to answer," Padparadscha stated, summing up what happened for the next fifteen seconds. Yellow Diamond was not amused by that at all.

"This would be easier to decide if Garnet was here," stated White Diamond, "She can figure out if it's safe or not."

"Speaking of which, where is she? Haven't seen her since we arrived," inquired Jasper. There were a few others around the area, but that fusion had been one of the few who weren't present there for the time being.

"They're still trying to figure out who was responsible for taking Twilight," explained Fluttershy, "So they wanted Garnet to help."

"Uh, HELLO, Grogar took her! Thank you," said Amethyst.

"We know Grogar took her - why wouldn't he - but we mean who the two soldiers of Canterlot were," corrected Blue Diamond, "There's many soldiers under Canterlot command, it's hard finding out which two there was."
Normally Flint would say something against it, but he quickly caught himself. All of the soldier ponies, unicorn or Pegasus, under Celestia's Canterlot regime were all white stallions with gold armor far as he knew. So as the least, it would be more difficult to line up who actually was the culprit for now.
Steven took a breath.

"I wish we can just go and get them …" Steven commented. This comment was just loud enough for Yellow Diamond to hear.

"We will, Steven, we will. We need to get a game plan first," reassured Flint.

"What we need is to go back, and get it done! NOW," Yellow Diamond "insisted". Flint would go and speak, but shockingly Pearl was actually the one to step in and speak. Normally a death move for a Pearl to speak out against any Diamond.

"Alright. Say we do go in and get them out, and Grogar sends his army right after us," Pearl said.

"We weren't prepared the first time, so the Diamonds and I will keep them pre-occupied long enough, and everyone will run like mad back here."

"Right! We do that and there's a Tambalonian patrol right along the path back. Then what?" Flint cut in. Amethyst could already tell this wasn't gonna be pretty in a second, so she went right over to Steven, nudging him.

"Meanwhile," added Amethyst, "Why don't you and I go off and grab a bite? I've been hankerin for some pizza, and that sounds good right about now."

"Pizza? No, I think I'd rather train some more," Steven said.

"Dude, you've been training every day since we left Homeworld, give it a break," insisted Amethyst, "Besides, didn't you skip breakfast just to train?"

"Well, I wasn't hungry for breakfast," Steven said humbly. Amethyst tried a different approach.

"Well here's another tip: fighting's all about that feeling in your gut. So what do your guts feel like?" Amethyst inquired, arm around his shoulders.

And right on cue, Steven heard his stomach growling.

"... Hungry."

Decision made. Making sure the others didn't notice them go, Amethyst and Steven took the moment to slip away from the Sky Arena confrontation. They might as well let them handle this part of the argument themselves. The only one who saw them slip away was Lapis Lazuli, though she didn't say anything to them, not wanting them too involved in the trouble either.

"I'm uh … gonna go check on something real quick," Lapis said to the Rutile Twins.

"Alright, you do that," said left Rutile.

"Have fun," added right Rutile, as Lapis Lazuli flew off.


~~~~~~


A good bullet dodged, Amethyst and Steven returned to Beach City for some good Fishstew Pizza. Not only was this alone a good idea for a meal for lunch, but also Amethyst knew that Pizza always seemed to cheer Steven up. Steven could use some of that after the drama bomb he had just been given. Their meal this time was just a Hawaiian pizza on Steven's request.

"Nothing like a good lunch after a long morning of training, eh?" Amethyst said, taking a bite of the pizza herself.

"Ok, I admit, this is pretty good," Steven replied. They may have been relaxing a bit, but Amethyst still noticed that Steven had on his headband on.

"You know Steven, we're not training right now. You can lose the headband," Amethyst suggested, pointing to the headband in question. Steven paused for a moment, hand to his headband. In the end though, Steven shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay: it makes me feel motivated," Steven said. That had been his main excuse for keeping it on for so long, and with what they're trying to do Amethyst decided not to push on it much further (for now). There's good pizza to be had anyway. She took a few bites of the pizza before talking again.

"By the way, where'd you get the headband?"

"Oh, Ruby offered me a spare," Steven said.

"Ooohhh that's why it looks familiar! Knew I saw it somewhere before," Amethyst concluded. "Hey, can I try it on for a second? I wanna test something real quick."

"Excuse me?" Steven asked, suddenly looking less thrilled about the idea.

"Come on, just for a second," Amethyst insisted. Steven actually felt uneasy. Amethyst was more easy-going, or at least more "mature" than the other Gems. She took the whole Pink Diamond revelation better than everyone else did so should he tell her about the Grogar cut yet or no? He didn't have too much time there to get an answer, as Amethyst looked over something a bit closer.

"Hey. You got a little somethin there on your head," Amethyst said. Steven began to silently freak out, especially since Amethyst actually tried to move it out of the way. Steven got to his feet.

"I got to use the bathroom, Amethyst, I'll be right back," Steven quickly said. A bit of a sudden move, but Amethyst took it in stride (lucky him). It was probably to go and wash off that thing anyway

"Oh. Uh, ok," Amethyst said. As she sat back down to enjoy the pizza, Steven went right for Fishstew Pizza's restroom. The restroom in Fishstew Pizza wasn't actually public persay, there was only one bathroom with a lock on the door. Steven really didn't seem to mind that at all, and made sure the door was locked up tight. He just had to check. He listened once more to make sure no one was right there, before heading over to the bathroom mirror and going right on to take off the headband. It was one of the few times he could take it off.

"Dang it, it's still there," Steven said, his hand resting on the cut on his face. Steven stepped back from the mirror, starting to pace back and forth in the bathroom.

"What if I'm stuck like this? I can't keep up this headband thing forever," Steven stated, looking back to the headband, "Maybe I should -"

Steven suddenly stopped, as something began chatting away from his imagination. Particularly Grogar coming in from his mind to taunt him again.

Go on! Tell them! Let them know how much they should FEAR ME, my little stool pigeon!

"AUGH, curse my emotions! Why am I born so selfless?" Steven groaned, quickly waving away the imaginary Grogar from his head as he tried to work out something else.

"Ok, I can't tell them up front, not yet. But I can't keep my headband on forever, so … Wait, of course!"

Why didn't Steven think of this before? Steven opened his mouth, and gave his hand a good hearty lick, making sure there was more than enough of his healing spit to get the job done. If he can cure cracked Gems, maybe it can work for cracked humans too! Once he got a good one, he closed his one eye and slapped the spit right on his forehead, right on the cut! And …

Nothing. All it did was leave him with a wet forehead.

"Ok, Plan B. Plan B, plan B, what is Plan B? Maybe I can just wait. ... Yeah, I can wait until Grogar's finished, and by then it won't be as relevant! And Grogar can't use that against us, so double win," Steven concluded. It was a basic idea, but an effective one. Just hold out this cut until things were over. It can't be too hard, right?

"... Huh. So this is how mom felt," Steven realized, as he tied back on his headband. However, his confidence was quickly dropped by a level or two when he heard someone knocking on the door. And no, it wasn't Amethyst.

"Steven."

"Huh? Garnet?" Steven asked upon opening the door. Sure enough the fusion was standing there waiting for him, as Amethyst was finishing off what was supposed to be their meal. Garnet must've just shown up.

"Still keeping form, I see," Garnet pointed out, pointing to the headband. Steven just shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm growing attached to it. So what's up? You wanted some pizza too? I can order you some."

"No thanks. But I do want you to come with me for something before Jasper calls you away," Garnet said. Steven was about to question how that would be, but realized he didn't have to thanks to her future vision.

"Oh. Ok, sure. Sorry Amethyst, I gotta go handle something I don't have any idea about," Steven said. Amethyst shrugged about it, gulping down the meal. It wouldn't be the first time, but as Garnet and Steven left from there, Amethyst did begin to wonder a little bit, hand to chin and working her gears on that headband of his. 
Well, there's more than one way to figure it out, especially since she just noticed Lapis peering down from the roof …

…….

"So this is what you wanted me here for?"

He probably should've expected this himself, as he and Garnet looked on to a eerily familiar looking suburban home. As if he needed anymore reminders about where Connie was, or who it was effecting right now besides him. Garnet looked down to him.

"It's for the best, Steven: Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran don't even know what's going on, and I've been getting a lot of future visions lately how Grogar will use that against us. Or at least make them very ticked off at us," Garnet explained.

"So you want us to tell them first and get it over with," Steven concluded. Garnet nodded. Well, it only made sense really, but Steven felt a bit fifty fifty on it. Sure, it was best to tell them what's going on, but that would only make them fear Grogar - which as far as he knew was what Grogar wanted.

"You sure we can't just hold it off for now, u-until we get her back? I think it might scare them a bit too much if they find out about Connie," Steven asked humbly.

"THEY have more than the right to know. Come on, Steven. We all have to be brave about this," Garnet stated, walking over to their door. Steven just gave a quick sigh as he and Garnet met up by the door. Steven knew that she was right about this, more than anyone else.

"Right. Ok. Whatever happens, I'm here to help," Steven concluded.

"Good man."
Garnet and Steven took the front lines of this task, though Amethyst and Lapis Lazuli were keeping an eye on things from where they were, which at this point was a steakout on top of the next roof just across the street. Odds were that Garnet might know they were there, and it was nice to have at least some bit of backup in case things go south.

Garnet went on to knock on the door. Here goes nothing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran," stated Garnet, "This is Ms. Universe. Come on out."
At first nothing seemed to happen all that much, Steven feeling the anticipation start to get to him. He didn't want to spread around this news all that much if it meant scaring them again. He took a nervous glance over to Garnet, who simply needed to turn her head for Steven to look away from her, pretending that he wasn't silently pleading for this to not happen. Garnet though was no fool.

"You seem scared."

"W-Well. A little. I mean, what if Grogar wants us to tell them?"

"... "Wants us to"? Steven?" Garnet questioned. Steven tried to make it sound right.

"You know. I mean, think about it: he's scaring everybody, so, if we tell them this, maybe they'll fear him too. I-I mean uh, you know?" Steven was trying to keep together as best he could, especially with Garnet there. As misleading as it might sound, it would be something a tyrannical person like Grogar would try to do to keep himself on top. Steven may not be able to tell, but Garnet locked her gaze with Steven's headband for a brief moment. He had been wearing that a lot lately.

And then the door opened. Out stepped Doug Maheswaran.

"Oh, Ms. Universe," said Doug, "Been a while since you stopped by."

"Yes, it has. Is your wife home? I'd like to - … We'd like to discuss something with you," Garnet inquired. Steven now was put on the spot, but he had to be a brave boy about this. Doug was puzzled, but complied. He knew Garnet enough to know that something had to be important if she needed them both to take to.
Steven and Garnet were brought on inside, but only then did Amethyst and Lapis come out off of their rooftop, and fly in for a closer look. They both looked in from the front window (not creepy at all) and tried to keep a better eye on the situation. … Or at least they would've, until the door opened up again.

"You two can come in now," said Steven. He just managed to see them before getting into the house, so might as well.

"Oh, hey. We got your back," said Amethyst.

"Thanks guys."

It took a minute or two for things to set up in there. Sure enough, Priyanka was also with them. The Gems stood over in front of them both, and both parents sat down on the couch. Lapis and Amethyst were a bit new on what was going on, and while Garnet was sure this would be good in the long run, Steven still felt that this wasn't the best idea that Garnet came up with … not that he'll EVER say that aloud.
As for the Maheswarans, they were just waiting and expecting the worst. At least Priyanka was.

"Ok, we're all here. We're all ready. What is it you want to say, Garnet?" Priyanka asked, trying to look calm about it. And doing about as bad as Steven was at it. Since Steven seemed apprehensive about this, Garnet was the one who went forward first.

"You sure you're ready," Garnet inquired.

"YES! Yes, I'm ready as I'll ever be," Priyanka quickly stated.

"Clearly she's not," Amethyst quietly noted to Lapis. But despite that, Garnet went on anyway. She had to take a bit of a breath first.

"It's about your daughter," Garnet began. Already they can see the worry creep up on Priyanka and Doug on pure mention of her.

"Oh no, something happened to her didn't it? I knew I shouldn't have let her go with that giant tyrant!" Priyanka admitted.

"No, not White Diamond. But she is stuck on Homeworld," Garnet admitted, "Captured. … By Grogar."

"...…. Who?" the parents asked. Scared, sure, but the name did not ring any bells. For Garnet, this was a sigh of relief - Grogar didn't get to them yet, and twist the situation to his advantage. As for Steven, he wasn't gonna get a break, and Garnet actually ushered him to explain a little bit. Steven was reluctant, but he went on anyway.

"He's a ram from, I think is Equestria. He's very strong, very mean, and he's taken over Homeworld, and … has Connie. Corrupted. Right now," Steven managed to say. All the while trying not to put it in such a way that would make them both extremely scared. Unfortunately, they both already looked just that much to Steven's troubled state.

"Please don't freak out, please don't freak out, please don't freak out," Steven thought.

"... C-Connie … captured. And corrupted. Oh no, I-I … I … have a pillow?" Priyanka asked.

"Gotcha covered," Amethyst said, already shapeshifting into a pillow and getting in position right on the couch. Now, they expected Priyanka to lay down, or faint or something like that, Amethyst comforting and cushioning her head from banging the couch arm. … Instead, she grabbed Amethyst, and …

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Right into the pillow. They didn't hear much from that muffled screaming, but Amethyst got more than an earful, her looking like she just got electrocuted in the face before Priyanka took a deep breath, shock all over her face.

"You need another minute?" Steven asked humbly.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" one more scream into Amethyst got the rest out, and only then did Priyanka began to calm down, only a little bit. Amethyst morphed back to normal, her head still ringing from that scream in her ear.

"Ok. I'm good now," Priyanka said.

"How long was this going on?" Doug asked sternly.

"Since we got back?" Steven said sheepishly, "We've been trying to get a game plan going to get her back for days now."

"DAYS?!" Priyanka gasped.

"Steven," Amethyst hissed, Steven flustering and frustrated on his words. None of them want to scare them anymore than they had to. It was then that both of the parents turned to Garnet.

"Garnet, I remember you saying something about you seeing the future, right? What do you think, is she gonna come back?" Priyanka asked, pleading for a good answer. Garnet tried to calm down herself, and brought her hands to the side of her head, closing her eyes and trying to concentrate. What did the future hold for them right now? As she was doing this, Steven was silently pleading for her safety too.

"Well?"

"Don't rush me," Garnet simply stated. Future vision didn't need to be rushed through.

"... Don't worry, Ms. Maheswaran, we'll be able to get her out."

"But will we Garnet?" Steven suddenly blurted out, actually sounding impatient. Garnet, lucky for them, did nod.

"We will. But it's gonna take a while longer. Connie will have to be with Grogar for a bit longer before we can go in and get her out, her and Twilight both. That, and it might be a bit challenging to do with all of Grogar's army."

The truth sure hurt.

"... B-But you will get her back."

"Yes," Garnet simply said. That gave them a wave of relief to hear that, although all that other stuff did get them riled up. Steven sat down by Priyanka, who was leaning into Doug for some support.

"I'm very sorry. But I promise, we'll get her out and back home safe and sound," Steven reassured them, a hand on Priyanka's shoulder for some reassurance. Even if Garnet did make that clear, it still was painful to hear that Connie was going through this either way. Who knows what's going on over there right now?

"I should've never let her go," Priyanka muttered.

"I know. I know," Steven sighed.

…….

It took a few more minutes for the parents to calm down before the others decide to head off on their way from there. They told them what they needed to know, so there wasn't too much of a reason for an extended stay. Steven of course was the last to leave, giving his goodbye and a bit more reassurance before they began to head off back home.

"They took that better than I thought," Steven admitted.

"Yeah, but at least they know what's going on now, right Amethyst?" Lapis asked. Amethyst didn't respond right away, but did know someone said something.

"Give me a minute, my head's still ringing," Amethyst said, picking at her "clogged" ear to try and hear a bit better. They can't blame her after Priyanka's screaming.

"Well, Steven, I say you handled that pretty well yourself," Garnet stated, smiling to him. Steven rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, thanks," Steven replied. He didn't think about it, but his hand was rubbing his cut again, moving the headband just a tiny bit. It wasn't enough to make any big revelation, but the keen-eyed Garnet did begin to sense that there was something else going on here. Something Steven wasn't telling them ...

"You did seem stressed about it though. Something's bothering you," Garnet stated, making Steven a little humbled. Leave it to Garnet to work it out for them. The group eventually stopped over by the next street corner.

"Ok, maybe I am a bit stressed, but can you blame me? I didn't want Connie's mom and dad so scared of Grogar."

"That isn't what I meant," Garnet stated. Lapis and Amethyst were beginning to put the pieces together.

"It's not?" Did she know about the cut on his head? Steven wasn't too sure, but he can't have Grogar get his way. He will NOT let him strike fear into them, not if he could help it. That, and there's a lot of other material to work with too.

"I've got a lot of pressure ok? Connie's stuck on Homeworld, and I can't even get her right now. I know we can't but, I want her safe!" Steven insisted. A common fact, and his main reason for training to fight in the first place. Even so, Garnet still pondered a bit. She knew Steven.

"Is that all?"

"I-Isn't that enough?"

"Steven," Garnet stated. Steven clammed up a little.

"Alright, I'm worried about Twilight too. She must be Twilighting so much in there, I can't even think about it," Steven admitted.

"Twilighting? When did you make her a verb?" Amethyst asked. But that really wasn't an important question.

"Anything else?" Garnet inquired. Steven groaned a little bit.

"Uh … Home? World?"

… Garnet didn't say anything that time, but the tone in that voice finally began to show everyone that there was a third thing, if not a fourth thing. Steven was getting tired of it, and actually getting frustrated again.

"What do you want me to say? I'm worried about a lot of things right now, ok?" Steven stated. Garnet decided to tackle the problem.

"Steven, for the last few days you've been acting a lot more tense and stern with training. I know the look: you're not just beating up Bismuth's targets to get stronger. You're doing it to get rid of stress."

"Yeah?" Steven said, turning his gaze away.

"So, it's not like you to be that stressed about something. Especially if it means beating something up. Even White Diamond didn't make you this angry."

"You know, now that you say it, the most stressed you were to go that far is when you threw your phone at the couch."

"W-Well she didn't corrupt Connie and defeated the Diamond Authority! Kind of! Grogar's terrible, and he laughed at my face when -" Steven suddenly caught himself. He almost slipped up there about the headband. A bit of a quick reaction, but that only dug a deeper hole for him. Now everyone was sure something else was wrong here.

"When …?"

Steven kept his mouth shut.

"Dude, you can tell us anything," Amethyst reassured, hand on his shoulder, "We're all family here."

"I … I uh ……. Oh, Jasper!"

"Steven, that joke's as old as me," Amethyst said.

"So I'm a joke?"

And nevermind. Garnet, Lapis, and Amethyst turned and there was Jasper walking over to them. Garnet did mention that Jasper would call Steven away on the next mission Steven, hating himself all the while, managed to break away and go right up to his mentor as if they weren't in a deep moment of revealing things.

"Jasper."

"Garnet. So are you done with these two? I went to Canterlot already, and they said you'd be doing this with them," Jasper asked, pointing to Steven and Amethyst. Before Garnet could speak, Steven chimed in, standing tall and in salute.

"Private Steven ready and willing, mam!" Steven stated.

"What the heck?" Amethyst whispered. Jasper didn't know what was going on, but training waited for no one.

"That's my soldier. Let's go," Jasper instructed, pulling out her portal key (which was how she got there in the first place), and getting a door opened up for them to get on their way. Steven didn't hesitate the moment that door opened, and was the first to jump in before any of them could get a word in edge wise. Jasper looked to the other three, seeing a lot of trouble expressions.

"Don't tell me."

"We won't. … But what did you have in mind for this training session?" inquired Lapis.


~~~~~~


They found out soon enough.

As the four caught up with Steven on the other side of that portal, they found themselves away from Beach City entirely, and over instead by the Celestial Lake. They hadn't been here since they told those campfire stories a year back, and just as before it looked as pristine and natural as ever. An interesting spot for their next training session, but whatever it was, it was probably good that Lapis was there (being water elemental and all).
The rest of the troops were also there, at full strength this time after Emerald and Peridot got healed up and better suited again, and the crowd was a bit bigger too with a better mix of Equestrian (Starlight, AJ, RD, Flutters, and Rarity) and Crystalline members (Star Quartz, Fluorite, Padparadscha, Pearl, and Diopside) along the sidelines.

"Alright, soldiers! We've been seeing a LOT of improvement with everyone, and I gotta say you're doing great. But now it's time to kick it up a notch," Bismuth informed.

"You weren't before?" Rhodonite asked. They decided not to answer that question.

"So what challenge are we going to do now?" asked left Rutile.

"Does it involve carrying anything else again?" added right Rutile.

"Or maybe more exercising?" left Rutile added.

"Both of those are good, but nope," Applejack said, "Speaking as a farmer, I can tell ya you got to deal with lots of different critters everyday. Pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, and not to mention lots of them varmints trying to get an easy meal."

"Uh. Sure, but what does "varmints" and "farms" got to do with anything?" Peridot asked. Then Jasper actually brought out a couple of bubbled Gemstones. She didn't mean too, but Steven felt a shiver remembering another bubbled gem from not too long back, as AJ explained further.

"Not farms, but varmints," Bismuth stated.

"Grogar's got a lot of different critters, as we saw, so we need to fight different varmints. We're gonna be tossin' different gems out, each one different, and you're gonna have to work out what they do and how to beat them. That about sum it up?"

"So in other words: we have to adapt our fighting strategies for each different enemy, as no two fights are the same," Peridot concluded.

"You got it, sugarcube."

"Uh, these aren't "hard" gems right? I'm not in the mood for getting split," Emerald asked.

"Of course, otherwise it wouldn't be training. Need some challenge am I right?" Bismuth said jokingly. Slightly tactless, but Bismuth wouldn't be placing them in fatal or lethal situations. Besides, they've faced WAY MORE than their fare share of corrupted Gems before, and these were just a few of hundreds at this point.

"Alright, show us what you got!" Amethyst said.

And indeed they did. Jasper, poking through the bubble with her finger, tossed out the first Gem out onto the battlefield, which quickly reformed fast and soon began to reveal itself before the combatants. The corrupted Gem this time was fairly large and bulbous, as many corrupted Gems in comparison seem to end up being. The whole creature itself looked amphibious almost, large enough to make them look like cats compared to a human. It had a set of horns along its eyelids that curved back for ramming power, and colored a shade of yellow. It looked, in essence, like a mix between a tree frog and a horned frog, with a gecko tongue as it licked one of its eyes.

"... A frog?" Steven asked. This just made Peridot, Emerald, and even Amethyst laugh.

"You call that a challenge?" Peridot asked smugly.

"Well clock it then! And NO WEAPONRY," reminded Rainbow Dash.

"HA! No problem. Amethyst, care to join me?" Peridot said, fist ready.

"Gladly," Amethyst replied, going in first alongside Peridot, both giving a war cry as they charge right for the frog monster, who meanwhile was just … sitting there. Unfazed by the oncoming attackers. With their combined power, it would be enough to send many a corrupted Gems off its feet, or poof right away in case of smaller ones. But striking the frog however was like punching Smoky Quartz's belly: it made the frog jiggle … but that's it. If anything, the frog simply made a croaking sound, making them both vibrate from that alone.

"Ok, is this thing gonna do anything? I can't take a fight seriously," Peridot inquired, distracted just for a brief moment. As she pointed to said frog during her talk, suddenly that same tongue shot out, grabbed her, and next thing she knew she was right in the frog's mouth! The horned frog didn't swallow her, but it did give her a bit of a washdown before spitting her back out like someone would spit out a watermelon seed.

"Peridot!" Steven gasped.

"Me and my big mouth," Peridot shuttered. Only for the frog to suddenly hop, the ground shaking from just the jump, and nearly crush Peridot underneath her! Steven pulled Peridot out of the way before the frog could get her. It was a quick dodge, but now they had to take this a bit more seriously.

"Ok, what do we got here? Very large, horns, has a long tongue," Steven pondered, trying to get all the details with this monster. Physically was easy enough, but the frog wasn't just gonna stand still anymore, and shot her tongue out right at them. Steven jumped aside quickly, the frog getting hold of a nearby clump of dirt before getting it into her mouth. Some swishing later, and it came out as mud, covering Steven from head to toe.

"Yep, it can shoot," Steven concluded. The frog hopped to him, just for the Rutile Twins to grab him and bolt aside before he could get stomped on.

"HIYAA!" Peridot jumped in and managed to get a good kick onto the frog's face, making her grumble a little bit but not hurt too much. The frog did try to bite her, but Peridot wasn't gonna go through the same thing twice, jumping left to right to dodge the tongue.

"Ok. Ok, we need to find a weakness here. Anyone see anything?" left Rutile asked.

"I don't know, that girl's thick! we can't just punch her and make it work," Emerald said, as they felt the frog hopping towards them. The frog opened its mouth once more for a strike, this time Amethyst taking the hit for Rhodonite and with a yelp, getting herself stuck inside the frog's mouth.

"Don't you even think about eating her!" Steven called, jumping up to the mouth and grabbing Amethyst by her legs. The frog shook around the two for a bit, but the teachers noticed that the others were just standing and watching. Time to upper the scales.

"Another one behind you!" called Rainbow, bucking another gemstone out onto the battlefield behind the group, it too reforming fairly quickly.
This time the corrupted Gem appeared less amphibian and more insectoid. Six large and powerful legs, each ending in a spear-like foot. The back was covered in spines like a porcupine, all glistening a bright sky blue tint to it. The head appeared moreso like that of a sabre-tooth cat than any bug however, including the large set of curved fangs below it. It only had one eye, which targeted them all like the seeing lens of a sniper rifle.

"Alright, pussycat, what do you got?" Fulgurite asked. The spiked monster gladly showed them, and gave a loud cat-like roar before some of the spikes off of its back shot right upward, like sets of missiles. And just as explosive when they struck the ground at them. Fulgurite handled this part fine with her whip-like hair slashing away at many of the spikes. Each explosion left a chilly cloud, blocking sight briefly before the spiked monster leaped out, and actually got Fulgurite pinned!

"Steven, Amethyst!" called Rhodonite. Steven, who was still struggling with Amethyst inside the frog's mouth, looked over and saw the other monster closing in.

"Hang on, we're coming!" Steven shouted, before finally they got out of the frog's grip. Amethyst was fine, but her hair was standing up in a single point, almost like a pine come, and swirled a bit as if she stuck her head in the washing machine.

"Good news. she doesn't have any teeth. And hey, she cleaned out my ear," Amethyst said.

"Great, now come on, we can help them now," Steven said, helping Amethyst to her feet. The frog gave a loud croak, which caught the attention of the others nearby, not to mention the spiked monster.

"Not if we get crushed!" Amethyst said, before she and Steven scattered from another crushing jump from the frog monster. The ground shook up like crazy, which while the others were losing some balance, the spiked monster had no such problem with all of its legs, and regrew the spikes for another round.

"You think is a bit excessive, guys?" asked Lapis.

"Safe enough," Jasper replied, unfazed as a explosion nearly got them as well.

"Oh my," muttered Fluttershy.

The frog and spiked monster were going all in on the group of trainees, either sending spikes and (as it turned out) rolling attacks, or water balls and crushing body slams. Now they all had to watch out for two monsters trying to clobber them to the dirt.

"How're you holding up?" Steven asked at a point.

"Oh, I'm fine sport, right as rain. This is quite the intense fight," Emerald said. Unfortunately, it was just loud enough to be heard by the mentors nearby, and …

"EYES TO THE SKY," shouted Bismuth, sending another gem high into the air with a swing of her hammer arm. THIS one had more hangtime, and reformed high in the air.
Now the playing field was getting a more hectic, as everyone tried to go and scatter from the oncoming creature. THIS one was an aerial predator in its own right, a giant saurian flapper. The creature was a mixture of the movie Pteranodon with the feathers lining it like a peacock, even including the eyed tail feathers (which for this case were actually seven real eyes).

"COME ON! You gotta be kidding me, man!" Rhodonite shouted.

"Just go with the flow, remember?" Amethyst reminded. And they all had to now. The bird, high up in the air and out of reach for much of them, went in for a fast dive, wings folded back into a falcon dive with its head sharpened for a slice. The group had to split up there, half going to the spiked monster, and half going to the frog monster.

"Ok, ok uh … big cat with shooting spikes. Fast bird with a sharp head. And frog with water bombs. Oh geez, think of something," Steven wondered, all the while trying to avoid the onslaught of attack at the same time.

"Look out!" Peridot managed to tackle Steven away as the bird released a number of feathers down at them. These feathers stuck to the ground briefly before they flashed away in light, and reappeared on the bird's tail (they were its eyes after all). The bird landed down nearby them, and the feathered dinosaur rammed its head into the ground, splitting away Peridot and Steven while cutting into the ground. Everyone else was fighting their own fight with either the spiked monster or feathered dinosaur, but for the brief moment Steven was stuck by himself in the fight. Himself, and with the frog monster signaling him out. The large amphibious Gem started to make its charge at him, mouth wide open, head lowered for the horns, and running in a manor more like a rabbit than a bounding frog.

Those eyes. … Those curved horns. …

…

*SCREEEE*

"Steven?!" gasped Amethyst.

But it wasn't Steven. Not exactly. Something went off in Steven's head when seeing those details and ever so briefly he didn't see a corrupted Gem. But someone else. And that someone else made him go all in: jumping on the frog's head and his feet getting into its eyes! This actually didn't damage the eyes at all, but it did freak the frog out, and she tried like mad to buck Steven off of her head, screeching like mad.
Steven held on tight, gripping one horn with all of his diamond might, refusing to let go as he kept fighting back against the frog. In the mad bucking, everyone else had to scatter as the spiked monster got a strong frog kick, sending it into the trees as another one just clipped the bird. This being a frog, the bucking was extremely powerful, enough to poof the two other Gems with them.

"WHOA! Steven used her against everyone else. Way da go, Steven! … Steven?"

Steven didn't get off. He kept fighting. The others tried calling for him to get off, but Steven was too caught up to even listen, as the frog made a giant leap right into the lake!

"Steven!" Lapis gasped, almost immediately flying towards the water to try and get to him.

*POOOF*

A huge splash blasted from the lake onto the shore, it being enough to wash over practically everyone there. A large bubble too was just seen from the water's surface, popping off into a very similar sort of cloud. A cloud that signified a Gem poofing. Everyone looked on to the water as Jasper got the other two Gems bubbled and back into the temple again, waiting to see what had become of either Steven or the frog monster.

*GASP*

Steven finally broke the surface. Tired, and shockingly, triumphant. He went back to shore after that, his gaze down to his feet, cold from the water and with a stray gemstone in his hand from the frog he just defeated.

"Whoa, dude, what did you do down there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Then Steven lifted his gaze.

Something was beyond wrong. This was not the happy, caring Steven face they saw for that brief moment. This Steven's eyes shown anger, hatred almost, and his heavy breathing turned into almost a strain growl. He looked ready to jump and attack the closest thing by him. This was so not him, and it scared almost everyone.

"Steven … what happened?" Lapis asked, her voice hushed.

Steven eventually got his normal look back, a more gentler smile on his face, but the others were still left staring at him.

"Here. I … I got it," he panted, "Here you go. MAM."

No one answered him as he tossed the gemstone out. Eventually, it was Garnet who went over to him, down on her knees, and hands on his shoulders. Her shades fell off her face once she did that, showing Steven the look of a worried mother.

"Steven. Where'd you get that?" Garnet suddenly asked.

"Get what? I got -" Steven rested his hand on his forehead, and suddenly realized what happened. The second reason why everyone was so taken aback, and why Garnet looked so worried. Scared, he spun around, and all the evidence he needed to see was the headband floating in the water.

They all saw his cut.

"What happened, Steven?" Lapis asked. Steven turned back, his mind trying to get an idea as emotions began to come around.

"I … I … that corrupted Gem - … oh …"

"Steven, this did not just happen. Tell me. ... Please."

Steven clammed up and kept his gaze down. But the more the seconds ticked by, the more he felt that they were closing in on him almost with their stares. They all want to know what happened to him.

"Steven? …"

He got himself going back into the water, fetching his headband. After wringing it out, instead of tying it to his forehead, he used it as a blindfold and covered his eyes. At least here he can say he's not telling this to them and telling it to a mirror or something.

"What're you doing?" Fulgurite asked.

"Covering my eyes. I don't want to see how much he's scaring you."

"He? … Oh no, Steven, he did not!" Fulgurite already got two and two together, but Steven just gathered the courage he had left, and went on talking.

"Remember that night you told me not to go outside? … Well I ended up out there. Well, not me me, but I was made to go outside. Grogar got into my room, and wanted to see what'll happen if I was outside … so he threw me out there. We talked for a bit, and I kept telling him that this wasn't his home."

Tears started to come up.

"But then he kept mocking me: telling me how I left Connie behind, and Pink Pearl behind back on Homeworld, and how it was all my fault everything happened in the first place. … A-And that I can't ever stop him. And then he attacked me."

"Steven, why didn't you say anything?" asked Pearl.

"Because he wants me to tell you. Guys, he attacked me and left me cut open, but he kept me alive! Why else would he do that other than to make sure everyone's scared of him?" Steven replied. He still wasn't sure if it was Grogar who did put him back in bed or not, but all the clues fit.

Everyone was quiet. Comprehending exactly what kind of scene Steven had gotten himself involved in. Steven really was hoping that this did not make any of them truly fear Grogar, as he would have it, but he didn't entirely see fear in everyone's face. Concerned more likely.

Garnet stood upright slowly.

"... He already knew. ……. He. Knew. ..."

"Are you okay, Garnet?" Fluttershy humbly asked. Garnet didn't answer, but both fists were clenched tight. How could Grogar know of a future vision she saw?

She then turned to the crowd.

"Listen up! We got our first step, and we have to get it done now! We must know where he's learning from."
> Moles in the Burrow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Steven! … Starlight! Anypony!"

Twilight continued running through the darkened world. Not a single sight of anything around her. Not a bit of fur, hair, skin, or shard to be seen except for herself, trying to find her way around through the darkness of it all. Her voice carried on through the air like a ghost, her hooves rushing on through the non-existent ground. The only thing that existed were the many tunnels that twisted and turned to what felt like nowhere. Even if it seemed too disorientating, Twilight continued on. She knew ONE of them had to get out. One HAD to reach outside of the Deep Underground, out of Homeworld, A WAY BACK HOME.

"Come on, it's gotta be close," Twilight said to herself. There was no one else to hear her as she struggled on around for a while longer. But as she tried galloping along, something began pulling her by the tail. Harder, and harder. …

...

"WAKE! UP!"

Twilight bolted back onto her hooves in a startle. She was seeing a set of Grogar's guards opening her cell within the Deep Underground. The large guard, which looked like a large bear, waited for Twilight to move on out of her cell. She kept her groans to herself, her hoof stomping the ground briefly.

"Finally. Come out of there, you're wanted," the bear instructed, his large paw waving her to do so. Twilight needed to regather herself from the bear's bellows moments before, before getting herself onto her four hooves again. She wasn't too impressed or intimidated by the guards, and she simply walked out of her cell. She began to see herself on her way, but the bear grabbed her by the head and spun her around.

"This way."

"Isn't it time for our hour in the yard? The trail to that's over this way," Twilight questioned. The bear growled.

"I KNOW where the yard is! Captain Nichrome wants to see you THAT way. And he wants to see you."

"I'm sure he would," Twilight sighed, not looking forward to seeing Nichrome. The bear though gave Twilight a strong hit to the head, knocking her almost off the path, and into the abyss by her cell.

"Don't give me anymore backtalk, or I'll send you over the cliff!"

"OK, fine," Twilight groaned. It was just another reminder how much power they got compared to her right now. If she had her magic properly, she'd make short work of them here, but can't work magic without a horn. The bear huffed, wanting to hit her again, as the second guard (another bear) went over to him. Twilight continued going, but did catch a bit of what the bears were talking about as she did so.

"For Ursa's sake, why can't she just accept her place and stop acting so "high and mighty" already?" The first bear guard groaned.

"She is the ruler of Equestria, don't you know?" noted the second bear.

"NO, I don't know. And even if she is, so what?"

"Boss mentioned that she's gone through more crazy stuff than your typical horse. So she's gonna be a bit harder to crack."

"She'll crack. Either her skull or her spirit, whichever comes first."

That last part made Twilight feel uneasy, the bears following her to make sure she didn't try anything fancy. She glanced up to the many holes of the Supreme Kindergarten, seeing other Gems locked up and watching her go on her way, Twilight giving a look of reassurance to each and every single one of them. They all will be free from Grogar, one way or another.

"What are you looking at?!" one of the bears snapped. 

"Just seeing the other prisoners," Twilight stated.

"Said who? Get moving!" Twilight huffed, and just looked ahead again, picking up the pace.

"I hope you're thinking of something soon guys. Or there won't be any Homeworld to save," Twilight thought. Only to get forced along by one of the bears.

"I said move, we don't have all day!"

"OKAY already, geez!" Twilight said, picking up pace again.

…….

Laying there, quiet and troubled, Twilight Sparkle was waiting for what these creatures had for her next. The guards forced her into this room, making sure her wings were left incapable of her flying (AKA tied up tight). Not that she would try to make a fly for it now anyway, a number of guards around itching and ready to jump her at a moments notice. And she knew what they were capable of without her magic to be used at her disposal here. The room though was not the throne room this time, nor the execution chamber, or the deep underground. Instead, this room actually looked a bit new to her, recently made perhaps, with a very long outlook from the window looking on throughout all of Tambalon. And in this room, she was not alone but lucky (or maybe unlucky) for her, Grogar wasn't the one who was there to see her. But he was just as manipulative with words as the king himself, and maybe even just as spiteful in recent days.

"Hello there, Twilight Sparkle. Are the guards treating you well?" asked the spite-filled, yet eerily calm voice. Twilight looked around for a little bit more, and soon she found "good ol'" Nichrome not too far away. As he did with Connie earlier, his front feet were pushing around some stray stones in front of him out of boredom, telling Twilight that he'd been waiting for quite some time.

"I'm fine," Twilight simply stated, sitting down on the ground. Nichrome kept his gaze away from her for a minute or two, the same way he confronted Connie earlier.

"And uh, your horn. It's not too much trouble for you, isn't it? Not being able to use any of your "friendship" magic," Nichrome inquired. Twilight turned away.

"I haven't gotten out yet. What do you think?" Twilight stated. Nichrome snickered, turning around to face her.

"Ah, good ol' Twilight. Defiant, even in shadow of one that can have her throat out," Nichrome hissed. Twilight Tried to keep a better head, but Nichrome could tell that it did give her goosebumps. It was amazing just how different so many of these creatures were to Equestria, especially when it came to morality.

"Do you even hear yourself? I mean, what kind of person actually enjoys killing anyway?" Twilight questioned, as Nichrome walked towards her.

"Oh, but I don't enjoy killing, I enjoy breaking. There is a difference you know," Nichrome pointed out. Twilight didn't believe him, not trusting this alien tar creature for the life of her. Even if he did have all the freedom to take said life if he so wanted to.

"You're NOT going to win, Nichrome. Not you, not Grogar, not any of you here. I can promise you that."

"Can you now? Well then maybe you can promise something else for me?"

"Like what?" Twilight huffed. Nichrome moved in close, eye to eye with the ruler of all of Equestria as of current.

"... I do want to point out something first. I actually want to say how impressed I am of you defying Grogar, even at the one chance to return home and out of his hooves. Such pride and devotion to your friends -"

"What're you getting at?" Twilight questioned, making sure nichrome wasn't closer than he needed to be.

"We kept you alive, princess, because we see value in you. All those Gems out there, and all the ponies in your world respect you. … I respect you. … And I want you to work for me. Being a captain and all the title."

"Figures. You want me to become a spy and ditch my friends, right Nichrome?"

"You use words like "spy" and "ditching", but what you'll actually be doing is securing the safety of your friends and family. You can be the one that reassures they have good conditions, plenty of resources, and happy lives."
On the surface that didn't sound too bad, but HOW that's achieved is very important, and Twilight wasn't up for any of it. She was ready to speak, but nichrome raised his own "hoof".

"Let me finish," Nichrome cut in, his hissing tone actually stopping Twilight's "dramatic" speech. "... You think it now, but I'm willing to let you reconsider the option in the next three days. And do know. Twilight Sparkle. That if you were to refuse … You will be sentenced to death."

"You know how "cliché" this all sounds, right?" Twilight questioned.

"Excuse me?"

"You can sit there, and try to tear me down all you want. But Me and my friends had faced villains again, and again, and again, and even when the whole world seems against us we always come out in the end. My friends saved the world more time than you know, and compared to what we faced. Nichrome. All you are is a Sombra wannabe from a mediocre fanfiction piece."

"WHY YOU LITTLE -" and Nichrome jumped her almost immediately. Even if he was weaker than the other guards, Twilight figuring that out just by feeling the hooves pressing her down, but it was just strong enough to keep her still as Nichrome's black tar-like skin began tp push her head down.

"I know you think of escaping, my alicorn, and you know what, I hope you do. Because I want to be the one to catch you, and believe in me I'll make you scream for your sun goddess Celestia, but SHE'LL BE A LONG TIME COMING!"

"That's enough, Nichrome!"

Before Nichrome could force anymore life out of her, another Captain Tempest came out from a nearby passage, just seeing the alien pinning the Alicorn down. She didn't look too impressed with the situation, but not in the same way as her friends would see it either. Reluctantly, Nichrome got off of Twilight, letting her get back to her hooves.

"Thank your lucky stars, you mule," Nichrome hissed. Tempest cleared her throat, and Nichrome stepped aside. For a moment, she and Twilight simply looked at eachother. A pair of broken horned magical horses, both stuck in the same place with the same problem.

"Send her back to her mark guards, I think she's got the message," Tempest instructed. The guards eventually came in in the form of the storm creatures, and Nichrome stepped aside to let them get her. Briefly the two were side by side.

"Thanks for the save," Twilight whispered.

"Welcome," Tempest whispered back. With that said and done, Twilight was escorted out, leaving a brief moment with Nichrome and Tempest. Tempest Shadow was alright and all, but Nichrome still was fuming from that insult.

"A Sombra wannabe? PAH! Just you watch me, Tempest, I'll make that troublemaker donkey quiver at the sight of -"

"Treat anything like that again. And you'll face me," Tempest suddenly cut in, anger filling her tone and a killer look to her eyes. "We're soldiers, not mad dogs!"

Even if Tempest was a rank underneath Nichrome, that was more than enough to put Nichrome in his place. Tempest Shadow went off, and Nichrome glanced over back towards where Twilight Sparkle had gone off. All he just did was roll his beady eyes.

"Stupid mule. Thinks she can beat us just because she and her friends already -"

Suddenly Nichrome got an idea. An awful idea. ... He got a wonderfully sinister idea.

