What if a giant space drill, piloted by a maniacal alien jester, wound up in Equestria instead?
When blinded by uncontrollable emotions, mistakes are often made. Sometimes those mistakes create the worst problems, and sometimes those mistakes take you down a better path. Universe fans know her as the forgotten jester. Equestrian enthusiasts know her as the Element of Laughter. They share the same purpose -- and now they share the same world.
It was a sunny spring day in Equestria. The birds were singing and the flowers were blooming, swaying in a gentle breeze. Cottony clouds drifted lazily by, casting their shadows across the plains outside of Ponyville. All in all, it was a good day for a picnic, which is what Twilight Sparkle and her friends had settled on doing.
They had each chipped in for their outing. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had brought most of the food, while Applejack supplied the cider. Rarity had brought some plates and silverware for the occasion. Twilight had brought the blanket. Rainbow Dash had sheepishly brought the napkins.
"You picked a fine day for this, Twilight," Applejack said, raising her mug to her with a nod.
"I thought with everything that's been going on, we could use a breather and just hang out together. No problems, no worries," Twilight said. Each of her friends nodded in agreement.
"It does get pretty hard to get that kind of time with everything going on," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Like the Wonderbolts."
"And Sweet Feather Sanctuary," Fluttershy added softly, taking a bite out of her cupcake.
"And my boutiques," Rarity said.
"And Sugarcube Corner," Pinkie Pie chimed.
"And chores on the farm," Applejack said, nodding.
"Not to mention everything going on with the school. I hope Spike and Starlight can handle things while I'm gone," Twilight finished. To that, they could all agree. "I just hope nothing happens."
"Now Twilight, darling," Rarity interjected. Unnoticed by the others, Pinkie's tail began twitching, slowly at first but gaining speed. She tried her best to still it. "When one says that sort of thing, the opposite usually happens."
"I think they call it a jinx," Rainbow agreed. Pinkie was practically strangling her tail, and losing miserably in the fight to calm it.
"You might be right," Twilight huffed, taking a sip of cider. "We do make a lot of enemies in our line of work. Who knows what they could do?"
"Sugarcube, now I think you're just asking for it," Applejack said with a sigh.
Pinkie was rolling on the ground by now, muttering to her tail. Fluttershy blinked then turned to the others. "Um, what's going on with Pinkie's tail?" she asked them.
The other four ponies took notice, watching the titanic struggle Pinkie was having with her own tail in surprise. "Pinkie, what's going on?" Rainbow asked.
"Is it your Pinkie Sense again?" Twilight asked worriedly.
"I don't know!" Pinkie exclaimed over the struggle. She finally wrestled to an upright position so she was sitting on her own tail, but it was still vibrating like an earthquake. "If it is, it's never been this strong before!"
"Good heavens. What could possibly make it go off like that?" Rarity asked.
"I don't think I want to know..." Fluttershy muttered, cowering.
All of a sudden, an ominous wind whipped up, buffeting the ponies. Applejack had to hold onto her hat and Rainbow, who had been drifting above the conversation, was forced to land, lest she be blown away. A dark shadow fell upon them, and the sky seemed to turn pink.
Pinkie looked straight up and her ears drooped. "Guys, think I see the problem," she said. They all looked with her and gasped.
It was a massive machine, easily as big as a castle. The clouds blew away from it in a circle as it descended slowly. On the bottom, it had a shut aperture-like opening. The midsection was shaped similarly to an hourglass and was full of a glowing pink liquid. The top was a giant pink crystal in the shape of a heart. The machine was angled just a few yards away, allowing the ponies to back up and gawk at its size.
"What in Equestria is that?" Twilight asked.
"I was hoping you'd know," Applejack admitted. "You know more stuff than we do."
A shadowy figure appeared at the top of the crystal. They had a tall, skinny body, noodle limbs, a pair of pigtails and glowing pink eyes. She growled as she looked down on them.
"Hey!" she shouted down to them. "Do any of you know Steven Universe?"
The ponies looked between each other in surprise.
"No!" they each sounded out.
"I mean, the name sounds familiar, but no!" Pinkie called. Twilight smacked her forehead.
The figure growled, jumping down the strange machine and landing on the metal ring around the aperture opening at the bottom. Her appearance became more pronounced as she took in the ponies.
She had a pink complexion, magenta eyes, a small pointy nose, and magenta hair. She had three black lines underneath both of her eyes, reminiscent of running mascara. Her clothing consisted of a dark magenta top, puffy pointed hot pink sleeves, puffy magenta shorts, hot pink wrist-length gloves, white stockings and a pair of magenta knee-high pointy boots. In the center of her chest was a reddish-pink gemstone, cut in the style of an upside-down heart.
"Don't play games with me -- that's my job," she growled, jerking a thumb at herself. "Do you know Steven Universe or not?"
"Why do you want to find him?" Twilight asked with a frown. It was her friends' turn to smack their foreheads.
"Because I'm gonna kill him, that's what!" the being roared. "Him and his little friends. They get to be happy, get to see her till the end? Get to replace me? I don't think so! Not with the game I want to play with them."
"What is she talking about?" Applejack asked Twilight, who shrugged. This seemed to infuriate the strange being even more.
"Ya know what? Fine! I'll just take a practice run of what my Injector can do on this pathetic speck!" the being exclaimed. "That'll teach you for ruining my little game."
"Now see here! This is our home! Whatever quarrel you have with this...Steven Universe, it has nothing to do with us!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Yeah! And we won't let you hurt our world either!" Rainbow said, flapping defiantly into the air.
"Or we could just talk this all out..." Fluttershy muttered.
The being grinned. She held out her pinkie and expanded it out before coiling it into the shape of a horn. She blew into it and a resounding drone, like a foghorn, rang out. The machine seemed to come to life as the being righted her finger again.
A drill tip extended out of the aperture bottom of the machine. The being hopped down as the ring she was standing on began to spin, uncoiling into three mechanical legs. The spiral line of the drill glowed pink as the machine lowered to the ground. The ponies retreated.
The three legs stabbed into the ground, causing a small earthquake. Supported on the legs, the drill spun into the ground. The pink spiral line of the drill made a flowing sound and a few air bubbles rose to the surface in the container of pink liquid. The being grinned malevolently as she stalked towards the ponies, towering over them.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Twilight demanded, her horn glowing.
"I'm gonna do to your world what I want to do to him," the being said. "I'm gonna kill it."
"Not if we have anything to say about it," Applejack said, standing tall.
"Oh really? And what are a bunch of four-legged, multi-colored shrimps like you going to do about it?" the being said smugly, hands on her hips.
"I'll show you!" Rainbow shouted, charging at her at full speed.
"Rainbow Dash, be careful!" Twilight called.
The being just snickered. She enlarged her hands greatly and simply clamped them onto Rainbow, snatching her out of the air. She brought the squirming Pegasus up close.
"So, you gotta go fast, huh?" she asked with a manic grin. "Well, allow me!"
She rapidly began to spin her body around, her neck seemingly disjointed from it as she watched the other ponies' shocked expressions with delight.
"Whoa! Whoa! Let! Me! Go!" Rainbow shouted to the being in intervals.
"My pleasure," the being said darkly. All at once, she stopped abruptly and threw Rainbow Dash like a baseball pitch. The Pegasus turned into a blue blur trailing a rainbow streak and crashed into the canopy of a distant tree. Fluttershy gasped and quickly flew over to help her injured friend. The others turned to the being, who returned her hands to normal.
"Lady, I don't know who you are, but nobody lobs my friends like some buckball," Applejack said with a nostril flare. She tipped her cowboy hat forward, pawed at the ground, and charged the being herself.
The being laughed. "Oh, I'm so scared," she said mockingly.
At the end of her charge, Applejack abruptly turned about face and flew backwards with her hind legs extended. The being was caught square in the middle and flew back until she crashed against one of the legs of her machine with an audible "oof," slumping to the ground slowly.
Applejack turned to her and adjusted her cowboy hat with a satisfied smirk. "Had enough tree buckin'?" she asked.
The being got to her feet, her eyes shadowed. Then she broke out into a large grin and started to laugh. Applejack jumped, backing up a step.
"Oh, you actually thought that could hurt me? How pathetic," the being mocked. Her grin turned sinister, she held up one leg, extended it out and coiled it like a spring, and proceeded to inflate her boot to three times Applejack's size. "Here's how you really kick!"
"Oh dang," Applejack muttered, her ears drooping.
Like a cannonball, the being's leg shot forward and with a mighty and resounding “pow,” socked Applejack square in the face. The others jumped out of the way of the orange blur as it sped to the tree Fluttershy had just helped a battered Rainbow Dash out of. Applejack hit them in a large cloud of dust, and they turned into a dazed pile against the base of the tree.
