It was a warm spring day, and the wind blowing gently through the trees in Canterlot High School’s new statue garden, carrying the scent of hundreds of different flowers and plants. Animals scurried about as birds sang their song, the perfect picture of peace.
Until a certain student with red and yellow hair entered, that is.
Upon her arrival, all sound stopped, the animals rushing to hide as she strode along. She ignored them, however, and didn’t even glance at any of the statues the students had made. She just stared down at her black boots, eyes tracing the purple flame decals with every step she took.
Ahead of her, at the very end of the central pathway of the garden, stood the largest of the statues, easily as tall as the school building behind her, even while crouched down. It was humanoid in shape, though possessed two extra sets of arms - the bottom pair were crossed over it’s abdomen, the middle pair held out and connected palm-to-palm, and the upper pair held above it’s head, palms pointing up. The head itself seemed to be wearing a helmet of some kind, with a large, starburst-shaped hole in the front revealing the strangest amalgamation of eyes - one large eye sat in the centre of the monolith’s forehead, more in each of the six points of the starburst hole. Stone hair extended from the helmet in two places - a small tuft in the top-centre of the statue’s forehead; and long, wavy hair flowing down it’s back, coming out where the helmet cut off. The figure also seemed to be wearing a full-body suit with large, angular shoulder pads under what seemed to be a jacket of some kind, though only its upper arms had sleeves as the others merely fed through holes in the jacket’s sides.
Sunset Shimmer stopped in front of the statue, taking a seat in the small wooden bench sat opposite the monolith.
“What is it about you?” she asked, shrugging off her studded leather jacket. She reached behind her, touching at the orange-coloured gemstone embedded in the space between her shoulderblades, and sighed. “I kinda wish Mom had left a how-to guide or something for this thing,” she muttered, pulling her hand back around and staring at her fingertips. “At least then I’d know why it tingles whenever I’m anywhere near this statue.”
Unbeknownst to her, a conversation regarding that very subject was happening right in front of her.
“What the hell is she doing back here again?!”
“Calm it, you clod!”
“Don’t you talk to me like that, little man! I can crush you in one hand!”
“Obsidian, Zircon, cut it out! You’re making Jade cry again!”
“Sorry Topaz.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologising to, am I?”
“Hey, sorry Jade.”
“Yeah, sorry. Didn’t mean to flip out on ya like that, mladshaya sestra.”
*sniff* “It’s okay, guys. We’re all pretty stressed in here.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“Well we all agreed to it. We had to keep the people safe, and let’s face it. We just attract danger.”
“I still don’t get why that’s so bad. The lyudi could handle themselves just fine.”
“Solaris couldn’t.”
“...”
“Anyway, I’m pretty sure that’s Sunstone.”
“What? No way, Sunstone ran off into that portal almost thirty thousand years ago. Why would she come back here?”
“To taunt us, the arrogant little-”
“Obsidian! We all know she wasn’t like that.”
“Oh yeah? Then why the hell did the cyka run off like that when we were fighting her, huh?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Whaaat?”
“C’mon guys, let’s face it. We were all pretty terrified when we first got sent here. Maybe Sunstone just never got over it, and she just pushed her over the edge.”
“Y’know, I never thought of it that way.”
“But I still say that isn’t Sunstone!”
“Oh, c’mon Topaz! We can all feel Sunstone’s energy coming from the devushka!”
“You know… There is something that might mean you’re both right.”
“Whadd’ya mean, Jade.”
“Don’t you guys remember what got us here in the first place? Why we’re these people, why we’ve got these powers?!”
“Uh…”
“Actually…”
“Thing is…”
“Oh my- you don’t, do you!? Well I do…”
London Anime Con. A massive gathering for lovers of cartoons and anime alike.
Five friends - each one an outcast in their own right - walked through the main door after having waited in line for what felt like hours, but was most likely a few mere minutes, chatting amiably about whatever came to mind.
“That is too God damn funny, man!” one of the two men in the group cried, laughing uproariously. He was a short fellow, standing at a mere five feet two inches, his skin covered in a light blue body paint underneath a white muscle shirt and dark blue jeans, a dark blue hoodie held in the crook of his arm. He ran a hand through his short black hair, breathing heavily in an attempt to ease his aching lungs.
“Thanks, Zircon!” the second man replied with a laugh of his own, slapping the shorter man’s shoulder. Where the first man was quite short, he was a behemoth, standing at an intimidating seven feet. He, like the first man, was covered in body paint, though his was of a much deeper, royal blue colour, with a black jumpsuit covering his body and a matching helmet in his head. A tuft of red-dyed hair stuck out from the top of his forehead, looking for all intents and purposes like a small horn.