"That might work."


~~~~~~


Three Guards. One table. A smaller, fairly empty room of Canterlot Castle. Four "officers". THAT was the main set up of the setting that was currently underway, as a number of the group was under interrogation. The trio of guards, each for Celestia's day guard patrol, looked around the room for a bit more until someone began to move out from the dark.

"Afternoon, stallions. I'm sure you three have a busy schedule on your hooves, but we just have a few questions for you. So soon as we get things cleared up -"

"We don't have all day Rarity, let's get on with it," Fulgurite cut in. The four officers today, (as it turned out) were Rarity, Fulgurite, Steven (on break from training), and a sort of fourth figure still in the shadows. They all knew the drill at this point, and there wasn't a need for such a big dramatic buildup here. Rarity ushered to Steven, as he checked a notebook he had on hand.

"Anyways," Steven continued, "So, you three were from the main guards under Celestia's wing?"

"We've been put there about four weeks ago by Captain Flash himself, yes, all working within the left wing," one of the Guards explained matter-of-factly. Steven jotted it all down in some notes nearby.

"I see. … Fulgurite, if you would," Rarity said.

"Wait, wait, do we have to do it this time?" Steven asked suddenly. However, Fulgurite was already on it, going behind them all and getting two strands each for each pony. Call it a security measure just in case somepony got a bit out of order.

"It's just a little shock Steven, to make sure no one's lying. We did this to over half the guard so far," Fulgurite said.

"I know, but please don't shock them too much this time? The last third guy you left with a burnt mane," Steven pointed out, which did worry the trio of guards slightly.

"He called my hair a bunch of cables, give me a break," Fulgurite retorted. Though admittedly, they were functioning in the same way as a lie-detector's wires would.

"Well, I can assure you, we have no reason to lie if it's under orders of the princesses," one of the guards reassured, the other two agreeing. Fulgurite looked suspiciously at them, knowing well she can just zap em at anytime. Then she snapped her fingers for another to come over out of the dark, this time one that made the guards themselves uneasy. And in a way, so did the other figure coming out, especially when they found out what he was.

"Changeling!"

"Don't be alarmed, he's with us," Rarity said.

"You sure about that? I-I mean … that's a Changeling!"

"But he's the best here," said Steven, "He can catch anypony lying no matter who it is, and knows more about deception than anyone else."

"Well, you kind of catch on when growing up in a Changeling Hive," Thorax said humbly, smiling as he rubbed the back of his head. The guards looked to one another, and all they could do was just go along with it. They could probably guess what this interrogation would be about anyway.

"Where were you three on the night that Twilight went missing?" Rarity inquired.

"We were here, guarding the main entrance hallway like we were supposed to do," the guard replied. He didn't look like he was lying to Thorax, and Steven continued jotting it down.

"A likely story," said Fulgurite.

"Hey, we were at our post the entire day and night following. All information we've gotten was that Twilight had a meeting on Homeworld, and we were to keep ourselves put for anything suspicious. We made sure no one got in, or out, of that hallway," the guard firmly stated, hooves crossed, confident in his words. Thorax paused and looked at him closely for any signs of a fib or lie, but eventually she shook his head.

"He looks like he's telling the truth," Thorax said.

"Okay, writing," Steven said, writing it down quick as Rarity continued.

"Very well. Now, does the name "Tempest Shadow" ring any bells? The same pony that turned the guards?" Rarity inquired.

"Who?"

"She's a unicorn that made two of the guards betray Canterlot. All that we know is that she promised something to them and … that's it," Steven explained, "You three know anything about that?"

The guards looked to one another for a moment, but unfortunately they shook their heads.

"Not really. All we know is that there were a set of guards that gave Twilight sparkle tasks to keep up with Celestia's work. They'll look up what work is to be done, and then report it in to Twilight herself."

"Man, that's the twelfth time they said that," Steven sighed, but he wrote it down anyway. It seemed regardless of what ranking, the end result was the same.

"You sure there isn't anything different any of you noticed? Like someone acting weird, someone new showing up, or someone not hanging out with everyone else, or something?" Steven asked, once finished. Thorax and Fulgurite waited a bit for an answer out of any of them, and while two of the guards didn't really say anything much, there was an answer from the middle guard after thinking a bit on the hooves.

"Hmm ……. well, there was something that happened a couple nights ago that did seem strange. Not bad, but, strange."

"Finally we're getting somewhere," Fulgurite said, "Well, what is it?"

"Well, as you can imagine being on guard duty all the time is … well, boring. Especially when you're just standing by a door all day and just counting the tiles and bolts all day long."

"How many bolts?" Steven asked, wanting to test that theory.

"I've counted all 345 bolts in the ceiling tiles 293 times," the guard said, and he said this without delay as if the fact was as plain as morning coffee. They turned to Thorax for some recognition, and he actually looked surprised.

"Really? 345 bolts?"

"Four per tile, with at least five bolts with the tiles holding the pillars up."

"... Huh. Wow. No lying there either," Thorax concluded, which admittedly surprised him as much as it did Steven. Steven jotted down the numbers.

"So what happened on that night that seemed off exactly?" Rarity asked.

"Well since we're being honest. And probably your Changeling would probably figure it out anyway. We had felt that we're not given enough recognition for what we do, except on that night when somepony was nice enough to leave a cake for us. ... So we did take one little break to eat that cake."

THIS was getting interesting, and no lies were out just yet. Steven decided to go in on this one.

"What kind of cake was it?"

"Cherry with a custard filling."

"Was it chocolate or vanilla frosting?"

"Vanilla."

"How was it decorated with flowers or roses?"

"Rosettes, and they were buttercream."

"UGH, who cares how the cake was decorated?! Look, did any of you see who was with Twilight when she left for Homeworld, or not?" Fulgurite said, cutting to the chase.

"No. As we've said, we only got word of it and were told to stay at our post, we didn't see exactly who left with her on the night she left," the guard concluded. There was a bit of a pause, Thorax checking each of the guards briefly before shaking his head.

"They're clean."

"Oh. Ok, you three can go," Steven said.

Again, no luck. Whoever the two guards were, they were avoiding them very well. Given the greenlight to leave, all three of the royal guard went off back to work, leaving admittedly four rather disgruntled detectives with barely much to go off of (again) except for a cake. Soon as the guards were gone, a groan was easily shared with them as they began to go.

"How hard is this? We've been at this with thirty guards, and all we got is "OH, we just got word of it, and we just stood there all day"," Fulgurite groaned.

"Hey, that's not true," Steven insisted, as he showed his notes on the cake, "We actually got something from those three; why would somepony just drop off a cake on a whim like that? Especially one that Pinkie Pie didn't know about?"

"Uh huh. Steven. My man. What does a cake have to do with Grogar, Tempest, or Twilight?" Fulgurite asked, eyebrow raised.

"I might have to go with her on this one," added Thorax, not sure what it would mean himself. Rarity checked out the notes herself, but unlike the other two she had a more decent idea in mind when it came to this case.

"Now, now, don't discount any evidence. As Shadow Spade always states "Even the smallest of bread crumbs can lead you on the right trail," Rarity noted out, the quote of hers with a bit of her dramatic flare to it. Fulgurite and Thorax both barely had any real idea about Shadow Spade, only recalling her from some detective's book that Rarity was into. It was possibly why she got involved in the interrogations in the first place.

"And besides, the guards said they got this just before Twilight got taken away, so maybe if we go and find out who made it ... eh? Anyone? Anyone?"

"Uh ... we can find out who made the order?" Thorax asked.

"Exactly! None of those guards did it, so who did? Cakes don't just pop out of thin air unless you can use magic," Steven concluded. It was still a stretch, but Fulgurite just shrugged.

"Eh, Steven's thinkin," Fulgurite shrugged, "Right now it's all we have anyway. Come on, let's see if Pinkie Pie can figure out where that cake came from."
Fulgurite and Thorax strolled off down the hall to do just that, leaving Rarity and Steven for a moment. As they went, Rarity turned and saw the particular cut still on Steven's face. It wasn't as prominent as before, but there still was a tiny bit left either way.

"Well, Steven, may I be the first to say that you've surely been holding yourself up better," said Rarity. Steven brought his hand to the cut on his head, knowing well what she meant by that.

"Yeah, it's not so fun when you gotta keep a secret like this from everyone. I'm just glad you're all not so scared over this," Steven admitted. Rarity smiled.

"True, but as they say "the truth is always better than a well meant lie". And, I think it's starting to fade away a bit. You can hardly tell it's even there now," Rarity noted, looking closer at the cut herself.

"You really think so?"

"Most definitely. I'd give that another week before it's gone for good," Rarity reassured. Steven surely hoped so, smiling to himself as he went along. The sooner he can go on and leave that cut behind the better. For a moment, Steven sighed in relief, but this moment of relaxing was cut short almost right away when he suddenly felt something touch his shoulder from behind.

"HI Steven -"

"HIYAA!" Just like that, Steven quickly grabbed whatever it was behind him, and swung it forward. The following slam caught Rarity's attention, along with Thorax and Fulgurite, and they all came back only to find -

"Hehehehe! Again!"

Pinkie. Well that was embarrassing, but at least Steven didn't hurt anyone too bad. He released Pinkie Pie's hoof, red in the face as Pinkie spun up and onto her own hooves.

"Sorry about that. You kinda startled me," Steven said.

"Of course I did silly, how else do I see friends?" Pinkie said, shrugging it off. Well, that was true.

"Right. So, what is it that brought you this way?" Rarity asked.

"Well," explained Pinkie, "I was just hopping along through town and then my Pinkie Senses told me somepony was talking about a mysterious cake, and I thought to myself "hmm, what could that be about" so I rushed right on over, and here I am after you threw me over your head! So where is that mysterious cake of yours?"

Sounds about right. Fulgurite and Thorax they figured didn't have to tell her after all.

"Eh, it's not here. I think the guards already ate it," Steven said.

"AAAWWW, but how can I test a cake that's already eaten? ... You got anything on it, Steve-O?" Pinkie asked. Steven then brought out the notes he took on it.

"Again. What does a cake have to do with -"

"Let's just see what happens, dear," Rarity insisted, Thorax still left confused.

"Hmmm ... A cherry cake with a custard filling, eh? ... Vanilla frosting ... buttercream rosettes ..."
Suddenly something seemed to click in Pinkie Pie's head, a huge, overly-reactive gasped escaping her muzzle as the idea shot into her head.

"Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop! Nopony better than to make cream-filled cakes and make em fancy!" Pinkie gasped.

"ALRIGHT, PINKIE!" Steven beamed. But Fulgurite and Thorax were still a bit lost.

"Fill us in, please before we're left behind?" Fulgurite asked.

"That's a special cake shop here in Canterlot," Steven said, "That's got to be where that cake came from!"

"So?" Thorax shrugged. Rarity though just managed to get it.

"Of course! Clearly this cake was designed as a distraction given the time it was there and time of Twilight's capture, so if there's anypony what will know who set this all up, it's the ponies behind the recipe," Rarity concluded. All of a sudden the idea of the cake was actually starting to make more sense. As Rarity and Pinkie began to go off and see what that will give them, Steven glanced back to Fulgurite and Thorax.

"Even the smallest of bread crumbs can lead you on the right trail," Steven stated.

"Alright, you win. Let's go check this place out," Fulgurite decided.

"Show time."


~~~~~~


Outside of Canterlot Castle, aside from those who had already affiliated themselves with the whole "princess is gone" thing, the rest of Canterlot and it's citizens were still going on about their day as if nothing seemed to even happen, or even be happening at the castle. None of the ponies looked all scared, or remotely worried, under the idea that if there was any problem going on anywhere that the Harmony Gems will just fix it all up.
That also seemed more apparent as the group of five went off from said castle to the tea and cake shop. Compared to other eateries in town, this place didn't seem as different from other spots along the way; some potted plants being hung up along the walls, and a few outdoor tables set up. Even in autumn, there were still a number of ponies enjoying some teatime and small chat by the time Pinkie, Rarity, Steven, Thorax, and Fulgurite arrived. Before they got close though, Thorax already got himself a good pony disguise to make sure no one will freak out. The group began heading off to one of the tables, soon spotting a pony they assume to be Cinnamon Chai.

"Ah, hello there, what can I do you for?" Cinnamon asked, her voice a strong accent of "New Yorker".

"Hi there. We understand you make the best chocolate cherry custard cake with buttercream frosting rosettes in town!" said Steven.

"You've been in the right circles then kid, because we have the only chocolate cherry custard cake with buttercream frosting rosettes in town," the waitress said, cleaning off another plate and setting it on a nearby cart to be taken in. No doubt then this was the right place. The pony gestured to the window where a cake like that would be, but unfortunately there didn't seem to be any available. There was even a sign that simply said "out of stock" along the display.

"Oh, no, and you're all out," said Pinkie, looking in from the window, pushing her muzzle to the glass. She could just taste such a delicacy. All that creamy goodness, the custard and those delicious rosettes.

"Sorry bout that, I just sold my last one this morning for the day. Something about a celebration er something," Cinnamon said. This news, while irrelevant to the matter at hoof, did catch some interesting vibe to the pink mare as she back up off the glass.

"And who's the lucky pony?" Pinkie asked. Cinnamon paused and thought a little bit.

"Weeellll, I wouldn't call him a "pony" exactly, but he really wanted that there cake, I'll tell ya that much."

"Not a pony? Well dish out more info if you got any," Fulgurite said. Little off track, but this could be worth noting anyway. Cinnamon thought it over a little bit, working the gears in her head.

"Well he was fairly big looking fella. Got the hooves, but he looked kinda moldy. Y'know, like one of them hoof-puppets or something in the head, and he had these teeny tiny eyes. And he talked in this sort of raspy voice," Cinnamon explained.
They all had their own idea of what this could possibly be, though many of them didn't entirely picture a true pony persay. Sure it sounded close to one, but that didn't really say on the guards at all. Rarity for instance got this sort of mysterious shadowy figure lurking amongst the alleys of Canterlot, while Pinkie Pie (and probably Steven too) just thought of some pony with a sock on his head. Either way, it was something new.

"A non-pony? I didn't think you'd get other races visiting here," said Thorax.

"Actually it's a rare occasion. And when it is, it's usually when the princess are throwing their gallivant celebrations," Rarity explained.

"But who is this sock-puppet guy? He doesn't sound like any pony to be around Canterlot at all," Steven had to wonder, scratching his head.

... And it turned out, none of them had to wait around for very long.

"COME ALONG EVERYPONY, THERE'S PLENTY FOR EVERYPONY!"

"Huh?"
The distant voice was just about enough for them to catch wind of. No, the voice didn't really sound all that familiar to any of them, but curiosity is what it is. Their curiosity only got a bit more so when they began to see some more of the ponies start to venture over to the sound, whatever it was.

"Something going on?" Rarity wondered.

"Only one way to find out: let's go see," encouraged Fulgurite.

And off over they did.

"What the - ?!" Steven gasped.

"Easy everypony! Don't crowd! There's more than enough cake for everypony, and you'll all get your share!"

Out off across the next road from the tea and cake shop, it turned out there indeed was a special kind of commotion that's got much of Canterlot up and checking it out. Numerous ponies around the block had gathered around a quite impressive cake (guess where it came from?), up on display and at the point already looking it had been cut into. A number of the ponies around had already gotten a good slice of the cake, enjoying it for what it is, and as for who was serving it well, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Standing off by said cake with a cutting knife in hoof looked to be a sort of large pony-like creature, dressed up as a standard pastry chef: white apron and chef's hat and everything in contrast to his black skin. With each pony that would come up he would slice up a piece and just give it away. It was free cake!

"Very suspicious," Pinkie noted, not trusting this display for a second. The chef took a glance over to them, seeing much of them except for Steven, who kept himself just out of sight but still watching.

"Isn't that the same thing that ordered your last cherry custard chocolate cake?" Steven asked. Cinnamon Chai soon recognized the resemblance, AND the resemblance of the cake. Sure the exterior looked slightly different, with a sort of bluish color of blueberry instead of the cherry red.

"Hold on, yeah it is! HEY YOU!" the owner of said cake went right on out to confront the chef in question. The chef paused and saw the rather angry pony trot over just as he got another slice of cake out to another aristocrat.

"Oh, hello there Ms. Chai. Come to have a slice yourself?"

"Yeah, sure, but that's Cinnamon Chai's cake you're selling," Steven said as the others came up. He kept his composure on seeing them, but when he saw Steven there, he almost had a very quick second of shock before it was hidden behind a comfortable smile.

"Selling? No no no, I'm giving it away! Celebration and all that, remember?" the thing reminded her, already cutting another piece of the delicious cake for them to have. "Taste the innovation?"

"Innovation? … Uh … thank. You," Steven said, taking a slice himself. He and company already were unsure about the cake thanks to Pinkie's own suspicions, which the chef noted as she sneered his way, eyes squinted in a judging look inches from his face.

"Uh … you okay, miss?" he asked.

"Hmmmm … I don't like it. Not one bit," Pinkie stated.

"Like what? The cake? Don't be negative, the cake's delicious!" the chef insisted.

"I'll be the judge of that!" Pinkie said, before going to the cake to check it out. She didn't eat it right away, and went up and down the cake to see just what the deal is with it. The chef watched her go up and down the delicacy, judging even the tiniest inch of the dessert as much as Rarity would examine a fashion statement. She popped up on top of the cake at one point, on the left side another point, and on the right side she sat down and just stared at it. Her tongue eventually shot out and gave the cake a tiny lick.

"Hmm … MMMMmm! It's super delicious! No evil taste here!" Pinkie realized, not tasting a hint of evil in it.

"Really? Let me see," Steven said, taking a taste of it himself. Soon as it hit his tongue, his eyes immediately lit up, sparkling. Nope, there's nothing wrong with this cake if it tasted this good!

"Oh my stars that is good!" Steven gasped, "Such a contrast in flavors!"

"Well," chuckled the chef, "as Cinnamon Chai said I can't take all the credit. In fact -" and he got the attention of the crowd as he said this. "- Everypony, I'd like to also mention this is sponsorship for Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop! Any of ya want more delicious cakes like this, come right on down!"

And with that said, the ponies actually began to take his advice, and after tasting such a delicious cake like this, no doubt there was gonna be a bit more goodies over at the shop. Cinnamon Chai's anger was quickly swept away, and suspicions gone from everyone else for the most part.

"My golly, I better get back!" Cinnamon Chai said. she was about to gallop off, but quickly stopped and looked back to the chef. "Eh, sorry for jumping at you."

"No problem, chef," the chef shrugged, waving a hoof as she galloped off back to her shop, which they assured had plenty of customers by now.

"So you were just trying to spread the word about her tea and cake shop?"

"Absolutely. I'm just glad you got a slice of it before it all got cut up and gone," said the chef, giving Steven a fluff on the head. Steven couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah, sorry by the way. We thought there was something evil and suspicious going on here, but I guess not," Steven admitted, taking another bite of the cake. If there was anything too suspicious going on, Pinkie Pie would know about it, but guess they jumped the gun this time.

"Evil and suspicious? About serving free cake?"

"We've got our experience with weird things lately," admitted Fulgurite. "nothing personal."

"Well the only thing going on here is me helping out Cinnamon Chai's shop with customers. Eh, by the by, with all those ponies, think she might need a bit more hooves to do the job," the chef advised. Seeing how many went over - there was at least twenty five - Cinnamon might as well need it.

"Good point. Well, thanks for the cake sir …?"

"N Kelly. And yeah, see ya around. Now if you excuse me, I got some more cake to deliver," "N Kelly" said, as he got the cake and began going off to another part of Canterlot. Steven took a glance down at the cake for a minute or two, and eventually just sighed.

"Maybe it's just our imagination," he concluded, taking another bite of it.

They did begin to go from there, heading on back towards the main shop to help out the mare. The chef looked on from the next street corner until just after they went on out of sight. …

…

"Heheheheheheeee. Yes my friends, you enjoy that cake. We'll keep in touch," Said Nichrome, seeing a tiny part of Steven's shoe was already turning grey ...


~~~~~~


Throughout the rest of the day, things didn't seem like they were any different apart from that little encounter with N Kelly off in Canterlot. With little exact reason to believe he was suspicious or, well, BAD, they didn't really think on it very much except for how the cake tasted (which was pretty good). They all went through the motions, them and the rest of the Harmony Gems in either going about Gem missions, handling some fighting training, or handling the whole Twilight sparkle trouble. There wasn't as much free time as any of them would like it, and with each hour it showed, they got a bit more worn out as time went on by. Call it a weakness for an overworking team with a lot of problems thrown at them at once thanks to Grogar. As for Steven himself …

Not so well by the time the day ended. Steven was back in his room at that point, feeling very worn out and tired, not to mention slightly a bit bruised up thanks to Jasper's training course, with a bandage on his cheek, and a couple of bumps along his body. He was one tired boy.
With a sigh and a little groan, he tossed himself right into bed. He sighed in content when he felt his pillows and blanket again, not even waiting to get his nightly routine going before he began to tire out. No one else was in the Beach House so he didn't had anyone to talk to.

"PHEW. What a long day. All that fighting, and playing detective has worn me out," he said to no one in particular. Mental and physical exhaustion was never really too fun to anyone. At first he just stayed there for a bit, but then he turned his gaze away from his bed and to the picture of them all together. The first two that showed up to his eyes were the two that got him doing this in the first place: Twilight sparkle and Connie Maheswaran.

"I wish I can just find out how you're doing over there ..." Steven sighed. "Are you two holding up? Is Grogar at least feeding you well? Let you watch TV?"

Steven groaned. Why would Grogar let any of them do that, especially with one of them more as an example to the other prisoners, if what Flint and company said was anything to go by. Steven buried his face into his pillow.

"Grogar wouldn't do that. But I will get them out soon. … I just wish I knew how."

With a loud yawn, the tired boy then began to go right off to sleep. He'll freshen up in the morning.

"...…. Twilight ……. Connie ……."

…….

".... T-Twilight. Twi - huh?"

Steven was quick to open his eyes briefly, finding himself, he believed, to be a empty area. Rather quick from the comfortable bed he was just laying in, and he knew it the second he felt the cold hard ground. The ground was purely rock, flattened like a road. Steven eventually got right up to his feet to try and work out where this went off to, but the tunnel he was stuck in didn't have much to go off of at all. The only thing he could make out was the rocky exterior, and nothing else.

"Hello?" Steven asked. His voice echoed throughout the tunnel for a bit, not being met with much of a response. Steven looked to both ends of each tunnel, finding them both going pretty much nowhere as far as he knew.

"Can someone tell me where I am before I get lost?" Steven called again.

"Hey you! MOVE!"

His answer didn't have to wait very long this time. Kind of. Steven turned around, just in time to see what looked like a Gem suddenly tossed onto the ground nearby, seeming coming in from either the wall itself or just a curve in the path. This Gem, which looked like a Peridot but without her limb enhancers. Steven was taken completely off guard as the peridot was forced along by a rather unruly giant alien.

"Hey, leave her alone you -"

And they went through him. Just like that. Steven couldn't even finish his sentence when the Peridot and alien went right through and passed him, completely unaware of his presence at all. She felt himself shiver in discomfort, more from the fazing than the gem.

"Ok. So they just walked through me … wait, they didn't - …" Steven started to think some more about this, looking to his hands. Suddenly the idea struck him as he gasped.

"WHOA I'm doing that ghost thing again!" Steven exclaimed, "So that means no one can see me!"

His brief moment of realization was cut short when he heard the rough pushing again.

"Better not mess this up. So where're they going?" Steven wondered.

Well there was only one way to find out: knowing neither could see him entirely, Steven began to move off on his way behind the prisoner and officer. Sure none of them could see him, but he kept on the safe side and stayed fairly behind, only continuing to move forward when the others passed the next corner.
And that was when he saw it. Around the final turn in the tunnel, he soon began seeing signs that this "cave system" was not what it first seemed. Especially given that there were a lot more guards, a lot more gems, and WAY, WAY more holes in the walls.

"The Supreme Kindergarten …"

*clap*...*clap*...*clap*...*clap*

"Huh? Clapping?" The noise itself was a bit distinctive from what other distant voices he heard throughout this deep chasm of the Supreme, hearing it good and clear over the other noises. It took him a little bit more to work out where it was, finding a area with some walking room. Steven began to go down to investigate, but turned out he wasn't the only one hearing that noise, as a nearby guard started to take notice. This time it was a corrupted Gem joined by a bear, the bear ramming the side of the wall near the area.

"Hey, what's all the noise?!" the bear shouted.

*clap* … *clap* … *clap* …

Steven jumped down to the bear's side, being careful not to touch him or the corrupted quartz right next to him (can't afford to let them know he was there in spirit). Then he got a look at what was going on inside: the semi-corrupted Connie Maheswaran, looking around in a daze, and clapping at … well, nothing exactly.

"Connie!" Steven gasped. The bear snorted.

"Crazy runt," the bear snorted before going off on his own way. The corrupted Quartz was a bit retaliating, but the bear made her move on anyway, leaving only Steven and Connie there.

"She's lost it … Grrr, Grogar I hate you so much!" Steven exclaimed, only to quickly cover his mouth.

"WHOA. Steven, watch that four-letter word, he probably wants you to do that too. UGH, what doesn't he want me to do at this point?" Steven groaned. But he took another look in there and the clapping continued. However, this time it wasn't just Connie simply clapping in midair after some imaginary bugs. No, this time it was Connie actually doing some more exercise. It looked like push-ups but with a clap every time she pushed herself off the ground. And of course, she didn't look like she was crazy anymore, but instead determined and focused.

"One. Two. Three. Four," Connie kept counting to herself as she kept doing her training. And Steven noticed too as he strolled inside, hands behind his back (he's a spirit so he could) that Connie looked stronger too.

"Well she's not crazy, that's good. Should I interrupt her? …" Steven paused a bit, giving Connie a minute or two into the night to continue going on her practice before walking up to her, hand extended and gently placing on her shoulder.

"Connie?"

"Huh?!" - *THUD* one distraction and Connie was suddenly face-first onto the floor.

"Oops."

"Steven? … Steven, is that you? Where're you?" Connie asked, looking around frantically for Steven. She knew that voice anywhere, but no one was there that would be for that voice.

"Connie, I'm right here!" Steven insisted. This made Connie worry a bit, not seeing him anywhere. Eventually though, this began to bring Connie to tears.

"O-Oh no, what'd I do bad? S-Sorry, what's wrong?!"

"... It's true. You are dead! And now you're a spirit here to haunt me. I'm sorry, Steven!" Connie stated, now down onto her knees in defeat, just ready to collapse

"WHAT?! Connie, this is just my dream powers kicking in, I'm not dead, swearsies!" Steven made clear. Connie paused on that statement, but she wasn't so sure.

"Y-You sure?"

"Just this morning I had some cake over in Canterlot! Do ghosts ever eat cake? Connie, I wouldn't lie to you about anything," Steven reassured. Connie only recalled one time this dream power thing was ever used by anyone, but the more she thought about it, the more she calmed down.

"I knew you were still there. … But wait, how're you reaching me? You're still on Earth, can you actually reach that far with your mind?" Connie wondered, now more curious.

"Apparently I can," Steven stated, "But that's not important: how're you holding up in here? Did Grogar mess you up too bad?"

Connie felt humbled on that regard.

"Well … yes and no?"

"Oh no, mind games, what's he doing?" Steven asked.

"Well, it's not Mind Games exactly … but to put it simply, he wants me to become his bride."

…

"W-W-W-W-WHAAAT?!?!" Steven gasped, making Connie shiver from that noise. since you know, he was standing right next to her. "THAT'S SO CREEPY!!"

"I know, but apparently I'm the right age for goat marriage," Connie said, again shivering but more on that thought.

"You're not even a goat though!" retorted Steven. "I swear, when I get my hands on him, I'll make him BEG." That final remark Steven had a hand off of Connie so she didn't hear him that time, yet she probably felt the same way anyhow. First getting corrupted, NOW getting married?! Steven placed a hand on Connie afterwards to show he was still there.

"Please tell me Twilight's doing okay," Steven then inquired.

"I don't know. I last saw her being offered to go back to Canterlot, but she decided to stay here," Connie replied. Steven sighed.

"I don't even want to know what catch they wanted from that," Steven stated.

"Grogar said something about wanting her to "turn the other way" when they show up," Connie answered.

"I said I didn't - Wait. When they show - THEY'RE GOING FOR CANTERLOT?!" Steven gasped.

"I-I don't know, maybe?! They didn't do anything yet, so I think that might be their Plan B if Homeworld doesn't work," Connie said.

"You really think so?" Steven asked.

Before any of them could get another word in, suddenly another bang was heard just outside, this time the guard being the large and rather intimidating polar bear (the first bear was a grizzly).

"No talking! … Wait. Who're you even talking to?!" the polar bear demanded, claws digging into the sides of Connie's makeshift cage. Connie and Steven were left kinda stunned, but then Connie decided on something.

"I-I'm talking to … Steven?"

"Steven? You mean that dead kid?" the bear questioned. News of this "death" must've gone around everywhere, but Connie and Steven used it to their advantage.

"Yeah, see he's right here! The butter to my bread, my jam bud and peanut butter to my jelly!" Connie insisted, dramatically presenting Steven to the bear … who didn't see anyone there except for her.

"... You really are cracked. Just shut it in there! You're riling up the rocks," the bear said, a little bit disturbed that one of the prisoners ALREADY was bonkers. She kept that pose and big smile until after he wandered out of sight, sighing in relief that they didn't get found out. Though, it was impossible to say HOW they could be found out given Steven was just a figment at this point.

"That was close," Steven said, hand on Connie's shoulder.

"Really close," agreed Connie. The bear stopped briefly, but continued onward anyway.

"So, you and the gang have a gameplan yet?" Connie asked.

"We're working on something: Jasper's having us train a bit, the Diamonds had been talking a lot, and everyone else is doing other things. We're still trying to figure things out, but we'll get you and Twilight out, I promise," Steven admitted.

"I know you will. Jam bud," Connie said, smiling. She'd hug him, but she would probably fall over, not knowing where he was outside of her head. But Steven didn't hesitate, and hugged her anyway. At first this gave Connie shivers, but she accepted it, and managed to find where her arms go to return the favor. But as they were hugging, Steven began to feel himself start to fade out in flickering Connie only figuring that out by feeling his presence come and go, a voice starting to slightly echo in his head. Must be time to get back home for him.

"I know I can't see you, Steven, but … thanks for being here with me. At least I know you're alright."

"I'm just happy that you're alright," Steven replied, "We'll get back for Homeworld, for everyone. For you."

And Steven disappeared just before Connie could give him a goodbye kiss …

…

From his position in the Supreme Kindergarten, Steven's presence began to fly off away through, and into nothingness. Even if this all was a bit of a surprise, it still was good to know that at least one of them was alright, not to mention the possibility of a Equestria attack from Grogar in the future.

"Thanks for the update, Connie, now to get back and spread the news," Steven stated, making tracks. He may be simply running, but he felt that he was going a lot faster. For a moment.

"Not so fast!"

Before Steven could keep himself going, something suddenly appeared in his way and quickly made him skid to a halt. Or rather, made him bounce back after running straight into it. Steven didn't need to really wait to know that this isn't a normal presence, able to touch and react with him and all. Steven looked up and found his little trouble sitting right in front of him.

"N Kelly?!"

"Sure let's go with that," Nichrome said, snickering a bit, as he brought his foot forward, pushing down Steven's feet until he sprung back upright. Suddenly Steven found he couldn't even move, as much as he tried to.

"Hey! what're you doing? I need to get back!"

"Eh, in just a moment Steven. You had your cake and ate it too, I'd like to have some myself," Nichrome said, as a piece of that same cake he was serving earlier suddenly came up from behind him. This time though the cake did NOT look too well, looking grey, worn out, and simply disgusting. Nichrome cut off a piece of that cake the same size as he was doing it, setting it on a plate.

"E-Eh, I'm not hungry," Steven said.

"Who said you're eating it? Just going to warm it up for a second," Nichrome replied.

And suddenly Steven saw his stomach open up! Nothing grewsome, but more like a door to a microwave as Nichrome placed the cake inside of him, shutting the door before Steven could do anything to it. Soon as it closed, Steven heard a sort of humming inside of him, thinking that in some twisted way he was now a machine. However, something else began going on with him, Nichrome simply sitting aside and watching the fruits of his labor start to blossom.
Steven was losing his colors. Literally. Like draining water, all of his coloration began to fade away off of his body. Every bit of him: hair, skin, eyes, even the clothes he was wearing were fading away, being absorbed into the now Steven Universe-colored slice of cake within in.

*ding*

"Perfect," cooed Nichrome, before opening Steven up and taking the cake out. Steven froze.

"Y-You ARE EVIL."

"Sweet dreams."
> Suicide Squad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Beep**beep**beep**be -* *click*

"Boy … that was a dream."
That was the first thought Steven had upon finally getting himself back together, and getting himself back to snuff from what he considered to be quite a night. Well, at least the beach house did not look as crazy as it could be (or how Steven might've thought would've happen, given the kind of "dream" he had). Either way, it was done now, and Steven gave a yawn and began heading off from the bed for his normal morning routine. He did feel a bit down though, going downstairs step by step as if today just wasn't up yet. He yawned once more, walking from there and right over to the bathroom. Nothing weird so far, but of course the kid did not take the moment to check the mirror yet.

"Well Steven, don't worry too much about it. Ok, so you threw yourself all the way onto Homeworld, but nothing was here to do anything to you."

… He REALLY shouldn't have said that. Because then he wiped his face and got a good look at the mirror.

"... GRRRAAAYYY!"

And indeed he was. His whole body from head to toe was grey. His hair, his eyes, his gemstone, his clothes even were completely grey, devoid of any pigmentation what-so-ever. Whatever N Kelly did to him, he was not liking it at all.

"Not again, why does this keep happening to me?! First Grogar and his scar, now this?" Steven shouted. But then the mere mention of Grogar suddenly made him realize what actually happened back there. Which only frustrated him more.

"GROGAR! You did this, I know you did! Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Steven groaned, hand to forehead. It didn't help that ALL of the suspicious signs were there yet he did nothing to stop it at all, or even MENTION any of his worries to anyone either! Despite his anger, Steven took a breath.

"Ok, ok Steven, calm down. M-Maybe it's not as bad as you think. I mean, you're gray now, but nothing else happened right? I feel fine. Nothing's broken anywhere. … Maybe I need to re dye my clothes thought."

Then the sound of the Warp Pad went off outside the bathroom.

"Morning Ste-man! Up for another training round?"

"Yes Steven, we're all waiting for you."

Amethyst and Peridot. He knew those voices anywhere. At first he felt freaked out, cold sweat coming off of his forehead, but he quickly shook it off.

"OH NO, not again. Just get this over with, you can figure out how to fix it later," Steven told himself. He already had to hide his frustrations before under a headband, he was not gonna just hide himself from everyone this time. So, with that thought in mind, he went on and opened the door. Forget showering, he needed to get this over with.

"Oh Ste - WHOA! … Steven?" Amethyst got the reaction basically to a tee, exactly how Steven would've figured. Also it turned out she wasn't alone; along with Peridot there was Star Quartz and Applejack.

"Ok, ok, don't freak out everyone, please. I'm still me, I'm just gray Steven for the day ok?" Steven reassured. … But that was when something else didn't seem to feel right. The others went over to him as he walked forward a bit, them all checking him out.

"What happened to him?! did anyone mess with him last night?" Peridot asked.

"Don't look at us, last we saw him he was fast asleep. Steven come on, what happened to ya?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know, but BOY there's a lot to tell you. Let's see: I was dreaming, or I thought I was -"

"Steven, say something!" shouted Peridot.

"Huh? Guys I am saying something, I'm saying a lot of - … wait a minute. They can't hear me?"

As the others were trying to comprehend it themselves, Steven started to step back. Or at least , he thought he was. Each step though brought him not towards the bathroom, but towards what looked to be darkness. That was all Steven could see outside of some white floor, eerily similar to a particular court room he knew before. As he kept walking back, the view he was seeing turned from normal view, to that of binocular vision-shaped windows. Seeing this, he finally concluded what happened to him.

"What the … I'm trapped? … IN MY OWN HEAD?!"

And just outside of his own head, out of view of everyone else, the husk he was stuck in was simply silent. Quiet, and dull-looking. Steven was a prisoner inside his own mind, and he tried hardest to get himself out, rushing to the "windows" to get the others' attention.

"Well something happened to him, why would he be all … gray?"

"What's wrong with being gray?" Star Quartz asked. Peridot suddenly shuttered.

"Uh n-nothing. But Steven isn't naturally gray," Peridot made clear. Good save on her part, but Steven was still stuck trying to get to them from his dome of a head, standing edge with what he could only conclude to be his own eyes.

"No, guys, I'm trapped inside my own head! N Kelly messed with me in my sleep, you have to help get me out of here!" Steven shouted, loud as he could. Unfortunately, it wasn't getting him anywhere, as they all were just looking on like he was some animal in a zoo or something. Applejack went over to gray Steven.

"Relax everypony, it isn't nothing we can't handle. Right kiddo?" Applejack reassured, giving him a nudge, just for gray Steven to say … well, nothing. A blink was the most they got.

"But we can't "handle" if we don't even know what happened," Peridot pointed out.

"Maybe he's just sad. Humans change color when they get sad, don't they?" Star then asked.

"What're you talking about?" Amethyst asked. She NEVER heard of any human turning completely gray just because of sadness unless it was on TV. However, Star Quartz's proof didn't come from TV, but rather from a little something she had left in the beach house within one of Steven's cabinets. Eventually, in this case, it turned out to be a children's book, with her skimming through the pages until she found a familiar looking grey man sitting in a world of color.

"See? Mr. Gray's all sad and miserable just like Steven is, and he's in a big colorful world too," Star pointed out, pointing to the man in question.

"That isn't how depression works," Steven commented, but of course nobody heard him. Lucky for him, he got a sort of parrot to talk that again.

"Ehh, don't think that's how it works, sugarcube," Applejack said.

"It's not?"

"Star, that's just a story," Peridot said, grabbing the book, "How's THAT gonna tell us how to cure Steven? And this human doesn't even look like him."

"He's gray. Isn't he?" Star asked, confused. Sure they both were gray, but that didn't seem to matter much in this case. Steven just sighed (his husk actually reacting this time), but eventually the orange pony in the room actually got something.

"Hold up now," AJ said, "Here, let's get back to Canterlot for a minute, maybe they got something that can get him back to normal."

"What makes you think that?" Amethyst asked.

"Connect the dots for a minute: Steven said he was gonna check out Canterlot and help get those varmints that helped worn out Twilight yesterday, and now look at em. C'mon, let's get to it," Applejack said, getting Steven to start moving.

"Please be right," Steven said, though his husk didn't utter a word as they simply walked along. They began to go over towards the Warp Pad.

"Stay where you are, we'll be right back," AJ said, though Steven didn't look ready to go.

"Can't we catch a break? First Grogar's learning everything about us, and now this. MAN, soon as we end him, I think I can use a vacation," Amethyst said as she pulled out her portal key for a quick access jump to Equestria.

"Think we all can use one," agreed Applejack. Star Quartz meanwhile was beginning to think a little bit on her own accord after that comment.

Eventually she went to the Warp Pad.


~~~~~~


Two. Four. Six laps around, and the group under Jasper's training course had been holding up their own for some time. Jasper got training started fairly quickly, and for today it was less "life-threatening" in the form of running around a circuit Jasper set up herself. Emerald, the Rutile Twins, and Rhodonite were having a bit of trouble, getting worn out through Jasper's obstacle course.

"Give me your best! Show me what you all got!" Jasper shouted.

"Come on, you got it! Plow through it!" Bismuth encouraged from the sidelines. The obstacle course wasn't exactly anything too crazy: a round hundred meter course with hurdles, and swings with hammers on the end. It was something she was insisted on (and instructed to do), namely to tone down the level of training ever since the corrupted Gem fights she did before. Rhodonite actually was handling this pretty well, as it involved less fighting and more running away, but the Rutile Twins and emerald were a little bit left behind in this one.

Rhodonite made it while the other two tumbled over eachother.

"That's your best?" Jasper asked.

"For a pair of half-dead Gems, yes," Emerald said, tired. He and the twins manage to get themselves up off the ground, the Rutiles helping Emerald get up after a bit.

"I thought we're waiting for the others anyway," right Rutile said.

"I wonder where they went," added left Rutile.

"I don't know but they better show up. I'm not running a daycare here," Jasper said, impatient and trying to think of where they've gone to. All she knew was that Amethyst and Peridot had gone off to fetch Steven and that was as far as she knew.

"You could try and pretend to not kill us, you know, we might like you a bit better," Emerald said.

"I'm trying to train everyone, not win a popularity contest," Jasper stated.

"No fear then."

"HEY TROOPS, UP HERE!"

Luckily before Emerald can get his gem clobbered, they all heard a distant sound high up in the sky. They knew that voice better than anyone, and looking up they all soon spotted Rainbow Dash flying in from the clouds. However, there was someone else she was holding onto as she came in, her frontal hooves carrying her like that of straps as she simply dangled there in the air. Coming closer, they all saw that it was a pony coming in. A gray pony, from hoof to tail.

"Hey R-Dash, good to have you join us," said Bismuth, "Who'd you bring?"

"Yeah, about that. We got a little problem," Rainbow Dash said. Then the pony lifted her head.

"And what's the problem? We can fit in somepony else in our troops," Bismuth offered. "What's your name anyway?"

"... That's Pinkie Pie," Rainbow stated.

"... Wha - PINKIE? OUR Pinkie?" Emerald asked.

Rainbow Dash placed Pinkie Pie down on the ground, which she proceeded to just drag her front hoof along the dirt, as if THAT was more interesting than everything else in the world.

"I found her just poking around in the dirt," Rainbow Dash said, "This is NOT how our Pinkie is!"

"But what the heck happened? A-And is it contagious?" Rhodonite asked, stepping away from Pinkie. Whatever this was, it didn't look like something she wanted to catch.

"Depression isn't contagious: it's your body's response to sadness and misery," Pinkie suddenly stated. Hardly ANY bombastic at all in her tone. Everyone who heard Pinkie Pie sound like some bored teacher got goosebumps from this complete 180.

"That's creepy," Jasper stated.

"It's not just her."

And in caught up two other figures. Coming up and catching up with Rainbow Dash was Garnet, now holding Fulgurite in her arm. Garnet didn't need to explain much as she stood there, as Fulgurite's rather limp body and gray skin already spoke everything for itself.

"Fulgurite too! It is contagious!"

"They're not contagious," Garnet made clear, placing Fulgurite down by Pinkie Pie. Both of them were tired looking, Fulgurite looking as if she was too weak to even budge.

"Yeesh, what happened to these two. Had too much cider to drink or something? They both look kinda wasted," Emerald asked, going over to Fulgurite as he tried to wake her up.

"No: Gems don't drink. And it's not cider season. This is something different," Garnet stated.

"Hello, anyone driving this ship?" Bismuth asked, waving her big hand in front of Fulgurite's face. However, Fulgurite only yawned, and that was it. Not even poking her in the head got much coming out of her. It did get her standing, but that was about it.

"She's gray all over. … Oh no, y-you don't think White Diamond did something to them," Rhodonite said in worry.

"I've made sure she didn't," Garnet firmly stated, "She was with Yellow, Blue, and Pink the whole night checking the constellations. Besides, they wouldn't be looking so limp."

"Garnet, I'm not dead, shut it," Fulgurite sighed, though she didn't sound enthused at all.

"So you can talk," Garnet commented. Fulgurite didn't utter a single word the whole carry over, but before they could talk more about it, Jasper actually grabbed her and brought her to the course.

"Bout time you showed up. OK, we got training today in this course, so start going!"

"The hay, Jasper?" Rainbow said.

"Being depressed doesn't make you physically weaker. She can handle this," Jasper stated.

Unfortunately, there was a bit more to this. Fulgurite didn't even bother running, simply walking along in a sort of daze until she found herself at the first hurdle. … She simply stood there, staring at the thing for a good ten seconds before she lifted her leg to try and go over. All THAT did was get her foot caught, and she just fell onto the ground like a brick.

"I beg to differ," Emerald said, before the Rutile Twins got her to her feet.

"You don't need to beg to differentiate," Pinkie stated, bored as ever.

"You okay?" the twins asked. Fulgurite huffed, not even bothering getting the dirt off of her face.

"Yeeea, but heck with it. Training blows anyway. What's the point of it?" Fulgurite grumbled, as she was brought back to the others.

"Ok, THIS is weird: Pinkie being technical, Fulgurite being slow, what kind of mirror game is this?" Bismuth wondered. Fulgurite and Pinkie just sat down beside eachother, and actually started to doze off as they were talking.

"Whatever it is, it happened while they were at Canterlot yesterday," Garnet concluded.

"How'd you know that? Did you see a future vision before when this happened, or did you see a different past?" right Rutile asked, astonished. Garnet simply walked over to them, and pulled something out from her hair: a small card.

"Cinnamon Chai stopped for a chat while I had cake," Garnet said. Well not AS epic, but heck it was something.

"Oh." both Rutiles said, looking at the card.

"K, so you just found them like this?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah, that's what we're saying. Sorry for the wait on T-day by the way," Rainbow Dash said.

"Don't worry over it, we get ya right J?" Bismuth said, giving her a playful punch. Jasper sighed. She had so much of the course built out for everyone, but clearly they weren't gonna be focusing on training today.

"Hope so. But no matter what the case is … Steven better not be infected," said Garnet. Steven seemed to be the prime target here. Grogar attacked him, scared him into silence, and with seeing Fulgurite and Pinkie like this, it all just was too coincidental.

"That is very specific," Pinkie stated.

"Jasper, where're the others?" Garnet then asked.

"I've sent Peridot, AJ, and Amethyst to fetch Steven for us, wherever they went," Jasper replied. Garnet barely needed much time to go and figure this part out, as she then got out a portal key of her own.

"You know, they're all just holding onto those things, aren't you gonna lose them?" Rhodonite asked.

"We'd rather know where they are at all times," Emerald shrugged.

