We Are The Crystal Ponies

Ebony Pie's POV.
"Pay attention, Ebony. This is going to be your first serious mission." Garnet told me, as we were in the Wrap Tunnels, travelling toward the next destination, "You need to be ready."

"I'm ready, Garnet." I answered, then turned to my baby brother, "Quartzite?"

Quartzite quickly nodded, "Yes. I'm ready. I'm so ready!"

But, he was floating upside down. Pearl tried to get him up-right, "Quartzite, come on. You're going to make yourself sick." But she got hit in the face by Quartzite's ukulele, "Why did you bring that?"

Quartzite shrugged his shouldered, "I don't know. I was excited and it's mine and I like it."

The gravity of the warp tunnel caused the ukulele to levitate away from Quartzite's shoulders. He noticed and chased after it.

Pearl noticed and called after him, "Quartzite, get back here! You could get seriously-" We arrived at our destination, "Hurt!"

Quartzite appeared before the warp tunnel vanished into the sky, and grabbed his instrument. He fell into a bush of wild strawberries, covered in strawberry juice. The Gems and I ran up to him, as he got back up to his feet.

"Quartzite, are you-" Pearl about to ask, but Steven assured her, "I'm fine. I'm good. I'm just gooey." He licked his arm and a small group of white butterflies covered him. Quartzite screamed and ran around the area, "Aah, they're in my eyes!"

"They're just butterflies, Quartzite." Garnet assured my best friend, as she gently waved them away.

Quartzite chuckled, "Well, they looked a lot bigger when they were on my eyeballs."

Amethyst and I giggled. "Quartzite, you're a riot." Amethyst smiled.

Pearl turned to Garnet, "I'm suddenly having second thoughts about bringing Quartzite and Ebony on this one."

Garnet 'shh'ed her and smiled at us, "Just look at them." Then she marched ahead, "Now, let's go recover the gemstone."

We walked through the field. Pearl looked around in awe and marvel, "Unbelievable. This was once a gem battlefield. Now it's wild strawberries as far as the eye can see." She smiled and twirled, "Oh, that's what I love about the Earth. Maybe this will be a light mission after all."

I nodded with a smile, "It's beautiful."

Garnet came to a stop. In front of us was a large black pyramid, but was upside down. This isn't good...

"Maybe not." Garnet noted.

She waved her hands and a bubble with a grey pyramid-like gemstone appeared in front of her. Garnet grabbed the stone and insert it into the matching keyhole. The door glowed and opened.

Quartzite smiled, "Whoa!"

We entered the pyramid. Inside looked like another temple. With engravings of Gem writings and pictures of history on the walls. Even Rose Quartz, my mother, was on the walls.

Quartzite gasped in awe, "Whoa!" Then he shouted, "Quartzite's the best!" The temple echoed his words. Quartzite chuckled and blushed, "Why, thank you, temple."

Amethyst nudged him with a smile, "You're a doof."

The Gems, Quartzite and I walked into the temple and Quartzite noticed something in the center. "Hey. What's this thing?" It was a pedestal with a floating pyramid in the position as the temple; Upside down, "It's like a cool, float-y, triangle thing."

"W-whatever it is, you probably shouldn't touch it." Pearl told Quartzite, looking over the images and writing.

But Quartzite got curious and lightly tapped it. The pyramid flipped upright and the temple started shaking.

The rest of us gathered to the center, while Pearl asked Quartzite, "Quartzite! What have we told you about touching magical things?"

"Definitely, always, never do it." Quartzite answered sheepishly.

Suddenly, as if the gravity shifted, the Gems, Quartzite and I fell through a hole in the ceiling and entered another room. The Gems were able to land with ease. Quartzite landed with a thud. And I fell on my butt.

The room grew dark, and torches lit up to reveal the room we landed in lead to multiple rooms.

I started to feel lightheaded and dizzy.

"Looks like we're gonna have to split up." Amethyst noticed.

Pearl clapped her hands, "Right." Then she put her hands over my shoulders, "Ebony and I will stay right here, where it seems to be safe, while you guys go and solve the mystery of this place."

"Wait." Quartzite interjected, "I want to help solve the mystery."

I nodded in agreement, "Me too. I'm really good at solving puzzles."

Amethyst smiled, "Yeah." Then picked him up over her head, "Come on, Quartzite. Let's solve the mystery."

Quartzite cheered, "Yeah! Mystery solvers!"

However, Pearl grabbed him away from the Quartz Pegasus, "Nope. No, no, no, no, no. You two are a disaster waiting to happen."

