In a field, somewhere in the island, lazily lay Phos. The familiar sound of the waves hitting the shore nursing him into a calm afternoon nap. His short hair could have been mistaken for grass if it wasn’t for the sunlight refracting into it. He thought about his duties and commitment. He had accepted to have Heliodor’s horn attached to him. Heliodor was a fighter, a good one even, and Phos was expected to take over his role now. Phos remembered a time where he dreamt about being a fighter, to protect the Princess and his fellow gems. The harsh winter all but broke that dream.

His thinking was interrupted as somegem walked up to Phos, obscuring the sun to make his presence known.

Phos groaned, eyes still close. “Morga, leave me alone, I just got a horn transplant, I have to rest.”

“Aren’t you resting enough, shiny?” Remarqued the figure with a voice that Phos didn’t recognise.

Phos immediately opened his eyes, fearfully looking up at the stranger. “Who are you?” He asked, defensively. The figure was a gem. He harbored the same plain white coat as every other gem and his mane was as short as Phos, but shone a golden yellow light.

“Woah there, calm down,” he said. “No need to fear me, I’m long gone anyway,” he joked with a mischievous grin.

“Who are you?” Repeated Phos, while calling on his magic. But nothing happened, no cyan aura enveloped the stranger.

“The name’s Heliodor, shiny. I’m guessing you’re Phosphophyllite? Your memories are a pain to access, you know that?”

“W-what? How? Why are you here?”

“There is no “here”, we’re in your mind,” confidently declared Heliodor. “You’re probably on Rutile’s operating table and they’re waiting on you to wake up and show off my horn.”

“But why are you here? If this is my mind you have no place in it!” Accused Phos after standing up, the other was noticeably taller by at least a horn.

As he spoke that last sentence, Phos and Heliodor’s surrounding changed to night, with the stars and the moons in the clear sky illuminating the pair.

“I’m just a collection of memories, don’t worry. You know how our inclusions contain our memories? Well my horn just happened to still have some of mine, so I get to be here,” he said before pausing for a moment. “And you get to tolerate me from now on.”

“This is crazy.”

“I know, right? But don’t worry, you get the better end of the deal, shiny, I seem to be almost powerless here, while you get to still live and use all of the knowledge I represent,” pointed out the old phantom.

“So, you’re just the memories from Heliodor’s horn? Why did you say that my memories are a pain to access?” questioned Phos.

“Cause it still works both ways, I can’t control your body but our inclusions now work together. It’s a pain ‘cause you’re forcing me out of the rest of you, and as long as you do, we won’t be able to wake up.”

“But you still can?”

“Of course I can, you’re just a novice in magic while I have hundreds of years of experience to pull from. I can talk to you now because I manage to access more than half of your memory, though a big patch of black still exists. We won’t wake up anytime soon unless you give me access to them, shiny,” argued Heliodor.

Phos grunted, “How can I know that you’re not lying?”

“Look, shiny, as fun as that would be, I’d rather let you be outside, protecting the ones I care about, rather than lying still and fighting my presence until the end of time.”

Phos let out a heavy sigh. “What did you say were the memories you can’t see?”

Heliodor smiled. ”Good, I know of two major dark patches, the first one is from a few months before you got my horn and the second is from about a hundred year before that.”

Phos concentrated on any big events from his past in the timeframe he was given. He remembered his first job, and the land around the two changed once again to daylight. A smaller Phos, with his original horn, standing behind Diamond as the two of them watched the Princess yelling at a horde of Lunarians bowing before her.

“Maybe a bit after this, I can remember that, if only vaguely,” Heliodor guided.

Maybe it’s my meeting with Cinnabar? Phos thought to himself.

“He is quite a gem to remember, I know during my time it was easy for him to get noticed,” commented the golden gem.

“How did you hear that?”

“I’m literally in your head,” simply dead-panned Heliodor.

“Oh, right.”

The scene changed again as it was replaced by the eastern ravine’s entrance, near the shore during sunset. Cinnabar and Phos were talking to each other for the first time after Cinnabar saved the cyan unicorn from a Lunarian attack at the exact same spot.