"Give me three seconds," Garnet said. She found a spot nearby on the ground for the portal to open up for her, and using that key they got it opened up in no time at all. This was something she simply had to go and check, and check right away. Soon as that door opened, Garnet didn't waste anytime in going inside, finding the other end of it leading straight back to the Beach House.

No one was there. Not even Steven. Why would he be?

"Steven!"

…….

The time it took her to reach her destination barely was much at all, but it wasn't anywhere near Canterlot or Equestria for that matter. Instead, the Warp Pad lead her from the beach house to the countryside, by the barnhouse. It was the closest place where she could go directly, but that didn't seem to bother her as she started strolling around towards said barn. Not many were at the barn today, though that didn't stop Star Quartz to at least try and see if anybody was home, going over to the door and knocking on it.

"...…. Coming!"

Only one person inside the barn today. At least it seemed to be as someone went on and opened the door. Looking down, there was one of the Off-Colors standing there. In this case, Padparadscha. At first no one said anything, but eventually Padparadscha's mind caught up with her.

"Oh stars! Hello Star, nice to see you," Padparadscha said, happy as ever.

"Hello. You know where the Warp Pad is?" Star Quartz asked.

"...…. Which one? The one back home?"

Star Quartz nodded, and Padparadscha eventually walked out and pointed away from the barn.

"You go down the road a little bit, go passed that fence and that tree, and you'll see it," Padparadscha answered. Star Quartz looked back, but seeing the footprints of her own though, that was where she came from.

"Huh. I didn't know that one can reach Homeworld."

A pause, and then Padparadscha got confused.

"Oh! You meant Homeworld? Not just the Temple?" Padparadscha asked. Star Quartz turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah. The one back home," Star said. Now getting the idea Padparadscha eventually corrected herself.

"I think it's the one just outside of town. Why?"

"Well, I want to go to Homeworld," Star simply answered.

"...…. But Grogar's controlling Homeworld!" Padparadscha gasped, scared.

"I know that," Star Quartz said, "that's why I want to go there. … Is anyone else home?"

Padparadscha shook her head eventually, "I had a vision they would all leave to help our sick friends. It sounds awful!"

Meaning - they just left, and according to "sick friends" that meant that Steven wasn't the only one who was sick today.

"Friends? You mean it's not just Steven?" Star asked. Padparadscha, delayed, gasped on hearing that name.

"Steven is sick too? Oh no, that's terrible, just like Pinkie and Fulgurite are going to be," Padparadscha said, troubled. Really that meant they were already sick, but Star Quartz was getting a full picture now: Fulgurite, Pinkie Pie, and Steven sitting there like leftover dolls, all gray as ever. And since this was Padparadscha telling Star this, that means the others might've known about Fulgurite and Pinkie already.

"Are they gray too?" Star asked.

"...…. yes. Yes, they are, how'd you know?"

"Steven's sick and gray too. And maybe Grogar might know how to fix them," Star figured. It only made sense as far as she knew, but as she was starting to turn and think, Padparadscha started to catch up with her.

"You can't go to Grogar, he'll hurt you!"

"But he should know. He knows everything else there is about us, doesn't he?" Star asked. "Maybe he can tell us that too."

"……. You think so?" Padparadscha asked. Star shrugged.

"Steven, Pinkie, and Fulgurite are sick. They know why. I'll just ask them," Star simply said.

It seemed straightforward enough for either of them to understand, but this was Grogar's Army they were talking about. The same army that took over Homeworld in the first place, so why would they just "tell them" anything? Still, as far as Star Quartz was concerned, it couldn't hurt that much to at least try. Padparadscha thought about it, but by the time she got back to Star she was already walking away.

"You can't go by yourself!" Padparadscha insisted, going as quick as a Sapphire could normally to catch up with Star Quartz. Star only stopped when Padparadscha grabbed her dress.

"Oh. Well, you can come with me. If you'd like," Star Quartz offered. Not exactly the answer that Padparadscha was expecting.

"...…. I uh … you think I could?"

"Sure. It'll be nice," Star said. But Padparadscha was still uneasy. She may have not met with Grogar herself just yet, as with the other Off-Colors, but given what she knew so far this ram did not sound too friendly at all. Padparadscha took a glance back to the barn.

"...…. Maybe we should tell them we're leaving? Rhodonite will be so scared."

"Ok," Star said. Padparadscha simply stood there as Star Quartz bolted back to the barnhouse, going right on inside. Padparadscha herself didn't even react until after she came back out, only needed the short half a minute to handle the situation.

"Okay, ready."

"...…. Ok. But … are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Not really. All we can do is try: ask them a few things. And then we go."

Star made it sound so simple and easy, and for Padparadscha it didn't sound all that bad in the broad scheme of things. Star Quartz began to walk off towards the Warp Pad once again. But this time, after a bit, Padparadscha started to follow Star Quartz close behind.

They just had to wait and see if this will all work out or not. And hopefully the others could find the note Star left for them.


~~~~~~


"ONE STEP!"

Just as it had been for a while, the prisoners of Tambalon were left with very little freedom to go off of. Or rather in this case, even less: some of the more rebellious prisoners even forced along specific steps. Their movements were monitored down to the micro details, and in this mark they were barely even given room to speak, or even budge without given the order to. And of course, Twilight Sparkle was amongst them, keeping in line with some of the normally higher-ranking Emeralds and Agates. Sticking out like a sore hoof. The alicorn hadn't been given any better treatment by the others at all, her mane a complete mess and her tail looking more like a worn out rag.
For the moment, this group was being kept under watch by the largest and strongest of Grogar's forces, just in case one would try and slip up here. This case it was one of Storm's specialized guards, under surveillance by Commander Tempest, and Captain Nichrome. Tempest specifically was keeping an eye on Twilight, given what she witnessed earlier with Nichrome. And as they've observed, one of the Storm Creatures looked over towards a particular One-Eyed Emerald.

"You there, clean yourself up," he instructed.

"Heh. Why? It's not like I'm getting ready for anything," she hissed, fangs barred. That response just got her struck by the Storm Creature's staff, making sure it was dangerously close to her gem eye so she wouldn't be so "rebellious".

"No backtalk. Now clean up!" the guard demanded again. Emerald didn't know exactly how to clean herself up, but she did stop and try to at least handle her hair anyway. So degrading, being ordered around by some organic slop. Nichrome and Tempest saw this, and one of them started thinking.

"They're being careful not to cause too much trouble, don't you think?" Nichrome noted.

"Maybe they've accepted their place in Tambalon," Tempest figured. Nichrome though wasn't too sure about that.

"That doesn't happen until you've crushed their spirit," Nichrome stated.

"... And you'd know," sighed Tempest. Nichrome was a prisoner to the Diamond Authority himself after all, unlike her. The alien looked back to the group before them, the group stopping briefly on command of the storm creatures.

"Their eyes go dull. Their limbs start to sag. There's no spring in their step. That is how you know."

And just as he mentioned that, Twilight looked up to them both. Nichrome REALLY hated this Alicorn since their last chat, and just like before she was giving him a sort of look a fighter would have over a thief. Nichrome hissed.

"You see that, Tempest?" Nichrome asked sternly, pointing to the Alicorn as she turned away.

"See what?" Tempest asked, not too amused.

"That look she just made at us. We've tortured her, torn her from head to tail, and still there's no fear in her eyes. … Let me see if I can change that."
And Nichrome began to move in closer to the group, his focus directly on Twilight in question. The Alicorn kinda figured a simple look like that would tick someone off somewhere, and Nichrome wasn't any of it seemingly. All Twilight did was simply stand there.

"Sparkle! You're a step ahead of your mark!" Nichrome shouted, good and forceful. Twilight didn't say a word to him, not even looking his way, as she simply stepped back to her proper place. Nichrome didn't feel satisfied.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Nichrome shrieked. His voice was enough to humble the Storm creatures, but Twilight didn't listen. Nichrome began to grow angry with her. Bad enough she refused to work for him beforehand, now she wouldn't even acknowledge him standing there. Snarling, Nichrome raised his hoof, turning it into a dagger. This immediately began to raise an alarm in Tempest's head, and she was just about ready to bolt in, her horn sparking, when -

"Captain!"

Call it timing, but Nichrome soon heard the sound of King Grogar just over his own shoulders. The storm guards bowed when they heard his voice off a ways from the mark, and Nichrome groaned. He simply turned around, and sure enough there was King Grogar coming over to them, him joined by Budgerite and Bray close behind as always. Tempest found this interesting, but simply stayed where she was as Grogar approached him.

"Where have you been?" Grogar questioned.

"Me? I've just got back, sir, I -"

"That's not what I asked, Nichrome. You've been gone from your patrol all day yesterday. Why?" Grogar questioned. Nichrome paused and glanced over to Twilight for a brief moment before giving a devilish smirk. If there was a time to get this started, it is now.

"Well, I was gonna wait for your "big day" as a present, but since you insist, I am pleased to announce that you're going to have one less troublemaker before long."

"And that means …"

"Let's just say the Harmony Gems' days are numbered," Nichrome cooed, snickering afterwards in his signature tone. Grogar was a bit curious as to what Nichrome actually did.

"Oh? They've kicked the bucket now? and by just one alien?" Bray asked.

"I thought their defeat was gonna be more dramatic and crazy than that," Budgerite said.

"Shut it you two," Grogar huffed, getting them both to be quiet as he turned his gaze back to Nichrome, "And exactly how did you do this?"

Nichrome snickered.

"Oh you should've seen their stupid faces: I whipped up a special something and started passing it around all over Canterlot, and those suckers took to it like moths to a lightbulb. They took my treat and ran!"

"... One more time? Simpler?" Bray asked. Nichrome rolled his eyes.

"Guys: I poisoned the entire Harmony Gem group."

"Yooouuu what?" Grogar asked. Nichrome was too into his own scheme to noticed that Grogar … oddly … didn't seem too enthused. Or happy.

"YEAH I know, you should've seen them lord! My own concoction is gonna leave them all lifeless sacks by - AAHHH!" *BAM*

All of a sudden, Nichrome was rammed off of his own feet by Grogar, him slamming into one of the storm guards as this happened.

"Wait a sec, why're YOU upset?! You wanted them dead!" retorted Nichrome, just for Grogar to grab him and swing him a good ten feet.

"And I wanted to kill them, you dolt!" Grogar roared, slamming his hoof on Nichrome's head, "The highest prize is for the king only, not you! And on WHO'S authority did you use to go and do that anyway?" Grogar cut in. Nichrome no longer felt so proud of his accomplishment anymore, looking down to his feet. The ram could already tell the answer from there. Grogar then glanced to Twilight, who was just standing there.

"What're you looking at?" Grogar huffed. Twilight turned her gaze away there (only annoying Nichrome even more).

"... And to top this off: you just left them without making sure it worked?"

"... Y-Yes?" Nichrome shuttered. Grogar stepped off of him.

"Then go back out again. Make sure your method actually does its job. And do not come crawling back here unless you have one of their heads tossed at my hooves. Got it?"

"A-Absolutely," Nichrome shuttered. Grogar allowed him to get up, and to make sure he went off on his way he gave him another ram, sending Nichrome running to go back to Earth.

"I swear on my tail, aliens are harder to control."

"They are, aren't they?" Budgerite said, "I mean, Cerrosafe barely even followed the rules while he was here. He even clocked me just for pointing out where he's supposed to go. Who does that?!"

"Steady lad, don't hurt your beak. Do me a favor and check the border patrols, will you?"

"Got it, sir! Come on Bray, let's go," Budgerite said. Budgerite and Bray went off to handle that, leaving Grogar to just start moving off to the castle. Or at least, he would've but he did stop and glanced over to Twilight first. Out of many of the prisoners, she was probably the most bothersome to him. She did look to him, knowing well he can jump her at any moment and tear her to pieces, but he wasn't in the mood for a bloodbath.

"Take this mark down. Their time's cut," Grogar stated.

"We just got out here," complained an Agate, "I'm not going back in that grimy kindergarten!"

"Would you rather be poofed and put in a gear then? Because there's a few clogs I'm trying to find some gemstones to fill, and you suddenly look like a good fit," Grogar growled. It was harder to intimidate these types of Gems, Grogar noticed, but this time the Agate kept quiet as the mark was escorted away downward to the prison hold. Only Tempest could see Grogar's reaction after he felt alone, which he had a look of contemplation before heading off back to the palace.


~~~~~~


"This is the work of Grogar."

That was the first statement that Jasper said the moment she saw two of the three "sick" people. They were brought over back to the Sky Arena with a decent crowd gathered there, and it was painfully clear that Nichrome's poison had gotten to them as well, Fulgurite and Pinkie simply sitting there on the floor. Pinkie Pie was simply sitting there, her hoof poking at the dirt as Fulgurite looked about ready to fall asleep at any moment.

"So you just found this random creature, and you simply took the food he gave you?" questioned Yellow Diamond.

"Well, we did suspect there might be some foul play, but after testing it didn't seem malicious at the time," Rarity made clear, but no doubt there was something malicious going on now with the two. Flint went close to Fulgurite, checking her eyes like a doctor would. Fulgurite grumbled and swatted his hand away, but that was about it.

"Yoo-hoo, anyone in there?" asked Diopside, trying to get some reaction coming out of any of them. Normally it would get something to react, especially with how close she was getting to either or them but nope. Both remained quiet and bored. This situation wasn't exactly the best either.

"So what's the verdict, doctor?" asked Pink Diamond. Flint tried to think.

"Hmm …. well, by the looks of it, they've either been cursed or hexed by … something, while they were in Canterlot by this "newcomer" you saw."

"So ... you don't have a clue then."

"Hey, I can't have every answer up front by one look," retorted Flint. Fulgurite covered her ears from the complaining as Pinkie Pie drew some simple pictures in the dirt. The ponies then were brought to attention.

"Rarity, you're a unicorn that can use magic. Do you have any ideas what "curse" or "hex" might've made them this way?" Blue Diamond asked, hoping for a good answer.

"Uh … no."

"No? But you're a unicorn, you use magic all the time," the diamond insisted, not noticing the hurt in her comment. Rarity sighed though, deciding not to point it out for the sake of the problem.

"Well that doesn't prove anything: Yes, I can easily work a thread and needle into my designs, and maybe move something precisely where it is, but that's easy. It takes a little bit more magic to do this," Rarity made clear, looking back to the two gray individuals. Fluttershy went over to them, lifting up Pinkie's head and seeing her face.

"It doesn't look like they're sick. Just … sad," Fluttershy said, as she looked at them both.

"We know they're sad, look at -"

"No, no, I mean … but I think that's all it is," Fluttershy explained, as she started walking around the two, "I mean, sure they're a different color, but I don't see any spots, or sores … or anything really."

"You blind?! THEY. ARE. GRAY," Pink said. 

"Just let me see." Fluttershy trotted over to Pinkie Pie, and then started looking over what she can figure out. Checking their foreheads for a fever, or their hearts for a good pace, basic doctor stuff. It was basically a similar idea she would try with helping some creatures back home.

"These two don't seem to be sick with anything. They sound okay, and feel okay."

"So … they're just down in the dumps? That's it?" Emerald shrugged.

"I guess so," Fluttershy shrugged. This did give some edge off of the situation, but there still was the matter of turning them back to normal.

"So got an idea on how to fix them?" asked Diopside. They tried to figure something out, looking them over and thinking.

"Hmm … well if sadness is the only problem, guess we just have to make them ... not sad?" Tiger's Eye wasn't sure how well that'll work, but it sounded like the only main option here. It couldn't be that hard to make someone happy anyway, right? Emerald though got a different idea, as he got himself a small, long piece of stone from the Sky Arena.

"So all we gotta do is make em feel something else! Easy enough," Emerald said, as he proceeded to laugh as he kept poking Fulgurite and Pinkie with the rock. Normally Fulgurite would be more than ticked off at him, and indeed some groans did start coming up from her, but Emerald's efforts weren't doing so well. If anything it just reminded everyone else how much of a pest Emerald was, as Bismuth yanked him away.

"Don't think that's gonna work at all, chief," Bismuth said, getting the rock out of his hands and tossing it clear over the Sky Arena. Clearly that wasn't going to really figure anything out here, though one Fusion was trying to figure something out in her own head.

"Let's just try it."

"I don't know if that's going to work Ruby."

"Your future vision doesn't say it can't work."

"..."

"Pearl!" Garnet suddenly called. That got Blue Pearl, CG Pearl, and Yellow Pearl looking over to her.

"No, the Yellow Pearl," Garnet corrected, pointing to her specifically. It was a bit of an odd choice, but Yellow Pearl walked over to her anyway.

"What do you need my Pearl for?" Yellow Diamond questioned, Yellow Pearl at attendance and wanting to know that same question.

"It'll only be for a minute. Now Pearl, I need you to do me a favor," Garnet stated. Yellow Pearl was curious about what kind of work she needed to do, but so long as it helped what was going on. And what did Garnet have in mind? Well that started to become apparent when she looked to her Pearl.

"Pearl, you happen to have some paper and pen?" Garnet asked. 

"Um. Yeah?" Pearl said. Shrugging, she started summoning just that: some lined paper and a pen for Garnet to use. In just a few seconds, Garnet wrote down fast something on the paper, and then gave it to Yellow Pearl, with the fusion giving only one instruction.

"Read this."

"... And what is this? A counter spell?"

"Something like that," Garnet stated. Yellow Pearl looked skeptical but went and checked the words anyway. And the message read as followed:

Я - Желтая Соляная Птица и добро пожаловать в кикбут, это Гонки! Готовь свои окурки к острым ощущениям, и, возможно, много огня, чтобы сжечь брови. Удачи в этом кластере.

"I can't read this," Yellow Pearl quietly said, not able to make heads or tails of it. Gem writing was far easier for her to understand than any of this. Garnet then began whispering a little something of her own to help Yellow Pearl "work the spell". She looked more skeptical about it afterwards though.

"Hmm … well, if that's how it works. It's good I've been seeing some studies in your library for this task," Yellow Pearl decided, looking it over some more.

"Let's hear it. Good and proud," Garnet encouraged.

Yellow Pearl cleared her throat, and …

"Capital backwards R, dash, Snowflake, E, carrot, little capital T, A, little backwards R, Big C, O, carrot, little backwards R, uh … S-Staple I think, little T, backwards N, U with a squiggly at the end, a, backwards N, carrot again, O, GIGANTIC six, PO -" some of the Gems were starting to laugh at this reading, but Yellow Pearl ignored them and continued. "- small staple, O, small snowflake, A - er is that backwards A or, no wait it's normal A - carrot, o, little B, A, little T, six with a defect, B, K, backwards N, K, GIANT Six again, Y, T, curvy backwards E, To, F with a line missing, OHKEN! -" Some loud laughs slipped out as she kept reading, even the diamonds struggling not to laugh themselves, Fulgurite and Pinkie looking more and more interested in this. "- Missing F, Oto, big B, defective six, C, Bon, OK, Y, P, little K, backwards N, K all by itself - What kind of spell is this?- O, C, T, P, defect six, I'm, uh O, W with a squiggle, Y, another squiggle W, E, H, backwards N and R, little M, backwards N, Bo 3 Mo, Snowflake HO -" Slowly, Fulgurite and Pinkie's mouths started to quiver. … "- M, H, O, lower case rigid R, two Os, another lower case R, H, BACKWARDS R this time, … upside down H or backwards 4, To, GIANT six, Bl, C, snowflake, E, 4, B, GIANT six, Po, B, backwards N, GIANT Y, Carrot, A, 4, backwards N, B, E-TOM -"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" It was a long shot, but it finally worked! All of a sudden, broke by Yellow Pearl's translator, Fulgurite and Pinkie suddenly were laughing themselves silly. The dull colors they had actually started to fade away a bit, finally returning to their old colors.

"OH STARS what was that?!" laughed Fulgurite, "Oh - OOOHHH KEN - HAHAHA!!"

"The spell worked?! B-But I wasn't finished yet," Yellow Pearl asked in surprise, amazed that the magic spell worked out so quickly before it could even finish. But then the CG Pearl peered passed Yellow Pearl's shoulder, getting a cringe when she checked what was written.

"... That's not a spell."

"... Huh?" Yellow Pearl glanced to Garnet, her simply standing there with a smile.

"It still worked though," Garnet said. 

"I'll never understand Equestrian Magic," groaned Yellow Diamond.

"It's probably for the best," Blue Diamond admitted. Magic was never a cup of tea worth studying anyway.
As Yellow Pearl tried to not just scream from that embarrassing display, Garnet and a few others moved over to Pinkie and Fulgurite, who were calming down from their laughing fit. Pinkie Pie even got her puffy hair back.

"Man, leave it to Yellow Pearl," Fulgurite sighed, wiping away a tear from her laughing.

"You two feeling better?" asked Rarity.

"Yeah, sure, why wouldn't we be silly?" Pinkie asked. For the sake of it all, they might as well not push it any further. They were just glad they were back to normal.

Good timing too: just a moment after Fulgurite and Pinkie had been cured of this depressing funk, they all then heard a sort of noise coming from the Warp Pad off by the gate leading to the Sky Arena. Looking up to the arch, Applejack, Amethyst, and Peridot made their return to the group, Peridot actually riding on top of Applejack, the pony skidding to a stop. and almost knocking Peridot off of her doing so.

"There y'all are! We've been lookin all over fer ya," Applejack said. "We got ourselves more problems!"

"Already taken care of it, gang, cool your jets; Fulgurite and Pinkie are good as new," reassured Diopside said, going to the two.

"Wait, what happened to - oh who cares, that's not the problem here, don't start shooting questions now," Amethyst made clear.

"I have one …?" inquired White.

"Yes it's Steven-related," sighed Peridot.

"Oh for the love a - what happened now? I swear if Grogar got hold of our boy again," Bismuth groaned, worried and frustrated. If it wasn't one problem it's always another.

"I don't know, maybe? We went to check him this morning just like Jasper said, but we found him all gray and VERY gloomy. No, Jay, we didn't run off to dodge your training today, we were trying to find some counter spell thing or whatever for him," Amethyst said, getting another question out of the way before Jasper could bring it up. Garnet though could feel herself starting to fume up from that answer. Bad enough she didn't find Steven in the Beach House, now knowing for sure he was like this made things even worse!

"Amethyst. IS. HE. WITH. YOU?" Garnet asked.

"... I'm tempted to say yes, but then I'd be lying."

Garnet stomped her foot on the ground. That alone almost making the entire Sky Arena crack open!

"OOOHHH, G-mom's mad now," Emerald gulped.

"Oh my," Blue gasped.

"What's up? He's just back at the Beach House, ain't he?" Amethyst asked.

"I checked there, he is gone!" Garnet said.

"WHAT?! DANG IT not him too," Amethyst said in frustration. That single word "too" did not go unnoticed by the group. Amethyst quickly realized what she just said, and slapped herself in the forehead.

"Dang it, wasn't supposed to say that yet," Amethyst said.

"Too? Wait, who else is missing?" Peridot asked.

"Shouldn't you know?" Rainbow asked.

"Hey, I was taking position in Canterlot asking the local unicorns while they went off from me for a minute, I can't know everything," Peridot retorted.

"Who else is gone?" Flint asked. Amethyst then lifted off Applejack's hat, and showed what looked to be a letter that the three had found. Amethyst sighed, and without saying another word then showed them a piece of paper she had discovered with the other two after one side trip to one particular barn house.

"Ransom note?" Garnet asked, expecting the worst.

"Ehhh … not exactly," Applejack said. It was probably better for them to just see the note themselves instead of just saying it up front.

And they all took a look at the note.

Dear friends (and mom): Saw Steven got sick, heard Fulgurite and Pinkie got sick too. Went to Homeworld to see Grogar for an answer. Be back soon. P.S.: Padparadscha wanted to come too

…

"... S-She … she went to Homeworld. … with Grogar there. … By herself. …. To. ask for their help," Peridot's voice sounded more and more scared as she recited what indication this all meant, a very nervous smile and hands twitching.

"No, no, Peridot, breathe, breathe," Amethyst said quickly, seeing the green Gem look ready to explode at any moment.

"... MY BABY'S GONE!!!!"


~~~~~~


"...…. So have you figured out what to do when we get there?" asked Padparadscha.

"Look around. Ask them for help. If they don't want to help or answer, we just go," Star Quartz answered.

The trip between the Warp Pad on Homeworld, and the main Diamond City left the two with that main plan in mind. Clearly, one of the best plans of all time, and the two got that to hold onto as they got themselves closer to the Diamond City boundaries. Padparadscha was mainly trying to keep up with her at this point, Star Quartz going at her speed (which was very quick). The two eventually did stop their moving once they made it to the very edge of the city.

"...…. So …… you don't have an exact plan?" Padparadscha asked nervously. Star Quartz shook her head.

"It's not that complicated. Peridot told me they don't usually make up complicated plans either."
Standing there at the edge of the city, they began to look around for a bit, seeing what they could see. They saw much of homeworld's extravagance and beauty sure, but no Gems in sight. At least, not where they were. They eventually began to walk in some more.

"...…. They don't?" Padparadscha eventually asked.

"I don't think so. It sounds like they just go in and make it up as they go along," Star said. Most plans end up that way anyway, either be it for White Diamond's Space Station antics or just going on a monster mission. Padparadscha thought on it for a little, but eventually went back to looking around the borders of Homeworld.

"...…. It looks so pretty up here," she said.

*HEE-HAW!*

It was only a matter of time until one of the border patrols would find them standing there. Star Quartz looked on ahead down the road into Homeworld, only to find that one of Grogar's creatures had located them, standing in their way. Star and Padparadscha may not recognize him, but the sight of Bray the mule was a common sight in Homeworld at this point.
And as they figured he didn't come alone, his bellowing "hee-haw" bringing in a number of other guards that joined him on his patrol. At least twenty or so large, Equestrian creatures had come out to confront them all, making sure they didn't have any escape route. Bray, joined by Budgerite, got themselves down to the front lines to see Star and Padparadscha.

"Look out Star, we're about to be caught!" Padparadscha said.

"Uh, a little delayed there, missy," Bray commented. Star Quartz didn't seem spooked though - they were supposed to be found anyway.

"Hello. Are you with Grogar, by chance?" Star Quartz asked.

"Are we with Grogar? Ha! What other group's got a bunch of Equus beats in it? NONE, that's how much!" said Budgerite. Unfortunately, this sort of chitchat from the burd gem hybrid flew right over Star's head, so ...

"... Are you with Grogar?" Star quartz asked again.

"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, we are from Grogar's army, yes," Bray said, perplexed a little bit with Star Quartz.

"Great!"

"... Great?" Budgerite and Bray asked eachother, as Star quartz stepped forward. Not the response they were expecting to hear from a Gem that's just been caught. And then Star went for broke (go figure).

"You think you can help us with something? Our friends are sick, and we think you guys did something to them."

"Huh? … OH, that poison Nichrome put in that ca - ACK!" Bray got his muzzle clamped shut, but it was a little too late to block off that kind of information. not that it mattered.

"You think you know a cure for it? They're getting kinda dull and sick," Star asked politely.

"Don't get too close, Star," Padparadscha finally said. Budgerite and Bray weren't sure if they were hearing either of them correctly, Bray digging out some wax in his long ears with his hoof just to be sure he heard right. But nope, they weren't mishearing her.

"Are you two okay?" Budgerite blurted out.

"Yeah, we're fine," Star simply answered. But with Star in a good spot standing, Budgerite got a better look at that gemstone of hers.

"Waaaaait …  eh, what kind of Gems are ya? Don't think I've seen a Gem like you before," Budgerite said, getting up close and personal with Star Quartz's gemstone to see those special markings and eyes.

"Oh, I'm Star Quartz. and she's Padparadscha Sapphire," Star Quartz introduced, Padparadscha catching up with Star and keeping herself hiding behind Star Quartz like a scared child. Budgerite though got around to see her anyway, and actually looked more amazed than suspicious of her.

"A Sapphire? A Padparadscha Sapphire?" Budgerite asked, astonished.

"...…. Y-Yes?" Padparadscha asked. Budgerite took a minute to think, nodding her head and going right back to Bray's side.

"Bray, did you hear that? We got a Star Quartz and Padparadscha here!"

"If I can pronounce that second name, that would mean … what?" Bray asked, head tilted like some confused dog.

"That means that we got some of the rarest Gems ever! Think about it, have you ever heard of ANY of those Gems before?" Budgerite asked, getting very excited.

"Oh? OH yeayeayea, Grogar's gonna get a kick outta it! He's always got a tinkering for the unique and fancy," Bray said, getting the idea. In a way, this might be some good luck to Star and Padparadscha here. Bray cleared his throat.

"K, lot listen up! Get these two back to base, we got some jewels for the king!" Bray said. That was the order that got the rest of the guards to close in on them. Both of them looked around, but eventually they did start walking along their way.

"So Grogar likes special things?"

"Oh yeah, he's all about things that stand out from the crowd. And YOU TWO pay that bill," Bray said gleefully, even giving Padparadscha a noogie to the head. Padparadscha and Star Quartz were actually a bit flattered. Star Quartz did take this chance.

"Excuse me, but if you're gonna see Grogar, can you ask him a few things for me?"

…….

And Grogar got those questions fairly quickly, the moment Bray and Budgerite got back. All of these questions the two got right to him with no delay, and the king Ram, who at the time was in his throne room preparing himself for the time ahead (AKA filing his horns), found this a bit sketchy.

"So yeah, that's all the questions. She's asking for a cure to Steven's sickness, and how you're learning everything before … they know - is that what she said? Yeah, everything before they know," Budgerite concluded.

"And we are more than positive she's suffering from loose-screws-ictus," Bray added, scratching his head. Grogar took a brief moment to think about this.

"... And they are apparently very rare Gems?" Grogar inquired, having a seat as he briefly changed from filing his horns to filing his hooves., making them glean and sharpened like blades on his feet. Budgerite nodded quickly.

"You bet your horns they are: Padparadscha's are the rarest kind of Sapphire there is, and Star Quartzes, heck, I've never heard of em before! Must be a new type created," Budgerite said. Grogar didn't answer for a bit more, finishing up his hoof filing before standing up and getting off the throne himself. A smile came up on his face from there.

"So. Two rare and specialized Gems have just shown up on our doorstep eh? AND from those Harmony Gems no less. It's like they're not even trying!" Grogar laughed. Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald had their fun going in and out, but at least they weren't as blunt with things as these two were. He took a little blow on his hooves, giving them a cleaner look to it.

"Maybe they're giving up, oh mighty Grogar. They haven't done jack or jenny since their last little visit anyway," Bray figured. That idea gave Grogar such a nice smile. He gave a nice sigh at the thought.

"The joys of seeing your enemies throw themselves at your hooves, eh lads? … Tell ya what, go find those two, and I'll decide what to do with em. And make sure everyone's there to see it."

"Even Nichrome? I mean, you sent him off to see if the others are actually dead," reminded Budgerite. Grogar just huffed, rolling his eyes.

"Fine. Make sure everyone else is there to see it. Happy?" Grogar stated, before he began to trot off to check up on these two. He was still a bit bitter about Nichrome, for a lack of a better word, stealing his kill. But at the end of the day, the end result was the same - Steven and whoever else Nichrome poisoned was gonna keel over by now. He still grinded his sharp teeth together from the reminder though, as he himself went to get himself preened for the "get together".

…….

"One … two … three … four … *thud*"

Exhausting as it may seem to be, Connie was trying her absolute hardest here. With many of the prisoners now left sitting in their cells, either just sitting there waiting for the next outing, or actually trying the practice of "sleeping", it was a good time to continue the practice a bit more.

"Come on Connie, you got this. Do it for them," she quietly told herself, as she got herself back up again. Her muscles had been looking a bit more prominent lately, as she paused to check them. For such slimmer arms they did feel harder from the work she'd been putting herself into.

"You're not gonna keep me here Grogar, just you watch," Connie said.

"O really?"

Connie turned and saw that one of the guards had come up to check on her this time, taking form of a larger bull this time. Connie though simply ignored that lummox outside her cell, and she actually continued to exercise. The bull moved up right to the bars of her cage, snorting inside, with the scent of dry grass filling the room.

"The hay are you doing?"

"Push-ups. I have nothing else to do," Connie remarked between pants. The bull rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell me: you think you're gonna break out of here by yourself."

"No. I will break out of here, AND I'm gonna get even with that ram for everything he's done," Connie stated, growing angry. Who knows exactly how much Grogar did outside of Homeworld?

"PAH! Maybe that corruption thing he did screwed away something, but you're not getting anywhere. You're NEVER gonna be free, and that is final," the bull huffed. Just as they both began to hear someone else start to come over to the cell. The bull turned and as Connie finished up at least ten more push-ups, moved aside. The human hybrid took a breather and saw the figures of Bray and Budgerite standing there, only for them both to hear …

"Good news, Connie: you and Twilight are being freed!" Bray announced.

Well then.

"WHAT?!" the bull snorted.

"Yeah. What?" Connie asked, shocked to hear it herself. Again.

"You heard me, you goaty girl you," explained Bray, as Budgerite hopped off of his back to get the gate opened, "Grogar wants all of the guards and a few fancy trinkets in the throne room right away. Everyone gets to see Grogar deal with Star Quartz, and Padparadscha."

Connie, while still walking out, was seemingly a bit skeptical.

"Wait. Which Star Quartz and Padparadscha?"

"What you mean "which" the ones from the Harmony Gems. I don't know any others ones anywhere, you Bray?" Budgerite asked. Bray shook his head for no, but Connie had been duped before with Nichrome. She needed some more answers.

"OKAY. What do these two look like? And I want details," Connie stated firmly. Budgerite and Bray looked to eachother and, shrugging, just went to answer.

"Well Star Quartz is kinda taller than me, rail thin, looks like she doesn't even have any color or weight -"

"And an idiot. don't forget an idiot," cut in Bray.

"Yeah, sort of," continued Budgerite, "Padparadscha looks like a orange Sapphire, short hair, has a REALLY big delay for some reason. So yeah, Harmony Gem duo."

"They ARE the same ones!" Connie thought, gulping. Bray and Budgerite started going off on their way. The bull, not wanting to hear Connie rub in with her being free now, shoved her along in order to keep up with the other two. As they kept going along, Connie went on thinking a bit.

"Are they trying to get us out now? I mean, Steven would've told them by now, but they wouldn't get themselves captured again. Would they? … Or is Grogar really THAT good, they couldn't even get in here? Maybe when I see Star and Padparadscha they can tell us what's going on. They better be okay."


~~~~~~


As for the gathering, Grogar made sure that things were looking exactly as they should. Budgerite and Bray's message for everyone to meet within the throne room spread around like wildfire, and got to the throne room just as fast. Commander Tempest, Storm King, Trotter, and many others amongst Grogar's forces had taken this time to arrive to the place of Star and Padparadscha's state of questioning. Grogar himself was looking plenty pleased, a devilish grimy grin across his muzzle and showing teeth sharpened by the file he used earlier. Whatever was to happen he wanted to make sure it went his way. He was especially pleased when he saw Connie Maheswaran and Twilight Sparkle being forced into the room, under watch by Bray, Budgerite, and the bull to make sure they didn't try anything. They eventually got into position, but Grogar did notice that Connie and Twilight didn't have the best view.

"You there," Grogar stated, pointing the sharpened hoof at a fairly large boar, "Move aside will you? Our "special guests" can't see well with you sitting in the way."
A loud snort echoed and the boar did as instructed, giving Connie and Twilight a clear view of the space between the guards, and the throne of Grogar. Twilight and Connie didn't move from their spot.

"He wants to kill us, but still thinks we're "special guests"," Twilight quietly stated in disgust, "Oh I wish I knew what to do, Connie."

"Don't worry. you heard what they're saying, maybe the others got here to get us out. I bet they're gonna come right through that -" before Connie could finish, in came Star Quartz and Padparadscha. And nobody else. They were escorted in by some of the lions that found them earlier, none of which threatened any of them just yet, though despite that the two Gems did stop when they saw Connie and Twilight.

"Hi guys," Star said.

"So they caught you?" Connie asked.

"I think so. Padparadscha and I let them get us," Star simply answer.

"I see Connie and Twilight!" gasped Padparadscha.

"And you've come to get us out?" asked Twilight, hopefully. Then came the weird answer.

"Uh … no? That wasn't really the idea. Should it be?" Star asked, perplexed. Connie and Twilight couldn't believe their ears.

"But why are you here?!" Connie gasped.

"No talking!" roared a Bear, before Star and Padparadscha were moved along by the lions again with a few growls and some paw swipes. Star Quartz and Padparadscha were at center stage now, with only Grogar standing tall in front of them.

He was gonna enjoy this.

"... Star Quartz. Padparadscha. You two had requested me which I would take. War or Peace. Life or Death."

"Not exactly what I said, but I guess that can work," Star Quartz stated. Grogar wasn't too impressed with either of them. Rare or not, they were still dolls in his eyes. A novelty at best. The guards around them both, along with Connie and Twilight with some of their prisonhold watched in anticipation and anxiousness as Grogar considered what his answers would be.

"Before I say my answer, I want to ask you two something. Are you two willing to join? To join Tambalon? Or are you willing to stay with those "Harmony Gems" of yours?" Grogar questioned.

"But we didn't ask any of those things. Right?" Padparadscha asked Star Quartz, who just shrugged. Captain Storm got his clawed hand to his forehead.

"Seriously?! It's like you're in a different time zone, I swear!" Storm groaned. Which technically, Padparadscha was, whether they wanted it or not.

"You … want us to answer good or bad?" Star asked.

"Oh, answer however you want," Grogar said. He honestly was hoping they'll refuse, for the sake of seeing the other two nearby suffer a little bit more. The two Gems looked to one another, only then Padparadscha becoming a little startled by Storm's outburst, clutching onto Star's dress. Padparadscha and Star Quartz then went on with it, the white gem looking to the ram first.

"But we already are in a group. It doesn't sound like it'll be fair for us to just join you. Thanks, but, we can't do that. Sorry," Star Quartz said casually.

Silence.

"... Then here's your answers: War or Peace, Life or Death. WAR. DEATH."

"This is a lot of trouble just for your information, sir. Why's that so bad?" reminded Star Quartz, a little taken aback by what she saw as a BIG overreaction.

"BECAUSE I SAY SO! Captains, Commanders? Shatter at my command."

"NO!" exclaimed Connie and Twilight. JUST the answer he wanted to hear. Connie and Twilight tried to reach them, but some of the stronger guards kept both of them back: Twilight concealed behind some bear claws while Connie had some whips tied to her horns. Trotter, Tempest, and Storm went up towards them, ready to get at them at a moments notice. Only after they got surrounded did Padparadscha yelp in fear.

"Careful Star! I predict we're about to be shattered!" Padparadscha exclaimed.

"What, again - HE JUST SAID THAT, YOU IDIOT! You call yourself a Sapphire?!" Storm mocked. Padparadscha shivered in fear, but Star Quartz rested a hand on her head, using a bit of her power to try and calm her down even if she seemed a little humbled herself. As both were contemplating, Grogar then looked on to the whole crowd.

"The Harmony Gems claim to be the saviors of Earth! And the Alicorns claim they're the rulers of Equus," he began. However, no one was aware that something was going on with Padparadscha, except for Star Quartz.

"Is it cold? Why're you shaking?" Star asked quietly, as Grogar continued.

"Both sides are seen as owners of their world. But I am the true ruler here! -" "Ooohhhh …" "- Their people will become mine, and ALL of the worlds they live in! They will -" "Aaaahh. Aaahh!" "- live as I COMMAND! They'll live by me, and live through -" "Aaahhh!" "- WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

Padparadscha looked panicked, but not in the same way as normal stress would have it. As everyone watched, Padparadscha gripped her head in discomfort, moaning and yelping in fear as she was shivering. None of them knew what was going on.

"How dare you interrupt our king? SLAUGHTER HER!" one of the guards demanded. But just before any of them could go in and do anything -

"N-NO. No! The fire's spreading! I-It's everywhere!" Padparadscha stuttered. Star Quartz looked around briefly.

"Fire?" Star asked. But Padparadscha didn't seem to hear her. Some of the guards actually looked around frantically for any signs of anything flammable. Sapphire's did predict the future after all.

"There's no fire, she's just talking crazy!" Storm exclaimed. But then Padparadscha spoke again.

"R-Run! Run! Peshtihorn's burning! Hurry. Save him Fawn!"

That didn't sound too familiar to any of them. Well, except for one.

"HOLD!" Grogar suddenly shouted. Everyone looked to him on this sudden change in command, the ram suddenly jumping off of his throne and landing right in front of Padparadscha, shockingly unfazing the sapphire as the vision rushed through her. Star Quartz stepped back a little bit.

"Peshtihorn. … Fawn. … Only death herself would know of these things."

"A-Aaahhh! A-A Dragon!" Padparadscha exclaimed, "R-Running through the fields! Through the flames! R-Run! RUN GROGAR! THE DRAGON'S COMING DOWN ON US!"

Grogar suddenly gasped in shock, stepped back a bit at the mere mention of a Dragon, the word sending shivers running down his spine. Bray and Budgerite panicked as well, yelping and frantically looking around for any sign of a dragon. Padparadscha looked ready to scream, but Star Quartz got both hands firmly placed on her head, her powers working fast as a white aura flashed briefly. It was more of a impulsive move than one with thinking, but it did calm Padparadscha down, enough to actually make her pass out.

"D-Dragon?! Where? WHERE?! I'm too young to be eaten!" Bray stuttered, hooves on his head as his eyes bolted back and forth for any signs of such a creature.

"Y-you think she's predicting, my lord?" Budgerite stuttered, "I-I mean, she is a Sapphire. A defective one, but still a Sapphire."

NOW Grogar looked scared. Canterlot had a Dragon. Equestria had a Dragon. He saw a baby Dragon on Homeworld. NOW a Dragon's coming to Homeworld?! ...

"CLEAR THE THRONE ROOM! I want every flank and butt out of here NOW!" Grogar screeched. It was a strange one-eighty spin on this whole scenario, but many of Grogar's Army wasn't about to question the ram, even if seeing him afraid was a bit weird. Connie and Twilight, despite being given orders to be freed, were forced away and brought out of the room too, and eventually it was just Grogar, Star Quartz, and Padparadscha. Star did try to walk out with them though, holding Padparadscha as she was sleeping.

"Not you," groaned Grogar.

"But you said every flank and butt has to go, and we have butts too," Star asked, confused. Grogar didn't have time to explain, and forced them both back in the room. He jumped them both then, namely putting himself right in front of the Sapphire.

"You're a Sapphire, that has to be a vision of some sort," Grogar said, firmly and urgently, "What else did you see? Did you see when this'll happen? Padparadscha, talk to me!"
But it was no use. Padparadscha was passed out still, and could only mumble as she was sleeping with Grogar's yelling. Such a vision like that cannot be ignored. Star Quartz took Padparadscha, and held her away from Grogar, cradling her in her arms.

"She's sleeping. She can't talk to you in her sleep," Star said, Padparadscha cuddling closer to Star Quartz as she was sleeping. Grogar stood tall over both Gems.

"What was she talking about?" Grogar demanded.

"I don't know. I never seen her do that before. … You know what Fawn and Pestyhorn is?"

"It's Peshtihorn," Grogar corrected.

"Sorry. You know what that is?" Star Quartz asked. Grogar loomed over them both, his red eyes piercing through Star. The ram was not in the mood to go over his own knowledge with these two, especially after … well, whatever the hay THAT was.

"Like you need to know that. Now answer my question about that future vision, or I'll force it out of you," Grogar warned, snarling as his hooves are dangerously close to their feet. Star Quartz looked down to Padparadscha, and then to Grogar again.

"But she can't predict the future. They said she can only predict things that just happened."

"Well we didn't just get the palace burned down, now did we?" Grogar snarled. "Future vision is the only explanation for all that, now -"

"Really? … *gasp* Padparadscha! Padparadscha!"

It took a bit, but eventually Padparadscha slowly began to stir, Grogar growing more impatient.

"Huh? … What?"

"Padparadscha. Grogar says you just predicted the future right now. It's the first future vision you actually did, isn't that great?" Star Quartz stated, actually sounding happy for her. Padparadscha paused, but eventually a small gasp appeared on her face.

"That's amazing! I actually predicted the future this time! How exciting!" Padparadscha beamed, hands on her cheeks as she smiled.

"Yes, now WHAT DID YOU SEE?" Grogar snarled, itching to just blast the two idiots into dust. He could just blast them to pieces, but he can't predict the future and so long as Padparadscha had that information, she was safe from harm. For now, anyway. Star Quartz however went in and placed her hand on Grogar's head, the area glowing again. Grogar didn't have it and swatted her hand.