“Chill out there, Obsidian!” a young woman cut in, placing one hand on both of their shoulders. She, like the others, had covered herself in paint, though hers was a brilliant orange - the colour of the sun. Bright red hair with yellow streaks framed her petite face, a light blue sundress adorning her body as she strode past the two men. “Remember people, we’re here to have a good time!”
Two more women - one painted a yellow-gold colour with white hair tied into shoulder-length pigtails and dressed in a black crop top and mini skirt with white sneakers; the other painted a jade green colour with matching white hair, though hers hung down to her waist and was much fluffier, wearing a black bodysuit with green stripes running down the sides and dark red boots, a large white fur collar hanging just below her neck - stepped up, the yellow one smiling brightly and the green one doing the same, though much more shyly.
“C’mon, Jade!” the yellow girl shouted, dragging ‘Jade’ along behind her. “Let’s hit the snack stands! Maybe we’ll find some chiiiiaaaaaaaaaps!” She added the last line with a sly grin, watching in satisfaction as the shy girl’s lips curled upwards.
“Sure, Topaz,” Jade replied simply, following behind her more energetic friend. “You coming Sunstone?”
The orange-painted girl turned to face her with a smile. “Alright, Jade. Be right behind you guys.” She turned back to the two boys, who had started arguing over what appeared to be a CD stall. She sighed, grabbing each by the arm and pulling them along as she followed after the other two members of their group.
A few hours passed, with each person managing to coerce the others into doing something only they wanted to do. Zircon pulled everyone into a panel for the voice actors of some anime about pirates, Topaz did the same for the voice actors of something called ’Soul Eater’. Obsidian got them all to partake in a Cosplay Test of Strength - where he somehow managed to beat a man dressed as the Red Hulk in an arm wrestle, whereas everyone else had lost immediately - and Jade got them all trying out a parkour course promoting the newest game in the Assassin’s Creed line, which she completed in under a minute - much to the spectator’s amazement, and her modest embarrassment. Finally it was Sunstone’s turn, and she took full advantage of it as she lead the group into the area designated to stalls selling merchandise from the various anime, games and cartoons of the world - right where they had started.
“Okay!” the orange-painted woman shouted, clapping her hands together to gain their attention. “We’re not going to leave until everyone has at least one souvenir! And don’t complain about having no money,” she added, smirking at each of her friend’s half-open mouths. “Because I have Daddy’s credit card!”
With a cheer of joy, the friends ran to the nearest stall and began searching the wares. When they found nothing they wanted, they moved on to the next one, then the next one, then the next one, and so on until they had reached the other end of the hall.
“How can there be nothing that any of us want!” Sunstone cried, gritting her teeth in frustration. “And after I went to all the trouble of taking this from Daddy’s pocket!”
“It’s okay, Sunstone.” Jade said, her soft voice calming the orange girl somewhat. “It’s the thought that counts, right?”
“Right!” Topaz chimed, pulling both of the other girls into one-armed hugs that were returned with a laugh. “Who cares if everything being sold today is complete and utter garbage!”
“Uh, Topaz?” Zircon called, watching as many angry vendors levelled venomous glares at them. “Try not to insult them so loudly, please?”
“Oops! Sorry!”
“Hey, uh, guys!?” Obsidian called, poking his head out from a small alleyway between two stalls - barely noticeable if you weren’t expressly looking for it. “I found another stall back here!”
“What?” Sunstone asked sceptically as she and the others followed Obsidian to the mysterious stall. “Why would anyone set up here? Can’t be very good for business.”
“I assure you, my dear,” a raspy voice cut in, causing Sunstone to jump. She looked to see the vendor standing from behind his little desk, dressed as The Merchant from Resident Evil Four. “I only sell to those worthy enough to find the stall in the first place. You, however, may feel free to browse my wares.”
The five friends took one look at the Merchant’s stall and immediately had to fight the drool trying to escape their mouths. There on the table, sat in a small group as though to tease them even more, was a set of gemstones matching the names they had been using all day. A blue Zircon gem, set in the underside of a light blue glove, right-handed and positioning the gem on the wearer’s wrist; a golden-yellow Topaz gem, set in a mirrored glove to Zircon, meant for the underside of someone’s left wrist; an Obsidian gemstone with a dark blue harness that would leave the gem in the centre of the wearer’s chest; a headband with a large, circular Jade gemstone with black lines over it, making the gem look like an eye, that would cover the wearer’s eyes - though upon closer inspection, they found that there was a small screen on the inside of the band providing a perfect view of the world; and finally, a Sunstone in the shape of a blazing sun, set in a harness that would place it right between the wearer’s shoulder blades. Each of the harnesses and gloves matched the colour of their body paint perfectly, and would clearly be invisible once worn.