“Applejack! Fluttershy!” Twilight called after her, before turning to the being with a growl.
The being smugly stepped forward after righting her foot. "If that's all you got, then this little test run shouldn't take long at-" She was abruptly cut off as her right foot and hand were encased in a purple aura and her left hand and foot were encased in a light blue aura. With some effort from Twilight and Rarity, they lifted the struggling being into the air, though the latter was struggling herself.
"Hah! Not so smug now are you?" Twilight asked. "Nothing more to say?"
"Yeah, actually, I got one thing," the being said. To Twilight's horror, the being extended her neck so her head slithered over to Twilight like a snake. Her voice lowered to a sinister level once they were face to face. "You should've gone for my head too."
The being used her own head to smack Twilight across the face. It only made the allicorn stumble, but it was enough to break her concentration from her magic and free the being's right half.
With a sinister grin she inflated her right hand and slithered it over to Rarity. She had her eyes shut tightly in concentration, but when she felt the shadow loom over her, she opened her eyes, and they quickly widened in horror. The being's inflated hand was poised to flick her away.
"You wouldn't dare," Rarity said hoarsely. The being answered her simply by flicking her in the chin and launching her skyward, fully freeing herself from Rarity's magic.
Rather than retaliate, Twilight quickly ran after her skyward friend, keeping one leery eye on the being as she fixed her hand. She barely caught Rarity with her magic, and the force of her descent sent her crashing into Twilight. They too wound up in a dazed pile on the ground.
All that was left was Pinkie Pie, who stepped up to the being bravely. The being seemed to be displeased at the fact.
"It's always the pink ones," the being muttered. "They're always making me the butt of the joke. So you know what? I'm gonna do my second test run. Just. On. You."
The being reached to her gemstone, which glowed briefly as she removed something: a magenta cylinder, looking like some sort of handle with a button on the side of it.
"I take it that's not supposed to be some sort of party favor?" Pinkie asked with a nervous grin.
The being chuckled. "Maybe not for you, but it'll sure be a party for me," she replied. She wound back an arm and shot a stretched punch at Pinkie with her other hand.
The pink pony leaped over it with her forward hooves and flew at the being with her rear hooves poised ready to strike in kung fu fashion. The being simply swatted her aside with the back of her extended hand as it retracted back.
Pinkie landed hoof-first on the side of one of the drill's mechanical legs and flipped herself back upright on her rear hooves. She struck a kung fu pose with one leg in the air and her front legs out from her sides.
"Oh, real cute," the being grumbled. She pressed the button on the handle with her thumb. The top of the cylinder extended into a pole with a crystal tip. A long scythe blade made of electrical pink energy took form, with a square-like edge on the other side shaped like a pair of fangs. The being grinned as she gripped it in both hands. Pinkie gulped.
"Don't suppose we could talk about this, could we?" she asked the being with a nervous chuckle.
"Sure, let's talk," the being said sarcastically, charging Pinkie with the scythe in hand.
Pinkie quickly backed up as the being twirled the scythe in one hand before slashing it diagonally at her. Pinkie narrowly dodged it by leaping out of the way, but quickly found more sweeping slashes headed her way. She dodged this way and that, usually leaping and bounding on a single hoof to do so.
"Hold still, shrimp," the being growled. As she raised the scythe to strike once again, she found it wouldn't budge - the entire pole was encased in a purple aura.
A battered but still standing Twilight approached, teeth grit. "Get away from her!" she demanded. She yanked at the scythe with her magic, but the being held firm.
"You keep out of this," the being said. She stood on one leg, coiled her other leg up, and shot her foot at Twilight, this time not enlarged. Pinkie dove in and managed to catch hold of the foot with an "oof." She began pulling on the leg to prevent it from attacking Twilight.
"You got this, Twilight," she said, holding on for dear life as the being tried to dislodge her like a bucking bull to its rider.
"Get off me!" the being roared, hobbling around on one foot as she was being jerked in two directions.
Twilight growled and pulled harder and harder on the scythe pole. The glow on her horn intensified and she jerked her head back. With a mighty tug, the scythe was pulled out of the being's hands. She was too startled to respond.
"Stay away from my friends!" Twilight bellowed.
Under normal circumstances, Twilight would've cast the weapon aside or broken it. Whether it was watching her friends get tossed around like rag dolls, or the pain in her head from getting knocked around herself, she didn't know. All she vaguely knew was: she was swinging with her magic, which still held the scythe.
She opened her eyes when she heard Pinkie gasp. The being was standing there, an unreadable look on her face. There was a glowing pink line going from her left shoulder diagonally through her middle clear to her right side. Then she began to laugh as her new upper half slid down, revealing a pink glow instead of innards, and she exploded into a cloud of pink smoke, even the foot in Pinkie’s grasp.
All that was left behind was the red gemstone that had been on the being's chest, which landed on the ground with a soft thud in the suddenly still air.
"Twilight, what did you do?" Applejack asked as she and the others gathered around her, some of them limping.
Twilight's eyes were wide, her breathing quick. All at once she dropped the scythe. It landed on its button and the scythe blade flickered out and the pole retracted back.
"I-I didn't mean to!" she exclaimed. "I was just...just...I don't know what I was thinking!"
"Well, I don't see anything left but that gemstone," Pinkie said. "Maybe you didn't actually kill her."
"Besides, who knows what she would've done," Rainbow said. "She seemed insane."
Rarity cautiously approached the gemstone. "My word, this is the biggest stone I've ever seen. It’s almost as big as the Crystal Heart! And such a masterful cut to it!" she exclaimed.
"Might not want to touch that, Rarity," Applejack said as Fluttershy attempted to calm the hyperventilating Twilight. "Who knows what could happen."
"Yeah, she pulled that scythe out of it - who knows what else it could do?" Pinkie agreed.
Rarity nodded, but that didn't stop her from analyzing the rock at a distance. "Unless my black eye discredits me, I believe this is a spinel, though it looks like that fire ruby Spike gave me," she concluded, before returning to the group. "So now what do we do?"
Twilight looked over at the drill, having calmed down. A few more air bubbles floated to the top of the pink liquid inside. "We figure out how to stop that thing."
"Well, it's too big to lift, even if we had every tree bucker and unicorn in Equestria," Applejack said. "That much I can eyeball."
"Maybe we can teleport it?" Rarity offered.
"But where?" Twilight replied. "We don't even know what that pink stuff inside it is. And until we do, I don't want to teleport it anywhere else in Equestria."
"Well, considering that weird thing said she was going to kill us and our world, I don't think it's good," Rainbow said.
"We should regroup in Ponyville. Hopefully this thing won't move while we're gone." Twilight turned to all that remained of the strange being: her gemstone and the scythe's handle. "Rarity, you grab the gemstone. Pinkie, you get the scythe and be careful with it."
"You got it," Pinkie said with a proud salute. She ran over to the handle, gingerly picked it up, then stuck it in her mane. Rarity was a little slower in picking up the gemstone with her magic.
"I'm wondering something," Fluttershy said. "That strange creature attacked us rather quickly. Why did she have trouble hitting Pinkie?"
"I know. She snatched Rainbow Dash out of the air and took an apple tree-grade buck like it was a smack from a pillow," Applejack agreed. "And she hits hard enough to disrupt your magic, Twilight. Yet she couldn't stop Pinkie."
"Who knows?" Twilight huffed. "This day is getting really weird."
They regrouped at Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie, the least injured of the group, made tea and cookies with Fluttershy's help. They were all gathered around a coffee table, on which sat the being's gemstone in the center.
Twilight stared into it, studying every angle of its facet. It was a pristine cut, Rarity was right about that, but where had the being gone? And why had she left behind her weapon and such a gemstone? What unsettled Twilight most was how hellbent she had been on killing them -- and seemed very much capable of doing so.
Pinkie noticed her friend's focus and lightly tapped her, making Twilight jump. She smiled apologetically at the alicorn. "You doing alright, Twilight?" she asked.
"I'm fine. I just...I can't believe I did that," she said with a shiver, looking back at the gemstone.
"Well, maybe you didn't kill her. She just...poofed, so maybe she's still alive somewhere."
"I don't think that's a comforting thought either, but thanks, Pinkie." She smiled softly at her friend. "I just wish I could make sense of all this. I've never read about anything like her in any book in Canterlot."
"She did come from the sky -- maybe she's not from this world," Pinkie offered. "Ergo, no books on her."
"That's what I'm worried about: how do we stop something we don't know anything about? We don't even know why she wanted to kill this Steven Universe to begin with." She frowned. "I almost wish she was back to tell us."
"Well I don't!" Rainbow Dash snapped from her seat on a couch. She had one of her wings, tender from her collision with the tree, stretched out and being examined by Fluttershy. "Not when she can toss us around like that!"