"NO MAGIC ON ME!"

"Sorry, you just looked upset. I wanted to calm you down," Star Quartz said.

"You haven't even SEEN anger, you -"

"I saw somewhere far away," Padparadscha suddenly cut in. Delayed, but at least she was talking. Grogar and Star Quartz looked down to Padparadscha as she continued.

"I predict that um … somewhere small is going to be burned to the ground. At uh … some point in the future? … And you'll be there, Grogar, and a lot of others like you too -"

"I KNOW, WHEN?!" Grogar demanded, starting to get anxious now. All this sounded too familiar to the ram, and if this was gonna happen in future he needed to know exactly when it'll be. Too bad Padparadscha was still slow as ever.

"WELL?!"

"...…. I predict someone will be getting scared."

"GAH!" In anger, Grogar spun around, and in that turn slammed his head into the nearest wall, cracking it like glass. His hooves dug into the ground under him.

"You okay?" Star Quartz asked, though the question was not helping him at all either.

"It's no wonder the Diamonds wanted Off-Colors dead, I can't rely on you two for ANYTHING! I swear, you both are worse than Sumu -" Grogar suddenly clamped his muzzle shut, but unfortunately his anger finally got out a clue to what Padparadscha and Star Quartz were wanting to figure out. Seemed even the king of Tambalon can goof up, but at the very least no one else was there to see that slip of the tongue.

"Sumu. … Who's Sumu?" Star asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Grogar insisted.

"You just said "Sumu"."

"You heard wrong!" Grogar snarled, his horns starting to glow ominously. Padparadscha slowly began to grow scared, something Star Quartz wasn't picking up on. Especially with the next question.

"You don't have to be so angry if you're scared. What're you so afraid of?"

In a flash, Grogar jumped them. Padparadscha fell out of Star Quartz's arms, but Star herself was suddenly pinned to the wall, Grogar's cloven hoof keeping her neck pinned down as if they were edged scissors.

"The only thing that I'm afraid of is giving out my info to the enemy. Now you and your Sapphire have exactly nine seconds to clear off of my property, or I'll turn you both into stardust! CLEAR?!"
Grogar then threw Star Quartz at Padparadscha, giving them both a singular moment to get out of his sight before Grogar would really lose it on them. Star Quartz got up after the throw.

"Look out, Grogar's attacking!" Padparadscha suddenly gasped. Grogar just ignored her, and Star did get up to her feet again after the initial hit.

"You got until three to get out of my throne room. Out of my kingdom. Out of my world," Grogar warned one last time, as his horns began to glow a blue hue. One hit of this beam, and both will never be able to leave as themselves. While anyone would be scared at this point, and for a brief moment Star actually was, but then her eyes began to wander a bit towards one of the doors to the back. There was something there that was beckoning her. Like a small bell chime.

"Are you even listening to me right now?!"

"... Ring. …"

"Ring? Ring what?" Grogar snorted, turning to find that same object on the floor. He snarled in anger at this.

Then Star actually smiled, and began to move away from Padparadscha. She actually started giggling a little bit, as if she found a game to play. She closed in on the bell chime by the door, and the object darted off away. And so did she.

"Oh my! I predict -"

"Whatever it is, it already happened, now shut up! I'll kill you later," Grogar snapped, before chasing off after Star Quartz. Padparadscha wasn't gonna be going anywhere fast. Padparadscha thought about it briefly before finishing.

"... I predict that we found something. How exciting!"

…

It was as if she was suddenly in her own world now. Ignoring the fact she was racing around the palace, and even passed some of the guards without stopping, Star Quartz continued her pursuit after this small object as it zoomed around the place. It was just out of Star Quartz's reach for most of the running, the Gem trying time and again to catch it but without much success. It was like a cat chasing one of those laser pointers, and Star was just as determined to catch this thing. Meanwhile, Grogar continued his own chase after Star Quartz, blasting away just as he did before when blasting the escapees, but it seemed this object knew Grogar's fighting as it seemed to lure Star Quartz away just enough to avoid a shot. The only one that wasn't exactly running around was Padparadscha. Well, not running at the same speed anyway.
The exact movement was a bit erratic depending on where the object itself wanted to go, a bit more than Grogar could keep up with.

"For lord sake, slow down! I just wanna kill ya!" Grogar shouted, trying this time electric bolts to get her, but once again it didn't seem to work. What's worse: Star didn't even know he was attacking thanks to the distraction. At one point Star Quartz bolted around the corner, and by the time Grogar got to said corner, it seemed as if she had completely vanished. Still, Star could still hear the ram screaming from behind as she ran.

"Come here, bell," Star said, still trying to catch the object. Her focus was strictly on the object in front of her, almost enough that she almost ran right into the nearest wall. She only stopped herself when her hands finally caught the object on said wall.

"I win," Star Quartz said with a grin.

Finally after all that running around she finally began to see what object it technically was, getting a better look at it. Opening her hands, she found that she was now holding a small bellflower of sorts: a rose flower colored amber, about the size of an actual Christmas bell. Star Quartz rang the bell a little bit, hearing the chime of the bell echo with her in a calming way.

But then she turned around.

"... Oops."

"Star, don't go too far ahead!"

Star stood there a bit, admiring the bellflower she found and caught. At the least, Grogar wasn't right on her tail right now, but on the dark side Padparadscha had to handle the palace by herself. Then Star looked to the bellflower.

"She won't be safe for long in here by herself. Can you go find her for me?" Star Quartz asked.

And the bellfower actually responded. Going out of her hands, the plant suddenly was out of sight, extending along a very thin, almost string-like vine.

After that, Star then heard another door opened up from behind her, where that bellflower came from. In this palace, whether this lifeform seemingly wanted to or not, the room that it resided in was Pink Diamond's room (perhaps to once again spite Steven on Grogar's part, but who knows?). Star Quartz turned and actually didn't hesitate to walk inside the room itself. As probably expected though, the room itself did not look the same inviting room that the Gems were familiar with. Instead, the whole room was covered from ceiling to floor with a strange looking plant, wrapping around the furniture, but keeping some parts of the room uncovered such as the mirror and window (and the door, of course). The wrapping rope was dark in color like a Changeling, with blue thorns on numerous vines, some of them blooming into cotton ball tops like weeds. Star Quartz stopped briefly when seeing one of these, kneeling down and tapping the top of the weed, the soft surface feeling like fur on a bunny.

"Are these new?" Star Quartz asked curiously.

"Not really. But they help me a lot. Especially in here."

Now who said that? Star seemingly knew, not fazed at all by the voice, which itself sounded similar to her own. Quiet, calm, and slightly naïve. Not as ghostly, but pretty close. As Star Quartz gently petted the cottonball weed, the feeling of it seemed to make something giggle a bit. Star Quartz got up.

Star Quartz looked around the room for a bit before something started to come out of the vines. A Venus Flytrap-like plant lowered itself from the ceiling, a few leaves behind the bud that looked like a thrill. The sharpened bud opened up and revealed that this being actually had a face that looked very human-like, but with Changeling eyes.

"Hello, Star Quartz," said the plant. Star smiled.

"Hello Plunder Vine. Or … is that your name still? I think Grogar wants you to be called "Sumu"," Star asked, not wanting to sound too insulting to the plant. The Plunder Vine recoiled slightly.

"Whichever you so prefer, Star. I hope I didn't worry you," Sumu replied, as Star had a seat over on one of Sumu's many vines, which had moved so it was comfortable for her.

"I thought you'd be sleeping by now. It's winter on Earth, you see, and you were usually tired this time of year."

"I still am a little. … Grogar brought me here though. I don't have to fall asleep here for spring," Sumu said. Star Quartz looked around a bit at the handiwork Sumu had done to the room.

"Isn't this Pink Diamond's room?" Star questioned.

"It is, but Grogar put me in here anyway. He wanted the memory of Pink Diamond removed with me, since my vines need room to grow," Sumu explained, one of the vines actually concealing a part of the cabinets as they were talking, to which Star noticed. "Pink Diamond isn't giving you and the Harmony Gems too much trouble, I hope."

"I don't think she is. She's been a bit less bratty since she found out she wasn't what everyone says she is," Star Quartz explained. Sumu nodded her head.

"So it was Grogar who brought you here. Didn't you like your cave by the fountain?" Star asked, tilting her head in confusion. Sumu patted Star Quartz's head with a spare vine tip, not being too hard with her tapping.

"I'm still there. There, the barn, the beach house, Ponyville. It's just harder to go there because of the cold," Sumu sighed. Made sense to Star: Vines aren't exactly pine trees. Before their conversation can continue, Star began to hear the sounds of a soft chiming bellflower nearing the door. The door opened up and there was Padparadscha, lured to Sumu's position thanks to the bell, albeit a bit slowly.

"Hello, Padparadscha. This is the Plunder Vines. Or Sumu," Star Quartz introduced.

Padparadscha stood there for a minute before she suddenly looked startle.

"Oh my stars! What is that?!" Padparadscha gasped.

"The Plunder Vines," Star Quartz simply answered. Unlike most other people, it didn't bother her that Padparadscha was usually a step behind on things. Sumu didn't mind either, and calmed Padparadscha's nerves by gently resting a leaf on her head. The Sapphire blushed after five seconds.

"Hello, Padparadscha. Star told me about you," Sumu said softly.

"The … Plunder Vines?" Padparadscha wondered. Sumu nodded.

"Yes. You and her doing okay in Grogar's domain? It is a scary place since Grogar came in," Sumu inquired.

"We're both still here," Star Quartz answered, "But Grogar doesn't like us right now. Something about fire and Dragons."

"Oh. Sorry," Sumu stated. Padparadscha then caught up with the situation and tugged on Star Quartz's dress. However with her belated response, she stalled long enough for Star Quartz to keep talking.

"Plunder Vine? Are you the one who's been teaching Grogar? We want to know who's doing that," Star asked. Sumu looked back to Star Quartz and nodded.

"Well, yeah I am. I told a lot of others before, but they left me alone afterwards when they got what they wanted. Always something either about your friends, or to go somewhere. Grogar wanted to keep me to himself so no one else can hear me," Sumu explained. Star pondered.

"Huh. He did mention how he didn't like doing that a minute ago," Star noticed, the words echoing in the back of her mind.

"Star, you sure we can talk to her so freely?" Padparadscha asked, feeling nervous about the whole thing.

"Why not?" both Star and Sumu asked. Suddenly Padparadscha was humbled, glancing back and forth between both of them for a bit before drawing a blank. Guess there was more than one Star Quartz here. Star and Sumu went back to talking after that, with Padparadscha pondering.

"I would like to go back, but Grogar says it's a bad idea."

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea to me," Star pointed out, "And actually. Can you come back with me? We have to get back before we get in trouble."

"Oh, trouble's no good," Sumu stated. "But I think Peridot and Rhodonite's already panicking. She's been running around since you left, I think."
And to seemingly show what she was talking about, Sumu showed another one of her abilities to them (she wasn't a normal talking flower). Bringing up her vines, she shaped them into a TV screen, the screen appearing much like one would see a bubble blower after dipping it into soap water. To sum it up, it showed Peridot running like a complete maniac, screaming as she tried to think of what to do with Star Quartz gone. Both Gems weren't sure if they should've expected this to happen or not. Rhodonite too was also panicking a little bit.

Star looked down to her feet in embarrassment. "We'd better get back. Mom's always been scared over me. … Can you make it back to Earth from here?"

"I don't think so. not my main bud. My vines can stretch across miles, but there's nowhere to go here on Homeworld. Unless you have something I can ride in," Sumu inquired. Star Quartz had to think on that one. What could they use to carry Sumu away in?

Unfortunately they didn't have time to get an answer together.

*BAM!*

"Oh no! Grogar's about to find us!"

And indeed he did. The ram, overhearing both the bell and their conversation, wasted no time in practically destroying the door off its own wall to get himself inside. Grogar snarled immediately when he saw Star, Padparadscha, and Sumu in the same place.

"Oh! … Hi Grogar," said Sumu, waving a leaf to him.

"Don't "hi" me, CLEAR OFF!" Grogar demanded, already firing away at Star Quartz and Padparadscha, Star was quick enough to avoid the shots, grabbing the sapphire so she would get shot. Even if the vines got fried, Sumu didn't look hurt at all. If Sumu's vines weren't there, the room would've been blown to rubble by now.

"Bye Sumu, we'll talk again," Star Quartz said to Sumu.

"Ok, bye," Sumu replied, just before Star Quartz and Padparadscha took the only exit out of there. Which was the window. One more blast got outside, missing the two, and both Gems leaped out and out of Grogar's grasp. Grogar tried to get a few more shots, but he didn't see them once he got to the window, as if they both vanished on the spot.

He bit off a chunk of the balcony before turning back to Sumu.

"What was THAT all about?"

"I … wanted to chat with my friend," Sumu said.

"AND YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ME?!" Grogar roared, his horns shoved right into Sumu's face, making her lean back a bit.

"It's the truth, isn't it? They wanted to know that before they get into trouble," Sumu said. All that response got her was Grogar tearing out one of the cotton flowers from the roots, making Sumu cringe a little bit.

"I don't care what they wanted to know, I only care what I want to know. That's why I dug you out in the first place! You got all the information I've needed to get to where I am so far, and if they get a hold of you, I will be on the lower end of the hoof."

"Who's hoof?" Sumu asked.

"Wanna find out?" Grogar warned, his large hoof hovering right over Sumu's head as his horns charged up in yellow electrical charges. This was just enough to scare Sumu a bit.

"D-Did I do something wrong sir?"

"OF COURSE YOU DID, and now I can't stop Star and Padparadscha because I don't know where they ran off to! And NO, they didn't just "jump through the window"."

"Didn't you want them to leave? I thought you said -" Sumu asked.

"I don't care what you think," Grogar said, turning around to the hallway door, "I only care about what you know about the enemy. Now it's been a bit since you've checked on them. Now get at it."

And before Sumu could even say anything else, Grogar just walked away, slamming the door shut behind him and leaving Sumu all by herself with only one main question lingering in her head.

"... What did I do?"


~~~~~~


Steven was walking.

Walking silently along the sand, on autopilot thanks to his gray state, Steven Universe was only really left to his thoughts. Sure his outer body may seem to be dormant and just walking aimlessly, Steven on the inside was trying to figure out how to get out of his own head and back in control of himself. Even going as far as to charge into the walls of his own head as if the head itself was some sort of cage, but to no avail.

"Steven! Or, my body! Let me in and - or, out! Boy this is confusing. Let me take pilot for a minute!" Steven exclaimed, but the body wasn't listening to him exactly. All the gray husk did was continue walking aimlessly along the sand. Even out in the bitter cold, Steven didn't apparently stop until he found a decent-sized boulder just off of the shoreline.

"Body, don't you do it! No, no, don't -" Steven wasn't able to stop him as the husk suddenly was walking towards the rock. The husk may not be reacting much, but Steven in his own head started freaking out, feeling the cold of the water on him, and Steven freaking out as if he just got stung by a bee.

"COLD COLD COLD COLD!" Steven yelped, running back and forth in blind panic until husk Steven pulled himself up on the rock, and sat down. Dripping wet, and just staring out to sea. Steven in his head was just shivering and cold.

"Ok. Why're we out here?" Steven asked, as if the husk could talk to him, "We could've at least got a coat, or a scarf."

Again no response coming from the husk, him simply staring off to who knows where. Steven was just getting frustrated.

"AUGH, what am I thinking, I can't talk to myself! My body's not gonna listen to me! If I'd just gone with my gut, none of this would've happened," Steven groaned. "How could I just fall like that? I knew he was bad from the start, I should've said something. Why can't I - … WHY CAN'T I WIN?!"
In his anger, Steven slammed a fist into the walls of what was the eye … and actually found it cracked. Funny thing too, hearing that crack actually made his own eye hurt some more, as if someone did indeed punch it.

"Owowowow. … Huh?" Steven took another look to the eyes, seeing that prominent crack. The husk he wasn't sure if it reacted or not, but that wasn't important. Steven looked closer through the crack in the "eye", seeing nothing but white on the other side of it.

"A cracked window. … That means I can - …" Steven, while excited, quickly paused himself for a moment. "Wait a minute. I cracked this, but hurt my eye. If I break it ... then …"

… Steven shook his head, and started to back up.

"No, don't freak out. You can just go heal it later," Steven told himself. It would be an easy fix, even if the risk was gonna be painful.

"Time to get out of my own head."

And he charged.

… *CRASH!* ...

Ten seconds was all that took, the pain shooting through him as he only saw light for a brief moment. The husk's eyes bolted wide open, one eye normal in theory, but the other as gray as everything else. He could see the world, not through a window, but through his own eyes.

"I … I did it! … And I'M FREEZING!" Steven exclaimed, suddenly feeling the body shivering far more clearly, and he suddenly bolted off of the rock. The diamond power made him jump fairly well, but he made sure to aim forward more than upward so he could hit the rocky wall off not too far away. At least he can get gravity to get him down quicker than he would normally do. He was cold, and now in his body again, tired and feeling more of that depression that struck him. He slowly found his feet once he struck the sand. But there was something else wrong here.

The world was starting to turn less and less visible.

"Got to … to … get back … getting …… too ……. tired …" Steven could barely even feel the ground anymore, not even reacting to stop himself when a rock knocked him off his feet, making him slam down onto the ground. But he didn't care. As with everything else going on today. Too emotionally exhausted to move, he stayed on the ground a bit more, not even having the encouragement to keep going on his own. That was, until he noticed something coming to him, appearing after keeping an eye on him. Someone Steven could only wish he had treated a little bit better.

"...…. Pink? … Pearl? …"

"I'm here, my diamond. Hold on." Steven felt himself get picked up, firm yet gentle, as the two went off. All poor Steven could do was simply allow all this to happen to him. Wherever they were going, whatever might happen now … well, whatever be will be. Steven couldn't do a thing about it.

"STEEEEEVEN!"

"Where'd that Diamond go?! I swear this isn't making anything easier!"

"Where're you, Steven?!"

All those voices of his friends. Nothing much to him anymore, but Pink Pearl saw them as a stars sent, and made little to no time at all in getting towards the noise, fast and light on her feet. They both saw the cavalry of friends altogether once they cleared a group of trees over near the barn. ALL of them were now there at this point, with the only exception being Star, Padparadscha, Connie and Twilight (for obvious reasons). The Diamonds were even present, trying to find Steven, alongside the Off-Colors too once they got word of the news. If there was a time to show Steven, now would be it.

Pink Pearl went right out, Steven cradled in her arms.

"STEVEN!" Gasped White Diamond. Seeing Steven's faddily colored body told them immediately that there was something horribly wrong, just like before with Pinkie and Fulgurite only more so. They all were quick to go over to them both.

"Pearl, what's wrong with him?" Yellow Diamond asked urgently, as Pink Pearl placed Steven down on the ground gently. Steven was held up then by some of the others, namely Starlight holding his head up.

"He's growing too detached from his feelings. Maybe. … I think?" Pink Pearl said, unsure exactly herself. All she knew was that he was not feeling very well.

"Hang in there, Steven, we'll get you fixed up good as new! Guys, come on, do something to make him happy!" Starlight said.

"Like what?!" asked Diopside.

"I don't know, whatever you did with Pinkie and Fulgurite!" exclaimed Starlight. Steven just groaned, going a little more limp.

"Can you guys keep it down? … It's hard to do nothing if you're yelling …" Steven said, monotone and quiet.

"No no no, don't do nothing, I-It's gonna be fine! Eh, here look at me!" Amethyst insisted. Steven did look over, and suddenly she started her expert funny faces: her face shapeshifting into a hilarious-looking face with tongue sticking out, googly eyes, whatever else it may be. It always seemed to crack someone up, as she pranced around like an idiot. Unfortunately, that was all Steven was seeing.

"Too … dumb …" Steven breathed. Suddenly his colors, which were dull enough, started to fade away even more as if they were triggered!

"Uh, uh, OH wait, what about this?" Lapis said. She knew one trick that did make them both smile at a time, though it had been a long time since she did it. She went up to him, brought her hand up to her mouth, and the sound of *PBHT* echoed for a good three seconds. Not even close.

"It's okay ……. I don't care anymore. … It's been … fun. … Huh?" Steven's voice was sounding a bit hushed, as if he was barely making an effort to even speak, and very briefly a smile did show up, only for him to grow greyer. Anymore of this and he will be ending his run!

"Guys we're losing him," Flint said urgently, turning to them.

"We got this! Rosebud, Emerald, I need you two!" insisted Pinkie, already getting an idea on what to do for him.

It didn't take them that much time to get something else going on. Steven, sitting there and looking on with bemusement, as the trio began to try their own tricks to get him to smile. In this case, Pinkie Pie got out a balloon, blowing it up good and big for a good sized beach ball before jumping up on top of it, joined by Pink Diamond.

"Lookie here, Diamond boy, a three-way circus!" Pink Diamond beamed, holding Emerald and Pinkie Pie in each hand as she balanced on the balloon.

"But ……. why though?" Steven asked, just before the balloon popped, making all three of them fall onto the ground. The fall wasn't all good either, Pinkie and Emerald landing on top of Pink Diamond.

"Is he happy yet?" Pink asked, moving Pinkie's tail out of her face.

"Not even a smirk," said the Rutile Twins.

"We need a different approach," Fluorite figured.

"W-Well, think of something!" White pleaded, growing impatient and worried all the same time. Steven was actually growing a little bit tired, a small hum emitting and his body getting greyer. They had to think of something, and something fast before he could go completely under.

"More happiness. Now," instructed Garnet, pulling Pinkie, Pink, and Emerald aside so someone else could try at him. First thing: another physical approach with Amethyst as a tiny car, with Fulgurite riding around in it.

"Look Steven, a tiny car! Beep-Beep!" Fulgurite said. This lasted only a little bit before Amethyst shapeshifted back to normal, both smiling and hoping that brought around something. Unfortunately it didn't look like it was working much either.

"Nothing?!" Fulgurite snapped. Rainbow Dash got another idea from earlier that managed to get Pinkie Pie around, bolting away for a moment at lightning-fast speed. She took less than ten seconds before bolting straight back with something in her mouth, skidding to a halt so abruptly it nearly broke up the ground in her own hooves. The object? one of Steven's gifts from Homeworld. in this case, Blue Diamond's snow globe she gave him from his fifth-year anniversary party.

"OOOO look at this Steven! Check out this awesome show of stars," Rainbow Dash said, her hoof moving and making the universe inside the snow globe spin in a beautiful array of stars. Steven grumbled and huffed, pushing the object away.

"So many worlds ……. so much time. All the time in the world."

"Stop talking like a depressed poet!" exclaimed Pink Diamond. That didn't even faze Steven at all, much to their worry. White Diamond finally had enough.

"Move out of the way!" She demanded, shoving Yellow and Blue Diamond aside before she reached Steven. Everyone else had to move out of the way, the diamond down on her hands and knees, shaking the ground on impact around Steven Universe before she snatched him up, much to their surprise. Steven just laid there on White Diamond's hand as she looked him with worried eyes.

"Steven, stop being depressed! I-I command you to stop being sad!" White Diamond demanded. Steven didn't answer her, laying there like a limp fish. Desperate, her eyes started to glow white.

"WHITE, STOP!" shouted Blue, quickly grabbing her and pulling her gaze back before she could take control of him. Yellow Diamond joined in too, both Diamonds pulling back hard as a white beam was shot off into the sky. The clouds weren't gonna be in her control.

"I-I'm sorry. I thought controlling him will help," White muttered, just as she felt Steven slide off of her hand. Greg went in and managed to catch him before he could strike the ground below.

"Hold on a minute here, let me take a crack at it."

"You? The Gems and ponies don't seem to have an answer, what can YOU do?" Yellow Diamond questioned. A bit harsh, but they didn't have time for tactfulness with Steven fading away on them.

"Yellow, he raised him since birth. Maybe he knows something we don't that could bring him back," Blue Diamond said.

"Well I don't know, but maybe I got something in here," Greg then said. He brought Steven over to the van nearby, placing him down gently inside as he got out something he felt would at least do something.

"Here kiddo, why don't we listen to one of your favorite tunes? I know you're gonna love this," Greg said, popping the disc into a radio in the van, and it began playing the song. It was something he knew Steven enjoyed way back in the day, and still enjoyed now so it had to do SOMETHING, right?


I know I'm not that tall
I know I'm not that smart
But let me drive my van into your heart
Let me drive my van into your heart


"Yeah, come on Steven sing along," insisted Applejack. However, Steven did not look like he was even listening … at all. Things were getting a bit more desperate, as Peridot grabbed the radio and brought it right up to him.

"Boring," Steven sighed.

"No, it's not boring! Just listen to THE SOFT MUSIC!" Peridot insisted, suddenly blaring the music right in his ears full blast! It made them all jump, even the diamonds nearby. All that did in the end though was make Steven groan as he lazily tapped the radio with his finger until he found the eject button, making the disc pop out and onto the ground.

"Not that either?"

"But that's supposed to work! You said it would!" Rhodonite shrieked. Steven covered his ears from all the trouble, getting annoyed that they're bothering so much over him.

"I hoped it'll work!" corrected Greg. "Ok, what else?"

"Pearl, you're up, get over here!"

"I-I can't!"

"FOR STEVEN!"
Next thing they tried now was a bit of a random jump, but they were having very little options at this point as Rainbow Dash forced Pearl over to position. Pearl though got a bit of a makeover, looking like a mix between a hobo and a clown: white sleeveless shirt, some baggy pants, even including the clown rainbow hair and nose. That, and a pie was in her hands. Oh did this feel familiar to her.

"Deja vu," thought Garnet.

"Oh look at that it, uh … I-it's appears to be … a delicious pie," Pearl said, barely keeping together as Steven just watched with a thousand-yard stare. Steven would've called her out for doing this again if he remembered that as correctly as the others.
"I-I sure hope nothing happens to … to … OH STEVEN!"

And just as Garnet and Amethyst had figured, Pearl broke down into tears as she slammed the pie into her face. Not exactly the best way of doing it.

"AGAIN?! REALLY?!" Amethyst shouted. Pearl knew the feeling all too well, she just couldn't help it. At least before when Steven was close to dying they had SOME idea of what to do, handed to them or not, but the tricks here just weren't working the same as with Fulgurite and Pinkie Pie, and they were losing him fast.

"Again? This happened before?!" Rarity gasped.

"Something about age and birthdays, now ain't no time for that!" Amethyst said.

"What hasn't this kid gone through before?" Tiger's Eye commented.

As he was simply laying there, his lack of carelessness was starting to truly make him lose himself physically, his senses starting to go and fade on him a little bit. He could barely make the effort to keep his eyes open, and as for hearing all he got were just muffled words. Was he really that depressed that his own body was just quitting on him?

"They still trying? What's even the point? Nothing's the point …" Steven thought. As everyone tried to figure something out, Steven began to slowly start to close his eyes, just ready to go off to sleep. Peridot saw him starting to go, jumping at him.

"STEVEN! STEVEN DON'T FALL ASLEEP …"

Too late. Too tired to care anymore, both physically and mentally, Steven started to drift off to sleep. Peridot in desperation tried to get him to wake back up, even slapping Steven across the face over and over again, but it wasn't working.

"Peridot, STOP, you're hurting him!" yelled Fluttershy, pulling her away before she could hurt him any further.

"WHAT DO WE DO THEN HUH?!" Peridot shrieked, "STAR AND PADPARADSCHA'S ALREADY GONE, I'M NOT LOSING STEVEN TOO!"
As Peridot thrashed to try and break out of Fluttershy's hooves, Greg placed an ear on Steven's chest. His heartbeat almost seemed to be getting tired, growing weaker but still beating.

"He's still kicking it," Greg said.

"Good, but how do we wake him up? We can't cheer him up if he's too sleepy to see it!" Pinkie said, immediately working her magic to try and get Steven to wake up With her Pinkie logic she tried all sorts of loud things to bring Steven back around: a trumpet, huge drum, even the airhorn right in Steven's ear, but it just wasn't working. They all tried to think of something to do, ANYTHING to do, to get their boy back. But it seemed that their "happiness" attempts weren't working on him the same as with Fulgurite and Pinkie earlier. However, there was one particular idea that came to one Water gem, remembering a little something over paint …

"Guys? I'm about to do something completely crazy. And Flint, you'd probably freak out over it," said Lapis.

"Anything, what?" asked Garnet. Lapis took a breath.

"Fulgurite, didn't you say that you, Rarity, Pinkie, and Steven had some "free cake" in Canterlot yesterday before this happened?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah sure, but what of it? Cake don't do this!"

"No, but I think this one can. … Give me some room, guys, I'm going for it."

And Lapis began a dance. Immediately this raised alarms, but Lapis was already performing her fusion dance towards the sleeping Steven, graceful as ever. Everyone had to move, but as probably expected someone did try to go in and stop her. But surprisingly it wasn't Flint who made a jump, but instead it was Rhodonite who quickly was grabbed and held back by Bismuth.

"You're gonna let her do this? W-what if she gets all depressed too?"

"Cool your engines, Gem, we have to at least try it. We got nothing to lose, eh?"

"But she's gonna - … oh, this can't work!"

"Could though," Garnet said.

"Yeah, it might work. Might as well let her try," added Starlight.

"He's gonna keel over into limbo if nothing's done," finished Pinkie.

What other option did they have? None of the earlier tricks were working, so it was time to go for a more unorthodox approach. Lapis Lazuli wasn't going to stop anyway, moving closer and closer to Steven. Her dance was starting to be accompanied by a glow of her own gemstone.

"I'll save you Steven."
One small touch on Steven was all it seemed to take. Even with Steven basically quiet and sleeping, but even so the gemstone on Steven actually did glow upon her touch. Just as she was hoping.

Everyone around backed up from the situation, a bright light emitting from them both as a white mass started to move away from the van and out in the open. They were waiting for the finishing result of the fusion to take place, some more anticipating than others, but the full fusion didn't entirely form like other fusions did. No, fusing with Steven was not the single goal here. As the white mass fought a bit for some form of mass, they all began to notice that within the mass of light, something … dark was within. Small, black, and moldy like clay as it spun and danced about within the energy.

"You guys seeing this too?" Diopside asked, adjusting her gem eye.

"Yeah. It looks … strangely familiar," Peridot noted, adjusting her visors for a better look. A bit too familiar.

The black mass inside looked as if something was pulling it, straining it like pulling freshly chewed gum out of someone's teeth. They weren't sure if it was Steven trying to get it out, or Lapis trying to get it away, but either way it was fighting them pretty darn hard to stay where it was. In this fusion, they all did begin to see a human-like shape start to appear: a figure made up of light as if just regenerating from their gemstone.

"Stand back!" shouted an unfamiliar voice from this figure, whoever it was. Something was beginning to try and sprout from the disjointed figure's back, struggling a little bit.

"Three … Two … One!"

Suddenly the wings shot out of her gemstone, extending the water wings. And as two magnificent wings of liquid shot out, the black mass suddenly found itself mixed in with the water, ripping out from the main body and now floating in the flow of her wings. All Lapis then did was give one mighty flap, slamming both wings together, to release every bit of that black stuff in the form of scattered drops of rain. The others had to step back a bit for this, as others reflected it off in their own way (Pinkie using her tail like a fan, Starlight using a bubble shield, etc.)

Only then did Lapis and Steven split. Lapis was caught by some of the Gems as Steven fell right into Greg's arms, making him fall over.

"There. That should do it … boy …" Lapis huffed, a bit out of breath from all of that concentration.

"You ok?" Pearl asked.

"Forget me. What about Steven?"

Everyone soon turned to their little human, who was still in Greg's arms. At first, Steven didn't look too different from before, but as Greg sat down, Steven's colors slowly began to return to him: the browning of his hair, the pink in his stone, and the colors of his clothing were all slowly coming back. In no less than a minute, Steven was back to his colorful self, and only THEN did he begin to stir.

"Steven?" Greg asked. Steven groaned as he began to come around, everyone coming in close to see if he was okay. His eyes needed a moment to come back around to him, and the first thing he saw were a lot of faces looking right to him. A little bit close at that.

"DREAM OVER!" he suddenly shouted, jumping out of Greg's arms in shock. He didn't seem to remember that much since nearly tumbling like that as he quickly hopped up to his feet. "What happened?! Guys catch me up to speed, d-did I get too depressed? Did I end up watching soap operas?"

"AHA, he's back!" cheered Tiger's Eye. Steven wanted to catch up, but he was quickly overwhelmed when the others went to him, some hugging while others allowed him the space. Either way they were all glad he got himself back to normal.

"Welcome back kiddo!" Amethyst said.

"You're all colorful again!" added Pinkie. "and don't worry, no soap operas met your eyes today."

"THANK GOODNESS," Steven said in relief. Steven then felt a hand placed gently on his head.

"Glad to see the real you back," Garnet said. Steven smiled.

But …

"FOUL! FOUL! I CALL FOUL!!!"

Blowing his OWN COVER, Nichrome stormed right out in the open, ticked off to no end at what he saw as a complete deus ex move. He pulled all the stops, and SOMEHOW he still survived? NUTS TO THAT! He didn't even care that everyone saw him storm out of his hiding place, even the diamonds (who're kinda taken aback by this stupid move to do anything at first).

"The hay do you think you're doing, DIE ALREADY!" Nichrome shouted.

"Nope. I'm perfectly fine where I am, and it's gonna take a lot more than a bad mood to do that N Kelly," Steven said.

"BAD MOOD NOTHING!" Nichrome screamed, "I spent weeks working out that poison to knock everyone out in just one day, NO WAY NO HOW should you still be alive after eating that thing, ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW!"

"You poisoned him?" Applejack asked.

"Of course I did, why else would I give out a cake for free in Canterlot?!" Nichrome exclaimed, "Anyway, I spent day after day concentrating that iron and metal to cripple an elephant of all things. BY ALL RIGHTS YOU SHOULD BE DEAD! What did it this time? Huh?! HUH?! WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THAT?!"

"...…. Thanks for confessing," Steven shrugged, humbled by Nichrome's anger. Nichrome stopped, looking at the entire enemy around him. Nichrome immediately tried to bolt for it, but Yellow Diamond got him pinned down under her foot. Nichrome squirmed to try and get away, but she was not going to let him go not after that kind of confession.

"I thought it was gonna be harder to get you to tell the truth," Steven admitted.

"Would you really believe me if I lied anyway, kid?" Nichrome hissed, wheezing under Yellow Diamond's weight.

"... Huh. Good point."

"I'm guessing Grogar put you up to this," Flint questioned, going over to Nichrome. The dark alien looked to him, immediately recognizing him. However, his concerns were more about the tyrant on top of him, soon turning to the Pearls standing nearby.

"Hey! Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl! Tell your tyrant of a golem to get off of me!!" Nichrome shouted. Both Pearls didn't know why he signaled them out of all things. But Pearl did fill the two in.

"He thinks Pearls are superior to other Gems, apparently," Pearl said.

"Hmm. … Flattering. Wrong, but flattering," Yellow Pearl said. Nichrome was just ticked off at this point, seeing they weren't going to be letting him go anytime soon.

"So what do we do with N Kelly now? Electrocute him? Squish him?" asked Tiger's Eye. Garnet looked to Nichrome for a minute, him huffing on sight of her. The fusion kneeled down closer to him, Nichrome worn out just from struggling. Of course, she was angry at him for trying to poison Steven, but while Ruby wanted to get the pain train over with, Sapphire had to keep herself calm and think on what the future will hold if they do.

"Hmm … maybe … no, no we can't -" Garnet wondered.

"Can't what, lock me up? Got that right, you filthy war machines, with your "prison" used as our own little cleanup. Where're you gonna do that, eh? The ocean? The temple basement perhaps?" and despite himself Nichrome laughed at the idea. Garnet grabbed him and pulled him out from under Yellow's foot …

And threw him in Greg's van. Nichrome got up and found the windows rolled up, and all doors locked. Even the back doors to the van were sealed up tight.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Nichrome demanded, trying to get himself out. However, it was no use: the car doors were shut tight. Normally Steven would have something to say about this, but he was just as angry as everyone else.

"Save your strength," stated Steven, "You're up against the strongest car defenses known to man: the child safety lock!"
This infuriated Nichrome, him trying to get himself out. But while he was strong with words, his actual muscle … not so much.

"If you pathetic creatures think THIS *BAM!* will keep me here *BAM!* then you *BAM!* ARE *BAM!* … right."
Nichrome, head hurting now, just slumped in the front seat, stuck.

"Uh …"

"Sorry Greg," said Garnet, "Impulse."

"Swell, but now what do we do with him? We can't just leave him like … this," inquired Starlight, seeing Nichrome inside now banging his head on the wheel horn.

"We can't?" Tiger's Eye asked. This gave her some scolding from the ponies.

"Kidding, kidding!" Tiger's Eye stated, thinking a little bit. They all thought about what to do with Nichrome inside Greg's van, but it seemed they all suddenly came to the same conclusion, considering what they got to deal with already. This was probably the closest they're gonna get to an actual soldier of Grogar without getting killed, so they might as well make the best of it.
Nichrome looked to the window when he heard someone knocking on the door, seeing Flint standing there.

"Ok, Nichrome, we'll let you off easy but you need to answer a few things -"

"Where're you keeping Connie and Twilight?!" Steven cut in. Blunt, but to the point.

"What do you mean "where"? On Homeworld, you pebble."

"I mean where on Homeworld. You got them in there, now tell us where they are," Steven demanded. Nichrome rolled his eyes.

"And betray Grogar? I wouldn't even satisfy you with an answer," Nichrome said, chin up and turning his head away. Even if trapped, his pride still had a bit to go before it can get wrecked.

"N Kelly, Grogar's bad, we need them back here. Now tell us where they are or we'll get serious!" Steven insisted.

"First off, It's Nichrome. Second, you may need Twilight, but you need Connie as much as you need a migraine. Thirdly, there's nothing you can do to me that Grogar can't exceed ten fold."

"You up for that card, Steven?" Flint asked. Steven took a quick breath.

"Not really, but he already poisoned me and wanted me dead. We have to try something to get him to talk," Steven said. Nichrome found another time for character stabbing.

"My, Steven Universe wanting to hurt people? What happened to the fun-loving, friendly kid of yesterday," Nichrome mocked. This made Jasper stepped forward, and give a good punch to the van, making it and Nichrome shake inside.

"Alright, if you won't answer, then it's time to get serious!" Steven gave a loud whistle, and … nothing happened.

"Wow. Terrifying," Nichrome said. Steven grew red-faced.

"Guys!" Steven said, a bit hushed and embarrassed.

"OH! Right, sorry, I got it," Fulgurite said. Getting her long hair out, she quickly wrapped it around the van in numerous spots like one would connect electrical cables to a battery. Nichrome was barely intimidated by this bunch of cables.

"You think this is supposed to scare me? I'm made of metal - electricity practically flies through me!"

"Oh yeah?" Fulgurite growled, and she sent the electricity flying through the Van. Sparks shot out of the van, everything going haywire and alarms setting off in the van, but even after a solid twenty seconds of electrocution, Nichrome didn't look too hurt at all.

"Ok, electricity isn't working," noted Fulgurite in a growl. But something Nichrome did say did get one of them thinking.

"Wait. Didn't he say he's made of metal?" Starlight realized.

… All of a sudden, Nichrome heard the doors unlock, and him getting pulled out of the car.

"Steven, what're you doing?!" Lapis asked.

"Relax, he's not going anywhere," Peridot said. Getting in a bit of a dramatic stance, Peridot brought her hand forward, and basically "gave Nichrome the hand" as it were. Nichrome did not get it at all, and he was about ready to go, but as he tried, only his head seemed to move anywhere. As for the rest of him, all of THAT remained completely still. And suddenly he was floating off the ground!

"WHAT THE?!"

"Now tell us where they are, Nichrome! Star, Padparadscha, Connie, AND Twilight," Steven asked once more.

"Make me!" Nichrome snapped. Well that settled his fate far as Steven was concerned.

"Alright. Peridot. Take him round town."

NOW they got the full idea. Plus she needed to vent a bit with the two gone anyway. Steven summoned his shield, and Peridot jumped on. Peridot stood tall on top of it as Pinkie (who instinctively knew what was gonna happen) stepped over, and her tail started to spin like a propeller. The second that tail touched that shield, and Nichrome immediately began spinning like a madman! Nichrome screamed as the entire world spun and spun and spun at Rainbow Dash speed, maybe even Fulgurite speed if Pinkie was particularly ambitious.
The spinning itself lasted only about a minute, but as quickly as it began it abruptly stopped when Steven grabbed the shield. Peridot was still on and just fine, but the G-forces left Nichrome looking VERY warp and VERY dizzy.

"I uh … didn't mean it," Nichrome mumbled, his eyes still spinning as he felt sick to his non-real stomach. In fact he looked ready to throw up briefly, but he quickly recovered.

"Wanna go for round two?" Steven asked.

"Noooo nonononono! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Nichrome pleaded, not wanting to have his body completely blended by any of them.

"Ok then, shoot," Rainbow said. Nichrome was gonna hate himself for this, but just to make sure they didn't get any false information, Peridot looked ready to give him another spin.

"T-They're both in the Supreme Kindergarten with the rest of the prisoners: Connie Maheswaren's along the fifth wall along the walk paths, and Twilight Sparkle is five floors up from there in the canopy section!"

"The canopy?" White asked.

"Ugh gems - the upper levels!"

"And Star and Padparadscha?" Peridot asked. Nichrome decided to play cards again.

"T-They stopped by Tambalon for a bit but they got away! Last we heard of 'em they were heading out of the city on the west side, so they're probably on their way back here through your Warp Pad by now!" Nichrome said. That last mention of the warp pad did raise some alarms for some of them.

"You knew about the warp pad?!" gasped Rarity in shock.

"Your Star Quartz and Sapphire told us about that, and why they were there in the first place. something about information of the sort. Either they're very stupid or very open," Nichrome stated, only to go in a fit of "sorry"s when Peridot began using her metal powers to basically squish him.

"T-That's all I know, can you put me down now?" Nichrome asked in a wheeze. At first they didn't really do that, as Flint went over and grabbed him by the chin, locking eyes with his for a moment.

".. One more thing. Grogar's sources. Know anything about it?"

"Sources? What?"

"Since Star and Padparadscha already told you all about our current goal - I'll have to talk to her later - then perhaps you can explain exactly how your Grogar is getting all of our information," Peridot explained.

"How the hay should I know?"

"You're working for him!" retorted Steven.

"SO WHAT? All I know is that he knows everything everyday every time he feels like it! Swear on my tar skin and metal in my cells!" Nichrome reassured, getting worried that they will spin him all over again.

"Hmm. Really?" Steven questioned, eyebrow raised.

"YES! So can you put me down please?" Nichrome asked once more. There was a bit of a pause at that moment, again Flint making sure that he was telling them the truth or not.

"...…. Alright, set him down."

"You sure about this?" asked Yellow. Steven just nodded his answer.

Well, with all the information they wanted to hear, Peridot conceded, and dropped Nichrome on the ground. The alien got himself off of the ground. He should thank his lucky stars that they weren't murderers (yet), and with the only chance to actually get away, Nichrome bolted for it. They didn't really get him this time as he got as much distance between them and himself as he could.

"Well that got us nowhere," Flint shrugged.

"Don't sweat it: we know where Twilight and Connie are, and maybe Star and Pad got something already," figured Diopside.

"Please be okay Star, you innocent clod," Peridot said, hands clasped together. Nichrome never said if she did make it back or not, but all they could do is wait it out. When everything calmed down though, Steven suddenly got something back in his head.

"AHH! GUUUYYYS!" Steven screamed.

"You don't have to scream, what?" asked Rhodonite.

"Last night, remember that ghost power thing I did before during that Pony of Shadows fight? It happened again - I saw Connie on Homeworld!" Steven said.

"Well why didn't you say?" Flint asked, not believing his ears. Something like that shouldn't be ignored so easily, but Steven got embarrassed on that question.

"I was gonna, but Nichrome kinda caught me first and … well, you saw Mr. Depression Universe," Steven admitted.

"Wait wait wait. So you saw Connie - OUR Connie - ALL THE WAY on Homeworld from here?" restated Starlight, looking up to the sky briefly, trying to comprehend that idea herself. Not even the strongest of projection magic can go off planet, far as she knew anyway.

"But how? That kind of power can't just … happen," Blue said, astonished.

"Steven started flying and that just kinda "happened"," Rainbow Dash said.

"Well, not flying, but controlling the speed of his decent," corrected Pearl.

"That's what I said: Flying."

"Guys, that's not important," Steven cut in, "But there's something I need to tell you." 
Everyone listened as Steven, at first, tried to look calm about things. however ...

"WE HAVE TO GET THEM OUT NOW! I MEAN NOW!"

"Whoa, Steven, don't freak out on us," Lapis said, trying to keep him relaxed.

"No you don't understand: I don't want to be the best man for Grogar's wedding!"

"... wha? … Wedding? Steven?" Bismuth asked, very confused. Then they got the big news.

"Yes! And Connie's gonna be his bride!"

3 … 2 … 1 …

"WHAT?!?!" they ALL gasped (except Garnet). Thank the stars the parents weren't there to hear that, otherwise they'd probably pass out by now and go ballistic. That scream actually knocked Steven off his own feet, him now laying on his back, the sheer force shaking up a few nearby trees.

"S-Steven you're kidding! Please say you're kidding man!" Fulgurite said, already in a cold sweat.

"I wouldn't be panicked if it was a fake wedding. WHY did it have to be Connie of all people? Why can't he marry a lamb or something?!" Steven said, freaking out about it.

"Clearly he's doing this to mess with you, but, UGH! Connie's only in her teens, and he's how old? I know humans have a law against that," White Diamond said, disgusted by such an idea. Even with her years of experimentations and science, the idea just sounded WRONG. She suddenly freaked when she was suddenly met with a panicking Pearl.

"A goat is marrying a human girl possibly against her will, and AGE is what you're worried about?!" Pearl exclaimed. Call it spur of the moment panic, but White Diamond didn't get too panicked to do anything too rash. You know, except for pulling Pearl off her that is.

"ALRIGHT, CALM DOWN," Flint quickly said before anything else could happen. "Yellow's right, it's time we get this done. Any ideas Garnet? … Garnet?"

Garnet had frozen still the second she heard that news. Not a single word, but they all could sense that there was something going on behind those visors of hers. Grogar. Marrying. Connie. The same girl they saw get corrupted and abandoned back on Homeworld. The others waited for some response from her, feeling the tension. Without a word, she began to stiffly walk right over behind the barn. Garnet could barely keep quiet, but they all began hearing what sounded like a jackhammer going off in the back.

"Oh ponyfeathers," Applejack said, brave enough to trot over to check on Garnet. Just to find it was her digging a hole in the ground, her fists punching like mad. The hole wasn't too deep, just enough for her to shove her face in.

And the ground started to shake. Violently.

"E-E-E-E-EARTHQUAKE!" Pinkie shrieked, shaking up and down along with everyone else for at least a good twenty seconds before the "earthquake" calmed down.

"Relax everypony. That's just Garnet gettin' some tension out," Applejack reassured. Not too reassuring, but Garnet went back out anyway, a bit steamy and frost-bitten as she caught her breath.

"... You good now? You need another minute?" Pink asked, humbled.

"No, we're good," Garnet said. Or maybe one of her components, but either way she wasn't gonna completely lose it in front of them again. She then took off her visors.

"We're going to space. Tonight, we're going to get them back."
> Homeworld Down PT1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We're going to space. Tonight, we're going to get them back."

The hours ticked on rather slowly though from those words. Steven, Fulgurite, and Pinkie may be cured of their poison (enough so they didn't look like they watched drama TV for hours straight), but with the clock ticking for Connie's wedding and with Twilight still locked away they couldn't standby any longer. It was do or die time, and they all were NOT dying anytime soon. They can't give up on Connie or Twilight, not now.
And their main place of handling this was over by the Barn House, given how it was closer to the special Portal over the Sky Arena, and the fact it had more material to work with. Much of this included getting their weapon upgrades together, and doing some last minute checking up just to be sure they didn't get anymore surprises. However, as with everything, there usually was at least one person who had some complaints. In this case, Yellow Diamond, who at the point was in a tiff with Garnet, her accompanied by a few of the others while the rest got things handled.

"You can't keep the Diamond Authority stuck here! We're going to get our kingdom back, and that is final!"

"No you're not!" shouted Garnet, "It'll be best for everyone if you all stay here on Earth, we all agreed."

"Look we know you want to save Homeworld, we all do, but I don't think it's a good idea for everyone to go in right now," said Steven, trying not to be too harsh with it. Yellow Diamond though was fuming. The strongest of Gems being kept behind thanks to a ram did not suit her well at all.

"This is because Grogar bested us that one time isn't it? You don't think I can handle it anymore, so you're keeping me away," Yellow accused.  Garnet tried to not just lose it, being stressed enough already, but luckily there was one green Gem who got her back on this (mostly because he wanted her to shut up)

"We're keeping you here because you're literally a walking skyscraper! You're standing over thirty feet tall," Emerald said, floating on one of his hexagons.

"And what's your point?" Yellow questioned. Garnet helped Steven up next, even letting him stand on her head so he had a platform to speak to Yellow Diamond.

"Our point is, is that we need to be sneaky about this. Grogar's going to attack everyone on the spot if he sees any of the Diamonds, and we need all the time we can get, okay? Besides, if he takes any more Diamonds, what're the rest of us supposed to do?" Steven explained. Yellow Diamond felt herself cringe up a bit, but eventually the point was made across. Yellow Diamond sighed.

"Fine. But watch it, ok?" Yellow finally decided. She did NOT want to relive the troubled times of the Gem War and losing another Diamond, no matter what the case may be. Steven was set down by Garnet.

"Good job with those words, Steven," Garnet said, smiling to him. Steven nodded.

"Thanks. At least they can be safe while we get them out," Steven concluded. They all had a similar idea when it came to the Diamond Authority and Grogar, so there was no arguments there. Steven and Garnet started going off towards the barn after that discussion, where there was still some practice with projectiles flying into the air with Peridot and cans (something they've done quite a lot since training started). Amethyst knocked four out of the sky with a few well-aimed whips, Pearl shot down three in a row with her spear, even Starlight and Rarity got some shooting down nicely with some magic blasts.

"Everyone's looking ready to fight," Steven said happily.

"At the rate we're going, all of us will be able to fight. Grogar doesn't know what's coming," Garnet agreed. Normally Steven would be a bit apprehensive about just going in and fighting, but that feeling was pushed aside out of sheer determination.

"Watch out Grogar, the Harmony Gems are gonna wreck your day," Steven said with a grin. Garnet could see how determined he was with that statement, and the goal in mind, and who could blame him? Grogar had been giving him a very bad time ever since he took over, it was only human that Steven would be mad at him for it to the point of wanting to get even. Still though …

"... By the way, Steven. Your eye."

"Oh, uh, what about it?" Steven asked, knowing what she meant. Ever since his depression removal, it still left a bit more of a mark than Grogar's "scar" did, giving him a sort of gray right eye, making vision a bit blurry. 

"You sure you don't want to go and heal it."

"Garnet I'll be fine, it's just one eye, and I got a better one right here. I'll fix it when we finished beating that ram to the Homeworld throne," Steven promised, pointing to his seeing eye. Just as they were about to go on a little further, in from the sky came some more of their group in form of Lapis, and Fluttershy.

"Ok, Garnet, we told the Maheswarans like you said," said Lapis Lazuli. However, she did noticed another missing from their group.

"And where's dad? And Pink Pearl?" Steven asked.

"Them? They're just going to stay with the Maheswarans until we get back," said Fluttershy, "Greg said it might be better for them."

"Good man," Garnet said. None of them were going to really be there to do so anyway, so this was a plus on their end. "Anything else?"

A quick yet odd question.

"Huh? Any - OH wait, yeah! Where's Peridot and Rhodonite, they'd want to hear this," Lapis asked.

"Rhodonite's with Bismuth trying to get some armor for herself, and Peridot's standing right over there," Steven stated, pointing to Peridot as she got more cans and tossed them into the air, just for a multi-charged hit to be made by Flint's rapid-fire pistols. She looked more of distracting herself rather than actually keeping track of how many she was tossing up, so she didn't even notice them coming in at first.

"Oh dear, she still looks a bit frazzled," Fluttershy said.

"I got it," Garnet said, one hand turning into her gauntlet glove. At first they thought she was gonna just rush in and pick her up, but instead she aimed the gauntlet glove to the sky, and made her glove into a rocket, blasting the remaining cans out of the sky.

"HEY! What'd you do that for, we're clearly making good progress here!" Peridot said, frustrated as she went right up to them.

"There you go," Garnet simply said. A bit more blunt of an approach, but at least they got her attention. As Rarity, Flint, Pearl, and Starlight caught up with the others, Lapis wasted no time in getting her message across to her, almost flying off herself to reach Peridot.

"Peridot, great! Guess who we saw coming up from the next hill?" Lapis said with an eager smile.

"I don't know, but it'll have to wait, we're very busy and this is distracting our progression," Peridot said matter-of-factly, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground as she crossed her arms.

"Peridot, you don't need to be rude just because you're worried," Steven stated firmly, but Peridot was already up a wall about what happened.

"Worried? ME?! Oh why would I be worried?! It's not like my own Star Quartz that I helped make into existence had just ran off on us, over onto Homeworld where some shatterer GOAT CLOD is waiting for anyone to waltz right over, just to ask if they got some random cure for your sad ailment. I mean, NO WAY I CAN BE FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW, RIGHT?!"

"...…. O.K," Steven simply said, humbled a little. "Maybe you should take a little break."

"I need a break? What about you with your one eye and cut, soldier boy?!" Peridot shouted. Steven suddenly fell quiet on that reminder, and while it took Peridot a bit, she suddenly realized what she just said.

"I-I'm sorry Steven, I didn't mean to -"

"No. No. You're stressed over what's going on and don't know what to do about it. I've already been there, Peridot, and it's not fun. Let's try to relax ok?" Steven reassured her. Peridot took a breath.

"I'm just worried what'll happen to her. …"

…

"Happen to who? Is someone else sick?"

"No, I'm talk -"
Good time to arrive. That voice was too good to Peridot's ears, especially when she bolted around and saw what Lapis was trying to tell her about. Coming in from across the field was the very Gem in question: Star Quartz, with Padparadscha for company. And to their relief, both of them looked alright. A bit ruffled maybe, but alive all the same.

"Y-You're really here. …"

"Hi mom," said Star Quartz. Peridot needed to take a minute to comprehend if this was real or not, but after figuring it out she immediately got over and hugged Star Quartz tightly.

"You crazy clod, don't you EVER run off on me like that again!" she said meekly, but making her point clear to her.

"Sure," Star simply said.

"Hello everyone," Padparadscha said.

"Hi Padparadscha, good to see you're back," said Steven, "So what happened over there?"

"...…. Oh my! We were right inside the palace with Grogar himself. Everyone, I got exciting news! I did my very first far Future Vision, isn't that amazing?" Padparadscha beamed, very happy that it was actually successful.

"You saw the future," restated Rarity, a bit surprised herself. Padparadscha eventually nodded with a big smile on her face.

"I know, it's so exciting. I never saw a vision that far before! … But …" Padparadscha's excited turned south a bit quickly as she remembered what the vision even showed. It wasn't exactly pretty, and suddenly she wasn't sure if she wanted to share it or not.

"Buuut what?" Starlight asked. Padparadscha took a bit to react, though she went and tugged on Star Quartz's dress for her to answer instead. She didn't need to tell her for Star to kinda get the point.

"Oh, you want me to tell them? Ok. … Well, she saw something with Grogar in it. A lot of fire, and a Dragon, in some placed called Pestyhorn, and someone named Fawn. It just kinda … happened," Star Quartz explained.

"Well that's clear as mud. Got any idea what that means, guys?" Emerald asked. Garnet began to think a bit more on what Padparadscha had said, looking off with her own kind of Future vision for anything that might be close to what she said. Eventually though, she just took a breath.

"Hmm … I don't see any futures that sound like that," Garnet admitted, although it might've dulled down Padparadscha's spirit, "It sounds like a very off-the-wall possibility."

"So you can't see that in the future. … Maybe that vision's from the past?" Starlight said after thinking a little bit. If the future didn't say anything, it only made sense, but Garnet wasn't sure about that.

"I've never heard of Future Vision going in that direction," Garnet said.

"...…. I hope it doesn't happen again. … Or will happen, but not more than once," Padparadscha admitted. She didn't like to have Future vision if THAT kind of futures is what she will be seeing. They all can see Padparadscha's discomfort with that vision, whatever it exactly was, but Garnet kneeled down and got a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be scared. We all can change the flow of time however we want it to. Even if it's in the future, we'll make sure it's alright by the end of it. Promise," Garnet said. Padparadscha, while it took a bit, did eventually feel a little bit more relaxed.

"...… Ok. ……. Oh! I think I got another vision: I predict that Rhodonite will take the form of an armored Earth Beetle!"

"Earth Beetle?" Steven wondered.

"Hey-O, we're back!"

Slightly ahead of the others, but it works. The group turned and soon came in Amethyst and Rhodonite returning to the Barn. Amethyst was simply fine, casually strolling along, but it was Rhodonite herself who got everyone's attention. Flint may have had a bit of an armored suit before his transformation, but Rhodonite went all out on it here: thick and dense silver knight's armor from head to toe, shoulders, back of hands, and knees spiked in case someone tried grabbing her, and with a strong looking helmet that fused a knight's helm and a Viking's horned hat.

"Rhodonite?" Pearl asked, completely taken aback as the fusion lifted up the head blocking to show her smiling face.

"There, I'm all ready to go!" Rhodonite reassured, though her movements look a bit stiff in places.

"How the heck'd you get that together?" Emerald questioned.

"I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanna thank Bismuth for this: she got it all together in just a few minutes. Nothing's gonna get into me now," Rhodonite said. She may look ready, but they can all agree that Rhodonite might not be suited well for the job.

"Uh you sure you want to come like that? You look like you can barely move," pointed out Steven.

"Of course I do! I'm not gonna get shattered over there," Rhodonite insisted.

"We're not going there just to fight, Rhodonite. If you are coming, you can't go like that," Garnet made clear.

"W-What?! But I'll be defenseless!" Rhodonite insisted. Looked like a more blunt point needed to be in order. Rhodonite simply stood there as Flint walked over to her, and all he did was simply give her a little push. … Which knocked her over on her back. Rhodonite suddenly found out exactly how heavy she was with this Earth Beetle look.

"...…. I'll stick with what I got."

Only then did Flint help her back up, and out of all that heavy armor. They made their point, and Rhodonite just had to go as she was. Steven got that noted, but he was glad she was taking this threat seriously as everybody else was doing. They needed all the help they could get here.

"Maybe we can keep that around," Steven suggested, "You never know. It can be good for a quick shield."

"Think so?"

"Yeah. Say Grogar tries shooting at us, and then -" Steven grabs the shield and throws it over himself, making him covered up in the stuff, "- instant magic block!"
The idea sounded silly, but Flint actually started working his gears. He eventually nodded, and Garnet went over to him.

"I'll get Bismuth to set it up," Garnet decided, getting the armor off of Steven and lifting it over her shoulders.

All of these preparations were all fine and good: training here and suiting up there, but despite all of this there still seemed to be something nagging in the back of Lapis's mind, as she watched Garnet begin to walk away with the armor. Lapis looked around at the others for a few seconds, but then her eyes saw Steven Universe. Typically he was a nice sight, and in some strange way his enthusiastic behavior to this was making her calmer a bit, but there was still the image staying with her. That image of Steven's angry face, with that cut along his head, coming out of Celestial Lake.

And him WANTING to hurt Nichrome in their interrogation not too long ago didn't suit too well with her either. Since when did Steven want to suddenly make someone hurt for some information anyway? Sure he got poisoned and kept prisoner in his own head, but still.

she tapped Flint on the shoulder.

"Uh, Flint? Over here?" Lapis asked quietly. It was a bit strange for Lapis to ask him for some aid, hardly ever happening, but Flint did turn to her and eventually followed her a bit further away as the others decided to join in on some training.

"Something up, Lapis?" Flint asked. Lapis glanced over to Steven before answering him.

"... I … think something's happening to Steven," Lapis said. Flint was of course skeptical.

"Something happening? In what way? You've already removed the poison from him, and he looks better more or less," Flint pointed out. As if to prove his point, Steven was doing some fighting practice with Peridot's cans, kicking or punching. He did look healthy overall, but seeing how forcefully he was hitting was making Lapis a bit uneasy.

"I know, it's just … I've been seeing him acting more roughly. You know, like Jasper normally does. He wanted to threaten Nichrome, and even before that, he attacked a Corrupted Gem and didn't stop until after she was poofed. Flint, I've never seen him act that way before."

Flint sighed.

"And we've never dealt with anyone like Grogar before," Flint pointed out, "He's been a bit more courageous than other villains we've faced. Even White Diamond at least kept to her space station."

"That shouldn't matter that much. We both know Steven's been through so much already: every villain, every danger, he even lost his home twice, but he still didn't show any resentment or change to any of that. But all of a sudden, he's taking fighting more and more seriously."

"Hmm … what're you getting at, Lazuli?" Flint asked, thinking on it a bit more. Lapis and Flint then heard a bit of a crash, as Steven got a kick into a can, but a bit closer to the barn. It was strong enough to actually crack the wood. They were laughing about it, but suddenly Flint was seeing more of Lapis's point.

"See?"

"You're right on that regard," Flint said. "And how long has this went on for?"

"If I have to guess … since Steven was found out by Grogar after the first few days of training," Lapis replied. Flint thought about it a bit more, but then he turned to Lapis Lazuli.

"So tell me what you're worried about exactly. Is it him becoming too strong? Reckless? Brutal?"

"Yes," Lapis simply said. Flint wasn't sure exactly what Lapis was asking him to do, but he did get some advice together for the water Gem.

"Well here, you're one of his closest friends right? You've been with him for years now, so if you're concerned about this, you're gonna have to say so. Or at the least make sure to bring him back in case he does end up losing it, ok?" Flint said, giving Lapis a pat on the shoulders. It seemed simple enough, but this also meant that she would not trust Steven to handle things. However, this autumn did show a bit more trouble with Steven, more than she could remember …

"Right. Well, we still need a game plan, so we're gonna get everyone together by the Temple. You do what you want, but meet us there at some point ok?" Flint said, before starting to go off a bit. Lapis was left standing there for a bit more, but when she looked back … well, Steven looked back too. The two shared gazes for a moment or two, before Steven was brought back to the training.

Lapis couldn't wait.

"Steven?"

A good time to talk to him now, as the others were ready to go and get the meeting going on their end. Steven and Lapis were alone, so now's a good of time as any.

"Oh, hey Lapis. So what were you talking to Flint about?" Steven asked. Not even ten seconds and already she got some rough questions.

"Oh, nevermind that," Lapis insisted, "It's not too important."

for a moment or so, Steven and Lapis had a bit of a quiet moment. Lapis found herself becoming humbled by Steven a bit more thanks to his one eye look. Eventually, Lapis shook it off and decided to just go for it.

"Sooo … how's your eye?" Lapis asked, needing to break the ice with something. Steven had been asked that question since properly coming back, and he just got his hand over said blind eye.

"I'm fine, it's just an eye. I mean, it could be worse, it always can," Steven insisted.

"I guess. But are you sure you don't want to just stop by the fountain for a minute? Or just heal yourself with your spit or something?"

"I would but I don't have time for that: Grogar's out there and he's gonna marry Connie any day now, and I can't wait. The more I wait, the more he's gonna hurt everyone, I can't let him go anymore," Steven made clear. This was just proving the point even more in a weird way. Enough to make Lapis walk over to him at a more brisk pace.

"But how can you go back to Homeworld with just one eye? Steven, you can't see as good as before."

"Losing an eye doesn't mean I can't fight. Soldier Steven's going all the way, and he's taking that king down!" Steven exclaimed, throwing some punches and kicks into the mix to further prove his point, one of which almost got Lapis by mistake (but he didn't notice unfortunately). She had to say SOMETHING.

"W-Well maybe "Soldier Steven" should ... think a bit more, and fight a bit less?"

"Lapis I've been thinking, I've been thinking a whole lot. Really."

"Oh. You had. Good," Lapis said, breathing a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, exactly what it was didn't match up.

"Yeah. It's like this: Connie's in Homeworld in the Supreme Kindergarten, and Grogar's keeping her in there as his bride and he's gonna marry her by, well, I dunno. I've been working out a plan of attack to get rid of him, and I've been thinking maybe if we use the -"

"That isn't what I meant!" Lapis cut in. Steven almost jumped when she made that exclamation to him, but Lapis Lazuli felt that it would be needed to get through to him somehow.

"Steven, are you hearing yourself? "Get rid of him"? "Plan of Attack"?! Steven, this isn't you!"

"What do you mean, of course it is," Steven insisted, not getting it right away.

"No it's not: The Steven I know would try to negotiate, make peace, and try using words! He wouldn't just run in just to try to attack everyone! … Steven. You're not yourself."

There was again another bit of silence. As Lapis waited for him to answer, she thought she saw a look that said he was considering what she meant. However, then she got a more stern look.

"Lapis, I am myself, a different myself - I'm not making those mistakes anymore!" Steven shouted.

"M-Mistakes?" Lapis gasped.

"Lapis, I know I'm different, I'm trying to be different. I can't be a kid anymore, you know it and I know it too. The Steven you knew has been making mistakes that keeps hurting people, and keeps getting beaten up because he won't fight."

"You know that isn't true."

"O Really Lapis? Ok let's go over the list: I refused to join Grogar or fight him the first time, THAT got over half of the royal court corrupted AND Connie corrupted. I didn't fight him the second time that one night, THAT got a Gem stolen from the Temple and him nearly killing me! I didn't suspect Nichrome of anything wrong because he was being nice and I gave him a doubt, THAT got me poisoned and I almost died from that and lost my eye too! Go on, tell me I'm wrong!"
Lapis tried to think of something to say at first, but her mind was more on the Deja Vu of this situation. SHE said those exact same words way back in the day. It was role-reversal now.

"OK so you've been having bad luck, that doesn't make you a bad person."

"But it DOES mean I have to change," Steven made clear. "I've tried talking to him, and not only is it not working, but he's just using it against me and making everything worse. I can't use words anymore, Lapis, I have to defeat him. Connie's training it fight and defeat him, why can't I?!"
Lapis could just hear the pain in his voice, but not as much pain as one would expect with this record of his, but that last tidbit got some surprise out of her.

"Wait, Connie's training?"

"Yeah, and she's getting ripped! She will want to fight to get out, and if she's going to fight so will I. What's wrong about fighting for what you care about?"

"I never said that, but -"

"Then what's the problem?" Steven asked, "They deserve it anyway: they keep hurting everyone, took over Homeworld, going to take over Canterlot at some point, cut me and made me lose my eye -"

"You lost your own eye, Steven, don't you get it?!"
Lapis quickly covered her mouth when she said that, but Steven heard every word of it, getting angry with her.

"N-No, no Steven, I didn't mean it like that, that came out wrong, I-I just meant that -"

"Lapis, Grogar's not changing me. And I'm not going to lose myself in the fight, I promise. You trust me. Right?" Steven made clear, sounding sincere enough. Their conversation didn't feel like it was leading to any results though, and the images still were going through Lapis's head. She simply took a deep breath, hand to chest.

"... Yeah. I do."

"Okay. Come on, we better catch up with the others," Steven said, getting a head start off towards the Temple. Lapis Lazuli smiled, but she still felt that this might not be solved so easily.