“Is this the moment?” The Phos without a horn asked Heliodor while looking at his past self.

“I think so,” responded the golden-maned gem while listening to the memory. “You two are talking about me?” He asked, curious.

“Lapis and Quartz looked for Helio and me for days, you wouldn’t believe how much they love their clothes despite how useless they are for combat!” Cinnabar told past-Phos while laughing profusely.

“It is nice to see him smile, I can’t imagine how he must have felt when I got taken away,” lamented Heliodor. “Why were you protecting this memory so much?” He asked while looking at Cinnabar with a nostalgic face.

“This was when I made a promise to him,” remembered Phos. “He may seem happy there, but he doesn't care about his own life. He’s just waiting for the Lunarians to take him now.”

The memory continued as Cinnabar continued to tell stories about his time with Heliodor. They arrived at the familiar tale of pissing off Alexandrite by making him believe there was a new type of Lunarians. The story ended, Cinnabar finally left Phos but was interrupted by the promise he made at the time.

“I’ll bring them back!” The past Phos shouted to Cinnabar, who looked back to him at his declaration. “You won’t go to the moon because I’ll bring them all back from the moon! I’ll find a way! Heliodor, Red Diamond, Aquamarine, Topaz and all the others! I swear!”

Heliodor looked quite shocked himself at the memory. “We have a big talker there I see, guess you didn’t bring me back yet, shiny?” Teased the golden gem.

Phos cringed at his past self. “Yeah, I said it in the heat of the moment, guess that didn’t turn out that well,” he admitted.

The memory faded with the sun setting in the west horizon, Phos was again alone with Heliodor. “Great, this was the smaller one of the two black spots, I’m still missing most of what happened before my horn got attached to you, several months of memory even.”

Phos though back at the event from the last year, both of them were now inside the Great Oak, in the common room. In the background, Twilight was giving some speech about Pearl’s education being over and him getting a job. This was just before the ocean, Thought Phos.

“The ocean, eh? I can’t say I remember ever going into it, nor do I remember you going. Maybe that’s the second black spot?” Proposed Heliodor.

“I would love too, but it’s probably as much of a ‘black spot’ for me, too.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t you go to the ocean?”

“I did. It’s just that I may or may not have left three of my hooves, an eye and my horn there too.”

Heliodor looked confused at Phos’ statement, but the memory shifted to the underwater landscape Phos vaguely remembered. The still scene around them showed past Phos being broken by three separate magical bolts.

“Kiiiinda lost most of my memory from the ocean, really. I could tell you but I don’t remember much of it,” explained Phos, looking sadly at his past.

“That explains that I can’t see much from before that indeed. How come you’re complete then, I mean, no horn obviously, but the hooves and your eye?” Asked Heliodor, pointing with a hoof at Phos’ broken face, his eye was broken in half.

Current Phos raised one forehoof. “Rutile calls it ‘bones’, it’s something the Princess found in the ocean after saving me, it’s no good for horns, unfortunately.”

“She saved you?”

Just as Heliodor asked the question, the memory moved forward a bit, without any real sound this time. Phos lay on the ground, broken, looking over to an Admirabilis who was arguing with the Lunarians above water.

“Is that?”

“An Admirabilis, yes. Twilight found them again after all this time, it didn’t end well. It seems and I can’t really remember this part well.”

The memory slowly faded to black as Phos most likely was losing consciousness. A streak of golden magic tore through the ocean, boiling water in its wake before hitting the Admirabilis who cried out in pain as a red liquid came out of the new hole in its body. Blackness settled shortly after, Phos couldn’t quite remember seeing it, but guessed it was just so blurry that he never really put much thought into it.

Heliodor looked taken aback by the last memory. “What was that? At the end? Who has magic like that?”

“I dunno, I just thought it was the Princess who saved me and that was it.”

“Phos, I don’t think you really get it. If that was the Princess, then she just killed that creature for sure. I could feel the energy from that bolt. It felt like an attack spell, like the magical arrow the Lunarians use, but much, much more powerful.”

“What’s ‘killed’?”

Heliodor gave him a dead-panned look. “Has no one taught you about death?”

