"Ugh! Can't these things go any faster?! I should have been there by now!" Muttered Peridot while the landscape whizzed by underneath her as she flew back to the Galaxy Warp. Her artificial fingers were already spinning rapidly above her head, yet it seemed that no matter how much power she put into it she never moved any quicker. "Stupid Crystal Clods," she grumbled sourly, "Always destroying my things, making me run all over this mud ball."

She had been doing this for the last few minutes or so, a scowl on her face as she thought of all of the horrible things those clods could be doing to her work at this very moment. She had spent days retrofitting the Galaxy Warp, after the weeks spent warping all over the globe just looking for parts to put it back together. The thought of all of that hard work going to waste created a feeling in the technician that was most unpleasant.

Peridot continued to grumble an mutter curses under her breath as she flew, her artificial fingers making a buzzing sound the whole while that only seemed to add to the almost constant migraine that had shown up ever since she had first set foot on this mud heap. The migraine had only continued to build upon the discovery of the Crystal Gems and the steven. And then of course there was their "informant", the lapis lazuli, who was virtually no help at all, which was actually more than what could be said about Jasper. In all of her years serving as a kinder-gardener of facet five Peridot had never before in her entire existence encountered a gem as abrasive and rude as Jasper.

When Peridot told the clods that she was coming back with reinforcements, she had meant an entire fleet of Emerald Hands with a veritable army of soldiers. But when she petitioned for the appropriate amount of reinforcements, what she got instead was one ship, an old veteran that should have been shattered on the battlefield eons ago, and an outdated lapis lazuli whose only claim to being useful was her knowledge of earth and her control over the planets supply of liquid hydrogen.

Now, granted even they were perhaps overkill in dealing with the clods, but Peridot even now was still fuming that Jasper had been so. . . so. . . Peridot could not even find the words to describe just how pigheaded the gem had been She truthfully did not understand what could have been so important about the steven that it warranted putting her mission on hold. But due to the ever annoying social ladder that was gem culture, Peridot had to cave in to Jasper's orders and do what she was told.

In all honesty the technician was glad that the old gem had gone down with the ship, if only so she would not have to listen to her constant ordering around. But still she wondered what had become of her escort, but she put it out of her mind for the time being. What mattered now was getting to the Galaxy Warp, see if the clods had left yet, check for damage, and be on her way.

Her less than jovial mood lightened only slightly as the structure finally came into view, starting off as a strangely symmetric plateau on the horizon. And as far as she could tell from this distance everything seemed to still be in place. When she got a little closer however she could see that at least two of the warp pads had been demolished. She did not care in what condition they were in, as she'd had enough forethought to put certain fail safes in place to keep the whole thing from erupting should any of the outer warp pads malfunction. She was reasonably confident that the Galaxy Warp would still work as long as the main pad in the center remained intact.

What concerned Peridot was the mystery of why only those two had been destroyed, but not the others. If the crystal clods really wanted to damage her project, then they would have done more than break two warp pads that were already inoperable. Peridot considered the possibility that the clods had deemed destroying those two was enough to put the whole structure out of commission and left. She chuckled at the thought of them being stupid enough to think that she would be so easily thwarted.

"Heh, dumb clods," she laughed. Her moment of mirth was quickly cut short when Peridot saw something that threw her for a bit of a loop. A very big something. A very big something that had just thrown another very big something. Straight at her.

"Yah!" Peridot screamed as she tried desperately to evade the object as it hurdled towards her. She angled to the left and was just barely able to avoid the object, which she noticed looked rather like two giant purple gauntlets clasped together. Unfortunately even though she had been lucky enough to avoid being hit, the rush of air as it passed by wreaked havoc on her flight pattern, and Peridot was careening out of control, screaming the whole time as her she was unable to correct herself in time before she performed a face plant on the sandy ground.

Peridot groaned and muttered an obscene amount of profanities as she propped herself up onto her knees. She quickly checked to make sure that the gem that was her namesake was undamaged, and breathed a sigh of relief to find that it had not cracked. Her relief was effectively smothered when something impacted on the ground behind her, making the earth tremble. Peridot watched with wide eyes as a massive shadow was cast on the ground all around her.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a loud and arrogant sounding voice said as it echoed across the landscape. "Look who decided to come back and join the party."