~~~~~~


Steven and Lapis Lazuli eventually made their return off back to the Temple. It was a good thing Flint given her the time to talk to Steven, otherwise they both would have to get the verbal hit from him. Still, they were there now, and a lot of the others were in company this time, mostly with the main fleet with the Elements of Harmony all there, and from what they were talking about, trying to work out some plan of action.
Brought up on a screen thanks to the Yellow Pearl, Blue Pearl, and CG Pearl, they got a layout of the whole map of Diamond City, with some specialized places of interest being mapped out by Flint and Star Quartz, all marked in red. The areas included the Throne Room, Nichrome's border patrol route, the Head Mark station, Supreme Kindergarten, and Pink Diamond's room.

"There you guys are," said Amethyst.

"Yeah we're back. Wanna catch us up?" Steven asked. Lapis simply stood over nearby Blue Diamond.

"Ok, so far we found out there's this plant snitch in Pink's room that knows everything, and he's kinda ticked off at Star and Pad for coming in and ditching him."

"Hello Steven, Lapis," Padparadscha said eventually.

"And the plan?" Lapis asked.

"Eh take a seat, we're still working on it," Amethyst sighed.

And boy was it, as some strategy was trying to be done with Bismuth pointing around the map right now.

"K, how's this: me and J will get ourselves up on the left borders and start riling up those clods into fighting us, and while we keep em good and occupied the rest of you will go in from the opposite borders and -"

"Slip in and fetch the prisoners and race out with everyone on our tails. He would put himself at the other end to make sure there's no surprises and shoot us all down on the spot," Garnet said gravely. Bismuth looked a bit frustrated.

"Come on, again? There's got to be ONE PLAN today that can work!"

"Why not use the Supreme Kindergarten as a tunnel then? You've gotten out with the Off-Colors in your escape with it, and avoided much of White's hybrid patrols," pointed out Blue Diamond. Garnet, also frustrated, shook her head.

"He's got guards set up around every entrance to the Kindergarten since Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald escaped last time. We'd all be found out within minutes."

"Well then, Garnet, any NON-FAILING ideas? All you've been doing is telling us what we can't do!" asked Jasper.

"I wish I could think of something! … But with Sumu as his messenger, he'd learn any plan we have before we even do it. … Never thought I'd start hating plants."

"There's a first time for everything, G, I don't feel fancy with a peeping flower either," commented Fulgurite.

"Well there has to be a time when Sumu isn't watching us. How's that thing able to know all this anyway?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"Oh, other plants talk to her. They like to gossip about everything they see," Star answered. Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes. The tidbit of info was a mixed bag: sure it helped, but they didn't have a clue where she was so it wasn't gonna do them much good.

"Is there a way to make the plants be quiet then?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You did NOT just ask that question," said Jasper.

"Hey, plants are everywhere, how do you make a plant stop chatting about everything you know?!"

"Quit talking like that, you're gonna make everyone paranoid," Starlight said, "I mean, it's bad enough Grogar has a spy in the first place."

This sort of talk continued going on for a minute more, all of which was getting about nowhere. If Star Quartz was right about Sumu, than who was to say they weren't being watched by the plant already? Hidden off somewhere and lending a grapevine to the conversation just to report it back to Grogar and give him an edge (like he didn't have enough of them). But as they kept talking, there was one idea that began to circulate within a particular purple Gem's mind.

"Why bother with a plan?"

"Huh?" asked Starlight.

"Real: over half of our plans barely work anyway, so, let's just charge in and get going already!"

"... Amethyst, that's a terrible idea," Garnet bluntly stated.

"Future vision says no good?"

"I don't have to look," Garnet stated. Grogar knew all these plans, charging in was NOT gonna accomplish anything except for target practice for the ram.

"Well get something before he starts throwing out more wanted posters! "Grogar needs YOU!" He's got more thingies than a huge ant colony in those teeny tiny anthills," Pinkie said, working off of what they've been talking about.

And a lightbulb went off.

"I think I got it. And Garnet, I'm sure this is our best bet," Flint suddenly said, standing up front.

"Don't tell me: we all sit aside while you just go in and take care of it yourself, jumping in at some random point," remarked Amethyst.

"Nope, all of us. We each go around the entire perimeter of Diamond City, each member covering at least a good ten miles a piece around the borders. We'll put our fleetest to the north, and strongest to the south closest to the Diamond Palace. Odds are one of us will get close enough to the prison hold there. THAT'S our main target."

"... WHAT KIND OF PLAN IS THAT?!" exclaimed Bismuth, Steven, and Jasper.

"We can't do that, you're basically asking for us to turn ourselves in!" adding Starlight.

"Look it how you'd like, but I say it'll work. Heck, the Diamond Authority can even join in on this one, they can be set up by the southern borders with our fighters."

"You're right. It's brilliant," Yellow said. Good plan or not, at least she was involved in taking her world back.

"No it's not! Garnet tell him -"

"Excellent, Flint," Garnet said, giving a thumbs up for support. … For some reason.

"Are … are you okay? You get hit in the head?" Emerald asked. But it almost seemed like the two didn't even notice the criticisms being thrown at them.

"In fact, we can just head on in now if we wanted to. Doubt Grogar can get us all at once," Flint stated.

"Hmm, yeah I'd think so."

"Garnet, Flint, are you guys listening? We can't go in like that! Grogar wants us to do that," Steven insisted, almost freaking out. However, Garnet then turned to everyone else and …

"Get ready everyone! We're going to Homeworld!"

And Flint and Garnet started going off on their way back to the Warp Pad with their uh … plan.

"... Maybe Grogar won't expect it?" Steven shrugged.

…….

It only took them a few minutes before they all gathered up around the Warp Pad in question, but there was more than enough doubt for them to share with Garnet and Flint. Going right off of planet Earth in a single warp-stream, Homeworld soon saw the entire group there all over again, stepping off of said Warp Pad onto homeworld territory. Garnet and Flint stood at front and waited for everyone to make their way back.

"Ok then uh … everyone just spread out around the border, I guess, we'll uh … meet up later," Starlight said. However, before any of them could go, Garnet and Flint nodded to one another and got themselves blocking their path.

"Not so fast. We're safe now."

"Safe? No one found us yet, Garnet, and this plan didn't even start. What's the problem?" Steven asked.

"Nothing. It's just we're not doing that plan."

"... huh?"

Garnet then turned to Flint.

"Alright, Flint, tell them what the actual plan is."

Actual plan?


~~~~~~


"Ok, this plan makes WAAAY more sense," Amethyst stated.
It was a good thing that the first plan did not come to fruition after all. With everyone else off away from the city, Flint and Amethyst were closing in on one of the city's borders. It'd normally be suicide on Flint's part given his previous imprisonment, yet this wasn't simply "walk right up and invite themselves in". No, they're too smart for that, and so were Flint and Amethyst. Both of the Gems kept going off on their own trail until they reached just a few blocks passed the city limit.

"You know Amethyst, you didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to," Flint remarked.

"Connie and Twilight's stuck in there, I ain't gonna keep back. That, and they've hurt Steven way too much. Homegirl's gonna be your backup," Amethyst said. Flint felt himself grit his teeth, but Flint had to be sensible.

"I suppose so, but this is a rescue mission, not a free-for-all. … Not yet. Just look the part, and let's go."

Amethyst nodded, and they both moved out into the open. However, they were not going in as their human-like Gem selves. Actually, they both took on the forms of the second-most common race alongside humans: a pair of Ponies. Flint had his pony form since being in the Crystal Empire: the same dark-furred pony from way back when. As for Amethyst, she took on form of a Unicorn instead of a Crystal Pony, keeping the similar colors she had before of course but was still given a bit of a extra streak of Pink in her mane with some help from the others.
The two "ponies" ventured right out into the open, seeing that the normally busy streets of Homeworld had become a bit more vacant. Both ponies looked around a bit, but neither seen anyone anywhere.

Up to a point.

"You there! Stay where you are!"

Caught, as expected. However, it wasn't Nichrome finding him this time, nor was it Bray or Budgerite as Flint and Amethyst were hoping for. Instead, the patrols coming towards them appear a bit more alien than Earth or Equestrian, with these two looking in vague like a pair of monkeys, only armored up. A pair of Storm Creatures had found them. Amethyst and Flint did keep themselves still as the two began to make their way towards them.

"K, you ready to do this?" Amethyst quietly asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Flint replied, "Now remember: we're just a pair of hybrid ponies looking to join Tambalon. A pair of easy going ponies, who're not going to cause … any … problems."
And he said "problems" as his front hooves dug into the dirt.

"We can cause some trouble when we get settled, that cool?" Amethyst said, understanding his frustration.

"... Know what? Sure."

By the time that was settled down, the two guard managed to get themselves caught up to them. They wouldn't be as tall or as imposing of either Gem wasn't in pony form.

"Come with us without a fuss," one of the Storm Creatures said.

"Hmm .. how about "nah". We're not budging until we see the king," Amethyst said, even sitting down. So much for waiting to cause trouble. The Storm creatures paused and looked to one another for a moment.

"No one can just "see" the king. Out of bounds. Unless you got a death wish, that is," one of the Storm Creatures stated firmly. Flint looked over to Amethyst briefly, but rather than correct her decided to roll with it.

"What about a pair of hybrids looking to join?" Flint questioned. The two Storm Creatures found this news interesting, considering that they did appear more as such thanks to the gemstones on them. Both creatures walked off a few steps, quietly discussing this to themselves for a brief time before turning back to them.

"That case, you two better move it. Grogar's getting impatient," one of the Storm Creatures said. Both troops started to go off on their way with Amethyst and Flint starting to go along with them. It was probably the best they were gonna get.

"Ok, Amethyst, remember how to do this?" Flint asked. Amethyst waved a hoof, raspberry escaping her muzzle.

"You kidding me? With how much we've gone through, how hard can this be?"

…

They found out soon enough.
Next thing both "pony hybrids" knew, they were brought directly to Grogar himself, right smack in the throne room! No extra captain seeing them directly, though they were still present along with the Commanders, all giving each of the hybrids a look over. Grogar especially made sure to keep a better eye on these two, given his latest encounter with two other Gems he thought would be easy.

"You just had to ask, did you?" Flint quietly remarked.

"It's a force of habit, sorry," Amethyst quietly remarked back. She didn't need a reminder now. The ram looked down to both of these hybrids for a moment or two, looking over the details from their heads to their hooves. They both waited for him to speak, but instead he looked over to one of the captains.

"Captain Storm, go in," Grogar instructed. The Storm King through didn't seem that interested, and after picking his ear of some spare wax, flicked it off and looked to Commander Tempest.

"You deaf, pony? Get in there," Storm King said, literally pushing the unicorn forward. Grogar huffed, but so long as this was done in some way. Tempest didn't say a word about it here, and she went over to see the ponies over. Flint sat down in her company as Amethyst (playing her role a little) stood behind him. … As stupid as she felt.

"Aren't we seeing Grogar?" Flint questioned. Tempest wasn't amused.

"King Grogar is only here to observe right now so we won't get any surprises. Who're you two?" Tempest questioned. Fare enough, considering their last two escapades with Homeworld. Flint sighed, probably wanting to kill himself for this.

"My name is Azlet, and this is Amy," Flint said, glancing to Amethyst, "We're both wanderers, and looking for a king who'd appreciate our talents. And a way home."

"Wanderers eh? … Just where did you two come from? The Crystal Empire, perhaps?" Tempest asked.

"That's our hometown," said Amethyst, "but we didn't really stick around for very long. We were kinda … taken away."

"White Diamond found us to be quite interesting, so she had us tested. We got out though when she stopped on Homeworld a couple of years ago, and had been stuck wandering around since," Flint finished. A bit of silence drifted in the air for the "court" to take in what they said, though they did hear Grogar's hooves scrape the ground a little bit, but said nothing.

"And you two've just been wandering around Homeworld," restated Tempest. "You look pretty healthy for doing it for that long."

"Like we got anything better to do," Amethyst said, "none of the Warp Pads worked, if we just wandered into town Homeworld would've been all over us, not to mention they got those Robo-things shattering every non-Gem and Off-color Gem out every hole!"
A bit bold speaking but Flint nudged Amethyst to keep her on the down low.

"Excuse her. It's just been frustrating these past years on our own, you know how it is."

"Right. So how'd you find out about us then?" Tempest questioned. This was more of a test than curiosity question, mostly since Grogar was a bit of a new thing, and given that Azlet and Amy had been away from Diamond city for a long while, news like this wouldn't just pop up to them. Luckily, despite that, Flint got a good idea going.

"By accident actually. There was some fleeing … was it Emeralds they said they were? Agates?"

Amethyst shrugged, legitimately just going with the flow at this point.

"... Well anyway, they mentioned about some "monster" that tore the Diamonds down in just one hit. It wasn't until just yesterday we heard that it was Grogar who did it."
They weren't sure if any of them were actually buying it or not, Grogar's expression not exactly moved all that much. If anything, he was just waiting for this to finish so he could continue prepping himself up for the wedding coming up, hoof tapping the throne in a steady pace.

"Yes. And?"

"And we're hoping that you'd recruit us into Tambalon. It would be nice to see something that isn't made up of rocks for once," Flint stated. And to further the point he made sure NOT to correct himself in presence of Budgerite or whatever Harvested Gems were nearby, leaving them a little insulted. Tempest shadow though didn't look like a pony that could fall for a story THAT easily, and actually shook her head, having a seat herself.

"Quite a story, Azlet, but I don't buy it. All Gems were secured into Diamond City since the lord Grogar took over, and if there were any other Gems who'd escaped we would know," Tempest made clear.

"No no no," Flint silently thought, starting to wonder if they were gonna be found out or not. Amethyst had to improvise.

"Hey hey hey, we know our four gems when we see em! Two were small stocky and green, one looked like some toothpick with a Pinocchio nose, and one looked like he just got himself flambéed," Amethyst quickly stated. They knew four different Gems who sounded eerily similar to that. Tempest started to cast doubts on her theory.

"Hmm … Interesting."

"Good call," Flint whispered to Amethyst. But they weren't free just yet as Tempest moved in closer.

"... Which direction were you two coming from?" Tempest then inquired.

"The southwest, mam, passed the dried seabeds and over the stardust ridge. Took us an extra day though. You know how it is climbing mountains."

"Hmm … As for these "talents" of yours," stated Tempest, as she started to circle them a bit, seeing them over herself, "Just what is it you're known for? I don't see any Cutie Marks on either of you, and you look a bit … troublesome."

"W-Well … our Cutie Marks were removed. White Diamond had a unicorn for sometime, and she knew how to remove Cutie Marks permanently, so …" Flint trailed off, but they knew where he was going with it anyway.

"Betrayed by your own kind. I know the feeling," noted Tempest, "... Yet, although being gone for years on a planet without food or water, you both look pretty healthy."

"That's the Gem genes talking," Amethyst said, flicking the gemstone on her chest, "White's big plan is mixing up one thing with another, and whelp, we got Gem DNA stuck in us. Haven't tasted anything besides dirt in months."
Tempest looked closer to the gemstones in question, seeing her own reflection within each. Neither looked like they were just accessories. She began to especially take note of Flint himself.

"... And you Azlet. You look fairly large for a pony. Strong. Can you fight?" Tempest asked.

"What, me? Oh no, no, I don't fight, I uh, never had the instincts for it," said Flint, "Back in the Crystal Empire I was a … was a uh ……. t-teacher."

Tempest took a long breath …

*WHACK* Flint felt his upper body swing to the right as Tempest struck him with the back of her hoof, good and hard to leave a mark on his face. It wasn't meant to be that hard of a hit (for Tempest's standards), yet Amethyst saw Flint was struggling to keep together thanks to that sideswipe.

"Hold together, hold together," she whispered urgently. Flint got his willpower together thanks to Amethyst's encouragement. With a slight grunt, he straightened back up, looking Tempest right in the face, as the unicorn looked deep into his eyes, trying to read his soul it would appear. …

"...…. A lot of instincts for being a teacher. …"

"LORD GROGAR!"

Just before this could go any further, the entire room was suddenly met with an unexpected guest, rushing in from the front door and looking a bit worn out upon arriving on the scene. He looked worn out, namely from his experience just yesterday with a particular green Gem and the team that's been causing them trouble.
Nichrome.

"Nichrome? Can't you see we're in the middle of something?" Grogar scolded.

"Keep that Gem out of sight," Amethyst quietly instructed Flint. He saw them both, they can't afford their cover blown now.

"Yeah yeah, listen: I got good news and bad news, which do you want first?" Nichrome asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Whichever will make this go quicker," Grogar growled. Nichrome gulped, so he just went on with it.

"K, good news: the Harmony Gems are no more my lord. All of them are keeled over, as I've expected and as you wanted," Nichrome revealed, looking confident in his answer. Flint and Amethyst glanced at him like he was just crazy: why was he lying to Grogar like this they may never know, but not too important. Grogar raised an eyebrow at this, but given the situation he decided to just drop it.

"And the bad news?"

"Eh … well, it's some of the platoon, sir: I come back here and seven sergeants had gone missing. Again."

"Seven? That's twelve in just a week - didn't anyone get a look at this?"

"That's what I'm upping the guards for. I'm increasing security as much as I can along the borders in case we get other surprises," Nichrome said, before actually leaving on his own accord to go and do that. There was a bit of a pause within the room by that point, but this did get some gear rolling in the ram's head, as with the unicorn too. Enough to reach a decision.

"Commander Tempest. Instruct Azlet and Amy in the ways of Tambalon. Get them trained up to fill in for the missing sergeants, will you?" Grogar said.

"Why her?!" Storm suddenly said, "That's king's work, I can whip those guys in shape, and she's just some worn out PONY!"

"Didn't you just make her do your work just now? Captain Storm?" Grogar questioned.

"Yeah, so? It's not good for my image for my lackey to do this kind of -"

"AND WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE?!" Grogar roared, getting right in Storm's face, to the point that the creature fell onto his back.

"Ok, ok, ok, sorry for getting chatty, whoops on me. You're in charge, big man, no doubting here," Storm said. Only then did Grogar back up, and then gave the signal for everyone else to go with a wave of his hoof. The solution was made so why would they stay around. He took another glance towards Flint and Amethyst briefly.

"You two came at a good time. Don't try and spoil it."

"Yes. Sir," said Flint.


~~~~~~


So from their place over in the throne room, Flint and Amethyst were soon following Tempest around the whole area of the palace. Everywhere they went, Flint and Amethyst saw exactly the kind of changes that Grogar had done, some newer and some the "same" since Flint was last there. They saw the marks, release areas, and patrols sure, but as Tempest trotted along they also noticed that some areas were under more high alert than before.
For example, Flint remembered some of the marks being put under some guard, the Gem head mark he was in having at least a single guard on watch. Now the guards been put up to five, watching the Gems like vultures. The Gems weren't even allowed to step anywhere close to the guards unless they wanted to get hit back into line (which one Eyeball Ruby did try, just to get swatted back).
Another example of this came up closer to the palace: Tempest brought the two newcomers towards the castle through the officer's entrance - it was really an oversized cut within the building foundation - and two stern, almost monstrous guards stood there. Tempest went through just fine, but they were quick to jump Flint and Amethyst, knocking them both to the ground.

"Hey, get off you lug!" Amethyst shouted. But Tempest turned back.

"OI. They're with me," Tempest stated. Both guards glanced to Tempest Shadow briefly. She may not be a captain of Tambalon, but Commander was high enough ranking for the guards to listen, and they both got off of them. Amethyst growled a bit at them, giving a sort of "I-got-my-eye-on-you" gesture with her hoof before moving along.

"You got some nice "friends" Tempest," Amethyst scoffed.

"Grogar's got everybody on high alert," explained Tempest, "Gems kept coming and going, and without order and control there's no point. We're not taking chances, not this close to the big day."

"Big day?" Flint asked.

"Let's just say the King will be having a Queen before long," Tempest stated. Tempest acted like it was no big deal, but Flint and Amethyst felt a shiver run through their backs again.

"Not on our watch, creep," though Amethyst. Flint nudged her, silently reminding her to watch it. Good as it would be for them to just get this done, they can't raise suspicion just yet.

"And who's the new queen exactly? We've not seem many potentials since we arrived," Flint inquired. Tempest glanced to them. Tempest though didn't exactly answer them, not feeling a need to do so. If they were staying, they'd find out soon enough anyway.

"... Can you at least tell us WHEN this is happening?" Flint asked. Now that Tempest can answer.

"Full Moon high."

Left with little bit of answers there, Flint and Amethyst were then brought towards one of the upper levels of the palace, which they've turned into the chambers for commanders, officers, and captains specifically. Tempest stopped briefly by the door to one of the empty rooms.

"I've got a patrol to supervise in a minute. Have a look around on your own for a bit," Tempest said.

"Yeah sure, thanks," Flint said. Amethyst and Flint just began heading into the room, but Tempest had one more thing to say.

"And Amy? Azlet? Don't try to leave the kingdom. You may be aboard, but you're still on probation."

"Probation? When'd he say that?" Amethyst asked.

"He doesn't have to," Tempest simply said. So, with that said, Tempest moved off on her own way, closing the door behind Flint and Amethyst as they were settled into their cabin. Flint wasn't so sure though with Tempest, so rather than relax he went over and placed his ear on the door, listening to the faint sounds of Tempest Shadow's footsteps trotting away.

Once she did go far enough out of range, the two suddenly shifted back into normal forms.