"Can't argue with her there, Twilight," Applejack grumbled. She had an ice pack atop her head in place of her hat, and her face was slightly swollen. "Anything that unnatural can just stay gone."
"I concur," Rarity grumbled, brushing her mane out. "I've never seen someone so uncivilized since Rainbow Dash around apple cider."
"Yeah -- hey, wait a minute!" the Pegasus snapped.
"Girls, calm down," Twilight said. "This, of all times, is not the time for arguing. We need to figure out how to stop her machine before it harms Equestria."
"Should we get Princess Celestia?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight gave a defeated sigh. "We may have to. I've been racking my brain trying to figure this all out, but I've got nothing. Whatever that being's plans were, they may very well succeed."
"Cheer up, Twilight, I'm sure we can-" Pinkie Pie was abruptly cut off and they all went silent when a reddish-pink glow filled the room.
Their eyes fell upon the gemstone, the source of the light. It slowly levitated into the air until it was vertical, once again upside down.
"Oh crud," Rainbow said. They all got up and backed away towards the door.
"Do you think it's going to explode?" Rarity asked, panicked.
Twilight's horn glowed and a purple bubble formed around the six of them. "Just stay close. If it does explode, I'll try to stop it," she said. A second bubble appeared around the floating gemstone.
The gemstone slowly turned until it was right-side up. A familiar, thinly built form took glowing shape from out of it, with the gemstone lodged in what would've been its chest. It looked much like the being, except its ponytails were heart-shaped buns. That, and she was giggling. As it expanded outward, it popped the magic bubble surrounding it.
"It's not going to explode?" Applejack asked. Twilight, hesitantly, lowered her shield.
"Yippee!" the glowing form suddenly squealed. Its arms extended over and grabbed hold of Pinkie Pie. Before the others could intervene, the glowing form pounced on the pink pony.
Pinkie was on her back, looking up at the being startled as she took shape finally. She was more rounded in her new form than before -- she had black, cartoonish looking eyes, her top was white with more rounded pink sleeves, and her boots had become a pair of big magenta shoes, lacking their pointed toes.
The being's grinning face was practically in Pinkie's. "I'm so excited to meet you!" she exclaimed, her eyes rolling slightly like googly eyes.
"You are?" Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course I am!" The being released her and presented herself grandly to the Pinkie and the others. "I'm always happy to see my best friend!"
Pinkie sat up and looked to the others. They shared her utterly perplexed look, save for Twilight who was stunned. She looked back at the being, who had a slight bounce in her legs.
“So…you don’t want to kill us?” Rainbow asked.
“Kill you?” The being tilted her head, perplexed herself.
“You don’t remember?” Fluttershy asked.
“Remember what?”
“Oh, I don’t know – throwing me into a tree?” Rainbow grumbled.
“Kicking me into next week,” Applejack grunted.
“Flicking me away like I was some crumb?” Rarity offered bitterly.
“Attacking me with this?” Pinkie asked, pulling out the scythe handle.
“Or me…poofing you?” Twilight asked, biting her lower lip.
The being just stood there, blinking blankly. “Nope,” she finally and cheerfully replied.
“Geez Twilight, how hard did you hit her?” Applejack whispered to her. “She doesn’t seem to remember anything.” Pinkie tilted her head, deep in thought as she replaced the scythe handle in her mane.
“She doesn’t even look the same,” Rarity agreed, looking the being up and down. “She seems much more cheerful-looking now.”
“Do you at least remember your name?” Pinkie asked the being.
The being had a look of realization cross her face. “Oh how silly of me!” she said with a giggle. “I haven’t even introduced myself. Seeing as you aren’t Gems, I should give you the whole routine.” She tapped her chin in thought. “How would a Pearl say it?”
“Gems? Pearl?” Twilight asked her friends, who each shrugged.
The being perked up and started tap dancing, a wide grin on her face. “This will be fun, aren’t you the lucky ones?” she sang. “My limbs are stretchy and I’m pink, as well! I’ll bring you endless fun and laughter – your new best friend, Spinel! Jazz hands.” She concluded with the aforementioned motion.
Pinkie applauded while the others looked on stunned. “Woo! Spinel!” she cheered. Spinel bowed to her audience like she were on a stage.
“So…you’re supposed to be her best friend?” Twilight asked, pointing at Pinkie. Spinel nodded her head with her tongue sticking dopily out.
“And you aren’t trying to use a giant drill to kill someone named Steven Universe?” Rainbow asked. Spinel shook her head.
“I’ve never heard of a Steven Universe,” Spinel admitted. “I don’t even know all of you.”
“Oh! Well, I’m Pinkie Pie. These are my friends: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity!” Pinkie said, gesturing to each of them as she went.
“Well, any friends of my best friend are friends of mine!” Spinel said cheerfully. She stretched her arms out fully and slipped them around the ponies before her. They winced, bracing for an attack –- at least until she scooped them up in one big hug.
Pinkie beamed, even though she was practically cheek-to-cheek with Twilight and Rarity. “You gotta admit: she’s a great hugger.”
“Focus, Pinkie. We need to stop that drill,” Twilight said. “And seeing as she doesn’t even remember it, we need to figure out a way for her to remember.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Twi?” Rainbow asked. “If she remembers the drill, she’ll remember trying to kill us. I’m not down for a round two.”
“Twilight’s right though –- I don’t see how else we could stop that thing,” Applejack said with a sigh. “But, on the other hoof, I don’t feel like playing apple tree to her boot again."
“We’ll be better prepared now that we know what she’s capable of,” Twilight reasoned. “If worse comes to worse, we also have her weapon.” She looked down at the Gem, who seemed content bear hugging them. “Maybe if we show her the drill, she’ll remember it.”
“Well, I don’t mean to sound rude,” Fluttershy said, looking down at the Gem. “But your appearance might frighten other ponies, even if you don’t mean it to. We haven't exactly seen something like you before.”
“Oh, that’s alright – I can shapeshift!” Spinel said cheerfully, setting the collected ponies down and retracting her arms.
“Can you look more…pony-like?” Applejack asked.
Spinel nodded enthusiastically and her body glowed pink. She shifted down on all fours, taking a pony-like shape and reformed. Pinkie puffed up her cheeks and gasped: the Gem looked nearly identical to her. There were only a handful of differences: her eyes were still black, her cutie mark was three heart-shaped balloons, and, of course, her gemstone was still present on her chest.
“How’s this?” the Gem asked.
“Pinkie perfection,” Pinkie said with a nod. Spinel beamed happily.
“I think that’ll be good enough,” Twilight said. “Spinel, we need you to follow us.”
Over half of Ponyville had gathered around the giant drill on the outskirts of town. They didn’t venture very close to it, and were murmuring nervously to one another when Twilight, her friends, and their newest addition arrived. When they finally got to the drill, they gasped and saw why.
Slowly, the earth around the drill was turning grey. The grass and flowers were wilting and disintegrating. The ground was also starting to crack closest to the drill’s point of impact, and a faint pink glow could be seen within. So far, the radius of the decay was small, maybe only a few feet in diameter, but it was slowly growing.
“I guess that’s what she meant when she said she was going to kill us,” Applejack muttered with a gulp. Fluttershy covered her mouth in horror.
“This got way worse,” Twilight said, turning to her friends. “Fluttershy, go get Zecora. Whatever this stuff is, it’s some sort of poison, so we need an antidote as soon as possible.” The yellow pegasus nodded and flew off without another word. “Applejack, Rarity, get these ponies back to town. It’s too dangerous here.”
“On it,” Rarity said. She and Applejack turned and started ushering the crowd back to town. It didn’t take much convincing.
“What do we do about her?” Rainbow asked, pointing at the pony Spinel, who was gazing up at the drill in awe.
Twilight frowned in thought for a moment, looking at Spinel. She didn’t seem to remember the drill, so her initial plan was bust. “Go get Princess Luna. She works with dreams, so maybe she has some other way we can get Spinel's memories back.” Rainbow nodded and flew off with a rainbow streak trailing behind her.
Spinel finally seemed to notice the others were missing, and looked somewhat scared. “Where’d everyone else go?” she asked.
“Off to get help to stop this,” Twilight said. “Are you sure you don’t remember this drill at all?”
Spinel shook her head and took a step back. She looked frantically at Pinkie. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
“Of course not!” Pinkie said, wrapping one front leg around Spinel, who looked relieved at the thought. Twilight watched her carefully -- there was something there, some flash in Spinel’s mind at the thought of being abandoned. It wasn’t about the drill, but it was progress.
“That’s a relief,” Spinel sighed.
“You seriously don’t remember this drill? About fighting us? Nothing?” Spinel shook her head. “Well, I have something that could help.”
“What’s that?” Twilight asked.