"Ebony goes with me. And Quartzite goes with Pearl." Garnet spoke up.

Pearl and I looked at our tall Zebra leader, "Really? Are you sure?" I asked.

"But remember this is a serious mission." Garnet reminded us.

I nodded in understanding.

Quartzite nodded, "Understood." Then put his fingers to his temples, "Serious Quartzite-" But was cut off when he noticed Pearl still carrying him, "Pearl, can you put me down?"

Pearl tilted her head, "What?" Then realized, "Oh, yes. Of course."

She put Quartzite down to his feet and and Quartzite straightened himself, "I need to be standing, or else it doesn't work." He explained, then repeated his previous actions, "Serious Quartzite, activate!"

I sighed and followed Garnet to the corridor on our left, as Pearl sighed, "But this could be the teacups all over again."

I froze for a second. That's right. Two weeks ago, the Gems, Quartzite and I went to Funland, to try out the new teacup ride. However, Quartzite got sick and jumped off the ride. His actions caused the ride to break and fall apart. Quartzite is banned for three weeks for the destruction of Funland.

"Hey! I've put that behind me." Quartzite argued, as he took the corridor on their right.

With that, Garnet and I walked through the corridor. Once we reached an empty room, a stone door, with steel bars, closed behind us. The door across glowed and multiple panels glowed white. Two glowed under mine and Garnet's feet.

So far, nothing's happened.

"We need to stay on the glowing panels." Garnet told me.

I nodded in understanding, "Right."

With that, she and I started hopping across the room, stepping only on the glowing panels. Once I was across to the door, I reached my hand to touch the stone door.

However, the room shook violently and I lost my balance. I fell on a non-glowing panel and the room glowed red. Most of the panels, which turned out to be blocks, fell into large pit of fire. The block I stood on moved, as I jumped to grab the closest block to the door.

Unfortunately, my grip was slipping. I heard Garnet call my name in worry, then I lost my grip.

Before I fell into the pit of burning fire, Garnet caught me by my ankle and landed safely on the side of another block.

I smiled in relief, "Thank you, Garnet."

We arrived to the door on the other side and it opened. We quickly entered the next room. The door closed behind us and the room shook again.

I started feel dizzy and lightheaded again. Like the room was spinning or flying in circles.

"We can take a break if you're not feeling well, Ebony." Garnet offered.

I regained myself and shook my head, "Oh, no. I-I'm okay." Then told her, "Let's keep going."

Garnet nodded and we looked around the room.

Garnet looked at the ancient drawings on the walls and turned to me, "You're quite smart, Ebony. What do you think these drawings mean?"

I turned and looked over the drawings. A group of triangles hanging from the ceiling. Almost like...

"SPIKES!" I shouted in alarm.

The room shook again and one of the drawings pressed into the walls. Spikes poked from the ceiling and started dropping toward us.

"Run!" Garnet instructed.

She and I ran down the corridor, trying to avoid the falling spikes. Both Garnet and I were able to make it to the other end with just a few scratches and torn clothes.

"Now, that was a pretty close one." Garnet smiled, as the door opened.

I smiled back with a giggle, "Yeah. That was a pretty close one."

We walked to the next room. The next room looked impossible. Swinging bladed pendulums. Spikes. Lava and fire. All of the trials we faced at once and taken to the next 5 levels. The room shook and I started to feel faint.

"Get ready, Ebony." Garnet told me, "This is gonna be intense."

*Flashback*

"Get ready, Quartzite." Garnet told Quartzite, "This is gonna be intense."

Quartzite nodded with a smile, "I'm ready!"

It was the teacup ride. A ride that involved elevated teacups orbiting a large teapot on a pole. Pearl and Amethyst took a cup, while Garnet, Quartzite and I took another. Garnet was enjoying herself. I was getting dizzy. And Quartzite looked like he was gonna throw up.

Garnet smiled, "This is fun."

Quartzite sighed, "I think- I need to get off this ride now."

With that, Quartzite held his breath and jumped off the ride. Garnet reached after him, "Quartzite, no!"

But Quartzite landed on Mr. Smiley and broke the control panel and the ride went a little crazy. The cups flew everywhere and destroyed half of Funland.

When Quartzite regained consciousness, Mr. Smiley grabbed him by his shirt, "Quartzite, you are banned from all the rides forever!"

*End Flashback*

I opened my eyes with a gasp and found that Garnet and I were on the other side. I quickly looked myself over. Not a scratch or scar on my indigo fur.

