Over the course of several years, Pearl grew up surrounded by the love of every gem, Phos especially. He liked Pearl, and often helped the Princess and Alexandrite in educating him about their world and the other gems. This job mostly took over Phos’ reports over the time, though he still made one every once in a while. Either with the help of Cinnabar, whom he visited diligently each day, or by himself. Admittedly, the latter was quite rare. The occasional Lunarian attack was always repelled by the fighting team as usual, and life went on for some time without any incident.

While relaxing in the main room of the Great Oak one day; Phos, Pearl, Morganite and Rutile all noticed the Princess come out of her room, a smile on her face.

“Morganite? Could you gather every gem in the common room? I have an exceptional announcement to make!” Twilight declared, visibly excited.

Without a word, Morga trotted to the top of the Great Oak, to Onyx’s observation room, and rang the bells six times.

“What could this be about?” The opaque white unicorn asked Phos.

“Dunno…”

One by one, the gems arrived in the main room, taking their places, waiting for everyone else to come. As usual, the last gem to arrive was Bort.

With the twenty eight gems present, Twilight began: “Good day everyone, I have interesting news to share. Pearl has officially finished his studies and will soon be looking for a job among us."

Bort groaned, probably upset because he’d had to come back just for this.

What? She could have just told us that in the morning briefing. Phos thought.

But before any of the gems could voice their complaints, Twilight continued: “Also, it is time for me to visit the Admirabilis once again—it has been one hundred years after all—and I will be taking two of you to spend a few months in the ocean to help me look for them. Of course, we will return before winter as always.”

Pearl’s lesson on the Admirabilis hadn’t been that long ago and Phos had assisted with it, so he remembered it quite well. They were the second lifeform to have appeared after the last asteroid’s arrival at the planet. Twilight had discovered them a few millennia ago by complete accident. Back then they’d only been slugs who communicated by drawing. Each century, the Princess would go and look for them again in hope that they would have evolved into sentient beings. Yet they had never met again after this. It had become a habit for Twilight to go into the ocean each century, and look for them with two other gems for a few months. She usually took non-fighters as the rest had to protect each other.

Multiple hooves shot into the air. Some gems chanting for her to pick them, while others, like Bort or Phos didn’t care about it in the slightest. They would just let Euclase and Benitoite go as always. Phos zoned out and waited for it to be over.

His attention snapped back as he heard the Princess call his name: “...And so I have chosen Phos and Pearl to come with me this time, as they both do not have anything to do at the moment."

Phos’ ear perked up on the declaration and he became aware that the entire room was staring at Pearl and himself. This was unexpected.

After some complaints from the crowd, some more childish than others, Twilight spoke out once again: “It is how things have been decided, everyone. Pearl didn’t come from our island so it’s likely he was born in the ocean somewhere. We must look for his birthplace and maybe we’ll find the opportunity to save gems. Who knows how many have been taken by the Lunarians before they even had the chance to come to us."

“And what about Phos then? Surely he’ll just mess things up one way or another?” Jade complained, even though he was rather glad that Phos wouldn’t be around to cause trouble for some time.

“Phos will come with us because the two know and trust each other very well already,” said Twilight. “There will not be any more complaining, and we are leaving in a few hours.” She looked at her two unwilling volunteers. “Phosphophyllite, Pearl, please get your things in order. You don’t have to take anything with you. Just meet me outside when you’re ready.” Twilight turned back to the rest of the room. “Everyone else can continue their duties as usual. Jade and Rutile will be in charge until I return.” Finally, with a more delicate voice she added: “I hope to see you all again in a few months.” The Princess returned to her chamber while the main room’s gems went back to work.

Phosphophyllite stared blankly into space. The realisation he would get dragged into the sea with Pearl and the Princess slowly sinking in. Rutile interrupted his thinking by picking him and Pearl up with his magic. The white gem looked rather shocked, yet excited, by the news.

“Come on, you two. You’re going to the sea, that means you’ll need special powder.” Announced Rutile as he floated the pair to his workshop.

“Why should we get ‘special’ powder?” Asked Pearl.

Rutile finally dropped the two on each of his workbench. “Because your current powder will dissolve in the ocean. Thanks to Euclase’s last trip with the Princess we now know a way to make special white powder that will stick even in the ocean. Problem is, it’s more of a gel. It’s sticky and it’s hard to make, so we only have a small quantity.”

“Why can’t we just go like that? Pearl is naturally Opaque so it’s not a problem and I don’t even shine that much,” reasoned Phos.

“Because you’ll get the Lunarians’ attention.” Rutile sighed. “You’re about the one they want the most, especially because of your rarity. So you’ll get this powder put on you whether you want it or not.” He began taking out a white gel with his magic from a pot sitting on a shelf near him and applying it on Phos.

"What will we do in the ocean with the Princess?" Pearl asked, ever-curious.

"The Princess will do most of the searching, and you'll mostly just have to listen to her and remember her findings. It's been a long time since they've found anything there so it's mostly going to be a months-long walk."