Pinkie reached into her mane and produced an accordion. She started playing it while doing a jig on her hind legs, dancing around Spinel and singing, “Familiar, doesn’t this seem familiar? Familiar, like something you recently did. Familiar, throwing Rainbow in a tree. Familiar, like swinging your cool scythe at me?”
Spinel sat back and applauded. “Nope, sorry. This isn’t ringing any bells.”
“How about this?” Pinkie replaced the accordion with a cow bell and rang it. Spinel giggled and clapped again while Twilight smacked her forehead.
“Pinkie, I don’t think this is going to work,” Twilight said. “We’ll have to wait for Princess Luna…and hope that she can help.”
They only had to wait a few more minutes before Rainbow Dash returned with the princess of the moon herself in a flash of pale blue light. Luna gawked up at the drill.
“So this is what the strange being arrived on?” she asked Twilight, who nodded.
“She’s right here,” Twilight said, gesturing to Spinel. Luna raised an eyebrow at the strange looking pony, who simply waved to her.
“You can change back,” Pinkie whispered.
“Phew, thank goodness,” Spinel remarked. She glowed pink and reverted back to normal, startling Luna. “I can only hold a form for so long.”
“I poofed her and she reformed from that gemstone,” Twilight explained, pointing to Spinel’s heart-shaped spinel. “But she doesn’t remember anything, and as you can see.” She gestured to the ground around the drill. “We need her to shut it off.”
“I see. I could try venturing inside her mind to recover the memories, but it’s a little harder to get into someone’s mind than it is someone’s dreams, especially a creature not from Equestria,” Luna said.
“I’m a Gem,” Spinel said cheerfully.
“Right…well, I don’t know if I can get in a Gem’s mind. I can try.” Luna turned to Spinel. “I’m going to need you to clear your head of thought. Shut your eyes, and focus on nothingness.”
“Okie dokie pokie,” Spinel said, plopping down on her rear and shutting her eyes.
“Everypony, stand back.”
The other ponies took several steps back from Luna and Spinel. The dark allicorn’s horn glowed brilliantly with a light blue aura. It expanded out until the princess was enveloped in a bubble of magic. She shut her eyes, and a transparent version of herself floated out of her and toward Spinel’s head. However, before she could touch the Gem, she was sucked into Spinel’s gemstone.
Spinel’s “mind” was a very light pink void, nearly white. There were several Spinel’s dancing around and doing various tricks for pink holograms of Pinkie Pie. Luna watched them curiously, wondering why the Gem was so fixated on the pink pony.
She walked over and tapped one of the Spinels on the shoulder. The Gem turned to her, and the illusion of Pinkie vanished away. “Apologies for the interruption,” Luna said. “But where are the memories located?”
“Over there,” the Spinel said, pointing at a pedestal shaped like the front of Spinel’s gemstone. It was coated in a bright pink electrical energy.
“Thank you very much.” Luna turned from the Spinel and approached the pedestal. The Spinel resumed her antics, and the hologram she was entertaining reformed and applauded her.
The energy surrounding the pedestal crackled angrily at Luna. Underneath, each facet seemed to glow as if there were a screen within. Luna hummed in thought as she walked around the pedestal, trying to figure the best angle to approach the memory storage. In the end, she decided to try and touch it with one of her hooves.
“Ouch!” she exclaimed, retracting her numb hoof and shaking some feeling back into it. Growling, her horn glowed bright blue and she shot magic at the energy. The energy field shrugged it off as it had her.
Luna grumbled as she thought of something else she could do. Her thoughts were interrupted when someone tapped her on the back. She turned around, expecting one of Spinel’s representations, but was shocked to see Discord.
“Discord?” she exclaimed.
“The one and only,” Discord replied with a bow. “I was looking for you in Canterlot to see if you were interested in a game of checkers, but I heard you were on official business.”
“You can enter minds as well?” Luna asked.
“Oh please, Luna - I live in a chaos dimension. Entering somepony's mind is child's play.” Discord looked past her at the energy-covered pedestal. “So where are we?”
“We’re inside the mind of something known as a Gem. She came to Equestria, threatening to kill Twilight and her friends, and brought a drill that’s injecting some sort of poison into the ground. She was beating them until Twilight somehow…poofed her, as she put it. When she reformed, she couldn’t remember anything. We need her to remember so we can stop it and-“
Discord held up a hand to stop her, an angry glow in his eyes. “This…Gem, tried to hurt Fluttershy?” he growled.
“Well, she tried to hurt them all, but-“
“That tears it!” An oversized mallet appeared in Discord’s hands and he grinned at it. “Or, in this case, smashes it.” He charged the pedestal with it. “Anyone who hurts Fluttershy is getting the full fury of the lord of chaos!”
“Discord! Wait!”
Discord swung the mallet at the pedestal, but it was stopped by the energy field, which electrocuted him to the point of showing his bones like an x-ray. The mallet disintegrated into ash and he stumbled away from pedestal, singed and disheveled, and coughed out a puff of smoke.
“Okay, full fury can wait,” he said dizzily.
“Those are her memories,” Luna explained. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get to them. If we don’t help her remember, a far worse fate awaits Fluttershy and all of Equestria.”
Discord shook himself back to normalcy. “Well, I can do that,” he said. “Now that I know what the energy tastes like.”
“’Tastes like?’” Luna said with a slightly disgusted grimace.
“Yes, all energy has its flavors,” Discord said casually, strolling over to the pedestal. “This one tastes like strawberries!” He produced a pair of shears with blades that glowed pink. He snipped at the energy and created a square hole above the top of the pedestal and stuck his head inside.
“What do you see?” Luna called.
Before Discord could reply, the energy shut on him, nearly trapping his head. Luna moved to help him, but he pulled himself free, his head the shape of a rectangular prism. He shook it back to normal.
“All I could see in her memories were plants,” he said.
“Plants?” Luna frowned. “What kind of plants?”
“Well, there wasn’t that much variety: grass, some flowers, and those shrubs like you and Cay-Cay have at Canterlot.” Discord listed off on his fingers, which turned into the items in question.
“You mean topiaries? Manicured topiaries?” Luna rubbed her chin in thought.
“Whatever you wish to call them.” He waved his hand back to normal and looked back at the pedestal. “I don’t think I can remove the energy field, it just fixes itself back again.”
“You’ve done more than enough, Discord. Thank you for your help,” Luna said with a grateful smile.
“My pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if Celestia is up for a game of checkers.” With that, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished in a flash.
Luna shut her eyes and slowly faded from existence.
Luna gasped awake back in the real world to find Applejack and Rarity and rejoined the group in her absence. The Gem blinked her eyes open, but didn’t seem any different.
“Well?” Twilight asked urgently.
“I couldn’t get her memories free -- they’re blocked by some sort of energy,” Luna said. “With some help, however, I was able to see some of the images in her memories.”
“Like what?” Pinkie asked.
“Plants. For some reason, the most visible images inside her memories were flowers, grass, and topiaries.”
“Flowers and topiaries? That sounds like some sort of garden,” Rarity remarked. At the word, Spinel seemed to perk up, and the others took notice.
“Garden?” she asked, slightly in a daze. “It…sounds familiar.”
“Well, you’re in luck -- I know just the place to take her.”
“I’ll go with you,” Luna said. “Starswirl gave me a spell that should help with her memories once she starts remembering. And it'll help us get some understanding of why she’s here.”
“Alright. Rarity, Princess Luna, and I will take Spinel to the garden,” Twilight said.
“Hey, I’m coming too,” Pinkie said defensively, wrapping her front leg back around Spinel. “I told her I’m not abandoning her and I mean it.” Spinel gave a huge grin.
“Fine, you can come too.” Twilight turned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “You two wait for Fluttershy and Zecora. See if they need any help.”
“Will do,” Applejack said with a nod. Rainbow Dash saluted.
Twilight turned back to Rarity. “So, what did you have in mind?”
"Well, if this doesn't jog her memory, I certainly don't know what will," Rarity said as she led the group under an arch into an expanse of well-trimmed greenery and cobble paths. "This is the garden where I found Mistmane’s flower. There's no other like it in Equestria, save for Mistmane’s latest works in the Crystal Empire."
Spinel's eyes went wide the moment she stepped foot in the garden. "A garden...yes, we used to play in the garden..." she murmured in a trance-like state.
"'We?'" Pinkie asked, following the Gem as she looked around at all the well-kept flowers and shrubs.
"I think it's coming back to her," Twilight said, turning to Princess Luna. "Use the spell."
Luna nodded as a pale blue glow emitted from her horn. A glow of similar color flashed in Spinel's eyes. A smile seemed to come across her face, and the world around them changed.
The sky overhead became a black void full of silver speckles. They were under some sort of glass-like dome. There were pristine white paths going this way and that, and mysterious pillars floated alongside the paths. Plants of various shapes and sizes were in neat planter box-like gardens. There was even a fountain and a few small ponds with lily pads. A few butterflies flittered about. At the far end of the garden was a structure with a small floating prism on a pedestal. Behind them was an elevated platform with a series of stairs winding up to the top.
