We Are The Crystal Ponies

Ebony Pie's POV.
It's been a quiet day. Nearly over a week since the Red-Eye incident. Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet were away on a mission. Since I'm still learning how to control my Gem powers, I stayed behind to started writing songs and tuning my human mother's bass.

'Let's go in the garden,
You'll find something waiting.
Right there, where you left it,
Lying upside down.
When you f-' "Ebbie!"

I opened my eyes and gasped with a squeak. I looked around and saw Quartzite arrive, holding a parcel in his arms. "Quartzite. You startled me." I told him.

Quartzite scratched the back of his neck, "Oh, sorry." Then showed my his parcel, "Check it out. My parcel finally came."

I smiled, "That's awesome, Quartzite." Then asked, "What is it, exactly?"

"It's gonna help us save the world." He answered with a huge grin, then gave me the parcel, "It's also an anniversary gift from me to you."

"Anniversary for what?" I asked.

"The anniversary of us becoming members of the Crystal Gems." He answered with stars in his eyes.

I giggled, "That's very sweet of you, Quartzite." Then my smile faded, "But I don't have a gift for you."

He smiled, "Your song would make a great gift, when it's finished."

He and I shared a lighthearted giggle. Then the house's windows lit up for a second.

"Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are back!" Quartzite announced and made his way up the stairs.

I set my bass by the stairs and followed after the small Unicorn colt. Quartzite opened the door and the Gems were back, but Garnet was covered in feathers, Pearl was holding a small statue, and Amethyst was carrying a large egg toward the fridge.

"Hello, Quartzite. Hello, Ebony." Garnet greeted.

"Amethyst, we do not need that." Pearl shouted at Amethyst, "It's not going to fit in the fridge."

"What? I got this." The purple Quartz Pegasus argued.

She opened the fridge and removed the tray with milk and bagels. She dropped the tray and put the egg into the fridge.
Closed the door and gave Pearl an 'I-told-you-so' look, "Look it fits! Ha!" Then she got giddy with excitement, "Oh, man, we could make a big omelet or a quiche or big sunny-side-ups! We can bake it!"

I raised a brow and scratched my head, "Uhh... What happened out there?"

"We fought a giant bird." Pearl answered, then explained, "We're only here for a second. We've got to go back out."

"What? Why?" Steven exclaimed.

"We have to place this Moon goddess statue on the top of the lunar sea spire before midnight." She answered.

The Moon Goddess Statue was a small statue of a person holding a large diamond. I felt like I've seen that face before.

"Without it, the whole place will fall apart!" Pearl continued, then looked at me, "Oh, Ebony, you should have seen the spire in its hay-day." Her pearl showed a hologram image of Gems socializing around a fountain, "It was an oasis for Gems on Earth." Then frowned and closed the hologram, "It's abandoned now, but we can still save it with this statue."

Quartzite smiled with stars in his eyes, "Wha- that's perfect!"

"What? Why?" Pearl asked

"Because Ebbie and I can help carry it for you in this!" Quartzite answered.

He put his parcel on the floor and opened it. From the parcel he revealed a backpack, shaped like a cheeseburger.

"A hamburger?" Pearl asked.

"It's a novelty backpack shaped like a cheeseburger!" Quartzite explained, then sighed, "Aw, I blew it. I was just gonna wear it one day, and you guys would be like, 'Dang, Steven, that's so cool', but this is obviously important Gem business."

Pearl nodded, "Yes, so you and Ebony should let us take care of it."

"What?" Quartzite exclaimed, then grabbed my shirt, "Ebbie's a Gem!" Then pointed to the star on his shirt, "I'm wearing a star too."

"But, Quartzite, you're just a Pony." I pointed out, "There are some places that humans cannot survive. It's best if you stay here."

"But you've still got a lot to learn, Ebony." Pearl pointed out.

"So let them come." Amethyst encouraged, "It'll be educational."

"Hmm." Pearl thought for a moment, then shrugged, "All right. You can carry it in your hamburger."

Pearl gave Quartzite the statue and Quartzite opened the backpack. He gasped, "Check this out everything's a pocket! Even the cheese is a pocket! I can fit a lot more stuff in here. Give me a minute. I'll pack extra supplies."

Then he ran off to pack some other stuff into the backpack.He practically packed everything in my room.

"Kid, don't shake me!" A familiar voice spoke from the bedroom.

Quartzite chuckled, "Mr. Queasy!"

"Ohh, I got a medical condition." Mr. Queasy responded.

"You're definitely gonna come in handy." Quartzite smiled, as he put the doll into the backpack.

"Quartzite, we've got to go!" I called.

"Uh, coming!" Quartzite answered.

He ran down the stairs and gave me the backpack. I put the backpack behind my back and we joined the other Gems on the Warp Pad.

Pearl noticed how stuffed the backpack was, "Whoa, Quartzite, did you bring Ebony's whole room?"

