Ponyhead, after hours of flying around, finally found B-fly. She was panting from exhaustion, and totally did not look fabulous at all, but this was urgent. "B-fly huff we need to huff talk about …" She looked at the new woman braiding Q-fly's hair. "… Who's the chick in the old times dress?"
"Ponyhead, Grandma Eclipsa. Eclipsa, Pony Head." Q-fly explained quickly.
"Oh, the one cool grandma." She nodded. "Have you thought about spikes and leather?"
"Several times. I used to fall asleep to grunge music every night before I went to bed." The old lady responded with a smirk.
"Ah, a woman born far ahead of her time. I'd be honored to catch you up on the latest fashion." She offered.
"Ponyhead." B-Fly spoke up. "You wanted to talk?"
"Oh right!" She almost forgot. "So good news, Tom wants to change for you."
"WHAT!?" Star shouted. "We're not even dating! He doesn't need to do something like that!"
"Yeah, he said he was 'inspired' by how much you've grown and felt that he should do the same." Ponyhead said. "Personally, I don't buy it, considering how chummy the two of you were during the silver bell ball…although if you're not dating, can you tell that to all the other rich royal kids? I want my two hundred back." Priorities, after all.
"Pony, you were trying to make a point here?" Q-fly interrupted her train of thought.
"Okay, now here comes the bad news." She said. "He's doing it through Demoncism."
"What?" The two kids asked in confusion.
"It's where you have your inner demons ripped out of you." Eclipsa explained. "Your negative thoughts and instincts and impulse control … they tried it on me once." The woman gave a very sadistic smirk. "Keyword tried. "
"Isn't that…super unhealthy and unethical?" Q-fly questioned. "Literally ripping out emotions and pieces of your personality."
"Completely, but that doesn't stop people from doing it." Eclipsa snickered. "People rather endure the vast mental turmoil that can scar you for years rather than have patience for therapy."
"But therapy is evil." Every teenager spoke at once.
"Finally, people see it my way. Now I know there's hope for the future." The old queen laughed. "But yes, it's basically a no win situation."
"Exactly! My ex-boyfriend Seahorse went through it once, and he was never the same!" Ponyhead let out a few rainbow tears when she showed off the before and after photos. "He doesn't even recognize me anymore and acts like a total nerd!"
"Okay, then it seems we need to get serious." B-fly pulled out her new wand. "Let's go stop my ex boyfriend from making himself less of an asshole … why are we helping him again?"
"Because it'll probably change him in a vastly drastic way, and jerk or not, he shouldn't put himself through so much pain just to become a better person." Q-fly offered.
"Right right … the things we do to be good people." Pretty much. If this didn't possibly affect Star in some way, she probably would've just let the guy go through with it. "Come on, lets go.."
"Actually, I think I'm going to sit this one out." Q-fly raised his hand. "You two are more than capable enough to knock sense into Tom, both metaphorically and literally..."
"Aww, thank you." Ponyhead responded.
"..And now that I have my healing spit back, I need to try something before I lose the nerve to do it again." Q-fly turned to his sister. "I'm going to try and heal Centi."
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"Guys, come on." Eclipsa watched as the gems all had their weapons out, Steven trying to defend her. "Don't tell me you're on the commission's side too?"
"No, that's not it." Pearl spoke. "No matter how … unkempt she was, she was a decent Queen."
"Don't let the commission hear you say that, they'll probably freeze you too." Eclipsa just smirked. "Dare to walk on the dark side?"
The tall fusion shrugged. "They've hated us for years, and vice versa … well, except Amethyst and Hekapoo."
"What can I say, the girl knows how to party." The short purple one waved off. "Spend a few hundred years riding dragon cycles and beating up gangsters in shady barns." That sounded like a lovely time.
Garnet adjusted her glasses. "The reason we have our weapons out is I saw you trying to unbubble Centipeetle, and the gem spitting acid at everyone and everything."
"Okay, that does make sense, but if the first thing Centi sees are weapons pointed at her, she's just going to freak out and spit acid anyways." Steven countered.
Amethyst looked at her whip, letting it vanish. "I mean … we can just summon them."
"Exactly, just give me a chance to do things my way for a moment. If this doesn't work, then we rebubble her." Steven held a bubble with said gem in his hands. "All I need to do is have a bag of chaps handy and she'll be good."
"I recall when life's problems would just melt away with a single bite of candy." Eclipsa smiled fondly as she bit into her fifth one today.