"My word," Rarity muttered in awe. Pinkie watched one of the butterflies pass with a grin.
"Worry not -- it is only an illusion," Luna told the others. "Her memories are being projected outwards over reality. This should help make them more vivid to her, and hopefully give us some sense of what this could possibly mean."
However, as soon as the illusion had formed, Spinel's face fell. Tears dripped from her eyes. "No," was all she said, and the illusion flickered into new existence.
The plants were browned and dead now, the pristine white now dirty and dull. Grass and vines grew rampant over the paths and up the pillars, and the lily pads were skeletons on still pools that reflected the void above. The fountain no longer flowed, and any other signs of life were gone. The ponies all gasped and recoiled.
"What happened?" Pinkie asked.
"Spinel, where are we?" Twilight asked the Gem, slowly approaching her.
"Back...where I never left," Spinel murmured. Her voice turned fond. "This was...her garden. Our garden. We used to have so much time, playing games, Pink and I. She was always so alone on Homeworld, but here, we could play for as long as we wanted. Until..."
"Until what?" Pinkie asked.
"And who is this Pink?" Rarity asked.
Spinel drooped, and the garden illusion returned to its former life. But this time, the group wasn't alone. Spinel was there in the illusion, as giddy as could be, but there was another, much taller Gem as well. Her hair was like a light pink, messy afro, and she had regal-looking attire. In her stomach was a pink diamond gemstone, facing sideways with its point upwards.
The scene played out, showcasing Spinel performing all sorts of tricks for the towering Gem, who laughed and applauded. Pinkie applauded along. Spinel, on the other hand, watched on as if she were sickened.
"Pink Diamond...my Diamond. I was supposed to be her best friend and make her happy...but I wasn't what she wanted." Spinel's fists clenched. "She wanted a colony all her own, more than anything...more than me. Then one day, it came true -- the other Diamonds, Blue and Yellow, gave Pink her very own planet." Spinel relaxed and smiled fondly. "I was so excited - a brand new place for us to play."
"So...what happened?" Twilight asked.
Spinel looked down. "You guys like songs?" she croaked.
Pinkie opened her mouth with a loud gasp to say something, but Twilight beat her to it. "I don't think now's the best time, Spinel." She flashed an apologetic smile to her frowning friend.
The scene shifted to Pink Diamond walking away towards the other end of the garden, and the illusion Spinel following after her loyally. Each time the tall Gem would halt Spinel and turn back around, Spinel would follow her again. Finally, with a sigh, Pink stopped and knelt down to her.
"'Spinel, how about we play a little game?'" Spinel asked, Pink Diamond's mouth moving as she spoke. "'Just stand right here, and remain very still.'"
"'That sounds like fun,'" the illusion Spinel replied. She promptly did as she was told as Pink continued leaving.
"It's what she wanted," Spinel said, drooping slightly. "That's all I ever wanted: to see her happy, to make her happy. If this was what she wanted, so be it..."
The group watched Pink walk up the stairs to the elevated platform to a flat, crystal pedestal on the top. In a wide beam of light, she vanished skyward. Rarity gasped, covering her mouth.
Meanwhile, the illusion Spinel remained standing, a wide grin on her face. "And there I am," Spinel said bitterly, watching herself. "The playmate who doesn't know she's getting played. I stayed in this garden for thousands of years, waiting."
"Thousands?" Luna and Twilight muttered at the same time, looking at each other in astonishment.
The stars blurred overhead as if time were sped up. Slowly, the garden progressed into its overgrown, deathly state, and the illusion Spinel became overgrown with it. Her look was staring to falter from joy.
"And stupid little me...all I could think was: 'Was I doing this right? Is this how it works?'" Spinel continued. The illusion Spinel's face was shadowed by doubt. Spinel walked past her, past one of the dead pools, towards the prism on the pedestal. Pinkie followed loyally after her.
"Then, in the end, I didn't hear it from her. I didn't even hear it from one of her Gems..." The prism opened and a pink, angular screen flickered to glitching life. The illusion Spinel perked up. She was covered in smudges and her legs were captured by vines, but she was still standing tall.
Both Spinels watched the message that played out on the screen -- one with shocked stupor, the other with bitter malice. Twilight blinked in surprise. "It looks like the forms in that mirror world I visited with Sunset Shimmer," she muttered to the others. Pinkie shushed her loudly, waving a hoof in her direction. Tears were brimming in her eyes, which were locked onto Spinel.
"Pink was gone. She had a son on Earth she gave her form up for...and made all these new friends..." Spinel growled, clenching her fists tightly. "Isn't that just swell? The one thing I was made to do...and...and..." She couldn't finish.
The memory Spinel pulled free from the grass and vines holding her captive and ran to the message. She fell to her knees just as the message ended and the prism shut once more.
"And I just let her...drift away...just like that..." Spinel was struggling not to cry now as she sank to her knees. Her form glowed pink and she bowed her head. Her gemstone slowly rotated back upside down and her heart-shaped pigtails turned loose once more. Her nose and shoulder pads sharpened.
When she retook form, the ponies were blinded as the illusion shattered. They were back in the normal garden in Equestria, and Spinel was back to the form she had upon her arrival. She looked back at them with grit teeth, tears streaming down the lines on her cheeks like trains on tracks. Her eyes were red once more with understandable rage.
Even if Maud Pie and the whole Pie family had been in danger, Twilight and Rarity didn't think Pinkie Pie would've moved any faster than she did the second she regained her vision. In less than a second, she was upon the Gem, hugging her tightly and sobbing. Spinel limply wrapped her noodle arms around her, and finally the faintest hint of a smile returned.
Twilight and Rarity wiped at their own eyes, and even Luna had to brush away a tear. "That is truly a tragedy," the moon princess muttered.
"Spinel...how long..." Twilight began.
"Six thousand years." The Gem shut her eyes as PInkie continued to cry.
"My dear word," Rarity gasped, looking ready to faint.
"You poor gemstone!" Pinkie wailed. Spinel patted her on the head.
"Well, I can see now why you were so fit for revenge, in a state of mind like that," Luna said, stepping forward. "Though it feels like the right course of action, I can tell you from personal experience that revenge will not settle anything. What's done is done."
"Maybe I was being hasty," Spinel sighed, wiping the tears away. "But...I was made for her. I was her playmate. I was supposed to make her happy...and she just leaves me like that?"
"What she did to you was wrong," Twilight said, approaching her along with Rarity. "But others don't deserve to suffer because of it. She's...gone. Yes, she had other friends and did other things, but so can you."
"I don't exactly have experience in making new friends," Spinel admitted with a sigh.
"Then fate has brought you to the right place," Luna said, smiling at Twilight, who nodded in return. "For you are in the presence of Equestria's princess of friendship herself."
"Princess?" Spinel wrinkled her nose in confusion.
"It means she's the leader of that sort of thing," Rarity explained. "I guess in your world it would be...the Diamond of Friendship?" She shrugged.
"You'd really help me? Even after attacking you guys and everything?" Spinel asked, looking up at Twilight.
"We will!" Pinkie practically screamed before Twilight could say anything. She was still crying, but the fountains of tears had died down.
"But first, please stop your machine," Twilight said.
Spinel nodded, getting to her feet. Pinkie still clung to her for dear life, and the Gem had to smile at her affection. She let the pink pony hold on as she and the others left the garden.
Fluttershy and Zecora had arrived when the group returned, and with the others' help had amassed a wide assortment of ingredients for potions. The area of decay had expanded in their absence, but only by a foot or so. However, it was still spreading. Zecora was studying it closely when they approached.
"Such destruction for a machine without a wing. Is this the being who caused such a thing?" she asked, looking at Spinel. The Gem hadn't bothered to shapeshift back to pony form. Pinkie finally released her and nodded to the zebra.
"Is she...safe?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyeing the Gem suspiciously.
"She's calmed down now," Twilight said. "She's been through a lot."
"Then can you please shut this thing off before it kills everything?" Applejack asked, gesturing up to the drill.
Spinel nodded and stepped up. She extended her pinkie out and into a horn shape. Once again, she blew a foghorn-like note, this time up to her machine. The drill lifted out of the ground, the legs spinning in reverse until they turned and locked back together in the ring around the bottom. A dying whirring sound emanated from the drill as it retracted back into an aperture.
"Thank you, Spinel," Fluttershy said softly.
"Yes, now that you have stopped the spread, we can make the ground safe to tread," Zecora agreed, and quickly got to work sifting through her collected ingredients. Fluttershy and the others turned to Spinel, who was looking away embarrassed.
"So what's your deal?" Rainbow asked, leveling an accusing hoof at her.