"Finally! I couldn't hold together for another minute," Amethyst said, worn out a bit as sweat poured from her head, wiping it away with her arm. Flint was a bit worn out too, taking a minute to catch his breath, sitting on the floor.

"Me neither," Flint sighed.

"Ok, so now we're in. What the plan now chief, we go to phase 2?" Amethyst asked, ready to get a move on. Flint wiped some of his own sweat from his forehead. He forgotten how hard it was to shapeshift and stay that way for this long.

"Got it, but … didn't that go a little too smoothly to you?" Flint wondered. Amethyst groaned.

"Man, now's not the time for your psycho-reading," Amethyst said, wanting to get moving, "Tempest is letting us go around, so let's go around and see where they are. Can't find them just sitting here."

Well that settled it for him.

"Alright, sorry. But let's watch it: I think they're already getting suspicious."

"Got it, detective. They won't even know we're here," Amethyst said smugly. Flint would comment, but they got bigger problems to worry about right now so they had to get on their way. Flint took one glance out the door, looking down one hallway and down the other to make sure they were alone. They were in the clear, but they didn't go out yet.

"Okay, we're good. So Amethyst, how do you want to do this? Shift back into ponies or something else?"

"Something else, please. That may make it easier, but I might strain something if I keep it up any longer," Amethyst stated, stretching a little bit as if it was getting a knot in her back. Flint would disagree if he wasn't so worn out himself.

"Hmm … okay, then you need to stay close to me."

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving your side at all in here," Amethyst promised … just for Flint to pull her very close to him, to the point when she was an inch away.

"Oh. Literally."

"Just stay there and be quiet," Flint said. Amethyst then realized what Flint meant as he then pulled out his secondary weapon of choice: his camouflage cloak. And good thing for them both it was just big enough to cover them both completely.

"Do we have to stand this close together?" Amethyst asked.

"Sorry, it's the biggest cloak I can manage," Flint said, "Now let's go."

"Right behind you," Amethyst replied. not that she had much choice anyway. Closing the door shut right behind them, quietly as they could, both Flint and Amethyst then went off on their way down the hall, making sure not to make too much noise. On the surface to anyone else, it looked like it was just a small breeze going by that closed the door, and their footsteps just some patrols in the distance.

…….

Flint and Amethyst's own walkabout the area did show to be easier than expected after half an hour. With most guards on patrol for the Harmony Gems anywhere around, that left little over by the actual palace to handle some of the work. The two checked room after room for some clues, but it didn't leave them with very much at all except for the reminder that they were alone in there and nothing else. Flint may be in a serious tone for this, but Amethyst was actually feeling more casual now as all they've been doing is walking around. That, and given they didn't have to crouch down or anything fancy, they could walk casually.

"I wondered how this cloak thing of yours worked," Amethyst said at one point, "So you can see everyone else while wearing this?"

"It wouldn't be too good if I couldn't," Flint replied, "As long as you don't speak or touch anyone nearby, they wouldn't know I'm around."

"Huh. I thought it was more like battle armor or maybe some skin covering like those octopus do," Amethyst figured. Flint shook his head as they checked another room.

"No, you're thinking of the newer models. My camouflage cloak is more of a prototype. Like me."

Seemed simple enough, and there was a gap in this conversation as they kept looking through a few more rooms. Still, Amethyst did go into some thinking since Flint said those last two words. Sure it wasn't a good time for it, but it still lingered in her head. And she did see him at a lower point before …

"Hey, uh … Flint?"

"Yes, Amethyst?"

Amethyst did feel a little bit indecisive on how to say it though.

"Er … well I've been meaning to ask you something. I know it's … not the best time, and we know how you LOVE staying with schedules, and all that but … well …"

Flint just made it easier for her.

"Come on, now. If you want to ask me something, go right ahead. I'm listening," Flint stated, giving Amethyst the same greenlight Tempest did for them both to go in the first place. Amethyst was a bit quiet at first, but eventually she decided to go for it. She looked up to Flint and …

"What was it like working for White Diamond?"

… Well, Amethyst was right, it didn't have much to do with this. Flint and Amethyst both stopped together in a part of the empty hallway.

"... Come again?"

"You said it yourself. You were a prototype made by her, so you had to have worked for her at some point. So ... how was it? Was it hard?"
For a moment, Flint didn't seem to answer at first, something Amethyst kinda figured. This was a mission to get Connie and Twilight out of here not to get a quiz going. Besides, she already told him not to psycho-read anyway.

"... Very hard. And, if I am to be honest, I'd prefer Jasper's training over what she had us do," Flint admitted, "I'm guessing Pearl never told you that either huh?"

"Eh, no. What'd she make you do?" Amethyst asked. Flint brought out his counting fingers and thinking cap.

"Well let's see now, it's been a while Well there was this one exercise that involved me running around a battlefield with all of her pearls hunting us down for five hours straight. There's also this practice with mimicry when we had to copy exactly how White Diamond did it, otherwise we get destabilized. And I think there's this other one when White had to test our will by using only half of her mind power on us so we had to fight our will and our opponents at the same time, but I kinda have blurry memories of that one."

Amethyst was shell-shocked to say the least. and here she thought Jasper's training was tough. Jasper may have made them go though trial after trial, but Flint's training made all that sound like a walk in the park.

"No offense, Flint, but dang. No wonder you were so stern all the time," Amethyst said, feeling herself cringe at such ideas. And these were only a few examples too, which made it even scarier.

"Well when you get stuck in a room for five hours trying to dodge Pearls out for shards, you kinda end up not caring about anything or anyone else," Flint shrugged, "... You know, you're really lucky you never had to deal with Homeworld at all Amethyst. Before your friends made their truce with them, I mean."

"Ah everybody and their mother tells me that. But sometimes I did wonder how Amethysts really operate here. I'm made an Amethyst, but I was never made into an Amethyst. Know what I'm saying?" Amethyst explained. Flint could get some idea where she was coming from, but something still went through his head.

"Well, at least you found your "Famethyst" group. You did learn a bit from them."

"Yeah yeah, sure. But let's just face it. You and me are just a couple of misfits: we're not made to be normal Gems, and really, I don't think I'll ever truly get what Homeworld Amethysts do. … Well, you know, as much as actual Homeworld Amethysts," Amethyst stated. Flint smirked to her, hand on her head.

"I don't see a problem with it if you don't. I barely know much about my own kind, but it never bothered me that much."

"Yeah well you didn't have time to let it bother you that much," Amethyst remarked. She then gave Flint a playful punch and added "Besides, being ourselves? That's what makes us awesome."

"Alright alright. Now come on, Connie and Twilight have to be here somewhere," Flint said. It took only five steps for one more statement to come out.

"... So … you asked because you were bored?"

"And the great detective strikes again," Amethyst chuckled. Well it did ease the tension Flint had with the situation, so that was a plus. Feeling more relaxed, but still focused, both Gems continued on. Twilight and Connie weren't gonna be rescued by them just chatting away the moment.

…

"Crafty."


~~~~~~


The outskirts of Homeworld were still on lockdown when it came to the rest of the team. Much of Grogar's guards may be out on the outside border patrols, but they kept just far enough away to avoid detection for the most part. Time continued ticking on Homeworld though, and sunset was starting to go into full swing. It won't be much longer until darkness would come around for nightfall. The whole group found a similar looking ditch to keep as their "main spot" for the wait, with Garnet sitting up on a nearby rock and casually watching Homeworld from afar. Take it as a lookout if you will. Garnet continued sitting there a bit more until Diopside came up to her.

"Ok, Garnet, it's my turn," Diopside said. Now with the word, Garnet nodded and simply jumped off of her post, Diopside taking her place as she got back to the rest.

"No sign of them yet?" asked Starlight.

"Not a thing. Then again, we never agreed it would be a quick mission. Let's give them more time, and we'll see by nightfall," Garnet decided.

"They've been in there all day. I hope they're okay in there," Jade said.

"You hope they're okay? What about us?" Pink Diamond asked, "It's getting dark, we're in the open, and there's some crazy alien army all over this place looking for us. And you got them looking all over the borders too."

"Wait, how'd she do that?" Emerald asked.

"I didn't. Sumu did," Garnet said, adjusting her shades briefly.

"Wait, what?! When did she show up there?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Garnet took a seat and started explaining.

"Star said the plants speak to her, and if she's with Grogar that goes right to him. So, it only makes sense for her to listen in while we were talking about our plan of attack back at the Temple," Garnet said. Only for her to add after a pause "And yes, I'm telling you all now, because if I told you then, Grogar would know about it right away."

"Why do we even ask you anything anymore?" Fulgurite wondered.

Fare enough. Still, not everyone in this group were simply keeping still. Lapis started to hear some steps off not too far away and, much to her worry, only saw that it was Steven himself making the extra noise. He was stuck pacing, back and forth, waiting for SOME word from Flint and Amethyst inside the palace. 

"He's gonna crack," commented Fulgurite.

"Would somebody please talk to him? He's starting to freak me out," Peridot added, not familiar at all with THIS side of Steven.

"I already tried," said Lapis, "he's just worried about Connie that's all … I hope."

"You hope?" Starlight questioned.

"He's been on edge more than usual lately …"

"I can hear you guys," Steven stated, sounding … irritated? It sure seemed strange, but even if it was off for him it wasn't anything new to be irritated. It just felt a bit off slightly due to the situation (and the missing eye of course). Eventually Steven did stop pacing around a bit, but his mind was still a mess the longer he waited. Even if his face didn't show it too much. But they all knew him more than well enough, and Garnet went to his side.

"Garnet, no, please. I've got worrying to do," Steven said gravely.

"You weren't worried before we got here," Garnet pointed out, "The plan's not suiting you, is it?"

It was impossible to get by any emotional clues to this fusion. "... Yes."

"I know it was a last second decision Steven, and we all know that you want to save Connie. But for this to work, they're the ones that have to do it We have to stay here."

"I'm sorry, but is that the answer?" Steven stated, "We can go right in there, all of us together, and we can get them out. We've done it before, why can't we now?"

"Because the danger we're facing now can wipe us all out literally in seconds. That, and I think we both know he wants us to do that so it'll be easier for him," Garnet explained, trying to rationalize things a bit more. Steven was growing impatient, but didn't say anything at first. That silence gave an illusion that they got through to him enough, but as Garnet walked back to the rest …

"... Maybe you can't …"

"Excuse me?" Garnet asked. Steven looked to them.

"Maybe you can't, but I can! Grogar's spell works on Gems remember? I'm only half-Gem, it won't work on me!" and suddenly Steven tried to get moving! However, it didn't take long until the others got a hold of him, Applejack grabbing hold of his shirt with her teeth and pulling him back a bit just enough to get him off his feet.

"You cannot go in there by yourself!" Applejack yelled.

"I can't stay here either! I'm sick and tired of sitting out of the way and doing nothing!" Steven tried going again, but this time Fluttershy flew in his way.

"But Grogar will kill you!" insisted Fluttershy in a pleading voice.

"AND Connie, AND Twilight, and everybody else he's keeping with him!" he tried one more time, THIS time being pulled back by a stronger magic from Starlight, pulling him right back onto the ground and onto his back.

"Steven, stop it, you're losing your head!" Starlight insisted.

"I! DON'T! CARE! I'M GOING NOW!"

"STEVEN -"

"SSSHHH! Guys, quiet," Diopside quietly called, "A patrol's coming!"
The yelling quickly stopped and to make sure nothing else happened, Steven was held close by Garnet. Frustrated or not, they can't be found out now. Diopside herself had to bolt for it back to the ditch, and the Diamonds (three of them anyway) had to duck down to avoid being seen. Embarrassing, but it beats dying. A few of them did peek out from the edge of the ditch, only to find a said patrol coming on out to see them.
As for who it was …

"I told you nothing was over here, Bray, geesh!" Budgerite said.

"I swear I'm about 40% sure this time that I heard someone over here!" said Bray his ears up and turning like ears on a rabbit. Budgerite hopped up on Bray's donkey head to get a better bird view, but she wasn't seeing anything anywhere. Everyone nearby kept quiet.

"... Nope. I'm about 60% sure you need your wax cleaned out."

"Celestia-dangit," Bray grumbled, sitting down as Budgerite fell off his head and onto her own head. "GEMS, WHERE THE HAY ARE YA, I'M TIRED AND HUNGRY AND WANNA GO HOME!"

Of course nobody tried responding to that yelling. The mule and hybrid took a moment to take a breather on their walkabout, Garnet looking to Steven and bringing her finger to her lips. Not a word.

"Bray don't go yelling your dummy head off, they're not gonna jump out and say hello THAT way," Budgerite grumbled as she picked herself up. Bray gave a good *he-haw* of dismay.

"They just had to jump now. And I was working so hard on the best cake ever for the wedding: it's SO HARD to make the frosting on a bluegrass blueberry cake just right."

"It's true," Pinkie quietly commented as she watched the two with some of the others. Budgerite sat down by Bray.

"It's not like that thing's going anywhere, and you know how Grogar is with orders. Rules with an iron hoof!" Budgerite said, fist clenching.

"Eeyup. … when's this gonna happen anyway? King didn't say."

"He said it ten times to everybody, remember?"

"HEY, you can't blame my stupidity this time B, I was busy making cake!" Bray retorted.

"... Oh yeah," Budgerite sighed. The half bird Gem hopped back on Bray's head, this time looking up to the sky at Homeworld's setting star for a moment, hand over her eyes for shades.

"So?"

"Hmm … okay, chief said it's gonna be during "full moon high" - whatever that means - so we'll go for one more look around the border and then head back to the kitchen before the sun sets," Budgerite concluded. Bray though huffed, his ear "tapping" her side.

"Full moon high means midnight tonight. Even I'm not THAT dumb," Bray said. This just got Budgerite to get off his head, her stepping on his muzzle like a stair. Annoying yes.

"Come on Bray, keep up a little bit," Budgerite said, "Grogar's gonna be ticked more than usual if you keep on lagging behind like a Earth laptop."

"Oh boo hoo, mock me all ya want, but you got blueberries lined up in a row for three hours straight. And if that Storm sees those -" Bray gave a large lick of his hooves as if they had yummy juice on them to make his point. Immediately Budgerite looked a bit more nervous now. A shake went through her body.

"If that greedy monkey eats just one of my berries, I'll peck his eyes out," Budgerite proposed. 

That was enough to get both Bray and Budgerite going from there, Bray galloping off down the path with Budgerite trailing off behind. Both unaware that their conversation was overheard completely by the others nearby. They all heard when the wedding was going to happen.
Especially Steven …

"S-Steven," Starlight muttered, "don't freak out. S-Stay calm - stay - STEVEN NO -"

Steven had it. And he couldn't wait anymore. In complete desperation, Steven summoned out his shield and next thing that happened, Garnet suddenly was on the ground. That brief moment of freedom was all Steven needed, and suddenly he was up and running right out of the ditch, making a beeline away from there and towards Diamond City.

"STEVEN!"

He was already gone. Or at least gone in a sense none of them could stop him, already a good fifty meters in full on sprint. For Steven, his mind was completely frazzled, and this information and all was just too much.

"It's all my fault this even happened. I'm the one that has to fix this! Don't worry Connie, Twilight, I'm coming, hold on a bit longer. Stay alive!"

"Great, now what? Garnet, PLEASE give us something?!" asked Rarity. Just like how the future vision scenario got crushed, Garnet was still stuck stunned from earlier on Steven striking her like that. Garnet never seen Steven do that in a VERY long time. Or had the nerve to strike her like that. Garnet did eventually get back up, holding the side of her face. But this was not the same as simply a friend Steven wanted to keep. She looked on a bit, only barely able to make out Steven's tracks.

"Alright everyone, we're moving on to plan B," Garnet announced.

"And what's that?" Fluttershy asked.

"Dunno yet. Let's go!"

"For stars sake," groaned Yellow.


~~~~~~


Flint and Amethyst stuck with this tactic for a while since that chat, and so far the tactic of just keeping out of sight was doing them pretty good. No one really was questioning where Azlet and Amy had went since Tempest left them at the officer's quarters, or even if they were they weren't doing anything about it. While that may be true, finding Connie and Twilight wasn't easy either.

"You'd think an Alicorn princess and Grogar's fiancé would be easier to find," said Amethyst, looking around a bit more. They would cover more ground if they didn't have to be so close together.

"Not really. The higher ranking, the more they want to keep them in here. Besides, if they think we're all just coming in here they wouldn't just leave up in the open."

"Unless it's a trap," Amethyst bluntly stated.

"... Unless it's a trap," Flint agreed. Why wouldn't they use their friends as bait?

"So what's the game plan when we find them? Sneak them out, or is it just another "jump in and go nuts" kinda thing?" Amethyst asked.

"You crazy, no," Flint stated, "At least we have to tell them what we're doing, and if we can get them out when we find them, then great. I highly doubt it though -"

"ONE STEP!"

The sudden shout got Amethyst and Flint jumping a bit, almost losing the cloak they both had. It may not be what they were off and looking for, but it got them curious just enough to go and see what all the noise was about. Flint though might've already got an idea.
The two took position over by a nearby wall barrier, and peeking around the corner they just managed to find that they walked right on towards the high ranking head mark. A sight Flint was too familiar with already. As they've seen before, guards were everywhere, but more so now than they were earlier with Tempest Shadow. But there was a reason there was more security out right now.

Two reasons. And they both were out in the cluster of Agates and Emeralds amongst this lot already.

"Well. There they are," Flint stated, surprised honestly.

"OK we found them. You think you can get to them?" said Amethyst, pointing them out to Flint. Flint only needed one look to see they were not doing any better than before.

"Hmm … K, I'm going in. DON'T. MOVE."

"You got it. Time to de-size," Amethyst said. Suddenly she began shapeshifting on Flint, but instead of changing into the smallest she could be: her Gemstone but with a head, arms, and legs. No one was gonna see her like this so easily. For some extra measure, she found a hole in the small bit of wall, just big enough for her to fit inside.

"How do I look?"

"It's stupid … yet somehow brilliant. Wait here, I'll be only a minute."

With Amethyst staying out of sight being so small, Flint got himself back into pony form and only then did he trot out in the open. The guards on post did not question him going around like this, thank the stars, and Flint went directly over to the nearest guard on post, being the one just in front of them. It didn't take them more than a moment's notice to see Flint starting to stroll over.

"Hey, what's up? You're eh, that newbie in the ranks aren't you?" asked the guard casually, in spite being in presence of so many struggling Gems and Alicorn. Twilight glanced up to the others, not exactly recognizing any of them at first, even with Flint's pony form giving off some clues.

"Yeah, I'm still trying to get used to the place … what's going on here?" Flint asked, as if he didn't know what was happening. Flint sat down next to the guard.

"Oh, them. It was Grogar's idea, picking it up from some planet called Aredox or something. All of the prisoners are marked up wherever their gems are, get them cracked, and put in some group. This one's the head mark," explained the guard, again acting like it's no big deal.

"And this is just one group."

"Pretty much. Right now they got their hour in the yard before we bring em' back underground. … Well, most of them anyway."

"Most? What do you mean most?" Flint asked, a little more urgent than needed to be in that regard. The guard didn't seem bothered by it, given he was a pony and as far as he was concerned, Ponies were always a little bit of spazzes. He gave Flint a nudge and a wink.

"As a guard, officer or whatever the hay, you can request any of them to your leisure, any room. Eh?"

Flint gulped, "Y-You don't mean bringing them in to -"

"NO NO, of course not! I'm talking servant wise. Ya know: hold your stuff, clean your beds, shine your shoes. Maid stuff. … Oh, except for Pearls, they get a free pass."

"So it isn't just Nichrome," Flint thought. He paused and checked out what the deal was with many of this mark, but the guard then noticed he was looking over towards Connie.

"AND that one. Nope, she's out of bounds," the guard informed. But Flint took a moment to check them all out again, starting to think on a sort of conclusion. He had to talk to them.

"They look kinda out of line. I'm gonna straighten them out for a second," Flint said, trotting in.

"Make it quick, we're not here to hold your hoof all day," the guard sighed, scratching his ear. Flint knew this move was a bit risky, especially with the crowd of Agates and Emeralds just a few feet away. Some did look his way briefly.

"What do you want?" one of the agates asked. Flint wasn't in the mood to talk with them though so he just went over to his prime target: Twilight Sparkle. She was nearby Connie too, so this worked out fairly well. He just had to pull it off first. Flint got both of their attention with a stomp of his hoof.

"You two. You're out of line. Back to the mark order with ya," Flint instructed firmly, saying it strongly so it sounded convincing. At first the two thought it was just another guard snapping at them, but they got a better look at him, especially to that gemstone of his.

"Flint!" gasped Connie.

"SSHH. Play along for a second," Flint whispered before following up with a loud, "I said, back to the line!"

"Why don't you bother somepony else?!" Twilight asked begrudgingly. Flint was taken aback by this word, and snorted.

"Snapping at a Tambalonian officer? Get your paws over here, both of you, I want some more shine to my horseshoes," Flint instructed.

"Why now?" Connie asked.

"Because it's expected. NOW," Flint stated. Even if he was just acting, Connie and Twilight both felt the danger in his voice. The two complied and began to clean up his hooves while the other guards kept busy with watching the rest. Since they didn't have towels to use, they simply used their own appendages to do it: Twilight with her hooves and Connie with her hands. Flint took a glance over one more time before leaning in towards the other two.

"How're you holding up?" Flint asked.

"I'd rather be experimented by White Diamond than deal with this," Connie admitted.

"Did you know you can actually cheese-grate feathers off? … Well, I know that now," Twilight said, showing her wing of some marks where her feathers had been dealt with. Flint cringed.

"Ouch. Ok, listen both of you: we've come to break you out of here, you and whoever else wants to."

"So basically everyone," Connie said.

"Pretty much. Everyone's waiting a mile or two from the borders, but Amethyst and I are in here right now posing as newbie officers for Tambalon. She and I are mapping everything out, but the escape has to be by tonight."

"Tonight?!"

"SSHH. YES, tonight. Be ready, and tell the others but don't have any guards overhear this or it's a bust, understand?" Flint instructed. Connie and Twilight looked to eachother briefly, and both of them nodded.

"Anything to have everything great again. I will NOT have Era 3 keep going like this, not after everything we've been through to make them our friends," Connie said.

"Well said. Good luck," Flint said. He was about to go, but Twilight still had something else to say.

"Wait, there's something else: there's this captain of Tambalon named Nichrome, and he's been trying to recruit Gems into his hooves ever since Grogar took over. I don't know how many he has, but he's already tried me, and he might even try to manipulate you into joining him too, so be careful," Twilight warned.

"Thanks for the tip," Flint said. He knew Nichrome already, but now was not the time to make any corrections. Without raising anymore suspicions from the guards, Flint sent them both back in line and Flint trotted on back towards the other guard.

"Azlet, she's out of bounds."

"I heard you the first time," Flint stated.

"Any others catch your eye?" the guard inquired. Flint paused and checked out his options, but then shook his head.

"Hmm, nah. I'm still trying to get over the fact you've basically flipped the entire hierarchy upside-down here," Flint admitted. The guard nudged him playfully again.

"That's king Grogar for ya: giving the standouts and offcolors a chance while all the commonfolk get a good kick in the flanks," the guard said. Flint was of mixed minds on this: giving the unique and less-fortunate a chance didn't sound so bad. You know, if it didn't include torturing everyone else. Flint made a mental note on it as he began to go.

"Well if you need me, I'll just check out some of the other uh … marks."

"Sure go ahead, but don't get lost will ya? The wedding's soon, you won't want to miss it," the guard said. Flint didn't answer. Flint trotted along for a bit, but quickly darted once he got back to position by Amethyst, whom still kept her tiny form. He was just about to give her the word on it when -

"Right!"

Talk about speak of the devil.

"Darn it. Incognito mode," Amethyst quickly said. and just in time since both needed their normal forms fast. They just got themselves inside Flint's camouflage cloak, disappearing, when someone else started to come in. It was only one of the higher guards, but the voice made the guard Flint was just talking to stand up at attention. And wouldn't you know it: it was Nichrome coming back from his runaround setting up security.

"Captain Nichrome, sir," said the guard. Nichrome sat down by him briefly.

"Bray and Budgerite are back. So you take your lot and fill in their patrol," Nichrome instructed. The officer nodded, and he was just about to go but nichrome pulled him back by the back of his neck.

"Anything weird happen while I was gone?"

"No, sir," the guard replied. Nichrome allowed him to go from there, and while the guards under this mark were off to handle it, Nichrome himself was joined by a few larger guards catching up with him. Interestingly, these were Tempest's storm guards he brought with him. His target for today? …

Twilight Sparkle. He hadn't been done with her just yet, and he wasted no time to going right up to her and Connie (much to Flint and Amethyst's troubles). Nichrome saw that she looked simply awful.

"You're a mess. Clean up will you?"

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"Because I say so. Groom yourself. NOW!"

At least when Flint gave the instructions there was an idea he was joking. Twilight sighed, and began to groom her feathers a bit, Nichrome watching in satisfaction. Connie felt humbled, but she wasn't left out of it for long.

"You too," Nichrome snapped. Connie just rolled with it and began to run her fingers through her hair as if they were a comb.With them both humbled, Nichrome went on talking.

"Well miss Sparkle. Have you thought about what I said?" Nichrome asked. It was probably good that Twilight told Connie about him first otherwise this would be harder than it was.

"You want it now?"

"Hmm, yeah. A nice crowd would be fitting," Nichrome replied. He would say that. 

"Don't worry, Twilight. Whatever you decide, we're not gonna give up," Connie quietly promised. Twilight lowered her head in Nichrome's presence. She REALLY didn't want to give him any satisfaction, but what would happen if she didn't. Her whole world was in the balance here. Her world, and those she cared so much about. … 

"... You told me, Nichrome, that you wanted me to work for you. And doing so will reassure that my friends, family, and people will have good conditions. Resources. And … happy lives. So I … I ……. I can. I can work for you. I'm willing to do anything you ask me, so long as Canterlot remains free."

"And you'll tell me everything? You'll be my ears?" Nichrome asked once more. Twilight could already feel the faces of some dozen or so Gems just a foot away start to judge her for this decision, giving up for what they see as something selfish. None of them grew up in Equestria after all. The Alicorn herself was feeling her throat strain a little bit, only answering in a small nod. Nichrome even saw one tear come down her face, the alicorn in such a submission. The deal was sealed …

...

"... Guards, remove this Alicorn. SHE'S TO BE EXECUTED BY MIDNIGHT."

"WHAT?!" gasped Connie and Twilight. Nichrome snickered his signature snickering, but none of them could understand why this change was made at all, especially after Twilight just poured her heart out like that! Flint and Amethyst couldn't believe their ears even more, but they couldn't do anything now not with so many right there. Twilight backed up.

"W-Wait, she just said she'd work for you!" Connie retorted.

"Oh, I heard her just fine. But the truth is I don't need any spies to do my work for me. I can get all the info I need on my own."

"But why did you -"

"WHY?!" Nichrome exclaimed, cutting Twilight short, "I told you: I don't enjoy killing, I enjoy breaking. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing your targets break down into teeny tiny pieces, and then casted off into the wind. And one thing, Princess … It was so. DISAPPOINTLY EASY!~"
And with Nichrome laughing himself silly, the larger guards suddenly grabbed hold of Twilight Sparkle. Panicked, Twilight tried to get her wings flapping, but she was too weak to get away. It was like a mouse trying to escape a cat's claws. And she was just as dead. They all were just left stunned as Twilight was taken away.

"I'll show you "disappointingly easy", you scum ridden -"

"Flint, cool it! Incognito, remember?" Amethyst quietly said, trying to hold him back from just bolting right in to get them. Nichrome did stop briefly, but he was too joyed to bother with it now. As for Connie Maheswaran, she'd been biding more than enough time now.

"T-Think Connie, what can you do?" Connie thought, "If you go and fight, they'll just kill her. If I do nothing … well, they'll kill her. What can I do that they won't kill her?!"

Then she thought of Grogar. …

"... Well, it's a long shot," she thought. Seconds after Twilight was taken out, she tried anyway, going to the nearest guard by the borders.

"I need to speak to the king," said Connie.

"NO." the guard bluntly, and firmly stated, pushing Connie back a bit. But Connie was not giving up here. She knew they didn't care for Twilight, so she ditched that idea right away, and tried something else.

"Look, I'm not asking. I'm the king's upcoming wife, and the ear of king Grogar."

The guard thought about that for a minute. She would be free-roaming after being the wife of the king anyway. ...

…….

The clock was ticking, and with each passing minute, and with his wedding coming closer and closer, Grogar finally got more time to get himself all prepped, primped and prepared as well as a ram could. Humming to himself a familiar Canterlot "perfect wedding" melody, the king checked himself within the mirror, seeing his horns glean and the very ends of them sharpened into dagger-like points. Not too bad at all really.

"Nice: looking ready to kill, your majesty," Grogar said to himself, his hoof getting a few cowlicks out of his head so he looked a bit more slick when the door behind him began knocking.

"Door's open," Grogar simply said, in a good enough mood for the company. And turned out it was good company, as it was Bray, Budgerite, and Stubby coming in to see him, with the half-bird Gem holding something in hand for him. Grogar was pleased that even they got prepped up for the wedding coming up. Stubby looked slick with his fur smoothed out, Bray had a sort of frontal tux on for him and Budgerite a formal dress.

"Well lads, how do I look?" Grogar asked, standing up and showing himself off a little.

"Like a million bucks and a few diamonds, lord!" Bray said. "And we brought you a surprise."

"DUN dun dadu dum dum dum DUUUM!" said Budgerite, presenting the object to Grogar. The object was, simply, a small box. But while the box may be mundane, Grogar opened it right up and was quick to find the "beauty" inside: two small wedding rings, each almost glowing in the dim light. Grogar held one of the rings with his magic, and glanced to his front hoof.

"I can make it work," Grogar figured. No wedding finger, but what would that matter anyway. Stubby looked out the nearby window, ears up and alert as if trying to find something. It didn't take much until the king noticed this.

"Stubby?"

"S-Sorry my lord, just checking for the Gems. They didn't do anything, what's keeping them?" Stubby said, getting worried all over again. Grogar just pulled him away.

"The Harmony Gems are dead, idiot; why don't you find some tea and relax a bit?"

"But Nichrome said they got rid of several sergeants," said Bray. Grogar placed his hoof on the donkey's head, fluffing his "mane".

"He said they've gone missing, he never said how or who. And besides, he's got troops round the entire kingdom, they'd have to be crazy to just charge in here," Grogar mocked, laughing for a brief moment … only to actually think about how accurate that would actually be. But he shook that idea out of his head for now: there was a wedding to be had.

"But we're not here to paranoi over some pebbles, we got a wedding to start! By the way, how's the bride coming along? Is she looking nice?" Grogar asked, going back to the mirror and actually starting to file down his horns some more, making sure they were at their best.

"She's spick and span - surprisingly - and uh, she actually wants a word with you my lord," Budgerite said. This was interesting to hear.

"A word?"

"Yes. Please."

That response didn't come from Budgerite, Bray, or Stubby. Connie herself, while having to be "persuaded" into doing it, was dressed up in a bride's dress. An off-white dress covering much of her body, a white wedding gown with a gold buckle in the center, white gloves up to her elbows, white, fuzzy hair covers on the side of her head, and a white eye-patch.

"The heck, Connie, we told you to ditch the eyepatch," Budgerite whispered, going to her side.

"Try all you want, but I have my own opinions, and I'm not going to completely please the king," Connie shrugged, feeling rebellious as she was defiant. … However, the effect wasn't what she wanted, Grogar simply staring at her for a moment or two, the file dropping to the ground. Could be from what she said, or maybe it was legit, but Grogar was really blown away with what he saw, his muzzle agape.

"Dang it, he actually likes it," Connie thought. However, Grogar quickly shook off his thinking for a moment.

"So, they said you wanted a word with me?" Grogar asked, "Couldn't it wait until after the wedding?"

"I want to make a deal with you."

A deal? Now? Grogar didn't have time for it, but without saying a word he gestured the other three to leave the room for a moment. Grogar and Connie were alone for a moment, which Connie you think would be expecting. You'd think.

"Shoot."

"Ok. You don't like me, and I don't like you, and it looks like the wedding is still gonna be happening. And I know you've been "trying" to make it better for me so I wouldn't completely object you."

"Like it would matter," Grogar put in. Connie felt her fist clench, but continued.

"Anyway. ... I will consider being your queen. And I might even say yes at the wedding when it happens. BUT. On one condition. … you have to keep Twilight alive."

Grogar stopped and thought about it.

"Hmm … hmm … and what's in it for me?"

"Then I will take your hand - er, hoof, in marriage without question. No arguments. No doubts. I'll say yes without any problems, ok?"

…

"No."
Grogar's answer was blunt and forward. No catch, or fancy way of saying it. Just one big no.

"Just "no"? I'm letting you take me, don't you want me as your bride or not?" Connie questioned. That just got Grogar chuckling, knocking the hand away.

"Of course I do, and I will get it. But you see, I'm not a ram who just makes "deals"!" Grogar stated firmly, as he started closing in on her. Connie was actually backing up, "Either you say yes at that wedding proposal tonight, and keep your friends alive. Or you live out your days as a "corruption example" to the rest of the race outside. It matters. Little. To me. Which."

And on that final word, Grogar actually pushed Connie out of the room. He would do more damage, but he didn't figure a broken up bride would do his image any better. And to reassure the conversation was over, he slammed the doors so she wouldn't go back in. This wasn't viewed alone though, as the trio Grogar sent out were still waiting over by the door. Connie stood back up and just started walking down the hall …

"What's got you upset?" asked Bray.

Which nearly got his skull punched to the moon by Connie. The coward ducked just fast enough so her fist struck the wall instead. It was so strong (to their shock and even her own) it cracked the wall!

"Sorry. I'll clean it later," Connie simply said, before turning away and walking down the hall the rest of the way. She didn't need any escort back (like they would volunteer after THAT).

"... When'd she get so strong?!" gasped Stubby. Bray and Budgerite didn't have an answer exactly, and allowed Connie to go off on her way. For Connie, this was the last shot to try and save Twilight from her fate. Of course, the punch in the wall did catch the ram's attention, who looked at the results.

The girl was getting stronger. Somehow.
> Homeworld Down PT2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ok, ok, a few knots here, aaaand … no. No nonononono -" *rip* "- dang it!"

The preparations for the upcoming wedding were still going on and underway, albeit a bit clumsily as they got things started in the ballroom. In this case, dangling from an area on the ceiling, Stubby was stuck gripping the tapestry with his teeth, getting a tear open through it. Much of the staff were getting things primped and preened for the event, even including some of the working Gems, and a corrupted Gem even after some work. In charge of it here was Captain Storm, who just huffed seeing Stubby up there like that.

"You clumpy mutt, that's three times you tore open that thing!" Storm shouted. "I mean, really, that cloth ain't cheap you know!"

"Sorry!" Stubby managed to huff, not opening his mouth in fear of falling. Eventually though, the tapestry tore off, and Stubby suddenly fell right to the ground below, right in front of Storm. Not good for anyone to do.

"Come on this is taking forever. I could be out doing some real work, but nooo I'm stuck working like a pansy!" Storm complained, as Stubby got the cloth off of him. Stubby scrambled out of the tapestry, pulling it towards the nearest ladder to try and get it back up and fixed again … just to get stuck about half way up. He would've fell again if not for Tempest reaching down and grabbing him by the tail, pulling him up to the platform.

"Thanks," Stubby simply said.

"Don't mention it," Tempest simply stated, as Stubby gave her the tapestry to fix. The unicorn got to work getting it re-fixed to the rest of it, though that didn't mean she didn't glance over to the lazy Storm and wondering what lord Grogar would think seeing this. He did tell Storm to do this after all. But, she was commander Tempest, so she had to just keep quiet and go with it.
The work itself continued on for another hot minute, until Storm took a glance over by the door. He saw some of the smaller followers working on it, sure, but there was another set of "soldiers" just going by and heading on their way back to the officer's quarters. Or at least, they were going to.

"Oi, you two, c'mere," Storm instructed.

"Huh? … Us?" asked Amy.

"No, your aunt tilak - yes you two, get in here," Storm restated. Flint and Amethyst had been trying to work out what the heck to do with Twilight's upcoming execution, trying to keep out of sight. It was good that Azlet and Amy were the ones they saw and not Flint and Amethyst. With a sigh, both "ponies" walked in. … And immediately, Storm tossed them both a box of decorations each.

"Hey!" Amethyst snapped.

"K, Grogar wants this place looking decent for the wedding, so get these set up for me will ya? Table's over there," Storm said, sort of "shooing them" off in that direction.

"Isn't this your job, Storm?" Flint questioned, getting up with the box.

"Uh, supervising? Duh! I'm not gonna get sweaty to put bows on the wall, now get to work," Storm scoffed, leaning on one of the throne arms. Being a captain had its perks apparently, and Storm was abusing every single bit of it. Amethyst and Flint eventually walked over to said table. The materials weren't even so complicated: plates, forks, knives, and napkins. Something even fillies and colts do daily.

"You know something, Azlet? They say if you keep yourself busy and the day will go by faster. … This day's going by WAAAYYY too slow," Amethyst said.

"I know. We'll spend the rest of the day at officer's quarters, how's that sound? It'll get both of us well clear of you know who," Flint decided. Out of all the captains and commanders they've met and dealt with today, Storm was by far the worst not in manipulation or even violence. But flat out abuse over his power.

"You said it," sighed Amethyst.

"Azlet, Amy," called Tempest Shadow, jumping down to them for a brief moment, "Need a hoof?"

"Um. Sure, thanks mam," said Flint. Tempest glanced back to Storm, who did see her go to work with them but still knew she was assigned to them, not him. As much of a rotten taste it left in his mouth. Tempest, Flint, and Amethyst just went on to work, all three setting up the long table as it should. Amethyst didn't really seemed too worried though, just getting them on the table for the other two to straighten out.

"So … experiments, are you?" Tempest asked at one point, looking at her reflection in a plate.

"Yes mam," said Flint, "It was horrible."

"I see. You mind if I ask you two a question?" Tempest inquired.

"Sure, ask away mam," said Amethyst, tossing some forks in place. Tempest walked over and straightened them out before turning to the two.

"Your story. Came here from the southwest, over the dried seabeds and passed stardust ridge. And you two walked the whole way here.

"Celestia on our shoulders all the way," Amethyst replied casually, getting some napkins folded. The story seemed plausible all the same, but then …

"... Funny. Last I've checked, Stardust Ridge has been relocated to the northeastern part of the world, the planet being left in a few chunks and all … which was it?"

Oh crud.

"Y-Yes, that's right, it is to the northeast," Flint managed to say, quickly recovering himself. 

"We meant we traveled southwest to get here," added Amethyst quickly. Flint did suspect they were getting onto them, but this was even harder than he thought given what ranking Tempest even was. Tempest paused for a moment, slowly getting some knives in proper place, and looking Flint in the face. And then looked to Amethyst. The unicorn did not utter a word to either of them, and after a long bit of silence simply returned to her work.

"I think she's onto us," silently whispered Amethyst to Flint.

And she wasn't the only one.

"Captain Nichrome, sir!"

"Not him again," Flint and Amethyst thought. But as they turned around, sure enough Nichrome was strolling his way inside, feeling pretty good about things. Wonder why. Nichrome took a moment or so to check the area, taking in the sights of the place as he came in.

"Nice work, Storm. Grogar's gonna enjoy this," Nichrome said.

"Heh, well, all hail the king right? Just getting the table set up over there," Storm said, pointing over to the table where the three ponies were. The alien took a look over, and while Tempest Shadow was a decent and normal sight, the sight of Flint and Amethyst did get him a bit curious. He didn't really check them back when they first arrived.

"Oh? Who're those two?"

"Oh them? Eh, just some new stock that crawled in here, and Grogar's got them under Tempest's watch," Storm said. Nichrome indeed took this as interesting and went right over to them.

"Sir," said Amy and Azlet.

"So you're the two new recruits Tempest told me about. You both look a decent size," Nichrome complimented. Though "compliment" might not be the right word.

"Uh … thank you?" Amethyst shrugged. Tempest kept her eye on Nichrome, as he was checking them over. She did indeed warn him of what'll happen if he treated them like he did with Twilight, and she still was keeping that promise. Not that Nichrome really cared though.

"Commander Tempest mentioned you were a teacher, Azlet, and for the Crystal Empire. You must be very good," Nichrome said, going over towards the table for a bit and checking out the set up they did.

"Eh, well I'm not that good, sir," said Flint. Nichrome picked up one of the plates, checking it out for a bit.

"Oh, modesty. And your friend? What did she do?" Nichrome asked.

"Me?" Amethyst asked, waving it off, "Eh, it's not a big deal, just some side job at a flower shop."

"Flowers … and teaching … Tempest, why're you wasting your time with them?" Nichrome questioned.

"It's the king's orders, Nichrome. That, and with the right training ponies of their size will make formidable members to the army," Tempest explained. Nichrome himself wasn't too sure about it, even going as far as to open Amethyst's mouth to see what kind of teeth she had. Amethyst quickly swatted his front foot away, spitting a bit from the tar-like taste.

"Dude, did you wash today? Yuck!" Amethyst scoffed. Nichrome ignored the comment, and looked to the bigger pony.

"You know, you two, you're reminding me of some people I knew. I mean, I could be wrong, but those stones look … authentic," Nichrome said.

"We did get experimented on and became half-rock type, so yeah they're real," Amethyst said.

"No, no, no, no, I know well they're authentic. I was thinking more along the lines of "I've seen them before" kind of authentic," Nichrome pointed out, actually beginning to slowly make his way around them.

"Coincidence, sir. We've never seen you before," Flint stated. Nichrome went right for the throat.

"You're from that other group, aren't you two?"

"Uh … Which. Other. Group, sir?"

"The one with Commander Flint. The one responsible for the death of my brother," Nichrome inquired. Flint may not be a commander, persay, but Flint immediately understood what kind of situation Nichrome was pitting them in.

"Eh … F-Flint? Um, nope, we don't know any Flint sir," Amethyst said. Nichrome looked over to Commander Tempest, and silently gave an order that Tempest didn't want to do so freely. But Nichrome still was a rank above her, so she had to comply. Tempest sat down right in front of Flint, and …

*WHACK*
Right across the face.

"Again!" Nichrome said, almost laughing in joy as Tempest whacked Flint once more. The hits stung just as much as before, but Flint recovered quicker this time.

"Seriously, will you cut it out?" Amethyst questioned.

"Alright, I'll grant your wish. … Slug her too," Nichrome instructed. Tempest hesitated briefly, but she did follow through, and whack Amethyst right across the face, her getting knocked off her hooves briefly. As if it wasn't tiring enough to stay in these forms, this abuse was making it one hit away from just getting exposed.

"Now I'll ask you both one more time. What do you know of the other group?" Nichrome asked once more. Neither complied.

"We. Don't. Know. SIR.," Flint made clear. Nichrome glanced over to Tempest, and just to be sure she wasn't gonna interrupt him or say anything else, he actually shoved her aside. A gesture saying he will not stop for her.

"... You both got a star's light year before you can earn my trust. But I know just the way you can start. … Right this way."

"Hey, I'm using them," Storm stated, the second he saw what was happening. Nichrome just huffed.

"Don't eat all the cake, Storm," Nichrome said, pushing Flint and Amethyst along until all three were out the door.