“How much!?” Topaz demanded, pointing to the set.
“Hmm…” the Merchant placed a hand to his chin, thinking for a moment. “Because they seem to fit you all so perfectly, I’ll give you the whole set for just…” He paused again, eyeing the items in question. “A hundred and fifty pounds.”
“That much?” Sunstone winced, going over the math in her head. “But that’s make each one thirty pounds!”
“I assure you miss,” the Merchant said, holding the sunstone one up for her to see more clearly. the gemstones are of the highest quality.”
“Well…” The orange-painted girl looked to each of her friends, noting the pleading looks in their eyes, before turning back to the Merchant. “I guess… Alright. You’ve got a deal. You take credit?”
“But of course!” The Merchant bent down once more, rummaging around under his table. “Now I know it was here earli-ah!” He came back up, holding a small machine with two card slots in it, one on each side. “Found the blasted thing! Now, if you’ll just place your card in there and punch in your code, it’s already connected to my personal account.”
Sunstone did as told, taking the various gemstone-embedded articles and distributing them to their respective owners. She hid behind Obsidian’s back as she slipped her own on beneath her dress, marvelling at how she barely felt the material of the harness at all.
The Merchant looked to them all with a hidden grin. As each gem flashed it’s respective colour, his grin grew wider, but still none of the new owners realised. It wasn’t until Jade disappeared in a cloud of green dust, leaving her gem to fall to the floor before it being swallowed by a miniature black hole, that they knew something was amiss.
“What did you do to my mladshaya sestra!” Obsidian roared, rearing back as Zircon shared Jade’s fate, poofing into a light blue mist before his gem was claimed by the black hole. Obsidian roared again - a wordless rage - and swung. However, before his fist could connect with the smug-looking Merchant, he too poofed, becoming a light grey powder as his gem fell to the mercy of the black hole in the ground, which swallowed him up just like the others. Topaz ran to hug Sunstone, tears streaming down her terrified face, but became a yellow mist as soon as they touched. Sunstone watched in horror as her last friend’s gem fell into the clutches of the ravenous black hole before her gaze snapped to the Merchant once more. As she looked into his dark, soulless eyes, she found herself singing an altered version of her favourite show’s theme song.
“If you’re evil and you’ve ruined lives,
You can count on the five of us hunting you down.
You made this happen, watched us with a sick lust!
So we’ll try our best, and we will cope as just us!
“We are the Displaced Gems,
We’ll try to save the day.
And if you think we can’t,
We’ll still try to find a way!
That’s why people across. The. Worlds.
Believe in…”
Before she could finish, her vision went black, indicating that she too had fallen to the strange fate that had befallen her friends.
“Remember now?”
“Oh yeah…”
“Didn’t we swear revenge on that guy?”
“Probably. But I wanna know how you knew what happened to the rest of us. You were the first one to get poofed!”
“You guys told me. Sunstone even re-sang the song for me.”
“Huh. Well, now what?”
“Didn’t you say something about Topaz and Obsidian both being right, Jade? What did you mean by that?”
“Well don’t you guys remember what show our costumes - and now us - were based on?”
“Yeah, Steven Universe. Why?”
“Wait… You’re not saying…”
“Sunstone pulled a Rose Quartz. Wherever that portal went, after almost thirty thousand years, Sunstone found love. She gave up her life to give birth to that- wait. Where’d she go!?”
“Sestra, we’ve been talking for hours. It’s night.”
“What!? How did that happen?”
“Stories tend to pass time real quick.”
“Huh. So, uh… What now?”
“I Spy?”
“Oh, God no! Not that again!”
“Really? It’s not that bad a game, Obsidian!”
“It is after twenty nine thousand years of playing it non-stop!”
“Guys, shut up!”
“Well!”
“I told you not to talk to me like that, little man!”
“No, he’s right. You guys seriously need to shut up right now.”
“You too, sestra?”
“What’s going on?”
“You don’t feel that?”
“Feel wha- Is that…?”
“Someone’s using the portal!”
“Yeah. Jeez, didn’t someone use it in the last cycle, too?”
“I get the feeling we’re not gonna be this close with each other after today guys.”
“What do you mean, sestra?”
“We’re cracking.”
“Wait, we’re gonna have our bodies back?”
"Whoo! Finally, a chance to go to the bathroom!”
“...wow.”