"Long story short: she was made for another Gem to be her best friend and to make her happy, then this Gem tricked her, and she was abandoned for six thousand years before learning by some sort of weird hologram that the Gem she was made for was gone and had moved on. I think she came here, like, right after that," Pinkie explained at a rapid pace, gesturing this way and that.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked surprised. Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth. She gently fluttered over to the Gem and gave her a hug. "You poor Gem," she muttered. Spinel smiled at her softly and patted her on the head.
"So...what about me?" the Gem asked, looking to Twilight.
"Don't worry: I have the perfect pony in mind to help you make friends," Twilight replied with a confident smile.
Starlight Glimmer’s eye twitched and she tried to keep a straight face as she looked between Twilight, the grinning Pinkie Pie, and the tall, spindly Gem in-between them. Even after all the things that happened after she had joined Twilight and her friends, she wasn’t prepared for what Twilight was asking.
“Let me get this straight,” she said with a shaky grin. “You want me to teach this…Gem…friendship?”
“Of course. You two are a lot alike –- you both lost friends and wanted revenge because of it…and went through great lengths to do so. If Spinel here could learn from anyone while she’s here in Equestria, I feel that she’d learn the most from you and how far you’ve come,” Twilight explained.
“Right…and you just narrowly stopped her from destroying all of Equestria? Like…five minutes ago?” In Starlight’s opinion, the Gem seemed far too calm for the so-called averted disaster.
“I’ll admit, I may have gone over the top,” Spinel said, placing a hand over her gemstone. “But Fluttershy and that striped pony said they could fix it.”
“And why are you here, Pinkie?” Starlight asked, turning to the pink pony. She seemed to be keeping very close to the Gem, which confused Starlight even more.
“I promised Spinel I wouldn’t abandon her, and after all she’s been through, I am not breaking my word now, even if I didn’t Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie said firmly. “Besides, we’re a lot alike too!” She gestured between herself and Spinel.
“Right.” Starlight huffed and took a sip out of the mug on her desk. She looked to Twilight. “So, you really think this is a good idea?”
“Well, what kind of ponies would we be if we neglected sharing our knowledge of friendship with others?” Twilight said, heading to the door. “I’ll go debrief Princess Celestia with Princess Luna.”
“Good luck with that.” Starlight sounded like the one who needed it more as she watched Twilight leave.
“And I’m going to go make some donuts,” Pinkie said, quickly turning to Spinel. “I Pinkie Promise I’ll be back, alright?” Pinkie crossed her chest and put a hoof on her eye. Spinel nodded, then frowned.
“What are donuts?” she asked.
“You’ll see!” And with that, Pinkie darted out of the office, leaving Starlight and Spinel alone.
“So…I have a question,” Spinel began, turning back to Starlight.
“Trust me -- Pinkie does not break her Pinkie Promises. She’ll be back,” Starlight said, taking another fortifying sip.
“That’s nice, but…I thought Twilight was the Princess of Friendship? Shouldn’t she be helping me?”
Starlight gave a tired smile. “Spinel, I often ask myself that sometimes too.” She walked out from behind her desk. “Well, I guess we should get started on the basic lessons. Spike’s out getting more school supplies right now, but he should be back in enough time to join us. Follow me.”
Spinel walked out after her, ducking through the door frame and following her down the corridor. “So this is some kind of…school?” she asked.
“Yep. Twilight’s School of Friendship. I’m just a guidance counselor, but I guess that makes me right for your case,” Starlight explained. “And Twilight’s right -– we’ve both nearly destroyed Equestria looking for revenge.”
“Is it usually this empty?”
“The classes are done for the day.” Starlight glanced back at Spinel. “But, just in case the students are still around, maybe you should shapeshift into a pony again. Twilight mentioned you could do that?”
Spinel nodded and glowed pink, reverting down to her pony form once more. However, her look was drastically altered from before: her eyes were still crimson, black streaks stained down her cheeks, and her gemstone was once more upside down. Starlight gave a nervous grin.
“Sorry, I’m not exactly as cheerful as I was before,” Spinel said. “What sort of lessons are we talking about?”
“Just wait here, and I’ll go to the classrooms and round them up. Pinkie and those other ponies you met, other than Princess Luna and Zecora, are professors here at the school, and they all teach different things about friendship.”
Spinel nodded and plopped down in the hallway, though she looked worried. She watched Starlight disappear around the corner and shuddered the second she was out of sight.
“Come on, Spinel,” she muttered to herself. “You can trust them…Pinkie doesn’t break her promises…they didn’t abandon you like she did…”
As Starlight walked past a broom closet, she heard something rattle inside. Puzzled, she opened it up, only to get shot with a face full of sticky green web and snatched inside. The door slammed shut behind her.
Before she realized what was going on, she felt something being slipped onto her horn. She attempted to conjure some sort of spark to cast some light in the dark closet, but found her magic wasn’t flowing.
A green flash lit up the closet and the unicorn found herself face to face with the former Queen of the Changelings herself: Queen Chrysalis. She had a look of vile delight on her face, her fangs bared. A green glow emanated from the tip of her horn.
“Chrysalis!” Starlight exclaimed, before the Changeling webbed her to one of the supply shelves.
“Thought I’d drop by after classes were over and start my plan,” the queen snickered smugly. “Oh, what’s the matter? Twilight’s bestie can’t use her magic?”
Starlight looked up at her horn to see that a ring made of black rock was fastened on to the base. With her body webbed to the shelf, she couldn’t reach up to remove it.
“I kept some of my throne, just in case I needed to disarm any pesky unicorns…” She leaned in close, and whispered darkly. “Or maybe pesky allicorns.”
“This really isn’t the best time,” Starlight said with a sheepish smile, trying to get free from the web. “I’m kind of handling a special case right now and-“ She was cut off when Chrysalis webbed her mouth shut.
“Oh, well isn’t that a shame?” Chrysalis said with mock concern. In a swirl of green fire, she changed into Starlight’s spitting image. “Once I’m done draining the love out of this special case of yours, it’s off to pick apart your special friends so they’ll never use their power again! And then I will reclaim my hive, whether it be my own Changelings or an army of you ponies!”
She laughed as she left the broom closet, slamming it shut behind her. The left behind Starlight Glimmer could only sigh, and hope that the Gem was as strong as Twilight and Pinkie had made her sound.
Spinel perked up when she heard hoofsteps approaching, and seemed immensely relieved that it was Starlight. “Oh, Starlight, there you are,” she said. “Where are the lessons at?”
Starlight seemed to recoil at the pony’s appearance, eyeing her from head to tail. “Who are you again?” she asked, clearing her throat. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
Spinel frowned and stood up. “Spinel. Don’t you remember? Twilight said you were the best pony for teaching me friendship.”
“Ah, right, right, right,” Starlight said, looking away. “Like I said, long day.”
“Where are the lesson plans? Did you round them up already?” Spinel tilted her head.
“Indeed I did,” Starlight said with a smirk. “They’re right this way, if you’ll follow me.” She turned and walked back down the hall, snickering to herself.
Spinel raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but followed the unicorn anyway. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something seemed off with the way Starlight was acting. She certainly hadn’t seemed that tired when they had first met.
“I must say you have excellent taste in jewelry…even if it is upside down,” Starlight remarked.
“Jewelry?” Spinel halted with a frown. “I thought you said Twilight told you a lot about me.”
“Oh, s-she did,” Starlight said with a nervous chuckle, turning to her. “She told me you were a very special pony who needed my upmost care.”
Spinel took a step back and narrowed her eyes. “Oh, she did, did she?” She took another step back. “Maybe I should get Twilight then…”
Starlight hissed -- her prey was wise to the trap. In a swirl of green fire she shifted back to her normal form. “You’re not going anywhere!” she snarled, opening her fanged maw. A purple glow appeared down her throat as she approached Spinel, but nothing else happened.
The Gem took a few steps back in return. “Who are you?” Spinel demanded. “And where’s Starlight Glimmer?”
“What?” The glow faded and the former Changeling Queen took a step back. “I should’ve drained you of all your love and left you a wiggling weak maggot on the floor! How are you immune?”
A familiar, manic grin spread across Spinel’s muzzle. “Oh, you really don’t know, do you?” she asked darkly, startling Chrysalis. “Well, allow me to introduce you to a little game I was introduced to six thousand years ago!”
Spinel quickly glowed pink and reverted back to normal, taking form and leaping into the air. “It’s called ‘You’ve been had!’” she roared, launching two fists at the Changeling like elastic missiles.
Chrysalis quickly dove out of the way as the punches left holes in the floor. She hissed and lashed out her tongue, intimidated but trying to be intimidating. “Just what kind of monstrosity are you?” she snarled, flaring her wings.