"Do you think we'll find some Admirabilis? Or maybe the birthplace of Pearl?" This time it was Phos who spoke, still held in Rutile's red magic.

"Well, I don't know, really. As far as we know, gems like us can only be born from a cavern inside the eastern ravine. Only the Princess is allowed there and she regularly checks it for new gems." Rutile finished applying the 'powder' on Phos' body and hesitated a second while looking at Pearl.

"What's up with you anyway? Did I ever put powder on you?"

The foal just sat calmly on the worktable, smiling. His short hair was as white as his skin and his skin was as white as the gems' powder. Neither Phos nor Rutile could tell if it was his natural colour or powder. Just in case, Rutile applied the special powder on him too.

The two finally went outside of the Great Oak and found Twilight playing with a small pearl necklace. "Oh! You're here! We can go then." She started trotting south towards the beach, with Pearl and Phos following closely. "A few things first. I'll probably swim faster than you can walk so I'll probably leave for a few hours from time to time, to search more efficiently. I brought each of you a sword just in case, but I really hope you won't have to use them. I'll probably move the Sun so the days are longer and you two can move more, but it's gonna mean more Lunarians. Also if you find anything please wait for me too…" The Princess' rambling was akin to some of Pearl's. It was as if a really curious and eager to learn person had replaced the Princess Phos knew.

The ocean was a spectacular place for Phosphophyllite and Pearl. Being used to the same views from the Great Oak and the island in general, they had the chance to explore a completely new environment. Instead of the old grass they walked on usually, they now moved through algae. The sandy bottom of the ocean was just close enough to the surface for sufficient amounts of sunlight to reach them. Twilight had used her necklace to transform into a sea-pony form that had a melusine where her back legs had been. She always swam just in front of the two gems, leading them.

They spent some time doing a simple routine: admire the view, look around on their own while the Princess was going by herself, then wait for her to come back when night fell. At first, and unsurprisingly, they didn’t find any traces of the Admirabilis or any life whatsoever. It even appeared that most of the glowing jellyfish didn’t leave the island’s proximity.

Twilight bore a smile during their entire long walk, something that struck Phos as pretty strange, given that the Princess always seemed so serious back at the island.

“Princess Twilight? Where do I come from?” Asked Pearl one day out of the blue.

“Well Pearl, I don’t know,” answered Twilight honestly. “You are the first gem that I know of to be born offshore.”

“Alex told me I come from the moon people and so maybe I’ve been born on the moon,” explained the petite unicorn, while lifting a seashell with his magic and observing it curiously. “Do you think gems can be born from the moon?”

“Well... No, I don’t think so,” she said, “But I know that you are someone special. Even if the Lunarians left you to us it must mean something and I hope we’ll find out one day.”

One day, while Twilight was out exploring without them, Phos and Pearl found something. Or rather, something found them. Bigger than the usual jellyfish, looking at them from afar, there seemed to be some kind of creature following them today. Doing as if nothing was amiss, Phos and Pearl separated to try and confuse the onlooker. After only a few minutes away from Pearl, Phos turned back and managed to get a clearer view of the stranger. It kind of looked like a pony at a closer inspection, except its body was pink-ish and see-through. It had a messy mane that floated in the water.

Pearl approached it from behind, and Phos advanced towards the creature as well, both of them curious. It noticed them but didn’t move at first, only observing both gems as they moved closer.

Pearl finally tried speaking with it. “Hey! What are you? Why are you following us?” Phos simply stared at the thing. He carried the sword that the Princess had given him on his back, always ready to defend Pearl.

The shape waved a front hoof to them amicably but didn't speak. Could it even speak? Phos didn’t know, but he tried anyway. “Are you the Admirabilis that met the Princess a few thousands years ago?”

The pink pony-shaped creature shook its head, then looked at Pearl and approached him. Startled, Pearl took a step back but finally stood his ground in front of the thing. It moved just in front of Pearl, and Phos couldn’t see clearly what was happening. The shape seemed to… nuzzle Pearl? Phos tried to draw his sword but just as he managed to unholster it telekinetically, the pink-pony had already disappeared. Pearl’s flank became illuminated as a Cutie Mark appeared on top of it, shining even through the white ‘powder’. Phos became the only blank flank once again.

Twilight came back soon after with a big smile plastered across her face. Noticing Pearl’s new Cutie Mark she insisted to know how it came to be. She was somewhat troubled by the events, but overall happy for Pearl. On his flank was a slightly open seashell from which multicoloured lights poured out.

After the excitement over Pearl’s Cutie Mark was over, Twilight smiled at the two. “I have more great news! I have found the Admirabilis again!”

Name: Morganite

Mane color: Brilliant Red

Age: At least 700 (Same as Goshenite.)

Hardness: 7.5

Cutie mark: Crossed Black Swords.

Personality: A bit entitled, he’s a good fighter when he works in a team. He really likes Goshenite and spends most of his time with him but these days he seems to get along with Phos and the others too.

Author's Note

In which the ocean is explored.

Alternative title: Ocean.