"Didn't you shank a man over a bag of skittles?" Pearl asked
"If you're going to stab someone, do it for a good reason." She answered. "Also he called me fat … so we're even."
"Why does almost every side of my family have to have something shady going on with them?" Steven rubbed the temples of his forehead. "Seriously, my human dad may be the only one clean from…"
"Greg was technically a criminal on the run for about half a year, wasn't he?" Amethyst asked.
"...Let's just save my friend, please." Hah, the boy was a joy to watch as always. He squeezed the bubble tightly, watching it pop. "Alright, reformation time."
It began to glow, steadily changing shape until it formed into a bushy maned bug with an acid-covered mouth. "Hiss."
"Oh, I can't understand her anymore." Steven noted with wide eyes.
"Hiss." It began to approach the boy, acid drooling from its mouth as the other gems tensed.
"Hold off you guys, I still haven't tried healing her yet." Steven cautiously approached as he licked his palms. "I just…need to get…a little careful…and quick!" Steven quickly slapped his palm against the gem. "Please work, please work."
The gem looked at him in confusion before the form started to change. Their entire body glowed white and became more human shaped. Once it was done, the mane bemore more like slick bushy hair, the gem was in place of an eyeball and out of its maw.
"Wow…that's new." Eclipsa noted in small excitement. She didn't think Rose's tears have ever had this sort of effect on them before.
"You're back!" Steven shouted with a smile, happy with his achievement.
"Caawwisss!" It shouted, banging its head against the wall before hitting the ground.
"She's definitely more calm than last time…although she seems less sapient." Pearl observed a little sadly.
"Oh come on!" Steven shouted with frustration. "It still wasn't enough!?"
"Imagine it like a teddy bear." Garnet explained. "Instead of being ripped at the stiches, and using fabric to fix it, corruption is like … the stitches inside your brain being ripped." Well that was a metaphor. "You remember how hard it was to get a thought straight when you were corrupted, right?"
"I do…It wasn't even thoughts, it was just…instincts and painful emotions." The boy shivered. "But if we can heal from Toffee's corruption, then maybe…"
"Toffee's corruption was similar to what happened to Centi, but it was based on magic, which is why you and Star were able to cure it with magic." Garnet explained. "Her corruption was a result of an attack by the Diamonds."
"And they're the only ones that can fix this …" The boy sighed.
"Be glad Steven." Eclipsa smiled. "You've cured her more than any Queen has before … I'd say your healing is more potent than Rose's herself."
The boy's eyes sparkled at those words, before looking at the poor creature, who was staring at itself in fascination in a mirror. "She can walk and somewhat talk. Just give me a day to reach out to her, I have to at least try for her sake." Such a determined little soul.
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"I am not, doing this, for you!" Tom shouted, for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'm doing this because of you!" He knew he would have regretted telling Ponyhead his plan, but no, he just had to be a nice guy and make small talk with her. "Why is that so hard to understand!?"
"Fine, fine, this is your choice you're making on your own terms, I can understand that." Star said as the demoncism workers chained him to a wooden table. "But don't you think this is a little extreme!?"
"Star, I set people on fire for small things. Even after therapy it's really hard to keep the rage down." He sighed. "I just figure if I get rid of my inner demon, I'll be less of a problem for people."
"Year, but the personality change, you probably won't be the same person if you go through with it!"
"Good! The more change, the better!" One of the hooded workers placed a rune on the chains, making it virtually indestructible. "Everybody hates who I am, and I do too! The quicker I get rid of my problems, the happier everyone else will be."
"Tom, changing who you are deep down won't chan … people don't hate you." She said, "I can't stand it when you lose yourself but … I don't hate you."
A couple of months ago, that would've been enough to get him to abandon the idea, it would've sent him into a delusional state where he assumed Star was his…he was beyond that now. He didn't need his life to revolve around Star, and vice versa. "I'm sorry Star. Thank you for caring enough to come here, but I need to get rid of my inner demon."
"Wait, inner demon , as in singular?" The lead man asked, pausing, placing the flames on him.
"Yeah … why?" Tom asked back.
"You're a demon, you guys have multiple demons inside of you, which adds to the volatile nature of your species. Not to mention being a Lucitor, a family known for having many souls devoured." Oh …
"So what does that mean for …"
"This is gonna be one out of many many sessions over the next year." The lead looked over. "In fact, since you're so dedicated, we'll probably have to plan this out for the next thirteen if you want to be completely anger free."