“Like I said, my name’s Spinel!” the Gem exclaimed, landing and launching another punch at the Changeling. Chrysalis took to the air to avoid it, her jagged horn glowing green.
“And I am Queen Chrysalis! No creature shall make a fool of me!” She fired off a green beam of magic, aimed straight for the Gem’s head.
Spinel smirked and stretched herself around the blast as it blew apart the floor behind her. “I think it’s a little late for that.” She launched three of her limbs at Chrysalis, who was able to avoid two out of three -- one of Spinel’s fist swatted her from the air.
Chrysalis rolled to her feet and fired off several more blasts at Spinel, who charged forward. The Gem bent and bounced herself around the blasts until she was close enough to land another punch, sending the former queen skidding back.
The Changeling looked around quickly as the Gem readied another blow. The hallway was too crowded for any of her larger forms. She’d just have to find something to hold her off, or find some way to leave-
Her thoughts were interrupted when the Gem grabbed her by the neck. With an insane look in her eyes, Spinel wound her arm back around, grounding the Changeling against the wall before flinging her back down the hall with the speed of a missile. Chrysalis was barely able to shield her eyes as she was flung out the window and into the school’s courtyard.
She rolled to her feet, only slightly injured –- exoskeletons made for decent armor. However, it wasn’t long before Spinel leapt out of the Chrysalis-sized hole and into the courtyard herself, fists clenched.
“Where’s Starlight?” she roared. “What did you do with her?”
“I got her out of the way, as I will soon do with you,” Chrysalis said with a smirk. In a green swirl of fire, she shifted up into an immense Ursa Minor and roared at Spinel. She swiped at the smaller Gem with her paw, but Spinel sprung out of the way. Coiling her lower body against a wall, Spinel flew full force at Chrysalis and punched her across the jaw.
The Changeling stumbled back, stunned at the impact. Spinel took the opportunity to stretch her arms over and grab two fistfuls of fur on Chrysalis’ cheeks. The Gem proceeded to leap into the air and use the elastic momentum to drive her feet into the Changeling’s chin.
Chrysalis grunted and fell over, shifting back to normal in a swirl of green fire. She shakily got to her feet, panting as Spinel landed across the courtyard from her. “Had enough?” called the Gem.
“Maybe magic can’t beat you, and maybe something big can’t either,” Chrysalis panted. “But how about these apples?” With a sinister grin, she shifted in a swirl of green fire once more. Spinel gasped.
Chrysalis reemerged as a green Spinel that slowly faded to the Gem’s normal colors. Her eyes were the last thing to change, turning a manic red. “You think you’re so tough, but now let’s see how you do against yourself!”
“Bring it, you big fake,” Spinel growled. She wound back and started rapidly spinning her punches into a semi-tornado, charging the false Spinel. Chrysalis just grinned and bounced out of the way.
Spinel chased the Changeling all over the courtyard. Each time Chrysalis tried to land her own blow on Spinel, it was deflected by the Gem’s spinning punches. Eventually, Spinel halted and started bouncing after her imposter, trading elastic punches with her.
“What is going on out here?”
Distracted, both Spinel and Chrysalis punched one another in the cheek and fell to the ground. They got to their feet to find Pinkie Pie standing there at the entrance to the courtyard. She was holding a big platter of steaming, heart-shaped donuts with half-red, half-pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles.
“Pinkie, it’s some weird bug called Queen Chrysalis, she shapeshifted into me!” the Spinel on the right exclaimed.
“Oh no you don’t, you imposter,” snarled the Spinel on the left. “She shapeshifted into me! Don’t let her fool you!”
Pinkie looked between the two with a frown of worry -- now she knew how her friends had felt after her dip in the Mirror Pool. Her ears drooped. “But…which one of you is actually Spinel?”
“You Pinkie Promised me you were coming back!” the right Spinel exclaimed.
“Twilight said Starlight was the perfect pony to help me with my problem!” the left Spinel exclaimed.
Pinkie sat the donuts down and sighed, rubbing her chin. She narrowed her eyes as she studied each Spinel. “You both look exactly the same…” she said suspiciously. “But I bet Queen Chrysalis wouldn’t have one thing the real Spinel would!”
“What’s that?” both Spinels asked.
“The location of where Starlight is right now! Mostly because I can’t find her,” Pinkie said with a sheepish shrug.
“Well, that Spinel said she was in the broom closet!” the left Spinel accused, pointing at the other.
“I did not! You just said that!” the right Spinel said defensively.
“Hmm…well, that idea didn’t work.” Pinkie sighed, then abruptly perked up. “Ooh! I know!” She reached into her mane and produced the scythe handle.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” the left Spinel growled.
“The real Spinel would know where to store this, like she did the first time!” Pinkie called, chucking the scythe handle in-between the two of them.
The Spinel on the left hesitated, but the Spinel on the right extended one hand over and snatched it from the air. She tossed it lightly in one hand and smirked at her counterpart. “Yeah, no imposter can fake what a Gem can do.” And with that, her gemstone glowed red and she slipped the scythe handle inside.
The Spinel on the left took a step back and hissed, shifting back into Queen Chrysalis. “You win this round, but I will have my revenge on Starlight and her little friends!” she snarled. Flittering her wings, she took off before the Gem could react.
Spinel made to charge after her, but Pinkie walked over and stopped her. “Don’t worry, she’s always going on about revenge this and revenge that. We’ve beaten her like twice now,” the pink pony said confidently.
“Who was she?” Spinel asked.
“That’s a long story,” Pinkie said, stretching over and grabbing her donuts. “Which can be told after we try these delicious donuts!”
“And find Starlight?” Spinel took one of the donuts, smiling fondly at the shape and color.
“Yeah, we should probably do that too.” Pinkie nodded. She looked around and hummed in thought. “Where should we look first…?”
“Maybe in that broom closet the not-me mentioned?”
“Great idea!” Pinkie set the platter on top of her mane and proceeded to bounce towards the school door, somehow without knocking off any donuts. Spinel started after her, then stopped. She looked down at her gemstone and set a hand on it lightly.
“Pinkie…you’d really trust me with my Rejuvenator back?” she asked.
Pinkie paused, holding the door open with her tail as she turned back to the Gem. “That scythe? Well, of course, silly,” she said with a beaming smile. “One of the important lessons Starlight was probably definitely going to teach you is: you gotta trust your friends. And I trust you!”
Spinel watched her bounce inside, leaving the door ajar. She smiled fondly, looking down at the donut. Then she frowned as she made her way inside -- what was she supposed to do with it?
Twilight appeared in Starlight’s office in a purple flash, her wings flared in alarm. “I came as soon as I got the message, is everyone alright?” she asked, looking around quickly. She turned to the desk to find Starlight, Spike, Pinkie, and Spinel all sitting around eating donuts. “I thought you said Queen Chrysalis attacked!”
“She did,” Pinkie said around a mouthful of donut.
“She webbed me up in a closet and used a chunk of her throne so I couldn’t use my magic to escape,” Starlight remarked, levitating her donut up to take another bite.
“Then what happened?” Twilight asked.
“Spinel here apparently fought her and scared her off, all by herself,” Spike said, pointing to the Gem. Spinel looked away bashfully.
“It just…felt like the right thing to do,” she said with a shrug. She looked to Twilight with an apologetic smile. “Might’ve damaged your school in the process though. Sorry.”
“Spinel, a simple spell can fix a school,” Twilight said, tucking in her wings and approaching the Gem. “What matters is my friends -- and I guess by extension, your friends -- are alright.”
“What you did, for ponies you don’t even know? That was pretty gutsy,” Starlight agreed. “Thanks for saving me.”
“Sounds like you already got this friend thing pretty down pat,” Spike pointed out, stuffing his face with another donut. Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.
“Indeed.” Twilight levitated a donut over to herself. She smiled at the shape and color. “I don’t even think you need lessons. Maybe you know how to be a good friend, you just needed the right motivation to remember.”
“You did say you were stuck in a garden in space for six thousand years.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Spinel said. She looked at the floor with a huff. “But I don’t think I should be here. I already really messed up with the Injector, and fighting you guys.”
“Hey, I fought them before too. I fought Twilight here twice,” Starlight said, gesturing at the princess with a hoof. “Or…more than twice I guess with the whole time travel thing. Anyway, point is: ponies can reform, and make something better of themselves if shown a little kindness. I’m sure Gems can too.”
“I know you can,” Pinkie said with a wide grin. Spinel chuckled at her.
“Maybe you’re right: maybe Equestria isn’t the place for you,” Twilight continued. “But maybe wherever you were going is.”
Spinel’s shoulders slouched and even her pigtails drooped. She covered her face with one hand. “I was going to Earth to kill Steven Universe…Pink Diamond’s son…” she muttered.
“But,” Starlight said, drawing out the word with a sheepish grin. “You were shown a little kindness, right?”