Phos shook his head.

Heliodor sighed. “Times sure have changed, I guess. Well, it’s simple. Organic beings, unlike us, die when their life ends. That mostly means they stop existing,” explained Heliodor.

“Can’t they just be rebuilt?” Naïvely asked Phos.

“No, and death happens naturally to every living organism after some time. There’s no real way to avoid it.”

“What about the Princess? She isn’t a gem last I checked, is she? Will she die one day?”

“I suppose so. We don’t know much about her and she didn’t tell us much about herself during my time, either. I know she’s older than any one of us—by probably a lot, too—but she’ll eventually die if she isn’t a gem, that’s for sure.”

Phos shivered at the thought. Despite her lies, the Princess was still the one who helped the gem grow up since Cinnabar’s time. Phos didn’t wish death to anyone. He didn’t wish anyone would just… stop existing… It wasn’t an easy concept to grasp for him.

“But why would she kill that Admirabilis, then?” Puzzled Phos.

“I don’t know that, Phos, to save you as you said maybe? I just hope she realised what she’s done… She was always the one to teach us about friendship, after all.”

“I see. What now? Where’s the next thing you can’t see in my memory?” Asked Phos.

“Anything beyond this point, shiny. Whatever happened between here and when you got my horn attached is black.”

So winter it is then.

“Something in winter? Was it this bad this year to share a room with Bort?” Joked Heliodor.

“I didn’t hibernate at all this winter, actually,” responded Phos with a neutral tone, much to Heliodor’s surprise.

The darkness was replaced by the gray view of winter under the cloud cover. The white snow in front of the Great Oak was almost uniform if not for a pair of particular gems shoveling it to keep the tree’s entrance free of obstacles.

“That’s Antarcticite, right?” asked Heliodor, pointing at the alicorn in question.

“Yeah, he usually takes care of winter alone. This time, however, the Princess asked me to help him.”

The sinners’ cries echoed in the background. Phos and Antarc exchanged some words about their duties. “The Princess must have heard them, go make sure she’s in the basement while I take care of it.”

Heliodor watched in silence as events unfolded; getting the Princess inside the basement, fighting the sinners, continuing with their monotonous jobs during the day and Phos wandering the island during the night.

“Did you even look for anything?”

“Not really, I was curious to find where Cinnabar was hibernating, though.”

“And? Did you find it?” Asked Heliodor.

“I did,” bitterly admitted Phos, as the memory fast-forwarded to his entrance into the ravine.

“What?” Heliodor said, perplexed. “I didn’t see any memory where you were granted access to the ravine,” he called out.

“So some gems can access it?” deducted Phos. “No, I wasn’t given access.”

Heliodor frowned at the declaration but kept on looking at the events unfolding. Phos entered the crystal cave, examined the carved wall before finally entering the main room, occupied by Cinnabar sleeping with one of Heliodor’s last pieces at the base of the crystal tree.

Heliodor alternated between disappointed look at Phos and sadness over Cinnabar holding one of his last pieces.

“What are you doing here?” Asked Antarcticite, angrily, surprising Heliodor at the same time.

“Oh, hello Antarc, what are you doing here? It’s a nice evening isn’t it?” Innocently asked past-Phos.

Current Phos, looked bitterly at Antarc as he scolded his past self. Even Heliodor flinched at the anger of the white alicorn.

“Fine, I’m sorry we have to do it this way,” non-apologized Antarcticite before spreading his metal-covered wings and dashing his way to Phos.

“NO!” Opposed Heliodor, trying in vain to stop the memory.

But no strike came. Antarc was lifted just in front of Phos, whose body now glowded a bright cyan light.

Good, crush him, show him strength, let the anger take over. A voice echoed in the memory.

“What? What are you doing Phosphophyllite?” Confusedly asked the golden gem.

“I’m protecting myself.”

Antarc’s body cracked under the immense pressure of Phos’ magic, his body becoming but shards. Heliodor looked shocked at the display. Past Phos’ flank glowed a white light as a crystal star with six broken rays appeared on it.

“Your cutie mark, this magic…” he rasped. “How can you use magic without a horn? Why would you do this?”