Peridot was now shaking in absolute terror as whatever it was behind her chuckled, although there was hardly any mirth to be heard in the laughter. It was more like the kind of laughter one would hear from someone who believed they were superior to everything else, which Peridot could actually relate to. Slowly and hesitantly she turned her head to see the laughter's owner, and let out a small "Eep!" when saw who, or rather what it was.

Peridot had never seen a gem this big before. It towered above her like a purple monument as it stared down at her. She could not see its lower eyes behind the pair of pointed shades, but the extra eye on its forehead let Peridot know that its attention was focused solely on her. She found its steady and unwavering gaze rather unnerving. It had four massive arms that split at the shoulders, two of which were crossed in front of its chest while the other two rested on its wide hips.

"Aww, I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" the strange gem said with mock concern in her voice as she leaned over Peridot, and the technician could only stutter in reply, such was the intimidation she felt as the strange gem loomed over her. "I'm sorry. I guess that makes us even seein' as how you were gonna wreck the earth, scarin' little Steven. You should know I don't like it when little twerps like you start makin' messes. That's my job around here, and I ain't about to let you move in like you own the joint."

Peridot quirked an eyebrow behind her visor at the gems words. "Wait a minute. You're with those traitors? You're with those lumpy clods?"

Smirking, the unknown gem straightened her posture. "You got it." She flashed a malevolent grin at Peridot, allowing her to see the curved fangs in her mouth. For a moment all the Home-World gem could think about was how utterly screwed she was. There was absolutely no possible way even in her own imagination that she could win against this thing, and they both knew it. Peridot was now shaking and shivering more than ever. Just then she spotted the Galaxy Warp, just a few hundred feet away behind the gem, and hope rekindled inside her. If she could figure out a way to stall this brute, then she could still get out of this without being shattered.

She hoped so anyway.

Frantically she thought of a topic to keep herself alive for at least a few more seconds.

"B-but we only detected a limited number of un-corrupted gems on this planet. The p-pearl, the amethyst. There was that garnet, but that was a fusion. W-where did you come from?"

The large gem sneered before she swept back a bit of purplish black hair out of her face. "Oh I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" she asked while making an obvious show of displaying the violet gem on her palm. Peridot could not help but also notice another gem on her chest.

"You're a fusion?" she said with confusion. There was also a hint of revulsion in her voice, which she tried to keep from showing. It would not do to aggravate the fusion any more than she already was.

"Mmh, maybe so," the titan said as she put a thick finger to her chin. "But I'm my own gem, and I'm gonna keep it that way for as long as I can." Peridot watched in despair as the brute summoned her weapon, namely a massive flail that looked like it would make short work of Peridot. "And right now, poundin' you into dust is gonna go a long way towards makin' that happen." The gem hoisted the weapon, letting it dangle just above the ground. "So, any last words outta you?"

Peridot did not answer immediately, but when she did it was accompanied by a smirk of her own. "Yeah," she said. "Eat this you mega clod!" She suddenly yelled as she pointed her right arm at the giant, her fingers having formed into her cannon. For the entire time Peridot was stalling she had been allowing the power of her weapon slowly build up to far greater levels than what she would have able to muster in less time. And she was now pointing all of that stored energy right at the eye on the fusions forehead, using it as a target.

Peridot opened fire, and the orb of erratic green light shot at high speed towards the gems head. While the projectile did not hit the eye as she wanted, Peridot still felt an immense amount of satisfaction when it struck the gem on the right side of her polarized visor. The fusion had no time to react, and clutched the area where she had been hit her two right hands, dropping the flail to the ground with a crash.

Peridot wasted no time as she bolted past the monstrosity, the detached fingers of her left arm literally flying into action as they carried her away from the fusion as the brute howled in pain. She felt absolutely pleased with herself, but she did not allow it to cloud her judgment. The fusion would soon recover, and she only had a limited amount of time to get to the Galaxy Warp and fire it up. Angling herself so that she got more speed, Peridot zoomed towards her destination.  

Within seconds Peridot was at the Galaxy Warp, where she dropped to the ground with a grunt. She then immediately rushed over to the main warp pad and came skidding to a stop by its base. The panel was already taken out, most likely by the crystal clods she guessed. Despite their meddling, this allowed her to quickly access the controls located inside, and before long the low hum it was already emitting grew slightly louder as the finishing touches were added.