"Back that thang up." Amethyst told me. I backed up a bit.

"Let's warp." Garnet instructed.

The Warp Pad activated and began transporting us across the world. Quartzite was floating a little out of control.

"Do you remember how to do this?" Pearl asked me and Quartzite.

I nodded and stayed close. Quartzite, however, was floating away, laughing. He head peeked out of the warp tunnel.

Pearl pulled him back in, "Keep your head in. Come on!"

We arrived at our destination. The Sea Spire. Quartzite stopped floating and landed with a thud.

He recovered and gasped, "The sea spire!"

The Gems were silent. The spire looked similar to an underwater ruin. Like the missing piece of Atlantis. And it was getting weaker by the second.

"It wasn't like this a hundred years ago." Pearl gasped.

Garnet adjusted her shades, "I'm sensing structural instability."

Quartzite nodded, "Oh, yeah." Then shook his head, "That's never good."

I noticed the ground around Quartzite about to give out under his weight.

"Quartzite! Watch out!" I shouted.

Quartzite looked at me, "What?"

I dashed and tackled him out of the way as the cliff crumbled and fell into the whirlpool below us.

Pearl gasped, ran toward me and hugged me tightly, "All right, hold on. We're taking Quartzite and Ebony back!"

I struggled to pry free from Pearl's grip, "Pearl, I'm fine."

"My achin' stomach!" A voice moaned from my backpack.

I looked at the backpack, "What the-?"

Quartzite reached in and grabbed the doll he packed, "Oh, Mr. Queasy!"

He shook him and the doll moaned again, "Kid, you're killin' me."

I pried free from Pearl's grip, sighed and placed my hands over Quartzite's shoulders, "Quartzite, I'm sorry about this, but you're leaving me no choice. I want you to stay and help, I really do, but I'll never forgive myself if something happen to you here."

Then I stood up and hardened my voice slightly, "I'm really sorry, Quartzite, but as the daughter of Rose Quartz, I'm commanding you to go back home and wait for us there. Can you do that for me?"

Quartzite gave me a sad look, but then he nodded, "Alright, Ebbie. As you wish."

He put Mr. Queasy back into the backpack, then made his way back to the Warp Pad. He closed his eyes with a pout and the Warp Pad took him back home.

Pearl smiled at me, "Well done, Ebony."

Amethyst punched my arm, "Yeah, way to use your mother's authority."

"Enough." Garnet spoke up, "We have to move."

With that, the Crystal Gems and I made our way to the spire. Garnet stopped us close to the cliff.

"What's the hold-up?" Amethyst asked, "We can clear this easily."

Garnet shook her head, "No. The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us below."

To demonstrate, she picked up a rock and threw it toward the window of the spire. The rock stopped in mid-air and dropped into the whirlpool below us.

"So we can't jump?" Pearl asked.

A memory hit me, as I opened the cheeseburger backpack. Quartzite packed some sweaters into the patty pocket, in case he and I got cold.

Amethyst noticed what I was doing and asked, "What are those for?"

"They were for keeping warm." I answered, as I grabbed two sweaters and tied two of the sleeves together, "But I got a better idea."

I threw one of the sweaters threw a diamond-shaped hole above the window, like a grappling hook, of sorts. I took a deep breath and jogged toward the edge of the cliff.

The Gems gasped, the closer I got, "Lin-Lin!" "Wait!" "Whoa!"

I leaped off the edge and got caught be the magical vortex. I pulled me down, but I kept a strong grip on the sweaters.

"She's getting sucked down!" Amethyst shouted in worry.

"Ebony!" The others cried.

I mustered my strength to stand against the wall and charged up toward the window. I made it across and the pulling stopped. I fell to one-knee to catch my breath.

"Nora, way to go!" Amethyst cheered, then shouted to the others, "Come on, guys!"

She used her whip like a grappling hook, grabbed Pearl and Garnet and copied what I did, "Ebony-Style!"

The Gems made it across.

"Don't ever do that again!" Pearl shouted, as she recovered from what just happened.

I frowned and rubbed my arm. Garnet walked ahead, patting my back as she passed. Amethyst followed, nudging my arm, as she passed.

Then Pearl smiled at me, "But it was pretty great."

I regained my smile and followed the Crystal Gems through the spire.

Pearl couldn't help but look around the worn-out oasis tower, "Oh, no, no, no. This is even worse than the outside. Ugh! That's oh! Oh, this didn't used to be so oh, and the water damage this pillar oh, and this had a head."

We stopped at a four-armed statue. Pearl looked at me, "Oh, Eleanor, once the statue's in place, it'll restore all of this to its former glory-"

She yelped, as shrimp-like creatures appeared from behind the statue. Upon reaction, Pearl summoned her spear and struck the statue. The top half of the statue fell into the whirlpool.

"What were those creatures?" I asked.

"Crystal shrimp." Pearl answered, withdrawing her weapon.