What did he have in mind?


~~~~~~


Inside the palace may be busy, but there was just as much (if not more) activity going on outside of the palace. So many of the guards were on high alert still over the possible full frontal assault on them, which at this point could be anywhere given what they actually know. Whichever plan they knew though, the group wasn't following either anymore and they were making their way closer and closer towards the palace, silent as the night itself. And they had to be with so many guards set up on patrol. But even with so many of them on patrol, it wasn't worthwhile as the Harmony Gems and Ponies were slipping by each and every one of them like shadows in the night, either flying quietly along or racing from rooftop to rooftop.
This group itself had Garnet, Pearl, Peridot, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy lined up in toe, them all just managing to keep themselves out of sight from the guards on patrol below. It was amazing that even with heightened security they were slipping by like this, and eventually they neared the palace itself. In particular, they were nearby the smaller entrance, two of the larger guards still on their position from earlier.

Garnet and Rainbow Dash took care of them in just one hit, and Lapis Lazuli and Starlight got them both secured and out of the way.

"That takes care of the guards," Starlight said, seeing the two passed out, sleeping, and "tied up".

"Sorry," muttered Fluttershy. The group stood over in their position, going just inside the main room just passed the entrance. With so many guards either on patrol or preparing the wedding, the halls were simply clear as clear can be.

"We're clear guys, come on," Lapis said, bringing them in. The others went on inside, but they didn't go too far from their only exit.

"Ok, ok. Now we have Twilight, Connie, and Steven to rescue from this horrible place. If you have a plan worked out, Garnet, PLEASE tell us," Peridot said, looking around to be sure that they weren't with company. Garnet brought her hands to the side of her head, and focused as well as she could for the next step in this new plan.

"Almost. I'm working out the details, just a moment," Garnet said.

"Steven, why'd you have to be so stupid?" Emerald wondered.

"Hey, hey, nobody's stupid Emerald: he's worried over Connie just like the rest of us," Lapis made clear, "Even if he kinda charged in. And … maybe messed up the plan … and putting himself in danger to save Connie."

"I dunno. He did kinda attack Garnet," pointed out Starlight. Which of course he didn't have to do, and also kinda happened out of nowhere.

"OK, maybe he did act a bit reckless," admitted Pearl, "But he has his reasons. I mean, he wouldn't just do this for the heck of it! And this is Steven we're talking about, so I'm sure he'll realize what he did and come back to apologize before he could do anything too hectic."

"You really think so?" Lapis asked. Before Pearl could answer about it, Garnet turned to them.

"Alright, I got it. Everyone, I have a plan. Or should I say: we have a plan."

"About time. … Wait, we?" Rainbow asked.

And then Garnet unfused, just like that. In no time at all, Ruby and Sapphire were standing there, both ready for whatever plan they got going for the time being.

"Hello everyone," said Sapphire.

"Ruby! Sapphire!" gasped Fluttershy and Starlight.

"HUGS!" Pinkie went right in and hugged them both, glad to see them show up. They both chuckled, but they got back to the plan they got in mind with the obvious question.

"K, moms, what's the plan?"

"Alright everyone. In order for this to work, we need to split the team. Pearl, Lapis Lazuli, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight. You all stay by this spot and make sure it's clear. We'll need a getaway once we find Twilight," explained Sapphire.

"Oh, we're getting her first. Got it chief," Rainbow Dash said.

"Good luck you guys," Lapis said. Soon the team had been cut down to Sapphire, Ruby, Pinkie, Peridot and Emerald.

"Ok, what do we do?"

"Grogar, as we know, likes any advantage over his enemies. So Ruby is going to tell him more about fusion, and explain to him how it works. Any way to make him stronger will get his attention," Sapphire said, as Ruby gave a wink. Peridot chuckled for a moment.

"That's hilarious. Now what's the real plan?" Peridot asked.

"While Ruby is busy distracting them all, we're going to go and free Twilight from her cage. If it works out, then we'll last just long enough for Grogar and his commanders to leave and for us to have Twilight without them knowing."

"AND by what you just said, Twilight's gonna be in a very hard and very close place right where the mean goat is, possibly in the same room, and maybe with a very small chance of us doing this?" Pinkie concluded.

"... She'll be Right. Behind him," Sapphire concluded.

Tensions were running high.

"Dang. This is Task Improbable levels right here. … I love it," Emerald said, down for the odds. The old missions were getting boring anyway.

"Good. Now I'm off to butter up the king, excuse me," Ruby said. However, she only took a few steps before Peridot went in her way.

"Wait, wait a minute, you can't go like that," Peridot retorted.

"Why not?"

"Ruby, think: every single Gem except for those present inside Grogar's army are all cracked, or "marked" as they put it. You walk up like that, he's gonna know something's up," Peridot said. Ruby and Sapphire knew she was right, but none of them really wanted to actually do it for the sake of the mission, or otherwise. The red Gem looked to her gemstone for a bit, thinking how it would look with a crack in it. But then, Sapphire placed a hand on her.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. You sure you want to go through with this?" Sapphire asked. Ruby took a breath, and then smiled as she placed her hand on hers.

"If you have to crack my gem, I'm okay with it. Go ahead, and give me all you got," Ruby said, gemstone shown and at the ready. Sapphire was a bit hesitant about deliberately hurting Ruby like this. Sapphire paused for a moment to check the future, just in case. And it was all looking a little iffy. But there was one trick she could try ...

"Okay. This might sting a little."

"It's okay, and don't worry Sapphy, I'm super-tough! I can handle my gemstone -"

"All done."

"Huh?" 
Wow, she didn't even feel that! The others checked in on what Sapphire did, but instead of cracking the gemstone, it turned out all Sapphire did was simply make it look like it was cracked: a few well-placed ice shards crossing to look like the crevasses of a cracked stone.

"Convincing?"

"Really convincing. I didn't feel a thing," Ruby said. Sapphire went right up to her.

"Now remember: keep Grogar interested, and distracted for as long as you can. We'll be right there with you, over by the farthest back door. Love you, sweetie," Sapphire said, giving Ruby a kiss on the cheek for good luck. That was more than enough motivation.

"Let's do this," Ruby said.

"One final thingy," inquired Pinkie, "How're we gonna get the grump there?"

"Don't have to. He's already there," Sapphire replied.

…….

And no doubt, she was right. Grogar himself was indeed in the throne room, and surely enough the alicorn in purple was already set up inside of the cage Sapphire described. Each hoof and wings were chained down, though saying Twilight actually had wings might not be true due to their methods of cutting her down. That didn't mean she still wasn't trying to get herself free though, trying her hardest to get the chains loose. Not a vigorously as before though, which she would be acting like a crazed bird in a beartrap trying to get away. This effort was just a few strong tugs on the chains, but still enough to get Grogar checking in on her. The cage Twilight was in was draped over like a birdcage, so Grogar had to move the curtains to see her.

"Settle down in there, Alicorn, you're gonna be dead before the wedding starts," Grogar huffed.

"I don't know how you can live with yourself. How do you even sleep at night?" Twilight said.

"With a glass of milk, and some high-class straw pillows. Now be quiet and maybe I'll let you have some water when we're done here," Grogar said, backing away from the curtain to leave Twilight to her lonesome. Twilight herself was of mixed minds right now: she was counting the minutes to her execution, but still knew that the others were coming to save her so she wasn't completely hopeless.
Just outside of the cage, along with Grogar was Bray, Budgerite, along with Tempest and Stubby since they were called by the king shortly after Flint and Amethyst left.

"So this is what you called us in for, sir?" Tempest asked.

"Take a good long look, lads," said Grogar, "THIS is how you know you've won the game. After this wedding, and it's full-proof."
And Grogar was just laughing himself silly on his victory. Twilight winched on the noise of the ram, though Tempest did peer into the cage to see the Alicorn princess in chains. As the others were gone, Tempest spoke to her.

"Ironic isn't it: the Princess of Friendship herself. With no friends, and no way out."

"Why are you doing this? You're a Pony! … Just like me," Twilight weakly said, really wanting to know what Tempest's main idea even was. But that response almost seemed to trigger the broken unicorn, her slamming her hooves onto her cage, and the horn sparking up a storm.

"I'm nothing like you," Tempest made perfectly clear.

"Easy Tempest, she's close to dying as it is, don't fry her up yet," Grogar ordered. Tempest Shadow backed up from the cage, and began to move down the curtains a bit. She did pause briefly to see the Alicorn inside, looking like such a tortured soul in there. But it wasn't the wounds on her body that made Tempest feel a chill, but what Twilight's eyes read. Even after all of this, and she still had the eyes of a brave pony.

"... Tempest. It doesn't have to be like this," Twilight said gravely.

"... Sorry."

And still, Tempest turned a blind eye, and closed the curtains. Even if she wanted to help, she couldn't do it in front of Grogar right there. Tempest gave a look back once more, and then a deep breath before she put back on her stern face. It was just some other pony inside that cage, far as she was concerned. Tempest soon trotted back over to Grogar and company.

"This is great, ey sire?" said Stubby at one point, "two new recruits, a wedding, and victory of an empire completely all in one day!"

"It is a fine day for all of us lads. Speaking of which, Tempest, what happened to those two? Haven't seen them since I assigned them to you," Grogar asked casually.

"I've instructed them as you commanded, my lord: toured the perimeter with them, had them shown the officer's chambers. They did help in decorating, but Nichrome wanted them for a bit. He thinks they're from the Harmony Gems," Tempest said. Grogar was a bit skeptical about that claim.

"Didn't he tell us that the Harmony Gems were already dead? Why would he inspect them of that?"

"With how many had come and gone, it's short wonder sir," Tempest said. Grogar scratched his chin.

"Good point. Last thing I want is ANOTHER unexpected guest just walking up on us, especially this close to wedding time."

"Uhh … y-you won't be angry right now, right? like right now, right now?" Budgerite asked.

"Why?"

And then Budgerite pointed to the front door. Grogar started gritting his teeth as he turned around, and sure enough, he got his "unexpected guest". Standing right at the center of the path, nervous as she was pumped, was little Ruby. Right in the firing line of whatever Grogar could do, and probably will do to her. She still had a smile on, but still plenty of nervous smoke coming out from her head. This was the big moment.

"They saw me. Here ya go, Ruby," Ruby told herself, actually starting to walk in.

Grogar was NOT amused, seeing Ruby just come in.

"And what is this?" Grogar questioned, "You're a bit far from your mark, aren't you?"
At first, Ruby didn't answer, just walking in until she was closer to the four standing there. Ruby knew what she had to do, and as she was looking around the room a bit, she was just able to make out the rest of the group just arriving in their position. Sapphire gave Ruby a wave from just by the far back door, closest to Twilight's cage. Just as she promised. Ruby, growing a little more confident, then began to speak.

"I'm Ruby of the hand mark, m-my lord, reporting in!" Ruby said, giving a diamond insignia for respect. She hoped it would give him some good will, but that was hardly anything.

"I didn't ask for a report from any Gem. And don't give me that diamond insignia, I'm not a doll," Grogar stated. Ruby quickly recovered and put the symbol away. Grogar turned to his comrades.

"Oi, go and shatter her will you? I don't want to rough my fur before the wedding."

"Got it, lord. One, two, one two three!" said Bray, before he and Budgerite went and jumped Ruby! Ruby was pinned down to the ground already, the two trying to get her gemstone to do the job.

"Whoa, waitaminute, WAIT! I want to help you!" Ruby shouted, suddenly finding herself in a bit of a struggle underneath both the donkey and the half Gem. … Ok, she wasn't, but she had to still play the part of a weaker Gem. The info reached Grogar's ears, but he still didn't give the order to stop.

"You want to help me? What can a Ruby offer to someone like me, hmm?" Grogar asked. Ruby could feel a cool chill run through her back, and not the good kind.

"Y-Y-You want to be stronger, don't you? I know a way to make you stronger, if you'll *grunt* let me tell you!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hold!" Grogar shouted. It took a short bit, but Grogar wasn't one to shy away from strength. Bray and Budgerite hopped off of Ruby, letting the red Gem get right back on her feet. Her friends gave a sigh of relief, but they were not out of danger yet, not even close. Grogar lowered his gaze until it matched Ruby's level, the red Gem seeing his pure red eyes.

"Stronger, eh. … And what method are we talking here? Amulets? Potions?"

"No, no, Fusion!" Ruby revealed. "I can teach you Fusion! Uh, m-my lord."

Fusion eh? Grogar paused and thought about it for a bit, as he walked right back towards his throne. Everyone else had to bolt out of sight so the ram wouldn't see any of them, only finding it safe once he actually got himself situated on said throne. Budgerite was the only one who was familiar with the term, but she didn't know how this would work.

"Uh, my lord wait, organic creatures can't do Fusion remember?" Budgerite reminded. Grogar wasn't deterred though.

"Doesn't mean I can't see how it works," Grogar replied.

"This should be interesting," Tempest commented to Bray, slightly curious as to how some random Ruby managed to get to their front steps. Ruby smiled, knowing now that she got their attention, and the others can get the plan started whenever they're ready.

"Go ahead," Grogar instructed. Ruby just needed to get her words right now. Ruby did have an idea going in her mind, but something was a little bit missing here.

"Sure! But uh … do you have a board? Or a screen, or something?"

Grogar rolled his eyes, and his horns started to glow again. Ruby yelped and covered up, but this was just summoning magic this time, and in a quick poof there was a old-school style clipboard right next to her.

"Proceed," Grogar instructed.

Well, it works.

"Well you see," Ruby began, "Fusion is when two Gems form together to make another being. This being shares traits of both Gems, and can have a LOT of extra powers from both gems fused together. It can have the same weapons, same abilities, same personality traits, and they can have special things all of their own."
Grogar was actually taking some mental notes himself on this information, not knowing that the others right behind him were close to completely gathering by the cage. None of them got inside just yet, but still out of sight behind it. However, Tempest Shadow was not completely ignoring the world around her, glancing back briefly to the cage when she heard the curtains move.

"What kind of things?" Bray asked.

"Oh, well that depends on who's fusing. You can be able to fly, breathe underwater, survive lava, become VERY smart. Lot of things," Ruby explained. It was all basic stuff really, though Ruby seeing Tempest glancing back to the cage did not suit her well.

"So what would happen if I fused with Grogar?" asked Bray, raising a hoof, only for Grogar to clock his head with his hoof.

"Not in my lifetime, you won't," Grogar warned.

"I was just curious," groaned Bray, laying on the ground with a nasty bump on the head. It wasn't the first time he got one either.

"I don't know, what can you do that Grogar can't do?"

"Nothing, now you mentioned making me stronger. How do I make this happen?" Grogar asked, his front hoof resting on the arm of his throne and propping his head up.

"Well, Gems do it by a Fusion dance," Ruby said, matter-of-factly, "But it's SO MUCH easier when the two fusing have a very close bond with eachother."

"And you?"

And her? Ruby's confidence in the distraction was suddenly halted.

"He wasn't supposed to ask that yet!" Ruby thought, panicking. Sapphire and Ruby saw the future vision of this scenario, but Grogar wasn't waiting on his question, which was supposed to at least be half way until they got Twilight out of the chains.

"W-What?"

"You. Ruby. You know a lot about Fusion so you must do it a whole lot," Grogar inquired, "Just how much do you contribute to your fusions, hmm? It'll give me more an idea for what I get out of it."
Ruby couldn't leave him hanging here, not now.

"O-Ok, Ruby, don't panic. Just think of something," Ruby thought, but the longer it hung in the air, the more risk there was involved. Her mind had to scramble for something to say to him. What did she contribute to her fusions?

… she panicked …

...

"Booty!"

……. O … K …

"...…. What?" Grogar … didn't know how to react to this exactly, and neither did the others in the room. That also includes everyone on Ruby's side too.

"Eh Ruby, you sure? I swear I thought it was gonna be short height or your -"

"Yeah, I guess my hair too sometimes," said Ruby, confident, "But topping it off: I bring the booty."

"Oh Ruby you magical genius," Sapphire quickly gasped. They needed a distraction, and they got it. Ruby just had to keep it up as the others slowly began to make their way towards Twilight in the back. Ruby was at the board nearby, but the "students" were left in the dark about the "booty" thing.

"You know I'm being serious, right?" growled Grogar.

"So am I, your majesty," Ruby exclaimed. The ram was not amused at all, but for the joke he didn't add another comment. Budgerite though was more talkative.

"Hang on a minute," Budgerite said, "Out of all the things you contribute in fusion, you're saying THAT'S the thing you're known for? I mean, you hardly have anything back there to begin with."

"Are you kidding? Rubies are booty machines!" Ruby made clear, confident grin. Suddenly she grabbed the chalkboard and spun it around, knocking Bray and Budgerite away briefly before it showed a rather detailed picture of a fusion, measurements included around the waist and everything.

"Exhibit A: Rhodonite! Look at that: she's a Ruby/Pearl fusion, and she's still got a booty!" Ruby stated proudly, pointing right at the model. Ruby erased it and quickly drew out another model, this time one closer to home (to Ruby, anyway).

"Exhibit B: Rubidot! See that fusion of Ruby and Peridot? I don't see any booty missing back there!" Ruby pointed out.

"Ruby," squeaked Peridot, flustering up. She never noticed that until now, and no one heard her thank goodness. As for the others though, this talk of all this "booty" logic was not really suiting well for the ram. Ruby's team just managed to get to Twilight's back cage, slipping past just behind the curtain. It was just enough of a distraction to get them back there. Ruby could just see Sapphire give her the thumbs up as she continued with the next bit.

"Exhibit C: Garnet. Look at this bombshell: I attest she does have a booty, and it is a fantastic booty!"

"I cannot believe that worked," murmured Emerald.

"It's not worked yet," Sapphire said, as they began getting to work on Twilight's chains. Twilight of course knew better than to speak, but was glad to see them either way. Ruby meanwhile kept on going.

"And if you want even more proof, I give you exhibit -"

"Alright, you got a huge flank, we get it! Now how about something useful," Grogar snapped, Ruby jumping on the roar. Ruby's mind scrambled up all over again.

"OK OK! Uh, let's see …" Ruby tried to think of something fast as she could. Her eyes darted around, as if trying to find some idea out of the crowd but not really able to find anything. She could see that Pinkie was there, just in sight and she luckily gave Ruby a bit of a clue, bringing her front hoof up and flexing it a bit. The idea clicked in her head like a lightbulb.

"OH! Power! Yeah, our bigger piece is that Rubies are super strong!" Ruby said, flexing her muscles and pushing out her chest to look as muscular as she could. Confident maybe, but it wasn't convincing to much of them.

"Hmm … well, Rubies are workers, like ants. Or Peridots. So strength adds to the fusion too?" Budgerite asked. Ruby nodded.

"Yep, and a lot of it!"

"How much?" Grogar asked, this time getting up and off the throne for a bit. On one hand this gave the others more room, but this also means that Grogar could move at any time so Ruby had to watch it. The question though was leaving her a blank.

"Um … a-a lot?"

"How much is "a lot"?" Grogar questioned, this time staring Ruby down. This made Ruby gulp, needing some sort of number. But instead, she got something else in mind.

"I know, I'll show you! Watch me!" Ruby quickly said, grabbing the closest items at hand. In this case it was some of Grogar's subordinates AND the board on hand, and next thing they knew Ruby was suddenly juggling them all.

"HEE HAW! Put me down!" shouted Bray, as he, Budgerite, and Stubby were being tossed in circles. A setback, sure, but at the least it still kept their minds off of what they were doing just behind that curtain. Emerald, Peridot, and Sapphire kept working as fast and as quietly as they could, Peridot being the quickest with her metal powers snapping off the cuffs easily, and Sapphire's ice abilities freezing the wings chains so they broke off like fragile glass.

"Thanks for coming to save me," Twilight whispered.

"We're not leaving you behind, silly," Pinkie said, nudging her. However, that nudge alone made Twilight cringe thanks to her wounds, Pinkie jumping back a bit.

"Sorry Pinkie. They really loved to hurt me."

"Uh oh. We'll get you an appointment and they'll patch you right up. Pinkie promise," Pinkie said, even quickly doing the Pinkie Promise procedure to better prove her point. No way no how was she gonna leave Twilight in the state like this.

"Everything will be okay. Now everyone quiet, and follow me," Sapphire instructed.

"Follow. Where?"

Tempest! The clever Unicorn had caught them red-handed, lifting the curtain with her head and her horn already sparking for some shattering. A few of the sparks actually shot out of the curtains, which made many of them duck a bit. As for Pinkie -

"Great, you're needed!" Before anyone could ask what, Pinkie Pie quickly took action: grabbing Tempest and covering her muzzle, Pinkie yanked her right inside the curtain cage. Since many of them were distracted, they didn't notice Tempest suddenly go missing.

Five seconds later: Tempest was tied down by chains from neck to back hoof, gagged by a quick addition of duct tape from Pinkie Pie's mane. She tried to get lose, but Tempest was in a bad position to even stand, let alone move and try to stop them. Quick and on the fly, as it always is with Pinkie Pie.

"Forgot all about a decoy, good job Pink. Ok, let's go before they smarten up," Emerald said.

"Keep your voice down. Let me see if it's clear first," Sapphire quietly said. As she did, Twilight looked down to Tempest.

"... I'm sorry too." Twilight said.

Sapphire took a look outside of the cage, still seeing Ruby doing her juggling act. Grogar lost patience, and actually swiped his hoof underneath Ruby's feet, making her (and everything else) fall to the floor in a bit of a heap. The ram king easily pulled Ruby out of there.

"Are you done yet?"

"Uhh … yeah," Ruby said. Grogar snarled at Ruby.

"Well in that case: see you with Red Diamond. I'll remember your shards on the cake," Grogar snarled. 

"Ruby!" quietly gasped Sapphire. Ruby was freaking out, and tried to go but Grogar got one hoof pinning the Gem down, and another one raised up high, ready to cut Ruby's gemstone into pieces! Even Ruby's heat wasn't getting Grogar off of her. In a swift move, the other hoof got Ruby's hand facing up, gemstone open and at the ready. Just one hit was all it needed. Everyone waited for the hit, but just before the strike could be made, Grogar's eyes caught glimpse of something a bit aways. Namely, just outside the window at Homeworld's moon …

"Gah! The wedding, it's almost time," Grogar realized. Suddenly, Ruby was knocked right into Stubby.

"Why didn't any of you tell me the time, lads?!"

"Sorry, we were stuck in a spin cycle," said Budgerite, still seeing stars as she tried to regain herself. Grogar snarled, his hoof digging into the ground a bit like a pickaxe.

"Fine. Tempest, bring this Ruby back to - … Tempest! TEMPEST!" Grogar called, but of course there was no response. Not like her to just wander away, but Grogar had bigger fish to fry so he turned to the rest.

"Stubby, go find Tempest Shadow, see where she went. Bray, Budgerite, get that cage and get it to the ballroom on the double!"

"But what about Ruby?!" Bray asked. Only for Grogar to toss her up, turn around, and buck her straight into the wall.

"What Ruby? NOW MOVE, AND I'LL BE CHECKING ON YA!" Grogar roared. No more arguments now, and as Stubby bolted like lightning out of sight down the nearest hall, Bray and Budgerite quickly made a beeline right to the cage. The bird Gem first made it there first, getting Bray hitched up to it fast, and Bray quickly started galloping off on his way. Straining, of course, but it beats any punishment by the ram any day. Pretty soon, it seemed like it was only Grogar and Ruby.

"Go away. I just wanna lie here," Ruby muttered.

"Good. Because you'd better stay there until I get back. We'll finish where we left off," Grogar said.

The wedding cannot start without him being present for it, regardless if he was king or not. With a huff, and with no more time to deal with this for the moment, he turned and made his way towards the ballroom, his hooves still scraping the ground in his dash.
As for Ruby, she got herself off of the floor, standing up on her own accord and finding the room completely empty now. It all just happened so quickly, and she didn't see any sign of her friends anywhere in the room.

"Wait. Did they get out? …"

"We're right over here, Ruby," said Sapphire.

Ruby looked around for a quick moment or so, but then soon as the coast was clear, the group managed to bring themselves out into the open, coming up from just underneath the large throne. It was a miracle that they weren't spotted under there, but all that mattered was that they weren't seen anyway. Ruby gave a sigh of relief seeing them, immediately going to Sapphire.

"Thank the stars. You all okay?" Ruby asked.

"We should be asking you that Ruby, you're the one slammed into the wall," Emerald pointed out.

"Oh, I'm fine, just thought you all got taken away and I had to fight Grogar head on to save you. Nothing new," Ruby said. Which honestly, given their record wasn't far from the truth at all. Only Pinkie threw in some giggles, but Twilight's groaning reminded them the situation (and worried Ruby). Seeing her more in the moonlight showed everyone there Twilight's injuries: her fur worn out, wings scraped up, horn gone, the whole works and then some. 

"Twilight?!" gasped Ruby.

"She's not holding up well. Get her up here," Emerald said, already helping Twilight up onto Pinkie's back. The Alicorn simply laid there on her back, finally feeling some bit of relief in her sore limbs. Giving one more check to be sure they were alone, the group was just about to start going off on their way. Few steps later -

"You don't deserve that patience!"

No.

"Steven … Ruby stay, the rest of you go on ahead, don't stop for anything!" Sapphire quickly instructed.

"What about you? Or Steven?" Peridot asked.

"We'll get Steven. Now Twilight? This is for you," Sapphire said. And then she walked right up to her, and gave the Alicorn a kiss on the forehead. Some future reassurance never harmed anyone, and Twilight was grateful to see it, even if it was very brief.

"Thank you."

"Yes. now hurry!" Sapphire said urgently. They didn't have any time to stay back and figure things out, so the others began to high-tail it out of there. They came in to get Twilight and Connie out, and with Twilight in toe she had to come first. As for Ruby and Sapphire, they both began to go off on their own way, trailing behind where Grogar had gone to.

"Steven's going to be at the wedding. We have to stop him," Sapphire revealed.

But while Ruby and Sapphire may be in the clear. The others were not. And they found that out the second they came around the next corner. In a quick gasp, they skidded to a halt, coming face to face with some remaining guards of Grogar's Army with Nichrome right at front.

"Twilight! And you brought friends. We were just coming to pick you up."

"Oh clod."

And they all rushed them.


~~~~~~


The Tambalon Wedding.

And right on time with the moon too, as it glistened and glowed right into the main ballroom. Considering what it was for, and who it was for, the entire room was decorated up with the outlook of a true wedding day setting. Grogar himself got situated over by the alter, his coat smooth and diligent and his horns edged and in their prime. His bell gave a small chime as he gave it a quick-clean, not dissimilar to whipping off a stain on a shirt. The ram looked around at the setting with satisfaction: several rows for the attendees to stand and observe, the wedding cake Bray and Budgerite made off to the side by the table. His closest followers were right alongside, dressed up as their best and at attendance. They even did some extra details, such as a chandelier made up of some leftover shards of the Supreme Kindergarten hanging up good and high, the moonlight dancing off of each one like stars. Grogar was sure pleased.

"We lucked out on that one, eh lads? And not a minute to spare either," Grogar said. His eyes looked over many of the subordinates at attendance, mainly made up of guards, officers, and commanders and captains. Well, except for one of course. Stubby could only give Grogar a nervous shrug when he looked to him. As he continued looking around, Grogar then noticed where the music was coming from off by a balcony.

"So you got Sessile back after all," noted Grogar.

"Well she was just sitting in the barn, my lord, and what's a wedding without music? Heck, that should be a crime to have weddings without music," Budgerite said. Grogar smirked and patted Budgerite on the head.

"Well when we're done here, I'll make that a law," Grogar said. Budgerite and Bray couldn't help but chuckle with him. Grogar had all the power to do that after all. Checking over the attendees though, he did find more missing.

"Amy and Azlet too? Nichrome? … Any of you seen them lately?"

"No sir," Bray said, shrugging.

"Add that to the list," Grogar sighed. If it's not one thing, it was always another.

Besides, the doors were opening anyway.

There she was. Connie Maheswaran, all dressed up and ready to join her "husband" up by the alter. Her outfit remained the same, and she felt nothing more than like a doll just playing out a role to Grogar's game, the only thing left of her defiance still being that eyepatch. She could go and run, but it was no good when the doors closed up right behind her as she walked in. The only direction she could go was forward, and forward along the red silk rug was what she did. Her seeing eye looked around as she did this: Equestrian animals, alien races, Corrupted Gems. All of them apart of this demonic Ram's army. And even worse … Gems she recognized. She glanced to a large, yellow one …

"Topaz. …"

And she turned, and then saw a blue one with a moon-shaped head.

"Zircon. …"

Connie looked down in dismay, feeling her fists clench up.

"This is all wrong. …"

Next thing she knew, she was at the front. Standing quietly in the presence of the king himself. On the surface (sort of) it seemed like a picture perfect moment, but knowing what lead to this moment just made everything all twisted. Connie could feel Bray sweep off some dust on her beautiful dress.

"Steven, wherever you are, whatever you're doing … please save us," she thought. Now, with the final piece set, Grogar cleared his throat, chimed his bell, and looked on to the crowd.

"We are all gathered here today to celebrate a well good occasion. The wedding, and blood-cross, between yours truly, and this sweet right here. The day that the great King of Tambalon shares his own rule with another for the first time in its history. From many full moon highs before, to this very full moon high now. … Today, we celebrate the Princess of Tambalon herself. Queen Maheswaran of Tambalon!"
And the crowd cheered and celebrated on that note for a bit. Once again, good on the surface, but Connie just felt more bitter about it. All the cheering stopped almost at once when Grogar raised his hoof good and high.

"Thank you, thank you. … Budgerite. If you please," Grogar said. Budgerite happily went right between them, clearing her throat and presenting those rings of hers. Grogar gleefully levitated them out, and slipped one right on Connie's ring finger, and Grogar actually slipped his on the tip of his horn. Just as effective.

"Almighty King Grogar. Do you take Connie Maheswaran to be your lawfully, and lovingly wedded wife?" Budgerite asked. Grogar smiled.

"I DO." Grogar declared, good and proud. Connie winched a bit on the response, wanting O SO MUCH to just punch him across the wall. But then the inevitable.

"And Connie. Do you take his most majestic majesty to be your lawfully, and lovingly wedded husband?"

"... I … I …" Now what? Every single fiber of her being, corrupted or not, was screaming at her, pleading with her to say no and make a run for it. To not take this monster as her husband and wedding partner. Grogar waited for the answer he wanted to hear. He would kill her friends if she did refuse. She knew Twilight will be taken soon for sure …

"I Don't. Monster." Connie muttered.

… And Grogar just ignored her. All he did was gesture for Budgerite to continue.

"Both have spoken. Speak now, for forever hold your peace."

*BOOM!*

The entire room shook, and the doors suddenly exploded right off of their hinges! Much of the people amongst the crowd had to just aside as the giant slabs of the doorway fell and slammed onto the floor. It was almost as if a bomb had went off in there, and many of them either bolted to the back, or covered from the debris. Even Grogar suddenly got up on his hooves like a startled deer, darting his head right to the source of the noise.
The thing that made this no ordinary explosion was the thing that flew in: someone was within a round, pink, spiked orb. But soon as the orb landed in front of the line, it disappeared, showing somebody that made Connie smile.

"I object!"

"STEVEN!" Connie beamed, almost crying for seeing him alright (for the most part). She immediately went straight for him, hugging him tight upon meeting with him.

"You're here! You're alright - no. NO YOU'RE EYE!" Connie gasped.

"It's okay, it's kinda my fault. Are you okay?" Steven asked. Connie, tearing up, nodded yes. But Grogar wasn't gonna take this lying down. Grogar soon got in between Steven and Connie, forcing them apart.

"We're a little busy right now, kid," Grogar snarled.

"You're the only busy one here: Connie doesn't belong to you, now leave her alone!" Steven shouted. Grogar snorted.

"Dear lad, why don't you think with your head instead of your heart for once in - *bang* OW!" before Grogar could finish, Steven didn't hesitate of launching his shield right between his eyes, forcing him away from Connie.

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say!" Steven warned.

"The hay happened to that patience?" Grogar hissed, now with a good red mark between his horns. Steven summoned another shield, ready for a fight he knows will happen at any second.

"People who make mistakes deserve it. People who're doing bad things but don't know why deserve it. But you? You don't deserve it at all! I tried talking to you, make you change your mind, but you still won't listen," Steven exclaimed in anger. The other guards readied to go in, but Grogar, wanting to "humor" him a bit more, raised his hoof to keep them from rushing in. The kind to play with his food, that Grogar.

"Wow, it took you this long to figure it out. What do you see in him, Connie, if he's this thick?"

"Everything you're not," Connie coldly stated. Grogar huffed, starting to walk over to them.

"Geesh. Now Steven. Give her back over, or I'll take her from you."

"I'm not letting you take my friend. And I'm not just here for her: this is the Diamond's kingdom, it's their home. Give it back or I'll make you!"

Make? Him? Typically Grogar would find it funny, but so many problems had gone on today it just was leaving him a little more bitter. Steven at this point was just a nuisance. Grogar actually sat down in front of them.

"Oh I don't think so: there's only you and her. And here I am with the entire guard right there, including some extra you left behind. One hit on my head, and you'll be eaten alive. And they are looking pretty hungry," Grogar warned. He could see that it did worry Steven and Connie, but only very briefly. Steven was quiet at first, but then …

"Well I say ……. BRING IT ON, YOU CREEPS!"

"What the - look! Just give back Connie, and I'll let you live! Get it?" Grogar stated quickly, legitimately off guard and surprised by the remark Steven shouted.

"It's not happening, Grogar. Give back Homeworld and this can end!" Connie shouted, holding Steven's hand.

"NEVER! This kingdom's mine, and so is she! Having a queen's the final piece to make Tambalon whole again!"

"But she doesn't want to marry you!" retorted Steven.

"SHE'S A WOMAN! She doesn't know up from down!" Grogar roared, Connie immediately wanting to kill him NOW, "Once I marry her and get her mind straight, she won't be making any stupid mistakes again! Once that happens, everything will be perfect."

He did not just say that. This wasn't even out of love at all! Steven and Connie both were flabbergasted. Steven even raised his fist in anger, it trembling as he gritted his teeth.

"You know, Grogar, we've met a lot of bad people before. But you sir … are the worst," Steven stated boldly.

"AM I? Boy?"

"LOOK AROUND YOU! The entire empire's fallen, everybody's only following you because you'll kill them otherwise, and every Gem is either cracked, corrupted, or shattered! How can you stand there and say everything's perfect when all you're doing is making a prison? You all don't have to live your lives tormenting all the time, there're better ways -"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" Grogar roared, his horns sparking a storm and actually shooting off electrical sparks around him. Steven blocked some with his shield so he and Connie wouldn't get hit, the other guards scattering a little bit. As for the Ram, he actually jumped them, one hit of his hoof shattering the shield to pieces and scattering it like shards of glass before it disappeared. Sure Steven and Connie saw this as defiance and a rather brave statement, but Grogar was seeing something more along the lines of delusional. The blind eye seemed to confirm it for him.

"Stop pretending that you're anything important, Steven. Special, sure, but NOT important, and we both know it."

"Maybe you think so, but I don't: all of my friends are important, I am important, we helped save Homeworld and make it a better place for everyone, and we're not gonna let you take that away!"

Grogar finally decided to bring down the hammer. But not before using his magic to shatter the shield, and digging his hooves into Steven's arms, keeping him down. Steven kicked him over and over again but it wasn't doing anything, even if he trained to be stronger.

"Fine, for your sake I'll be blunt: The most you've done is JACK and JENNY! Reforming White Diamond, The Pony of Shadows fight, stopping her two invasions on Earth, fighting the Osicone. Just how much can you say you actually did out of any of those things, huh? You didn't save the world, you got extra credit!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE, he convinced White Diamond to change her mind," Connie retorted.

"No he didn't, the cheater: the Orthix fog just screwed with her head that's all. All Steven "did" was make it look like his words did something. You're nothing but a poser!"
And that got Steven to aim both feet up and clock him right in the lower jaw. The momentum finally made Grogar get off of him as Steven got to his feet, but he didn't go at him at first as those words were sticking to him. Connie quickly went over to him.

"Don't listen to him Steven, he's just trying to psych you out," Connie quickly said, showing support to him as always. Grogar got himself back together. He shot a green bomb spell at them, which Steven quickly covered them with his bubble before the initial explosion. 

"What're we gonna do? He's never going to listen, and he's never going to let us leave," Connie inquired. It was painfully clear he will never listen to either of them. So much damage had been done thanks to this ram: the Gems, all of Homeworld … eachother.

It seemed there was only one thing left to do.

"So nothing we'll say will change your mind, huh Grogar?" Connie asked.

"I'm not a Gem, diamond, it won't work on me," Grogar snarled. Well that just confirmed it.

"Then let's settle this. Your magic against ours, you against us. For all of Homeworld and everyone living here," Steven announced. Grogar paused briefly, but allowed them to continue.

"If we win, then you and your entire army have to leave Homeworld alone. Give Twilight back, and fix all the corruption you made, AND let the diamonds return to their throne," Steven added. Grogar gave them an evil grin.

"And when I win, then all of Earth and Equestria become mine along with Homeworld. All the Harmony Gems and Diamond Authority will surrender to me, and Connie there will be my queen. … And I'll take your stone for her new crown."

And they both agreed. It was probably the only way to get Grogar to at least accept their offer, even if it was such high steaks for both sides. The wedding can wait.

"You name the place," Steven said.

"Alright, lads. Follow me."
Everyone watched from there, still not given the order to go in and attack yet. The ram took the lead, and both Connie and Steven followed behind. This will be the fight to decide Homeworld's future. Steven and Connie held their hands as they both went out to join him. As they went off, Grogar slipped one small message to the closest commander by him.

"Move out."

"Yes sir."


~~~~~~


"Why're we out here again?"

The main question going through both Flint and Amethyst as they remained in place under Nichrome's command. It was bad enough that Nichrome was the one making them in his demands, but it was where they were that made them both rather troubled. For a start, they weren't near the palace anymore, but instead far beyond, outside the borders of Diamond City and out in the wasteland. The exact spot did have a good view of the Diamond Palace, sure, but they were outside borders.
The place the two took post was what a place eerily familiar to them both, the ground untouched for quite sometime from the hardened rock and dust, soft cold breeze coming to them from the city itself, and the full moon lighting up the Homeworld sky. And with the two sitting on top of a large, golden, damaged Warp Pad, it was just a reminder to them that Earth and Homeworld were not meeting again anytime soon. A clear view for what was just about to happen.

"This is bad. The escape's supposed to start by now," Flint said, looking to said moon.

"I know. Come on Flint, forget the disguise, let's make a break for it and get them out," Amethyst suggested. They've played soldier fool long enough, and while Amethyst won't say it, she can not stand seeing Flint getting hit anymore. However, Flint looked on ahead towards the city.

"Wait. Something's coming," Flint said.
It was too little too late for them to just galivant off to do anything, and the sight of a group of guards, prisoners, and a single captain began to make their approach towards them. They could easily see it was Captain Nichrome again, and as they feared, Twilight Sparkle was amongst the group. The weak Alicorn was struggling to just walk along, but the guard just behind her kept forcing her along with rough pushing.

But it wasn't only Twilight Sparkle who was being brought along towards them, and it was them that made them both alarmed. Pinkie Pie, Peridot, and Emerald were kept under strict and tough supervision, and under heavy chains. Peridot especially had her luck cut out for her, being put in one of those restraining jackets so she couldn't use her metal powers on Nichrome or anyone else. Pinkie and Emerald were just chained up like dogs. All three of them were still trying to get themselves free, thrashing in some way, but Twilight was just tired at this point.

"Pinkie? Emerald? Peridot?! What're they doing here?" Amethyst asked quietly. Flint wished he had an answer, though his mind immediately thought of the worst. By the time they all got over there, Nichrome moved himself until he was just passed Flint and Amethyst, and Twilight herself was tossed right onto the Warp Pad, the Alicorn falling off her own hooves and onto the ground.

"They … they found out," Flint breathed.

"Azlet?" said Nichrome, making Flint turn to him as Twilight just rested on her stomach.

"Sir?"

"... You want to earn my trust. ……. You will be the one who kills her."

Oh lord no. Flint felt his front hoof move back, a small gasp escaping his muzzle. A silence befell on everyone the moment they heard that come out, and … well, if there was any time that Tambalon would find them out, it would be here. And in some way, Nichrome probably was expecting it, the sly grin going across his face seeing the shocked look on Flint. The Gem tried to think of something to retaliate, but there was nothing that came to him, or any of the others for help.
Slowly, his gaze turned from the alien killer, to the Alicorn just a few steps away from him. She looked like she could die just from blowing a breath at her. Every member of Grogar's Army saw a feeble, and weak creature under their mercy. Flint saw someone who can't die. Who shouldn't die. And yet this world wants her to. And now, it wants Flint to do it.

What could he do now?


…….

In this world, it wasn't just there that had been feeling anxious about everything. Since the group had been and gone, far off back at their secluded ditch, the Diamond Authority were all waiting for some form of news from everyone involved. Yellow, Blue, Pink, and White all unable to come in and do much of anything here. Even those Harmony Gems who stayed behind were left unsure of what to even do, only able to wait for the word to come back. Tensions were running high, yet they all were simply staying there and doing nothing.

Well, almost no one. And she stood up on watch, looking right towards Diamond City. Her home, for the moment no more. Standing tall. Silent. Until she began her singing.

(Watership Down Netflix miniseries: 10,000 Enemies parody)
Blue Pearl; I hope a million times
You tell me the truth …

Blue Pearl's soft, and sorrowful voice carried on the wind, the Gems hearing it first giving a pause for thought. The first to feel the sorrow was those closest to her, all turning to her and listening to what Blue Pearl's words echoed from their side of the world, and far beyond the wastelands of Homeworld. Even the Diamonds felt some bit of move from the singing.

Cause now there's much to know
I trust in you ...

"Do you have any last requests?" asked Nichrome to the worn out Twilight Sparkle. He might as well give her that final honor, if anything at all. Twilight didn't know what request to make. But ever so slowly, one did begin to come to her, the signal being her eyes opening up some more.

"I do have a request … I'd like to speak to Tempest."

I feel the whole World shake

Blue Pearl's voice drifted along the wind, reaching miles off to the distance to those who may hear. Even within the city, the soft tune of the melody had drifted along through the entire area, as if all noise had stopped to allow the song to move through. None of the guards heard it well, but the prisoners briefly stopped everything, lifting their gaze to the sky. The marks above ground knew the voice well ...

Brought to my knees

The prisoners underground, as faint as the breath of their own, also began to hear the soft voice drifting through the Supreme Kindergarten. Once again, the guards may not be hearing this kind of tune, but the prisoners could just make it out in their minds. Some began to cry.

Although a million strong, I shall be free

"MMPH!"

After a bit of struggle, Tempest Shadow finally broke herself out of that cage. It was a hard effort, but with everyone already gone by the time she did it was no wonder. Forcing a hoof out of the bindings, she got the duck tape off of her muzzle, allowing her to breathe normally. Forcing the binds and chains off, she was soon back and mobile once again. No sooner as she did, someone finally remembered her.

"Commander Tempest!" said the worn out guard, tired from the rush through Diamond City to reach her. "You're needed."

I shall be free …
I shall be free ...

It took a long while, but not too long. Tempest Shadow galloped right from the ballroom, and directly towards the Warp Pad area in question. And only then finally seeing what was truly going on now, Twilight laying there in submission, her friends kept down, and Flint and Amethyst just standing there with Nichrome watching on.

"I'm needed here?"

"Me. I asked for you," Twilight said. Tempest wasn't sure why she would do that, though the set up was a familiar one to her. She knew what'll be coming for Twilight Sparkle soon. Tempest Shadow walked over to her, and Twilight then turned over to Flint.

"Please, will you give me some space?" Twilight asked. Flint, playing the role, nodded and took a few steps back. Twilight and Tempest had one brief moment with them.

"I wanted to thank you, for being so kind to me while I was here Tempest. You kept me alive this long …"

"I'm a commander, not a monster. … But you're welcome," Tempest replied. Tempest thought that was it, but there was something else Twilight said that made Tempest herself pause.

"I hope you find what you're looking for here."

"...…. I do too," Tempest admitted. The unicorn helped Twilight to sit up, but that was as much help Tempest was going to give her here. Tempest gave one more look to Twilight before she moved away from her, pausing when she made it towards Nichrome. It was sorrow incarnated, this scene. Tempest was ready to leave, but Nichrome slipped one more thing to say.

"Azlet, deal with this quickly. Oh, and if you hesitate … I'll kill you too."

I hear the softest sound 
Blowing from the north

In Diamond City, the melody was becoming more and more effective in its own way. The prisoner Gems may be feeling the emotion, but the guards began to notice that the Corrupted Gem soldiers were actually stopping their work and hearing the song as well. The corrupted Gems even began to howl a little bit, their own form of crying.

It's says, "Please don't cry now"
What's mine is yours

Even with all of this, with the sorrowful tune and Gems in emotion. Grogar, Steven and Connie were still off and on their own way to their fighting arena. Even if they heard that song, it probably didn't matter now. This fight was something that had to come first.
And by this point, it seemed they've made it to the fighting arena. The area, just like everything else, was altered by Grogar from what it originally was. In this case, the fighting arena was made from the landing platforms of the Diamond City docking station. Wide open, plenty of room, and nothing blocking their way. Grogar smirked wickedly to Steven and Connie, who both just glared at him.

"We're here," Grogar snarked, a throaty chuckle escaping his muzzle as he walked towards the position. Steven nodded, and he was just about to go up and begin the fight, but Connie held him back. No words were exchanged, but expression was all they needed to know what they were going to do next.

"Ready, jam bud?" Steven asked.

"Ready," answered Connie.

And a warm glow began to shine from them both ...

I hope a million times
you tell me the truth …….

With a small thump, Twilight was pinned down to the ground underneath Flint's hoof. It was just enough to make her pinned down and unable to move. No struggle. No attempt to get out. They did all they could do. Flint was left just standing there with his hoof on the creature. Not a word spoke out, and the only one giving him any sort of clue to what to do next was Nichrome himself, his front foot gesturing him to continue with the act. THIS will ultimately decide if Flint was truly worth trusting or not, to show exactly what side he was on.
Flint looked around him at each one of his friends, waiting in baited breath for what he was going to do next. The risk at his own life was at hoof now if he didn't do it. But how true would that be? … What sort of Gem was he? A Gem that followed rules … or one that followed heart? …….

Cause now there's much to know
I trust in you ...

I shall be free ...
I shall be free …….


…

"... You know something, Twilight. … Some people are subtle. And cunning. And seem to always know what to do, when ever they do … some are good at tricks. And fool everyone around them to their own games. ……. But I'm not one of them." Flint stepped off of her, allowing Twilight to look up to him. "Look at this face, Twilight. Look how worn and rough it is. This isn't a face of someone who's had an easy life. I'm no Crystal Empire teacher, I'm Flint! A Harmony Gem! And by the stars I'll be dust if I leave this world doing anything else!"

"I don't know what you're doing, but it ends now!" Nichrome ordered. He shoved Twilight aside, and suddenly whacked Flint's head good and hard, strong enough and brutal enough to knock him right to the floor, gash in the side of his head for Nichrome's hoof turning into a spear last second. At first he just laid there. But as Nichrome turned and readied to finish off Twilight, he felt a hand grab him.

He turned and saw Flint. Not Azlet.

"ALL. DAY. All day, I've been cuff in the face - " he suddenly slugged Nichrome right in the head "- OVER -" he punched nichrome's head into the dirt, "- and OVER again. And it's INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING!"

After giving Nichrome several more fast punches, he picked up the scared alien, and with one swing, threw him right at the remaining guards, enough to force Pinkie, Emerald, and Peridot out of their grip. That sure felt good. The guards tried to recover, but Amethyst jumped into action and, turning back to normal (FINALLY), she clocked them all right in the head, knocking them out cold too.

"Stay down!" Amethyst shouted. Flint actually found himself laughing, finally no longer having to keep himself down anymore. The others went over to him, including Twilight herself, and Flint only had one more question.

"Do you have any fight left in you?"