"Come on come on come on come on come on," she said rapidly, willing the structure to obey her demands. Her frantic pleading was interrupted by a the dull thud of large heavy feet impacting on the ground, accompanied with a deafening shout of, "I'm gonna squash you like a bug!"

Peridot risked a quick glance, and shrieked in fright when she saw just how enraged the fusion was as she barreled towards the Galaxy Warp. The shades were missing, allowing Peridot to see all five of her eyes, each one filled to the brim with fury. A more frightening sight she had rarely seen, and Peridot could do little more than hope the Galaxy Warp started working before the titanic gem reached her, which was looking very much like a false hope. In light of this, Peridot saw fit to give to foundation of the warp pad a swift kick with her boot.

"Today please! You worthless piece of outdated machinery!" she shouted, growing increasingly irritated with how slowly it seemed to be charging up. This resulted in little more than chipping the base of the pad and sending a shock wave through her boots and into her leg, effectively numbing her limb.

Peridot clutched her leg in discomfort as she tried to get some feeling back into her appendage. She then noticed out of the corner of her visor how close the fusion was getting to the Galaxy Warp. She yelped in fright and formed her personal cannon again and fired off multiple shots at the rapidly approaching gem. To her dismay the brute swatted away the projectiles like they were insects before she jumped, a feat that Peridot would not have thought possible, and came crashing onto the Galaxy Warp. The ground shook under Peridot's feet, and she was only just able to keep her balance.

"I'm tired of this!" she bellowed as she summoned her weapon again, swinging it over her head to bring it crashing down on Peridot. The technician leaped to the side, and the massive head of the flail missed her by mere inches.

"Hold still so I can squash you!"

Peridot was more than happy to not oblige as she ran as quickly as she could away from the fusion while screaming her head off. She was halted when the flail landed directly in front of her. Peridot skidded to a halt, knowing that she was cornered. She turned around just in time to see her adversary raise both of her right fists in preparation of smashing her into the ground. just before she was hit Peridot dove between the fusions legs, rolling with the impact before rushing for the main pad. The buildup of power was very near to completion as evidenced by the faint glow it was giving off. All Peridot had to do was stay alive for just a few more seconds, and this whole mess would be put behind her.

I was not to be however as she witnessed the flail come crashing down onto the structure just as Peridot was bout to reach it, shattering it into hundreds of tiny shards. "I don't think so!" she heard the fusion shout.

At that moment, all Peridot could do was watch in horror as all of her work, all of her efforts which had been put into going back to Home-World, be literally shattered right before her eyes. Her mouth hung open, and her left eye began to twitch violently. Her trance was only broken by thudding of the fusion's feet behind her. She whirled around to find her standing over her with narrowed eyes. she slammed her left fists into her right hands while she tilted her head, causing a loud crack to echo in Peridots ears.

"You ain't gettin' away that easy," she said in a mocking tone. The fusion proceeded o snap her, and another pair of shades flashed into existence which she placed over her eyes. "Now, where were we?"

Peridot could do little more than stutter as she stared up at her doom. It was all hopeless now. She had failed, there was no chance of escape, and she was going to be shattered.

As Peridot was blubbering like a first year cadet who had just seen her first harvesting, she became aware that even after the warp pad was smashing beyond all recognition, the humming sound never stopped. In fact, it seemed to be growing louder by the second. Confused by this, Peridot turned her head, and was perplexed to see that the ruins of the warp pad were glowing brightly as. . . something happened. Peridot honestly did not know what was going on. Not that she was complaining, but by all rights the Galaxy Warp should not even be working right now after being demolished.

What was going on?

"What did you do to it?!" she demanded as the glow became increasingly brighter, enough to the point that both gems had to cover their eyes. Neither one of them had an answer as the hum grew louder and the light grew brighter. Peridot not even hear herself think anymore with all of the noise. She only barely registered the fusion shouting at her to turn it off. Strangely, Peridot actually agreed with the clod, but she could not fix it when she did not even know what it was doing.

Eventually the glow became so bright that all Peridot could see was a white haze, before the feeling of being picked up by an unseen force flooded her senses, which was then followed by the sensation of moving at incredibly high speeds to some unknown destination.

After a little while the light produced by the Galaxy Warp faded into nothingness, and the structure was left silent once more.

And neither Peridot nor the fusion were anywhere in sight.