“I don’t want to kill him anymore, no.” Spinel shook her head. “But would they even take me in like you ponies did?”
Pinkie reached over and removed Spinel’s hand so she could look her in the eyes. “I know they will, Spinel. You and I were put on our respective worlds with a purpose, and that purpose is to make others happy! And I know you can still do it! Get your laugh back, show them what you can do, and I know you can fit in. Pinkie Promise.”
Spinel smiled softly and mimicked Pinkie as she crossed her chest and covered her eye. The two shared a giggle as Starlight and Twilight smiled at one another.
“So, you can leave still, right?” Spike asked, interjecting the tender moment. Twilight and Starlight frowned at him, and he shrugged. “I just wanted to know, in case we needed to do some kind of spell. Helpful to know beforehand.”
“I think I just messed up the coordinates the first time,” Spinel said. “But the Injector should have enough power to get me to Earth.” She looked between the ponies and the dragon. “I can’t thank you all enough for…well, everything.”
“What are friends for?” Pinkie asked, giggling. And the others laughed along with her, even Spinel.
Spike and Starlight joined them when they returned to the drill. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were busy going around the decayed area, sprinkling a pink-colored potion on the ground while Rarity, Fluttershy, and Zecora watched.
“How in Equestria did I not notice something this big?” Spike remarked, gawking up at the floating drill. It hadn’t budged since Spinel had deactivated it, but the ominous pink sky around it still made it look threatening.
“Well, Twilight’s list did say go to Canterlot just for scroll paper,” Starlight said, frowning at the headmare.
Twilight chuckled nervously. “What? I know for a fact they have the highest quality paper. Only the best for the students, after all.”
Zecora turned to the group and smiled at Spinel. “Ah, Spinel, you will be happy to know, I have found just the cure to make things regrow. So, have no fear of left behind blight, once you embark on your homeward flight.”
“Thanks,” Spinel said, rubbing her arm and looking away. “I’m just glad you were able to clean up my mess.” She perked up when she realized a familiar presence wasn’t nearby and quickly looked around. “Where’d Pinkie go?”
The other ponies blinked and looked around themselves, surprised their energetic friend had managed to sneak away so quietly. “Where in tarnation did she go?” Applejack remarked.
“I think I saw her heading to town,” Rainbow Dash said. “She was in quite a hurry.”
“Don’t worry,” Twilight said, smiling up at the Gem. “I’m more than sure she’ll be here to see you off.” Spinel smiled and nodded.
“Like Pinkie said, I’m sure this Steven Universe will take you in,” Starlight said. “Just…be yourself. Preferably the one who doesn’t try to kill him.” She grinned sheepishly at Twilight’s scowl.
“SPINEL!” came a familiar shout, and all at once the group was enveloped in a dust cloud. They coughed as it cleared away, and found a panting Pinkie Pie standing in front of the Gem. “Oh good, you’re still here.”
“Where’d you run off to, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Normally, this is something I’d only do with Maud -- my sister who I know you’d love and would love you because, ya know, you’re a living gemstone and that’s her thing -- but I made you something!” Pinkie said at a rapid pace.
Spinel tilted her head. “What’s that?”
Pinkie reached into her mane and produced a bracelet, adorned with seven rock candy crystals. They came in seven different colors: blue, orange, yellow, purple, white, mint green, and pink. The pink candy was the largest and heart-shaped, square in the middle of the other six.
Spinel took it and admired it with a smile. She looked to Pinkie. “It looks nice, but what is it?” she asked.
“It’s a rock candy bracelet! You wear it on your wrist,” Pinkie said, gesturing with her hoof. She smiled up at Spinel. “You seem like you have a hard time with being alone, which I completely get. This way, you’ll always have a reminder that you have friends, somewhere. You’re supposed to eat it, but, it also lasts a long time, so also good for a reminder!”
Spinel sniffled and slipped the bracelet on, admiring it. Then she scooped up Pinkie in a tight hug and nuzzled her cheek against her curly mane. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” she muttered.
“From one Element of Laughter to another: you’re welcome,” Pinkie replied, hugging her back.
The pair released one another and Spinel wiped at her eye with her palm. She turned to the other ponies with a sad smile. “Thank you all so much for steering me in the right direction.”
“That’s what friends do,” Twilight said.
“Maybe we did get a rough start,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But, you learned your lesson.”
“And that’s the first step on the road to friendship,” Rarity agreed.
“Safe travels,” Fluttershy murmured.
“And if you do come to visit again, how about ridin’ something less threatening?” Applejack asked with a chuckle.
Spinel giggled. “Will do.” She extended her arms out and pulled all of the ponies, and Spike, into one last hug. “For a bunch of four-legged, multi-colored shrimps, you ponies are alright.”
“And dragons,” Spike interjected. Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile.
Spinel released the group and coiled her lower half. In a single bound, she leapt to the top of the drill and turned back to the ponies. With a smile, she flashed them a peace sign, before disappearing from the edge.
A few seconds later, the drill gave a whirring noise and slowly lifted into the sky until it was out of sight. The ponies waved to it all the while until at last it had turned into a sparkle in the sky.
“You think she’s going to be alright?” Starlight asked Twilight.
“I know she is,” Pinkie said to herself with a hopeful smile, tears in her eyes.
“How’s the future look, Garnet?” Steven asked as he reclined on the lighthouse hill. The rest of the Crystal Gems -- Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl -- were sprawled out next to him. “Do we all just stay like this forever?”
Garnet smiled and adjusted her shades, but abruptly sat upright. “No!” she gasped.
An ominous wind buffeted the group and the evening sky turned pink. Steven and the Gems looked up and got to their feet as the clouds parted. A massive Injector slowly lowered from the sky until it was hovering a few feet from the ground. The group backed away from it.
A figure appeared on the edge of the heart-shaped crystal at the top, her body shadowed. She had wild-looking pigtails and glowing pink eyes.
“Hey! Are you Steven Universe?” she called down.
“Um…yes?” Steven offered with a nervous grin.
The figure grinned. “Perfect.”
She leapt down and landed on the ring around the bottom edge of the Injector, Spinel’s form becoming visible. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” she said. “You must be Amethyst, and you must be Garnet. And Pink Diamond’s Pearl...well, isn’t that just…swell?”
“It can’t be,” Pearl muttered.
“Oh, but it can be. And it is,” Spinel said, running a hand over her pigtails. “You might not recognize me -- I’ve had to go through a lot.”
In another bounce, she landed on the ground in front of Steven and the group. They took a hesitant step back. She extended a hand -- and by literal extension, her arm -- over to Steven. “My name’s Spinel. I’ve heard a lot about you. All of you.”
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you, Spinel,” Steven said, shaking her hand. She retracted it back and Pearl covered her mouth as she stepped forward.
“This was not the future I predicted,” Garnet remarked, adjusting her shades.
“Spinel…it really is you. My stars…I…I…” she muttered, tears brimming at her eyes.
“Who is she?” Amethyst asked. Spinel’s eye twitched.
“I was Pink Diamond’s playmate, before she came to Earth,” Spinel explained, placing a hand over her gemstone. “But she…abandoned me in her garden…for the last six thousand years.”
“My stars, Spinel…I’m so sorry,” Pearl said. She reached out and set a hand on her shoulder pad. “I never knew what happened to you. I thought she might’ve bubbled you, or…or…you had been shattered. I had no idea you…you were abandoned like that. And then with everything that happened here…you slipped my mind.”
“I can’t believe mom would do something like that,” Steven said. He looked back at the Gems and sighed. “Actually, I can believe it.” He turned to Spinel. “So, what happened, Spinel? How come you’re here now?”
“I, uh, caught your little message to the universe, actually,” Spinel said with a sheepish grin. “So…I guess I should thank you, for telling me the truth, in a way.”
“What’s that supposed to be?” Amethyst asked, looking up at the Injector. Spinel chuckled nervously up at it.
“Just a…Mega Injector…full of bio-poison.” She turned to the Gems. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, you have plenty of time to tell us, over donuts,” Steven said, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Spinel, welcome to Earth.”
“Thanks, it’s nice to be here, instead of that garden,” Spinel said, grinning geuninely. “A bunch of dead plants can get kinda dull.”
“Well, you’ll find there’s a lot more than dead plants here on Earth,” Garnet said with a welcoming smile. “You’ll never have to be alone again.”
“Follow us, we’ll show you around,” Steven said, gesturing towards the beach below the lighthouse hill. The other Gems were already walking towards it.
“And then maybe we can find a parking space for your Injector!” Amethyst called back.
As Steven walked away next, Spinel looked down at the rock candy bracelet on her wrist. The pink heart shimmered in the evening light and she smiled sadly down at it in remembrance.
“Yeah, maybe I’m not alone…” she muttered to herself, before walking after the others. Some bounce was already returning to her step.