~~~~~~


"Come on, I don't have all night!" Grogar shouted. The ram got himself positioned and ready on the opposite end of the docking station platform, his hoof tapping the ground. The ram would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to this confrontation for the last week or so, but he didn't want to keep it waiting any longer. But, things weren't going to go his way when he saw who was coming up from the building, and to the arena.

"Ready to lose, king?" announced the combatant.

"Wait who're you?!" Grogar demanded.

Stevonnie. Steven did say he was fighting both him and Connie at once. With the damage from both sides however they both were shown on Stevonnie here: the horns from Connie, and the lost eye from Steven. Either way, Stevonnie held herself without any other concern than the fight ahead of her. Connie's wedding outfit was still on her somewhat, the main one being the white eyepatch covering the missing eye.

"Nope, you're fighting me. Steven and Connie could use a break for once thanks to you," Stevonnie made clear. Grogar was gonna just force her aside to get them, but looking closer, the details of both characters began to click something in Grogar's head that he heard earlier from Ruby. She did mention Fusion shared traits from both fusers involved, and this Stevonnie clearly had that going on here.

"OOOHHH that's the game eh? I'm in no mood for killing my wife before the wedding," Grogar huffed.

"For the last time, she's not your wife!" Stevonnie growled.

"Don't you start, you jenny, I've got a mouthful from your twerp parents already," Grogar said, not in the mood for another speech. Stevonnie was not there for a minute and she was already fuming.

"Keep talking, farm goat," Stevonnie stated, "We'll see who's the twerp when I'm done scraping you off the floor!"

Grogar snarled. That's the tenth time someone called him a goat, but a FARM GOAT? And to Stevonnie's satisfaction Grogar was fuming. His hooves clawed the ground, heated breath fuming from his muzzle.

"You got a death wish?" he snarled.

"Maybe. Why don't you come here and find out," Stevonnie replied.

Grogar was more than happy to oblige, him lowering his head and scraping his horns on the ground. Each horn was sharp enough to cut the very ground, like a blade on a sharpening wheel, sparks shooting off of each one. The ram though didn’t see any fear in the fusion’s eyes, her fists up and at the ready. Steven and Connie made this fight happen, and they weren’t going to back out if it now. She got in her fighting stance, firm and strong just like Jasper taught Steven.

“Just wanna let you know, we’ve been REALLY looking forward to this,” Stevonnie said, taking a brief moment to crack her knuckles.

“Then you’re a bigger fool than you look,” Grogar replied, laughing in a sinister grimace, much to Stevonnie’s anger.

So it began.

“RAAHH!”
In a mighty roar Grogar made the move first, a mighty leap right towards the fusion with all of his force. Stevonnie, rather than give Grogar any satisfaction of seeing her bolt from him, ran forward herself and met the monster half way, both hands gripping at Grogar’s horns. The fusion could feel the power inside the ram, and pushing against him was like pushing back a truck. Already though, Stevonnie could feel her feet drag on the floor, and the ram was quick to swing his hoof into her leg, knocking her off balance and cutting in. Stevonnie had only seconds to recover and could just manage to jump back from another blow from Grogar’s hoof, which upon missing her cracked the station’s floor.
Stevonnie got her opening: while Grogar got his hoof out, Stevonnie jumping him and sent her foot right between Grogar’s horns. The blow sent the ram back a bit, his hooves cutting deep in order to keep himself steady. This fusion has bulked up, and the ram more than knew it. They both met up again in a mad run, now in a fist match between Stevonnie’s hands and Grogar’s hooves. Grogar May have his hooves as built in knives, but Stevonnie still proves to do some damage whenever her punch did connect. A particular low hook from the fusion connected with Grogar’s lower jaw, making him flip over onto his back.

And he was still smiling.

“What’re you smiling about?!” Stevonnie asked in annoyance. Grogar chuckled.

“I’m just remembering the last time he fought,” Grogar replied, before he charged forward at her again, this time his horns glowing for an electrical charge. Stevonnie felt the surge of energy race through her when the ram got close, stinging her like any live wire would. The fusion gritted her teeth in a groan of pain, but her hands did find their way to the ram’s weapons, lifting him up.

“Well a lot has changed since then,” Stevonnie said. Grogar found himself being lifted off the ground, and thrown off of her. The ram landed hard, rolling a bit before landing on his feet. Stevonnie, her body still stinging, did not take any chances and kicked Grogar in the side, knocking him off his hooves again. Stevonnie tried for a second kick, but the ram dodged it that time and attempted to dig his teeth into her head, only biting into her arm instead in a desperate block. Stevonnie’s scream was music to his ears, sinking his teeth even deeper, and tasting her blood. The only way he was letting go was force, and Stevonnie gave him just that by twisting her body, and landing both feet on the side of the ram’s head. The hit made Grogar roar, rubbing near his eye as Stevonnie stared daggers at him. She still had to stop to hold her hurt arm though, which she actually saw one of Grogar’s sharp teeth still indented in there. Grogar also pause to lick the newly made gap in his jaw. Physical strength she may have, but the ram still had an ace up his sleeve.

It was time to work in some magic.

And that took the form in a green magic bomb launched high in the sky. Stevonnie, not wanting to get blown up, opened up her shield but suddenly the moment felt all too familiar. Grogar was coming.

“Not this time!” Stevonnie yelled.

Sure enough, Grogar tried the same tactic as before: the enemy focusing on one thing while he slipped in a move to remove the shield. Grogar’s hoof slammed down, the ground shaking as before but Stevonnie was prepared this time, and dove to the side in a roll. The bomb exploded right where she was just standing in a mass of green magic, and as for the shield she had she turned that into a weapon and threw it fast towards the ram, Grogar clipping his hooves on the very tips of the disc before landing on his feet. The failed attack left Grogar fuming, especially seeing Stevonnie smiling.
Grogar made another quicker attempt to slice her into ribbons, but while he may have had the strength from the start, Stevonnie still had the advantage of actually training to earn her power. Steven's training with Jasper, and Connie's self-training were all shining through in Stevonnie's kicks, punches, and speed.

"No games this time!" roared Grogar.

"Nobody asked for one, Grogar!" growled Stevonnie.

With that, the two charged at eachother again.


…….


Chaos may have erupted for the arena, but this only made the invasion that much more easier for Flint's group: he, Pinkie, Amethyst, Twilight, Emerald, and Peridot made a U-turn from their location on the outskirts back into Diamond City limits, rushing straight for the one place where the rest of the prisoners were. Connie and Twilight were important, sure, but they needed to make up for lost time thanks to the "execution" earlier. And he said he'd get as many as will come after all.

"Everyone's gone, where'd they go?" Pinkie asked as they ran.

"Don't know, don't care. What're you three even doing here?" Flint inquired.

"Let's just say we had a last-minute plan change," Peridot replied.

"Of course," Flint said. They didn't have time to actually discuss the plan anymore, what little of the plan still existed anyway. So long as most of the guards weren't in the city itself, they didn't have that much to worry about until they get closer to the Palace itself.
Through each of the roads, cuts, and corners the guards seemed to be vacant from the city but that didn't mean that guards were not there at all. As they got closer to the main entrance to the Head mark, a pair of smaller guards spotted them.

"Stop! … STOP!" the guard ordered, eventually getting right in their way, "What're you doing over here?"

"OK, so here's the deal: I'll only kill whichever one of you I catch first!" Flint suddenly stated.

The two were long gone in the next five seconds, yelping in panic and not wanting to die obviously. It was a bit of a bold move, but Flint had been pushed around more than enough today.

"WOO, torn down by the T man!" Amethyst beamed, liking this approach a bit more than before. At least they can give them what for if they messed with them. The group got right down to the head mark above ground at the time, all of them immediately taking interest. And so did the other guards.

"Wait. You're the Harmony Gems!"

"That's the name, don't ware it out," said Pinkie.

"How'd they get here?!" gasped one guard

"Get them!" shouted another. There was only about five of them though over what Flint and Amethyst saw earlier, so this battle didn't really last too long: Pinkie pony-kicking one, Peridot grabbing two - one her hands and the other feet - and spinning them til they saw stars, and Amethyst wrapping one on a whip and knocking the fifth one. The five were out cold within half a minute.

"Sorry about that. Time to go folks," announced Amethyst. The answer was pretty obvious, and the head mark was already starting to get themselves moving out of their mark and to who knows where?

"Where to?"

"Head straight south, you'll know when you get there, now move it! Don't you clods stop for anything!" Emerald said. They did as told and got moving a bit, but one of the Agates was stopped briefly and was given Twilight.

"Think you can take her back for us?" Flint asked. "Just give her to the diamonds when you see em."
The agate nodded and soon she was off and on her way too. It didn't take very long until this mark was empty of any Gem or conscious guard in the vicinity, so the group of five started going off to get more from the other marks. They can't get everyone out from just one mark alone, but this was a good start to it all.

"K, one less problem, what's the plan now?" Peridot asked. And to her absolute amazement …

"Nope: no plan. Just go in, get them out, and run like mad out of here," Flint stated in their run.

"Since when do YOU not make a plan?!"

"It don't matter, they never work anyway, now come on let's get this done!" Amethyst said.

...

Pearl, Lapis Lazuli, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, and Fluttershy, still unaware of what was actually going on with the A team in the Palace, still kept their visual nearby the main exit for any guards outside or inside going away. Some were simply standing by the entrance while others were left pacing back and forth.

"Where're they? They should be done by now," wondered Fluttershy, glancing down the halls again only to find no one coming or going.

"Sapphire said they needed a getaway exit, so they'll make it back. Won't they?" wondered Lapis. The odds were against them, yet Sapphire would not lie to any of them if she could help it. As they both kept looking down the hall however, they both began to hear something down the same hallway. Something in force.

"Guys, they're coming," said Lazuli.

"Good, I'm getting WAY too bored out here. Bring on the getaway," Rainbow Dash said, getting her hooves ready for the next tussle whatever it was.

"Don't think about it Rainbow, we're not fighting anyone today. Just get ready to move when Steven, Twilight, and Connie come out that door," Pearl instructed … only to see just what was coming up to the door, barreling Lapis and Fluttershy out of the way as they began to come out. Everyone else had to jump out of the way as a corrupted Gem found its way to the area The corrupted Gem looked much like a wolf, but silver and without any eyes, with the gemstone on the end of its tail.

"UGH, can't we avoid a fight ONE TIME? … Fine," Pearl sighed, getting out her spear.

"Make it quick before the others notice," said Starlight. The corrupted Gem growled seeing them, it being joined by four more catching up to it. It probably won't take very long to deal with a few Corrupted Gem wolves. The wolves snarled and barked a bit at them, but before any of the Gems could even fire, suddenly something was shot at the pack, making them all scatter away yelping.

"Anybody got an issue over here?"

"Flint!" gasped Fluttershy. Flint and his gang chose quite a time to show up to the rest. Him and company went straight to them.

"So you're out here too because the plan went haywire?" Flint asked.

"Sorry, but yeah: we had to improvise," Lapis said. But then she quickly noticed that Pinkie, Emerald, and Peridot were with Flint and Amethyst too.

"Wait a minute, when'd you get out? We were standing here the whole time waiting for you, what happened?"

"To be blunt: the plan dun goofed - Nichrome got them on the way out, nearly got a necklace of gems, then MY MAN Flint got us out," Amethyst said, giving Flint a nudge to the side. Flint tried to be more modest about it.

"Well when someone threatens you to kill your friend, you would try to retaliate a bit."

"... Don't wanna know," said Starlight, "So Twilight's out, or did that go haywire too?"

"No she's out: one of the marks agreed to bring her back to the Diamonds while getting out of here so se should be out of Diamond City by now," Peridot explained. At least the plan's goal worked, even if the plan itself didn't.

"So let's get a move on while the getting's good," added Flint.

"We can't leave yet: Connie and Steven are still in there," retorted Pearl, "Not to mention Ruby and Sapphire by the look of it!"

"Ruby, Sapphire, AND Steven? OH COME ON!" Amethyst said, worried sick. It was bad enough Twilight and Connie were stuck here before this started, they didn't need any more in here.

"Where'd they go?" Flint asked.

"Oh, Steven ran off after clocking Garnet good in the face and bolted in after hearing about the most twisted wedding in history, and Ruby and Sapphire are probably off finding him right now since we had to split up getting Twilight. Nothing unusual," Pinkie explained. Amethyst and Flint would argue if that wasn't true. The "nothing unusual" part that is.

"... Uh … thank you, Pinkie for filling us in," Amethyst said.

"You're welcome."

"Don't tell me: you didn't see them?" Starlight figured.

"If we did, we'd tell you by now," replied Flint, "But if Garnet's handing Connie and Steven then we'll see them soon. Come on, let's get the others out of here before they know what's going on."

Not an answer they were expecting from Flint, as he began to head off to find the other marks.

"Wait. Is Flint … rolling with it?" asked Rainbow Dash, slightly dumbfounded.

"We've been kinda "rolling with it" since getting Twilight out, but it's been successful so far," Peridot shrugged.

"In that case, let's get going. We'll get them out, then loop back for Steven, Connie, and Garnet," said Starlight. They arrived only for Twilight and Connie, but if they could get everyone else out and to safety then that would make it even better. It was risky, but what part of this wasn't anymore? The Team B joined up with what remained of team A and began to go off a bit on their way to handle it, leaving the entrance behind briefly. They did begin to go, but something just briefly caught Lapis's attention. It was very slight, but just enough to be noticed.

"RRAAHHH!"

"Huh? … did you hear something just now?" Lapis asked.

"Hear what?" inquired Fluttershy.

"AAAHHH!"

"... Stevonnie?"


……


"GAAHHH!"

The fight between Stevonnie and Grogar was becoming more and more brutal. The shriek from the fusion was accompanied by a harsh roll on her part thanks to a well-aimed slash from the ram's hooves. Both sides at this point were beaten up quite a bit, Stevonnie having a good amount of cuts along her body whereas Grogar looked more bruised than sliced up. Despite his injuries though, Grogar was still laughing.

"I'm not gonna let you win!" Stevonnie shouted, her breath strained as she held her side.

"I got bruises, you got cuts. COME ON, show some effort why don't you," Grogar scoffed.

"Oh, you want effort? HERE'S YOUR EFFORT!" Stevonnie got out her shield again, and got to throwing it, but Grogar simply lowered his head and it bounced off his horns. He had to look down though, and by the time he looked up, Stevonnie's foot slammed right in his jaw, easily getting another tooth to get loose as Grogar stumbled back. Well it was a match for each side anyway so it didn't look THAT different. Stevonnie smiled and saw her chance to land a truly brutal finisher, but this ram had a particular trick …
And Stevonnie suddenly felt something hit her in the shoulder, cutting in her skin like the end of a arrow. And what did she find looking and pulling it out.

"... Your tooth? YOU SHOT ME WITH YOUR TOOTH?!" Stevonnie exclaimed. How can a broken tooth be used as a weapon?! Grogar smiled wickedly.

"An eye for a tooth," Grogar said, only to suddenly charge right at her again. Stevonnie did give him a look to kill, but Grogar was not giving her a chance to strike back this time, either trying to bite her, shoot her with magic, or trample her with his hooves - all the works. All Stevonnie could do for a bit was dodge and block whenever she could. But even with all of this jumping around, and with Grogar's laughing, Stevonnie grew desperate and grabbed him by the muzzle like a crocodile, only for the ram to throw her off.

"THIS is for corrupting the Homeworld Gems!" Stevonnie shouted, and with a grin of her own suddenly began to thrash Grogar around, swinging him over her head over and over again, making sure he struck ground hard each and every time. She only released him when she clocked him in the face.

"And THIS is for torturing the princess!" Stevonnie jumped up and Grogar shook himself off only to feel Stevonnie's feet start jabbing into his back over and over again. It was heavy enough to make him lay on the ground as the kicking moved from the back to his face.

"And THIS. Is for everything you did to Connie and Steven," Stevonnie said. Stevonnie jumped up high into the air, highest she could manage (which was easily over twenty feet straight up), but the human side did give her weight to fly straight down. Grogar looked up, seeing her rush down, yet he couldn't move out of the way in time.

The battle was done. For so it seemed.

The cloud of dust was drifting around for a while so no one could see what was going on. But soon as it cleared, it revealed something that filled Stevonnie with a sort of power, and victory. Grogar. Laying on the ground. The ram had the wind knocked out of him, Grogar now in quite a bit of pain as he just laid there, his horns going off a little bit as if they were loose wires. One of the horns actually broke off thanks to Stevonnie's final move, and it laid a little bit away from him. But Grogar was still breathing, yet didn't get up so fast.

"Stevonnie!"

A pretty late arrival, but good timed too. Stevonnie knew that voice better than anyone else, as another fusion finally appeared up by the entrance to the docking station. She was worried sick, and seeing the injuries all over her only made that even worse, but Stevonnie was still alive and that was good for Garnet.

"Garnet!" Stevonnie gasped. Garnet did not stop running until she was right at Stevonnie's side. The fusion needed a minute to take in what she was seeing: the Stevonnie she knew as a grand experience for both Gem and human involved, now turned into a scarred, and brutal-looking being.

"Stevonnie, thank the stars. Are you alright?"

"I could be better," Stevonnie admitted, still sore and cut up but other than that alright. There was a moment of pause, but Stevonnie quickly got to talking again, already knowing what was up.

"Ok, I know you're mad I slugged you, I-I just got so scared when they were talking about the wedding, a-and Flint and Amethyst didn't say anything so -"

"Stevonnie. … Steven. I understand. … And looks like you did a bit on Grogar over there," Garnet said, both of them looking over to him. Only for the ram to start to move a bit. He could only get to his front hooves at first, his back hooves sore from so much kicking.

"One-on-one duel?" Garnet inquired.

"For all of Homeworld. But there's one thing I have to do first …"

And she began to go over to the remains of Grogar's broken horn. Namely, the sharpest. Grogar and Garnet knew exactly what was coming next, and while Grogar seemed too tired to get away as Stevonnie moved closer, Garnet had to try and go in.

"It's over, Grogar."

"Stevonnie, don't!" Garnet shouted, getting in Stevonnie's way before she could go any further. In her state of mind, she couldn't believe it.

"Garnet, what're you doing?" Stevonnie asked.

"Stopping you from making a mistake," Garnet said, arms open so she wouldn't just rush Grogar.

"Mistake?! Garnet look at what he did: he took over Homeworld, he corrupted the diamond court, he's been targeting us for weeks! Gah, and look! Look at this jacked-up face! HE did this to my face - their face! I'm not letting him get away with any of this."

"And you think you're the better person by killing him?!" Garnet shouted. Stevonnie paused, a bit longer this time.

"Garnet, I've made too many mistakes since Grogar arrived, I made this happen! I can fix this now. It'll be quick, I promise," Stevonnie reassured her, gripping the horn tight in her hand. Garnet could not believe her ears. Maybe it make sense from Jasper before she joined the Crystal Gems, but hearing this from Stevonnie was just … wrong.

"Stevonnie, this is not the answer, and you know it. He may have done a lot of wrong, but if you're not letting him at least try to learn, then what would that make you? He already lost, you two. Let him learn from his own mistakes," Garnet explained. Stevonnie paused for a moment again. Now normally at this point Stevonnie would take time to consider it. Would killing a killer be the right move? But as she pondered, one sight just behind Garnet made Stevonnie's blood absolutely boil.

Grogar. Smiling again.

She made up her mind.

"NO! We have to beat him. He deserves to lose." Garnet even her Stevonnie's voice stutter a bit, her energy starting to spike up. Garnet felt a tear come from her eye. This was the inevitable, and still only had one thing to say to her. ...

"I won't let you."

"Grrr, MOVE!" Stevonnie shouted, trying to get to Grogar to finish the job but Garnet held Stevonnie tight. All the training she done was giving Garnet a hard time keeping her still as she struggled, holding the horn like a blade. Garnet felt herself crying as she was doing this to her, and Stevonnie had herself a little bit of tear too, as the emotions from their tortures thanks to this creature hit a breaking point. Connie was corrupted, kept as prisoner and planned for his bride, and Steven was scarred, forced into silence, and watched Grogar ruin everything he tried to make.
How could she not finish him?

"You don't have to do this, Stevonnie!"

"YES! I! DO!" and Stevonnie finally forced Garnet aside, reaching for the Ram at last, and getting herself on top of him, forcing the ram onto the ground, and the horn knife ready to finish things once and for all.

"I'm not making another mistake," Stevonnie stated, raising the knife, aiming directly for the collar. But suddenly, a surge of energy got Grogar back up and making Stevonnie get off of him. Garnet caught her from behind, but before she could say anything, Grogar made one final leap at them, horns glowing and shining bright.

"RAAAAAAHHHHH!"

*POOF!*

…….

Silence. One motion was all it took for Stevonnie to do it. The cloud cleared, and it revealed the ultimate end to this entire ordeal: Stevonnie was back on top of Grogar, the horn knife right in the center of the ram's chest. Grogar froze up, staring into the sky passed Stevonnie, his front hooves holding onto the blade but clearly not enough to avoid the mark. Both sides were only breathing, taking in what occurred around them. Stevonnie had a look of shock at first, but eventually that shock shifted into … snickering. Much similar to what Peridot would do as Stevonnie smiled upon the victory.

"YES! How's it feel, Grogar! This is the pain you kept dishing out to everyone. This is what you deserve," Stevonnie said in victory, fist in the air as she said so.

… But then Grogar slowly smiled again, much to Stevonnie's confusion.

"What're you happy about now, creep?" Stevonnie asked.

She saw it. Grogar, not a single word or even a sound, simply gently moved his front hooves aside from his chest, and allowed the victor. Stevonnie could see the horn going into Grogar's chest, with a good amount in it. But there was something else that was stuck in between the blade, and the ram.

Two gemstones.

Skewered.

"GARNET!" Stevonnie could NOT hold together and suddenly Steven and Connie were now there, side by side, and both still holding that blade. Immediately they yanked it out, making Grogar move back, and the red and blue stones fall to the floor, each now left a shattered mess on the ground at their feet.

"NOOOO!!!" Steven screamed, not even able to walk, but scramble towards the two gemstones. His eyes could not break free from both gemstones. He and Connie were frozen on the spot, everything around them no longer on their minds as they simply stared down at the broken shards of one of their closest friends.

"G-Garnet? … I didn't - ..." Steven got the shards and tried putting them back together like a puzzle, but just like a real one, all it showed was the picture. And even then, not a complete picture as the pieces crumbled again.

And that ram. OH, that ram had the nerve to speak again.

"Happy now?"

"N-No I … we … i-it was an accident. W-We didn't mean …"

"That's what they all say ……. but Garnet is dead ……. and if you'd only listen … she'd still be alive. ….... being a hero sucks, does it?"

Grogar could just manage to breathe out a small muffled chuckle before he finally settled down and grew still. It felt bittersweet admittedly, but both Connie and Steven were left simply in tears. Sure, Grogar may be defeated and Homeworld was saved ... but not the way they wanted it to.

"Garnet ... I killed Garnet ......."

Steven couldn't. … He just couldn't.

"Steven!"
It was too late to do much for him, and after backing up a little bit, Steven turned and ran off from the battlefield. He couldn't think to do anything else right now, he couldn't even think about how Connie might be taking all of this herself. Connie simply stood there in shock, unable to figure out what to do now …

"... OI! Stevonnie?! You up here?! …"

…….


~~~~~~


…….

*click*

Log Date 12 32-1: it's been at least nine hours since our latest adventure. The Harmony Gems are, currently, in a bit of a precarious situation. Yes, we've successfully manage to get the villain for the year - Grogar - out of Homeworld for good it seems, and did get a number of the Corrupted Gems deployed away from Homeworld and onto planet Earth - *gnaw* HEY, Let go! LET! GO! *yoink* - … Anyway, current status on Garnet and Steven have so far been inconclusive, yet Twilight Sparkle is recovering fairly back in Canterlot, and Connie is currently being brought back home - WILL YOU STOP IT, CLOD?!

Unfortunately, the recorder was quickly snatched away by a smaller corrupted Gem from Peridot's hands. The tape recorder got a good amount of gnawing sound effects before Peridot yanked it away again, this time with her metal abilities - she added a metal ring around it just in case - before the corrupted pup could mess with it any further.
This was what it was like for those nine hours back at the temple. The corrupted Gems, what they could get during their excursion anyway, were kinda stuck over by the temple. It was the first thing thought up to put them, and circumstance really didn't give them much time to say anything about it. Peridot wasn't alone in here though; Amethyst tried to ignore the number of corruptions by playing some video games … well, to a point until a small bird started pecking at the controller.

"Hey, cut it out, I'm on a roll here," Amethyst said, trying to shoo the bird away … only to lose in her game. Great. Amethyst just tossed the controller and groaned, laying on what remained of the bed, just as she heard a plate break over in the kitchen.

"This is worse than Fluttershy's house. When they said they needed somewhere to say, I didn't think they all would be stuffed in here," Amethyst groaned.

"Apparently it was beneficial. Anyway, I thought you like rough-housing like this. You call it "animal-style party"," Peridot asked, managing to crawl her way through the corrupted animal zoo that was the living room before reaching Amethyst.

"I'm up for a good animal bash as much as the next guy, but Seriously, I don't want to do anything else for a month - no. TWO months," Amethyst said, just before a larger turtle-like corrupted Gem pushed her off the bed so she could relax a bit.

"You heard anything from Flint or Jade yet?" Amethyst asked.

"No. Whatever they're planning to do, they better do it soon before they find - … TOO LATE! LET GO OF THAT!" Peridot shouted, finding that a corrupted Gem found her Camp Pining Hearts collection and thought they'd be good to sharpen her teeth with. Peridot, panicking, grabbed hold of it and quickly got stuck in a tug of war. Amethyst helped her out a bit and luckily got the dvds out of the maws.

"No no no no, please don't be scratched, please don't be scratched," Peridot said, quickly getting the slobber off and checking the DVDs. They were alright, but then she saw which season they were …

"... Oh. You know what, you can eat this," Peridot said, tossing one of them to the corrupted beast to gnaw on. Amethyst sat up, but quickly got what this was about.

"Season 5?"

"Season 5."

Peridot and Amethyst may have gotten their heads in enough trouble, but as they were dealing with the destruction of a worthless season of Camp Pining Hearts, the two then heard the Warp Pad from behind them, with Lapis Lazuli coming in (and pushing some of the corrupted Gems aside.

"THANK THE STARS!" exclaimed Peridot, "What news from the front? Can they take them in now? Nothing personal but THIS IS CRAZY!"

"Not like it's anything new for us," Lapis chuckled, "But yeah they got somewhere made off by the forest near Ponyville they can stay at for a bit until Nephrite can un-corrupt them. Only thing we need to do is get them there and it'll all be good."

"Say no more!" said Peridot. She went into her hair to get the portal key, though with so many corrupted Gems everywhere it was a bit hard to find where it was at first. Luckily a frog Gem got the key and with a croak, upchucked it for them. Gross, but effective.

"Eww. Okay, everything outta the house," Peridot announced, already getting a door open after thinking about said location. But of course none of them moved to the door at first. Heck, some were moving away from the door. Peridot grumbled a little.

"I SAVED YOU CLODS, AND YOU'LL DO AS I SAY!" Peridot shrieked. A rather bullish Corrupted Gem just snorted at her from that response. They spent all night doing this, and they thank them like this? Peridot growled a little bit as the bullish Gem made a snack out of one of Steven's couch pillows.

"Hang on, P-dot, I got it. Stand clear," Amethyst instructed. Peridot didn't know what Amethyst was gonna do, but the second she saw that whip come out, all Peridot could do was quickly freak out.

"Amethyst. Not in here. Please," Peridot said, almost straining in her voice. But Amethyst knew this was the quickest way to get them moving. Even if she didn't feel too keen on it herself. Peridot and Lapis stood a bit back, and after taking a breath, Amethyst raised her whip up good and high. Some of the corrupted Gems already began to feel a little bit antsy seeing that thing when …

*crack*

"RAAHHH!" the whip itself didn't get any of the corrupted Gems in the room, but the very sound of that whip crack was enough to make them all stumble and scramble to get away. It was something they kinda found out the hard way as the corrupted Gems were getting gathered from Homeworld and brought here after the army left.
As for the group in there, they could only find one main exit, being the portal created by Peridot. So the only natural reaction for them was to turn and bolt right on out. Each corrupted Gem got themselves through, but not before trampling through the kitchen first, knocking over the table and TV and such other things as they went off through the door.

"Eh, Pearl can get it when she gets back," Lapis muttered.

"Agreed," said Amethyst and Peridot.

However, that wasn't the only problem they had to handle today, the three were given another surprise coming in from just outside of the building. Good timing on her part, since she had to charge right in just after the portal door closed up, allowing her to swing it back open and race right in, skidding to a stop right in front of the three. Any earlier and they'd have a bit more of a mess again. Fulgurite looked winded too upon landing.

"Finally!"

"Fulgurite, you're back. What's the rush?" Lapis asked. Rainbow Dash needed a minute to re catch her breath.

"Ok, ok, so you want what news first?" Fulgurite asked after getting herself together.

"Just tell us what's going on, Fulgurite, shoot," Amethyst said.

"Alright. K, so, I just got done back at the barn, and I swear, Steven's running down towards town right now!" Fulgurite revealed.

"Steven?! Our Steven? He's okay!" Peridot exclaimed. At least one of the two were found, now all that's left was Garnet.

"Wait a second, P. Ful, you said "what news first" did ya? So Steven's the good news, who's the bad news?"
Fulgurite felt a shiver run through her back, but got it out anyway.

"So here's the bad news: you know that Unicorn? Cut in one eye, has that black storm armor, has no horn? I think her name was "Tempest"?"

"You saw her?!" gasped Lapis, already having her wings come out and ready to fly.

"Yeah I did, she was leaving town with two other pieces of scum!" Fulgurite said.

"But what was she doing here?" Amethyst asked.

"Don't ask me, I just saw the mare and I was already getting word around town about Steven coming - … Oh MAN!"

Well this can't be good.

...

Steven finally stopped briefly to catch his breath. All that running from Homeworld, to the Warp Pad, and now to here, and only now did the world begin to look a bit more familiar to him. His home. The ground was cold, and much of the plants may be covered in snow by now, but Steven knew this part like the back of his own hand. Here, from all of his running he found the telltale signs of the barnhouse a field or so away. The half way point between the open fields here, and Beach City beyond the barn, and from there right to the Gem Temple where everyone else, he was sure was waiting for him one way or another.

"The barn. Doesn't look like anyone's home … don't worry, I'll be back soon," Steven promised himself. He began to go on down the field a bit more, not wasting much more time in trying to get his way back. The others were probably worried sick over him by now, especially with how he left there. Briefly, a smile came up on Steven's face as he got close to the barnhouse itself. He only paused to look to the barnhouse for a moment, and with a sigh he was just about to go off for another step on his way. Underline: just about to.

"Hold it right there."

He wasn't alone here, not by a long shot. Sure it wasn't any huge army from Grogar, but Steven knew his followers by now. In this case, the first to show themselves were Bray, Budgerite, and Tempest, all three coming around from the otherside of the barn and cutting Steven off up front.  He expected more, but it appeared it was only these three this time.

"Well look at this," Tempest commented, "You got quite a bit of nerve to just start running on back here."

"Of course I wanna come back, this is my home," Steven insisted.

"Your home? HA! You miss your own post read-up or something?" Budgerite asked.

"No, I didn't!" Steven insisted, making Budgerite and Bray jump, "I have to get back to my friends now, so please -"

Steven was cut short when Tempest stepped in his way. He kept trying to get passed her, but she kept getting in his way, to the point of actually pushing him back.

"Don't take this personally, Steven, but even you should realize you're no longer welcome here," Tempest informed as Steven picked himself off the ground, getting some snow off of him.

"But this is my home, and all of my friends are that way. Why wouldn't they want me back?"

"Come on, are you even listening to yourself?" Budgerite questioned.

As they kept talking, there was a bit more commotion coming up from behind them, as there were a few more people who had come up to the barnhouse. Normally it would just be the Gems or ponies, but this time as Tempest turned around to see, it was actually members from Beach City who were coming by to see him, getting word thanks to Rainbow Dash's quick word. Steven knew everyone here very well, none of them would want him gone. … Right?

"Steven!"

"Lapis!" Steven exclaimed. Lapis tried to fly over to see him, but she however was stopped about half way when Tempest threatened a few lightning shots. One zap of those and it was back into her gemstone. She wasn't the only one though, Amethyst too joining her.

"Hey, outta the way, let us see our boy," Amethyst demanded.

"Not a chance," Tempest stated.

"There see? They want me back! Lapis, Amethyst, don't worry I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," Steven pointed out. Tempest though wasn't going to make this easy for them.

"Not going anywhere? You think so?" Budgerite asked. The hybrid Gem got up onto a taller balcony of the barnhouse, looking to everyone from Beach City.

"Yeah! What're you thinkin in that cranium?" Bray asked.

"Try and show some restraint will ya? Or did that crazy fight on Homeworld mean nothing to you? Seriously, you were a complete psycho there, and you still think you're wanted here?" Budgerite questioned. Steven froze up as the fight began to flash in his head. With only Connie as a witness, and fellow arm in crime might he add, what was he supposed to say to any of them here?

"I … I was just trying to stop Grogar," Steven insisted, but that didn't seem to really convince the three.

"And look how that went," Tempest said. "But then again, Rose Quartz too was desperate when getting something she wants, right? Like mother, like son."

"HEY, that's not true and you know it!" Amethyst snapped, which only got Bray to jump in her way and try to buck her to shut her up … which only got him hurt. Tempest glanced her way, the unicorn having the cards already laid out for them.

"I'm not lying here," Tempest stated, "Pink Diamond disguised herself as Rose Quartz, knowing well that it'll mean killing thousands of Gems in that war. You have that same stubbornness in you, THAT'S what happened back there."

"Ok, maybe I am stubborn about a few things, but I'm trying to do what's right! Guys? Tell them -" Steven tried going closer to them, but actually some of them took a step back. Steven was acting a bit forceful, more than they're used to, and it was getting to the point when he could go off on any of them.

"Guys, hold on!" whispered Amethyst in a plea, but Steven already saw the worry in their eyes.

"Well, look at that," said Budgerite from her balcony, "You keep saying they want ya back kiddo, but they look like those mice you see in front of a cat. And just as trembly in their legs!"
Steven felt troubled seeing that, as Tempest grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back to the otherside of the barn. NOW she stepped to her side, and lined the ground with her hoof as a line.

"Don't listen to them Steven, you're welcomed here!" Lapis made clear. But now Steven wasn't so sure about that, seeing them worried that he would jump at them or something. 

"Guys? Don't freak out, I-I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise. Just give me time and I'll show you," Steven reassured them.

"You can show everything you want to, Steven Universe, but it will not cover up the shards on those hands of yours," Tempest made clear. Steven stopped and looked to his hands, again the memories of those gem shards in said hands going through his head.

"... I'm sorry. … But my friends -"

"Friendship and murder do not mix, Steven! You killed the leader of the Harmony Gems. Did you, or did you not?" Tempest asked. Steven felt his heart skip a beat, not too sure if everyone did hear what happened to him back on Homeworld or not.

"...…. I didn't mean to," Steven muttered. That made everyone scared now. He wasn't denying any facts, but he still felt that this was his home … he hoped.

"Another excuse? That doesn't change the fact that you killed her, Ruby and Sapphire both. Killers are only welcomed by other killers. And anywhere else they are outcast'd and outlaw'd. Or is that an exception for you because you were "doing right"?" Tempest stated. Bitter truth about facts that he wished he didn't have to experience himself.

"... I'm not a killer. I'm not …"

"Oh right, you're a shatterer then, two completely different things, just like hunting!" Bray mocked. Steven was breaking, Amethyst and Lapis feeling more and more worried.

"Come on, Steven, let's get back home! Don't listen to these chumps!" Lapis called.

"Were you two even listening to us?" Bray asked.

"You're lying, obviously," Amethyst shouted, "NO WAY Steven would kill Garnet just because of a temper! You even met him before?! Come on, Steven, tell them."

Steven suddenly realized what was going on here now, but he couldn't lie about this. The truth is always better than a well-meant lie. That's what they've all agreed on, and they've agreed to be more open about things. And these two weren't believing it by a longshot, so that could only mean one thing …

"Steven, what're you waiting for?" Lapis said, finally able to go up to him alongside Amethyst. "Tell them you didn't do that, Garnet's just missing that's all!"

"Dude, Steven, say something!" Amethyst added. Steven remained quiet, looking down to his feet.

"...…. The truth is better than a well-meant lie."

Silence.

"S-Steven, q-quit fooling around," Amethyst said in a cold sweat, even laughing a little as if this was some sick joke, "You only make jokes if it's supposed to be funny, remember? Right? … Steven? …"

"... I'm sorry. …"

There was no joke. Accident or intentional, Steven was the one that killed her. Sapphire, Ruby, AND Garnet all. Lapis and Amethyst were finally seeing the awful truth as Steven began to cry. Slowly but surely, horror edged on both of the Gems' faces.

Steven was a killer. And he did kill Garnet.

Steven didn't need to answer anything this time to convince them. Just seeing their horror was more than enough to convince them all their own idea. Steven couldn't even bring himself to look up to any of them, but eventually his gaze slowly went up and he did take one step, just for them both to step back. Steven took a second step and -

"S-Stay back!"

… Stay. Back. Those two words came from a Lazuli Gem who's mind was still trying to prepare itself for what they've just figured out. Lapis and Amethyst both weren't thinking straight, their emotions starting to kick in and take over as seeing their friend turned killer try to come closer to them. They both tried to keep together, but with the reality swirling in either of them, they both came to the solution that'll decide what fate had in store …

Lapis got out her wings. And they both flew away.

"Lapis. … Amethyst. …"

"... There you are then. It looks like everyone's against you," Tempest concluded. And this time there was absolutely no denying it. "So, Steven, what're you gonna do now? Clearly no one wants you around here."

…

"... Goodbye, everyone. ……. I'll always love you. …"

And then Steven turned around and ran. And this time, he was not going to come back. No one wanted him there anymore, and no one wanted him around. So what was the point in staying where he wasn't welcome?


~~~~~~


"WHY DID WE DO THAT?!" Lapis exclaimed, frustrated. Were Amethyst and Lapis shocked about the end revelation, of course they were, but that was no excuse to just up and leave Steven like that! Unfortunately, it wasn't until after they got back that their frustration caught up with them, Lapis Lazuli even more so as she was banging her head on the nearest counter.

"Lapis, stop it! Getting a concussion isn't gonna help," Amethyst said, pulling Lapis back.

"Leaving him behind didn't help either!" Lapis snapped, pulling herself away, "Why didn't you talk me out of it?!"

"I don't know, I GOT CAUGHT UP, OKAY?!"

"We both got caught up!"

This kind of panic kept up as the two were then visited again by more of the team, the Warp Pad signifying that someone was just about coming by back to the Beach House. Looking over was more of the Harmony Gem team, mostly Ponies (RD, AJ, Starlight) with the exception of Jasper and Pearl.

"HEY-O!" said Rainbow, "Woo, come on everybody let's go - oooooo …" Rainbow was gonna say go and celebrate, but seeing Lapis and Amethyst like this told them immediately that they were NOT in the mood for any celebration of any sort, mixture of sad, shock, and frustration in their expressions.

"You two okay?" Starlight asked, going over to them. All of a sudden, Lapis and Amethyst were all up in their faces, both trying to explain what was going on to any of them. However they weren't exactly getting it out right. Whatever the problem was, they were going too fast so Jasper stepped in.

"HOLD IT!" Jasper shouted, just enough for both Amethyst and Lapis to quiet down. "Ok. One of you tell us what's the matter, ok? Now, what is it?"

"Ok. Rip it like a Band-Aid," Amethyst quietly told herself, being the one to step forward to tell them the situation. She took a deep breath and …

"We messed up big time: we heard Steven was coming back, but Tempest Shadow found him first, and we found out Garnet's dead so we don't have a leader right now, and Steven actually killed her during some crazy fight back on Homeworld, and now we just ditched him and he's probably torn up and running away right now!" *GASP*
Amethyst didn't need to breathe, but all that info flowed out very fast for her, and all that was needed now was the reaction.

And it was just as well as they expected.

"WHAAAAT?!?!"

Exactly as they expected.

"G-G-G-Garnet and Steven? Gone?! Nonononono I can't deal with this! Not again!" Pearl said, starting to worry up and down about it. It was bad enough Twilight had been gone, there was no need for Garnet to be out of the picture now!

"How many know about this?" asked Applejack.

"Me, Lapis, and all of Beach City apparently because they are just as freaked out at Steven as we were," Amethyst answered, worriedly.

"We last saw him as far as the barn," said Lapis, "If he's running now …"

"W-Well what're we doing here? Steven's still out there, he needs our help! Come on, maybe we can catch him before he goes too far," Starlight decided.

"High-tail it then!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Many of them did started bolting off right for the nearest Warp Pad just off to the back, which at this point was the quickest route to get themselves back to the barn. While all of them were willing to go - no. Most of them were willing to go, there was still one Gem that got in the way. This news struck her hard, sure, but what good would it do to charge off after him right now?

"Ok, I know you're gonna yell at me. … But don't go after him."

"WHY NOT?!" everyone yelled, even startling the battle-ready Jasper, making her step back.

"Didn't you hear what we said? Steven is -"

"He'll be back," Jasper stated firmly, "And he will be stronger than ever. He just needs some time to think, that's all, and once he figures it all out he'll come right back. … Trust me."

"How come you know so much all of a sudden?" Lapis asked in dismay.

"I've … had some practice."

"Jasper?" said Starlight. The others paused for thought as Jasper walked from the Warp Pad, and over to the front porch, looking onward out to the sea for a bit.

"Just leave him alone. You all trust him, don't you?" Jasper asked.

And they all do. There was no reason to not trust Steven, even with Garnet's death in mind. They all joined Jasper out on the balcony for the moment, and looked out inland, knowing that it was where Steven had gone off to.

Trust in the stars to bring Steven home.