Then Amethyst called, from the top of the stairs, "You guys, we got a problem."

Pearl and I caught up with Amethyst and Garnet, only to find that our path was blocked by more of the crystal shrimp creatures.

"It's an infestation!" Pearl gasped, "And we have to pass through there to get to the top."

I narrowed my eyes at the shrimp. They're not attacking us, but that doesn't mean they're harmless. They look like they're searching for something.

I dug into my backpack, while Pearl spoke, "We need to clear a path." She used holograms from her pearl to demonstrate, "Amethyst, if you go around to the side and disturb them with a spin attack and, Garnet, if you move to the ceiling and strike this exact spot - then I can advance with my-"

I cut her off, as I threw three breakfast bagels at the shrimp. The shrimp noticed the bagels and gathers to eat them, clearing a path for us.

"Brilliant." Garnet smiled.

"Oh, hey. What do you know?" Amethyst smiled.

"Uh... Uh...." Pearl was lost for words. She regained herself and asked, "How did you know that would work?"

"Simple biology." I shrugged casually. "Any animal, magical or not, can be lured by food. No harm done."

"Hippie." Amethyst joked, as she and Garnet walked ahead.

I lightly giggled and followed closely.

"I just want everyone to know my plan would have also worked." Pearl muttered as she followed close behind me.

The Crystal Gems and I walked up the stairs, to another room. Before we could continue, Garnet froze and shouted, "Watch out!"

Within seconds, an arched wall gave in, creating a river blocking our path.

"What are we gonna do?" Amethyst asked.

Then the Gems looked at me.

I noticed and tilted my head, "What? Me?"

"What have you got?" Garnet asked me.

Then Amethyst started chanting, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!" She looked at Pearl, "Pearl, come on."
Pearl smiled, "Ohh, all right."

Then both the Quartz and Pearl started chanting, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!"

I rubbed my chin in thought, then I looked to my left. A pillar was standing alone. It looked long enough to cross the river with.

"Garnet, you think you can knock that pillar across?" I asked Garnet.

Garnet looked at the pillar. She walked over and kicked the bottom of the pillar, knocking it into the air. While in the air, Garnet elbowed the pillar over the river. I was right, it perfectly reached over the other end.

"Well done, Ebony." Garnet praised me, as she walked across.

I smiled and the rest of us followed after her. The rest of the path to the top of the Sea Spire was clear and easy. Once we reached the top, an alter-like pedestal was waiting for us.

"This is it. The Moon Goddess Pedestal." Pearl gasped, then she looked up at the moon, "And the moon is almost overhead!" She smiled with excitement, "It's not too late to save this piece of history!"

Garnet turned to me, "Ebony, the statue."

I nodded and reached into my backpack. I removed my backpack from my shoulders and searched deeper, but I couldn't feel the statue anywhere.

My blood started to run cold, "Oh no... No, no, no, no..."

"What's the holdup?" Amethyst asked me.

I fell silent for a second, until I found my voice, "I don't have it."

Amethyst and Pearl gasped, "What?!"

"Quartzite must've accidentally left it back in the Temple." I explained.

Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst looked at the moon. It was closing to the center of the sky.

"There's... There's no time!" Pearl sighed in distraught. I can't disappoint the Gems now.

"Wait! I have an idea!" I told them.

I reached into my backpack and got out Steven's doll.

"Could that work?" Amethyst asked.

She and Pearl look at Garnet. Garnet just shrugged her shoulders.

I put the doll onto the pedestal. The doll fell on its side and moaned, "Ugh! Kid, don't shake me!"

A beam of light connected the pedestal to the moon. Steven's doll levitated into the air, but exploded into shreds and stuffing.

Suddenly, the whirlpool began to close around us and the spire was falling apart. The Gems and I struggled to keep our balance.

"Everyone, keep steady!" Garnet told us, as Amethyst fell on top of her.

Disappointed and distraught, I sat down, hugged my knees close to my chest and hid my face in my arms. The whirlpool closed and the Sea Spire was destroyed.

Once everything calmed down, the Gems and I popped out of the surface, catching our breaths.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized to the Gems, "This is all my fault. I broke it."

"No, Ebony, the spire was falling apart when we got here." Pearl assured me, "You handled everything well under pressure. You did great."

Amethyst nodded in agreement, "Yeah, 3 out of 4 of your ideas worked. That's 75%."

A wave of relief washed over me, as I smiled at the Gems. I guess not everything can go as planned.

Just then, a yellow raft popped out of the water. It must have come from the backpack when we were in the water.
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst and I climbed into the raft.

Pearl and Amethyst chanted, while Garnet searched the horizon, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!"

"It's a three-hour paddle home." Garnet spoke up.

Everything went silent. I searched my backpack and found no oars or paddles. But Quartzite packed enough food for the trip.

"Anyone hungry for a wet bagel?"