"We made it?" I noticed.

Garnet nodded, "You were very quick, Ebony. I didn't know you can float."

I blinked in confusion. Did I black out and acted in my sleep again? That happens with me a lot. Wait. Did Garnet said I floated and was quick? I didn't know I could do that.

I regained my composure and followed Garnet. The corridor led us into a familiar touch-lit room.

"We're back where we started." Garnet noticed.

I rubbed my chin in thought about this puzzle, until Pearl's voice spoke up, "Garnet, there you are!"

We turned to see Pearl and Quartzite. They looked tired.

"The doors and rooms here make no sense. They all bring you back here." Pearl explained.

Just then, Amethyst entered from behind Pearl. She looked around and growled in frustration, "Get me out of here!"

She took the door to her left, as Pearl explained what's going on, "There are 16 doors, and we entered from the Northeast and went through three consecutive rooms in a straight line..."

Amethyst came back with a small bear trap on her head, "Ow!"

She removed the trap and ran back in, while Pearl continued, "But arrived back here out the Southernmost door, which can only mean w-well, I don't know what it means."

Amethyst came back from the left door, frozen in a block of ice.

Pearl panicked, "This is a death trap!" She summoned her spear and started breaking Amethyst out of the ice.

"What?" Quartzite gasped, then turned to Garnet, "What do we do?"

"We go back in again, and again, and again, and again." Garnet answered.

Quartzite shook his head and shouted, "I can't!"

Pearl turned to my baby brother, "Quartzite."

"It's okay." Garnet assured.

Quartzite just shook his head, "No. No, it's not. You were all right about me. I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I'm gonna throw up. This is just like the teacups!"

"Oh, Quartzite." Pearl spoke up with an apologetic look, "I didn't really mean that."

Clarity hit me, "Hold on." I smiled at Quartzite, "Quartzite, you're a genius."

"What did I say?" Quartzite asked me.

"What if this is just like the teacups?" I wondered, "That's why we're getting so lost. That's why I've been feeling so dizzy and fainted. All the rooms are spinning us around so we end up here."

Without a word, Garnet walked to the center of the room, summoned her gauntlets and punched into the ground. Pearl kept me close to her. One last punch and the ground gave in below us. Quartzite, the Gems and I fell and landed on spinning panels and looked at the room. Garnet was able to catch me. Quartzite caught a panel with Amethyst, who was free from the ice block.

I was right. The room was like the teacup ride. The entire room was spinning around a central alter with a Gem in the center.

Pearl smiled, "This is unbelievable." Then used her gem to demonstrate, "This gem-powered mechanism it's manipulating the rooms above. Every room we entered spun us until we came back to the central chamber. It's just like the teacup ride at Funland."

"Ebony already figured that out." Garnet told her.

Pearl blushed and covered her gem in embarrassment, "Oh."

I looked at the central alter and noticed the gem. I turned to Garnet, "Garnet, I need to get off the ride now."

Garnet nodded and grabbed me, "Serious Ebony go!"

She threw me toward the central alter. I grabbed the gem and started pulling it free. The alter reacted and released the gem.

The gem glowed brightly and everything around us began to de-materialize and fly into the gem. The glow shined brighter and overwhelmed the temple. The temple exploded and shattered pieces covered the field of wild strawberries.

Pearl's POV.
Once everything calmed down, I noticed a certain sweet-hearted Earth Pony filly was nowhere to be seen.

"Ebony? Ebony!" I called, then turned to Garnet, "Where is she?"

"Oh, she's over here." Amethyst notified, pointing to a patch of strawberries.

Ebony was unharmed, but covered in strawberry juice.

She opened her eyes and looked at the gem in her hands, "The gem."

I took the gem from her and bubbled it, "I'd say you handled that adventure very well." I smiled, as I sent it back to the temple.

Amethyst nodded and helped Ebony to her feet, "Yeah. Nice job, 'Serious Ebony'."

Garnet walked toward us, holding Quartzite's ukulele, "I prefer 'Regular Ebony'."

Ebony smiled. Quartzite took his instrument from Garnet and tuned it, "Hey! My ukulele."

He started playing his ukulele and sang,

"Oh, that's the end of another day,
It was mighty serious, I'd have to say.
The Crystal Gems looked really cool,
When they made the temple explode-"

However he was cut off by Ebony getting surrounded by the white butterflies. Ebony gasped, "They're in my eyes." But she giggled and smiled, "They tickle."