So I got it here… “I had no choice,” defended Phos.

“You could have followed him peacefully!”

“And they would just erase my memory or something? You heard him talk, it isn’t the first time it happened, I’m just the first to fight back.”

“Oh you think so? But guess what, almost half of us know about it, and most of us discovered it by ourselves, too. The Princess would have just explained to you what it is and our duty to protect it!” chastised Heliodor. “And you just broke its first guardian into Twilight-knows how many pieces.” He finished, disappointment clear in his voice.

“I-I…” Phos struggled to find any arguments to defend himself. “Why would they hide this from us then? This and much more! Have you seen the note she keeps about us?”

The memory shifted to the basement where Phos was reading the report-like notes about the gems.

“It always has a good explanation!” refuted the other gem. “The Princess would never betray us or anything!”

“Maybe, but she hides too much from us. From the notes on our nature and even the Lunarians! Haven’t you seen how they are obsessed with her even though she isn’t a gem? She even killed that Admirabilis!”

“This is going nowhere useful. If anyone is betraying anyone here, it’s you. You’ve destroyed a fellow gem and are a danger to the rest,” he accused. “I can’t do much from this mind but I can stop you from waking up. You don’t deserve my horn.”

Phos’ anger grew once again. “You’re fine with being a pawn to her, then?” He asked, resentment in his voice.

“You’re not even making sense now, you’re a mad foal.”

Don’t let him stop you from getting what’s rightfully yours. You can just destroy him, it is your mind after all. No other gems would ever know. A tempting voice whispered in the mindscape, but Heliodor didn’t seem to notice it.

“Fine, you want to do this the hard way. You dare to try and block me out of my own body? You’re not even a full gem like Antarc, you’re just the leftover inclusions from a dead gem. I just have to destroy them to make your horn mine,” Phos reasonned with a somber tone.

Phos closed his eyes and imagined the thousands of micro organisms living inside the gems, he saw his own body, the bones, the phosphophyllite, the new heliodor horn… He could feel his magic taking over the horn, crushing the inclusion from the intruder.

Heliodor let out a sharp cry of pain as he fell to the ground. “W-what are you doing?” He painfully asked. “Stop this!” A sharp cry came from Heliodor. “You’re no better than the Lunarians…” Phos could feel part of the agony trying to spread to him, but he denied its hold on him.

They were fighting back, Heliodor’s own magic tried to stop Phos’ invasion. But he was so much weaker. Phos made little mind of his resistance and continued to crush him, leaving an inclusion free horn, ready to be taken for himself.

“Cinnabar, I’m sorry, stop him please…” pleaded a now delirious Heliodor in his last thought.

Phos woke up in Rutile’s workshop. The Great Oak noisy atmosphere clear in the background. As he turned his head around there seemed to be another gem lying next to him on the other operating table. It was the workshop’s owner, napping.

“Hey, useless doctor, I’m awake,” called Phos.

Rutile blinked his eyes open. “Phos? Oh, you’re awake,” he groaned as he got up and looked at the cyan unicorn. “Welcome back, I guess. You had two operations to attach your new horn and have been asleep for the last three months now. You’ll have to take it easy for a time but I guess you can now liberate my other worktable?”

Phos nodded and slowly got himself up on the ground, he tried reaching out with magic to one of the knives on the doctor’s desk. Surprisingly, his magic aura was now golden as the knife floated in his magic.

Guess I can use magic around everygem again. He thought to himself, satisfied, before being on his way, a happy bounce in his step.

Name: Heliodor

Mane color: Yellow/Golden

Age: 1600 years when abducted.

Hardness: 7.5

Cutie mark: A scale with a heart and a feather.

Personality: Heliodor was Cinnabar’s teammate for a time before his abduction, said to be an overall cheerful person, he valued hard work over appearance. You could be a weak gem but be doing an important job and he’ll treat you like a diamond. He and Cinnabar were serial pranksters for a time, going as far as messing with the Princess’ tea sometimes.

Author's Note

This is my biggest chapter yet, and probably the one I enjoyed writing the most too.

Alternative title: Horn.