"Thirteen!?" He didn't want to do this for years! That was expensive! And he didn't have the patience for it either. "Okay, I've changed my.." he suddenly felt every nerve on his body feel like they were set on fire over a pit of boiling acid. He let out every profanity and curse he knew, howling in painful agony. " Gaaaaaah!"
Blue fire surrounded everywhere as the workers began running away. "Don't worry! You'll only be like this for another hour or so!" The lead called out to him as Tom felt his body float upwards, the chains preventing him from flying off.
"Why did no one say it was going to hurt before hand!!?" He shouted, screaming his lungs out. "Aaaasgghhh!"
"This is what I was trying to warn you about! I told you this was too much!" Star held him down and hugged him, even when he was shaking and convulsing in pain. "Don't worry Tom, I got you. I'll be here for you."
"Thank … you … aaahhh!" It was … nice.
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The bug ate the chaaps, they were yummy. Memories flooded into their skull … they weren't a bug, they were … Neph..neph…why was it so hard to remember!? Flaw. Memory.
"Centi, calm down!" The boy that invoked a strange, foreign, but familiar warmness on the inside of herself raised his hands, but kept himself at a small distance. "Do you still remember me? We ate chaps. We slept on Lion's pink fur. You're the first friend I made after things in my life started to go downhill."
Yes, they had fun together. She needed to tell him, she needed … tools. She went to the wood, she tired scratching words into it. "Scrawwwis. Hisssawww"
"This may be a bit presumptuous for me to assume, but I think the poor dear wants to write something on the walls." The strange woman with a calm but dark aura said. "Me and my beloved would do the same with our own hidden language when we would talk in secret."
"Oh, we have crayons." The boy went away for a moment, before coming back as he handed her some strange flat objects, and cylinder objects. "You do it like this." He demonstrated the writing utensils function.
It looked archaic and somewhat juvenile, but it would have to do for now. She began the process of writing down everything to the very best of her ability. The words were difficult to form, and everytime she tried to think of specific details, her head would feel like it was splitting, but she was able to get it done.
The boy looked over her messege with a deep contemplative look…and sighed. "It looks like a bunch of scribbles to me." No no no. No No…..!
The tall thin lady looked over the flat objects. "This is gem writing … surprisingly well written and detailed. She could have been a poet." Yes, yes!
"What's it say?"
The tall thin lady coughed, changing her voice to be deep and dramatic. "'I was a Nepharite squadron commander, I led a fleet on a mission to colonize a new planet. When we landed we were called into action, a battle we never heard off had commenced. We fought hard, but soon I was separated from my squad. I searched the planet desperately for them, but found no trace. Soon I received new orders from my commander, Hessonite, to evacuate the planet. But she couldn't leave, she didn't know where her comrades were, the people she was supposed to care for. Then there was a flash of light and … thinking started to hurt. Why does thinking hurt me? Why can't I feel warm?'" The lady was crying.
"Dang…that's…ouch.." The short purple one looked off to the side as the tall square haired one looked like they were about to destroy the nearest wall.
"So the diamonds just attacked the planet randomly…regardless of whether or not they hurt their own side." The boy looked to the ground in anger, gripping his hands.
"Now Steven, now's not the time to get angry about what happened in the past, but to focus on what you can do in the present." The other organic being looked to her. "You want to find your comrades, don't you?"
Nepha … neph-it nodded its head. Comrades were needed, companions, trust.
"We'll get to them, I promise we'll get you to your friends." Flaw. Form. The hand he touched started to spasm, turning into an insect-like leg. "It's wearing off!" He licked his hand and slapped her gem, it's mind feeling a tug, but nothing else, the leg spreading. "Quick, someone hand her dimension scissors before she forgets completely!"
"On it." The pale one reached inside of her own head and pulled out some complicated looking daggers. "Here, hold it like this and concentrate on finding your allies." The thin one instructed her.
Her single good arm began to shake as well, but she needed to focus on the task at hand. "Hssssh!" 'She let out a cry in pain as she motioned and waved the strange object through the air as a bright and colorful hole popped in from out of nowhere.
The boy shoved her through, landing roughly in a jungle, panicked as they looked around and … the ship! Their ship! They ran, even as its body shifted Flaw. Form. , the beast reaching and touch- Flaw. Form.- their last hand was gone. Tears began to form, unable to open the door. "Dang it! Don't worry, we can find another way.." the boy pressed his hand on the panel…and it opened. It actually opened! She could enter! "Huh? Does it just let any gem in?"
She didn't have an answer, nor did she care to search for one. Her comrades..her friends were on the other side!
"Hiss." [Unknown. Identify.] Neph-… Centipeetle turned, watching her friends crawl along the wall.
"Ssscccc." [Commander. Name. Friend.] She greeted.
"Cawaw." [Welcome. Humor. Acceptance.] They were just as amazing as it remembered.
"So this is earth?" The organic woman looked around.
"Are you disappointed?" The boy asked.
"No … it's very scenic." The woman looked at her and her friends with fondness. "Take pride in what you've accomplished, Steven. You managed to bring a family back together. That's something that not even magic healing can achieve."
"Yeah … I can definitely take pride in this …" He reached into his bag, pulling out a bag of Chaaps. "For you and your friends, as fellow gluttons we've gotta stick together."
[Salty,][crunchy.][hungry] Centi and her friends were all on the same page as they munched on the divine delicacy, before gathering around to nuzzle the boy as they should.
"Now this is surreal." The short purple one stayed with a laugh as the other colorful ladies came in.
"Please don't tell me you plan on taking them all in?" The pale thin one asked the boy.
"Only if they want to." The boy turned to them. "What do you guys want?"
"Hssssh" [chaps][warmth][warmth and chaps] They began to run outside and play in the sunlight, joy in their hearts.
"We just keep expanding the pets thing, don't we?"
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"So after being set on fire for a full hour, he passed out, woke up, and now we're dating again." Star told the story as she took a bite of her goblin dog.
"Honestly, not the worst back together story I've heard." Kelly shrugged as she stuffed about five or six into her own mouth. "So you're going to be fine even with all the demon souls stuck inside of you?"
"Meh, I just got to roll with it. If you thought therapy was evil before, it has nothing on demoncism." Tom laughed as he took a bite. "Seriously, the cost for just one of those is highway robbery."
"You should look into singing your feelings through conversation. It worked wonders for Pearl and my dad." Steven chuckled.
"Gotta say though, these goblin dogs are amazing … if it wasn't so complicated to get them, i'd eat these things all the time." Tom said, gulping the rest down at once.
"You're preaching to the Choir here. Although I've been here enough times to get through Roy's mind games easier, so it only takes around twenty minutes for me by this point." Kelly laughed. "So I see your powers are back in effect now?" She turned to her brother.
"As far as healing injuries and stuff, yes. Healing corruption is only a semi-temporary fix for the moment." Steven pointed to the group of Centipeetle that were cuddling with Lion in the distance while eating their own goblin dogs.
"Adorable little menaces … or giants since they're fully grown." Star amended. "You know, I can try adding magic, see if we can extend that recovery."
"I talked to Garnet and Pearl about it, she says that the Diamond's are probably the only way to permanently heal both their bodies and minds, and they're trying to kill us, so that's a no go." Steven sighed sadly. "Maybe in a couple years, we can at least be able to talk to each other like we used to before."
"Don't give up hope just yet Steven, you've proven the impossible to be possible before." Kelly smiled as she kissed her brother on the lips. "And now that your healing powers are back, I think we need to constantly keep checking that they're still working everyday now."
"So you want to scratch yourself while I lick it better?" Everyone sent her brother a look. "Oh … oh right, yeah, we can check." He blushed, kissing her back.
"Have they been like this the entire time they've been dating?" Tom asked her in a whisper. "It's like watching a trainwreck into a field of pillows and puppies."
"Oh yeah, those crazy kids are mad for each other." Star laughed. "But just between you and me, if she ever dumps my brother and you still need to work out your anger, she's the perfect punching bag."
"Understood." He nodded slowly. "So do you want to … I dunno … do what they're doing?" Tom asked her.
"Let's not dive too deep like they are, but yes." Star smiled as she kissed her boyfriend on the lips. This was soooo emotionally cathartic for her. "You know, it may not be earth, but I can still have a little fun being on Mewni."
"Of course you can, there's a lot of stuff we can do." Steven smiled. "Like … helping Lapis deal with her issues. I got the full story from Marco and Pony, the two of them outright bullied Peridot like they were cliche teenage movie bullies."
"So basically Britney." Star nodded. "If we're helping the Queen of Darkness get proven innocent, then helping a traumatized thousand year old water witch shouldn't be that more difficult."