"How much longer does this thing keep going?" Twilight questioned, her voice sounding very small in the secret hallway. She trotting through for what she guessed was a good thirty minutes or so, and the unicorn mare had yet to even see the opposite opening.It was almost like no matter how long she trotted forward there was no end to it. A few times Twilight had glanced back to make sure that there was nothing coming up behind her while she was not looking. She did not particulary beelive in things like the boogymare, but the fact remained that this was something created by Sombra. There was no telling what kind of wards he could have put in place to keep ponies from finding the Crystal Heart.

Events had proceeded like this for quite some time now, with only her horn to light her way. The magenta glow of her magic allowed to her to see about ten feet or so in front her, the sights of which mostly contained more hallway for what seemed like eternity.

And Twilight was just about sick of it.

Groaning in frustration, Twilight abandoned trotting and broke out into a swift gallop. Her hooves clicked on the floor beneath her, causing a headache inducing echo to assault her eardrums as she ran. Twilight ignored however in favor of focusing on her objective. If she did not find the Crystal Heart in time, then all would be lost.

So Twilight continued to run, pushing herself farther and farther, knowing that eventually she would find the end to this accursed hall.

Eventually did not come around until another thirty minutes later, and when Twilight finally emerged from the hall and out into large round room, she collapsed onto the floor as she desperately tried to catch her breath, and a small puddle of sweat accumulated underneath her prone form.

"Note. . . to self," she wheezed between gasps of air, "read more books. . . on proper. . . exercise."

When she had regained enough energy to stand again Twilight Sparkle took to observing the room around with curiosity, wondering what purpose it served. As far as she could tell by the relatively meager light of her horn the room was empty. Why would the dark king have a room like this, only to have nothing insi-

What's that? Twilight though as her eyes, already adjusted to the shadows from countless minutes spent in the hall, spotted something on the floor. At first she had not noticed it, which was actually somewhat ironic since it was so large that she thought it was a part of the floor, but now that she was looking at it Twilight was left slightly confused. It was a large round dais a hundred across that looked to be made out of some sort of crystalline material. It was different than the kind of crystal the buildings of the Crystal Empire was made out of.

"What is this thing?" Twilight questioned out loud as she stepped onto it. When her hoof met the surface it produced a noticeably different sound than in the hall, almost like the quiet chime of a bell. Storing that bit of information aside for later, Twilight walked on the dais. It was not long before she came across other dais's, though these were much smaller in structure. There appeared to about several of them placed along the outer edge, and all were very similar in appearance with each other. She also that there was another slightly larger dais in the center. Twilight brought her head down to inspect it further, but she could still not glean the purpose, not by just looking.

Was this were Sombra had hidden the Heart? Twilight did not think so, though she could not help but shake the feeling that there was some importance to this structure.

Despite the feeling Twilight felt that this was not the location of the Crystal Heart, and that she was just wasting her time. She was just about to to turn around and reenter the hall when she noticed rather peculiar.

On the center of the middle dais, a very faint blue spot of light shone began to glow faintly. It was plain luck that she had noticed it all in the gloom. Curious, Twilight slowly approached, stepping up onto the structure. She peered down suspiciously at the spot of light, wondering if this was Sombra's doing. She did not think so, but the possibility made her cautious none-the-less.

It almost seemed to be waiting for something to happen, like it expected her to perform some sort of action.

Twilight was hesitant to do anything, but eventually decided that if she wanted to get anywhere in locating the Crystal Heart, then she would just have to play along for the moment. Shrugging, Twilight focused a bit more on her horn, and a stem of magenta magic was sent into the dot of light. It was a strange feeling; whatever the light was, it seemed to take in every drop of magic that she fed it like a drain,  and the glow became progressively brighter each second.

Finally, after almost a full minute, the feeling ebbed away, and Twilight cut off the stream. She then backed up slightly as she waited for something to happen. And something did happen, just not what she was expecting. All at once the entire structure seemed to light up. and Twilight had squint to avoid being blinded. The was then accompanied a faint rumbling sound that alarmed Twilight. She glanced off to the side at the walls, which appeared to be sliding downwards beyond her view.

That was when Twilight realized that the entire structure she was standing on was going up at a vertical angle towards the distant ceiling.

"What the hay is going on here?!" she screamed as the dais, along with its unwilling passenger, continued to rise upward to an unknown destination.

Next Chapter: The Arrival Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes