Universe Falls

by MiniJen

What if, instead of Beach City, the Crystal Gems had settled down in a little backwoods town just west of weird? What if, upon coming to Gravity Falls for the summer, Dipper and Mabel were to befriend Steven and Connie? How would they fare against the combined threats of merciless Homeworld Gems and a certain triangular demon? Find out what happens when Magic and Mystery unite...

25. Chapter 22: Space Race

Well this one felt like it took me forever, but I blame Thanksgiving break on that one, where I was even more busy than I normally am here at college. Hard to believe I wrote most of this chapter over the course of the past three days than the entire week I had off! But whatever. I hope you all enjoy my rendition of Space Race! There are quite a few good moments in this one that I really like. So enjoy! (remember A1Z26 for arc 3!)

---

Chapter 22: Space Race

19-15-13-5-23-8-5-18-5 2-5-25-15-14-4 20-8-5 19-20-1-18-19
23-8-5-18-5 23-5 3-1-14 8-5-1-12 6-18-15-13 15-21-18 19-3-1-18-19
25-15-21 1-12-18-5-1-4-25 8-1-22-5 1-12-12 20-8-1-20 25-15-21 1-18-5
25-15-21 4-15-14-20 8-1-22-5 20-15 19-20-18-1-25 19-15 6-1-18

The Galaxy Warp was truly a magical, ethereal place, unlike any Steven, Dipper, or Mabel had ever been to before. The Gems had consented to taking the kids along on their latest magical mission, most likely as an unspoken way of reconciling with them after what was now referred to as the "Lapis incident". And so they had invited the trio to accompany them to the small, distant isle positioned afar out in the middle of the ocean for what was more of a routine inspection than a dangerous, hair-raising adventure. Still, the kids couldn't be any more excited for it, especially as they arrived at the Galaxy Warp itself.

The ancient Gem structure rose high out of the inky depths of the ocean, the smooth stones composing it shining in the gentle moonlight. The reflective marble ground was dotted with a sizable collection of warp pads, though only one of them lit up with the usual radiant glow as the Gems and the kids arrived.

"Whoa…" Steven, Dipper, and Mabel all muttered in muted unison the moment the light from the warp pad faded, allowing them to fully see the Galaxy Warp. The Gems had already briefed them about what their mission, telling them that it would likely be non-combatant and rather short, but they were still amazed by the mystical setting all the same.

"Look at all these warp pads!" Mabel exclaimed in absolute delight as she leaped off the pad they had all arrived from. "Are we gonna use them to go on a super-exciting treasure hunt?"

"Nah," Amethyst said casually. "We're just here to see if these things are broken or not."

"That's why I brought these!" Steven grinned as he held out a stack of colorful Crying Breakfast Friends stickers. "They'll help us keep track of the ones we've checked and they're scented!"

"Why do we need to check out all of these warp pads anyway?" Dipper asked as he gave a nearby pad an experimental knock.

"It's just something we like to do every few centuries," Pearl explained. "Think of it as a… security inspection. We're just going to make sure that all these warp pads are inactive."

"So… they aren't supposed to work?" Dipper questioned, confused.

"No," Garnet answered tersely. Dipper wanted to raise another question to the Gems about this rather odd mission, but their examination of the various warp pads had already begun before he could.

"This one's inactive!" Amethyst announced after jumping onto one of the pads and attempting in vain to use it to warp somewhere. Upon hearing this, Steven rushed over to the damaged pad and slapped one of his stickers on it to confirm that it was indeed busted.

"Oh man, I hope I have enough of these left," the young Gem fretted, counting over his small stack again. "I already used most of them decorating Lion's mane. He just ended up eating most of them…"

"Well, then it's a good thing I always carry some of these on me!" Mabel smirked as she pulled out her own small collection of Crying Breakfast Friends stickers, much to Steven's relief.

"Mabel, how are you always so prepared for things like this?" the young Gem asked.

"Eh, it's a gift," Mabel shrugged nonchalantly. Yet even so, the Gems' investigation carried on.

"Inactive," Garnet called as she checked another pad, prompting Mabel to put another sticker on it.

"Inactive," Pearl frowned as she stood on yet another pad, masking the disappointment in her tone.

"Do we have to check all of them?" Amethyst asked, crossing her arms. "They're all still inactive, like always. Nobody would even be able to fix them anyway."

"We need to make sure," Garnet said firmly.

"Why?" Dipper asked, still immensely curious about this mysterious place in general. "Where do all these warp pads go to anyway?"

"Well…" Pearl began with a small smile. Already anticipating another interesting piece of Gem information, the kids all congregated around her as she took a seat on the nearest pad. "You see, kids, all of the warp pads here were used to travel off-planet. They were our connection to the Gem Homeworld and to Gem-controlled planets all over the universe!"

The trio let out a unified gasp upon hearing this, all of them obviously amazed at such an incredible revelation. The news that the Gems were aliens was still rather new to all of them, but the idea that they might be able to use one of these very warp pads to see the mysterious Gem Homeworld for themselves? That sounded almost too good to be true.

"So what you're saying is that going to other planets is just as easy as getting on one of these things?" Dipper asked, intrigued. "That sounds awesome, but also kind of… impossible. No offense."

"Oh my gosh! Maybe we could use one of them to go see what Homeworld is like!" Steven exclaimed, stars in his eyes. "I'm sure you guys would love to go visit it for a while, right? Since its where all of you are from?" Of course, the one thing none of them were noticing were the wide-eyed, apprehensive glances the Gems were exchanging with one another as the kids' excitement steadily grew.

"What are we waiting for?!" Mabel asked, more than on board with this idea. "Let's go right now!"

"Uh, we could do that," Amethyst cut in, masking her former dread with her usual easygoing manner. "If they weren't all busted."

"It's true…" Pearl sighed, sharing the kids' sudden, shared disappointment. "The galaxy warps have all been inactive for thousands of years."

"Can't we fix them?" Steven asked, hopeful.

"No," Garnet was quick to respond, adjusting her shades as the moonlight reflected off of them mysteriously.

"Boo!" Mabel stuck her tongue out indignantly. "Why not?"

"Cause it's just like I said earlier," Amethyst remarked. "Nobody knows how to fix up these dumb old things, right G?"

Garnet simply nodded, already leading the way back to the only functional warp pad that would take them back to the temple. The purple Gem hurried to follow her, but Pearl still lingered, wistfully gazing up at the starry night sky as she let out another soft sigh.

"Are you ok, Pearl?" Dipper asked with concern as him, Steven, and Mabel stopped short on their way back to the main pad.

"Oh, I'm fine," the white Gem reassured with a small, fake chuckle as she rose to stand. "I'll always have my memories of other worlds. But now I'm here… on Earth… forever…"

"With us!" Steven quipped in an attempt to cheer her up.

Pearl paused upon hearing this, trying her best to lighten her saddened expression up a bit for the kids' sake as she offered them a weak smile. "Right," she said, glancing away. "With you. Still, it really is incredible out there…" She shook her head slightly as she turned her gaze to the distant sky again, prompting the kids to do the same as they all took in the countless stars that all seemed so close, yet so far away all at once. "I wish the three of you could see it…"

---

"Stay tuned for another episode of Crying Breakfast Friends!" the TV blared as an episode of said show came to an end. Steven, Mabel, and Dipper all sat atop the young Gem's bed watching the depressing cartoon, though only the former two were really engaged in it.

"Ok, you guys," Dipper began with a caustic frown. "We've been watching this show for several hours now, and I still don't really understand what either of you see in it…"

"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper…" Mabel shook her head. "Can't you appreciate fine art when you see it? Crying Breakfast Friends is the best modern cartoons have to offer!"

"If this is the best there is, then cartoons are kind of in trouble," Dipper frowned as he looked to the sobbing breakfast foods onscreen.

"Say what you want about it, Dipper, but you gotta admit that it is pretty relatable," Steven remarked. "Like in that last episode for instance. Seeing how much Sad Apple wanted to go home reminded me of Pearl was missing space at the Galaxy Warp yesterday. She seemed really sad about it…"

"Who can blame her?" Mabel asked, relining back on the bed. "I'm all bummed out about it too. Going to space would be so awesome!"

"It would be, but you heard what the Gems said," Dipper said dismissively. "We can't go anywhere as long as all those warp pads are broken. I tried looking in the journal earlier to see if it had any way to fix them in it, but there was nothing about it, even in there."

Steven let out a disappointed sigh upon hearing this. "I wish there was something we could do to help Pearl see space again, at least," he said sympathetically. "If only there was some other way we could get to space… Wait! That's it! Dipper, Mabel, let's build a spaceship!"

"What?!" Dipper asked, taken aback. "Steven, we can't just build a spaceship."

"Why not?" Steven asked innocently.

"Yeah, why not?" Mabel added. "It'll be fun!"

"And completely impossible," Dipper crossed his arms. "I don't know if you guys know this, but it takes a lot to build a spaceship. We'd need several years at least, plus a ton of resources that we probably wouldn't be able to get because we don't have any money to buy them, and the list goes on."

"Oh, come on, Dipper!" Mabel exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "We could totally do it! After all, nothing is impossible if you work hard and put your mind to it! I read that on a cat poster once."

"I really don't think that saying applies to everything, Mabel," Dipper deadpanned. "Especially something as huge as building a spaceship."

"Yeah, but people have built spaceships before, and we're people!" Steven pointed out.

"You can't argue with that one, bro-bro," Mabel said, playfully elbowing Dipper.

"And Pearl would love it so much to see space again!" Steven continued. "We have to at least give it a try for her. Think of how amazed she'd be if we built an entire spaceship, just for her!"

Dipper let out a sigh upon hearing this, his skepticism melting away all at once. He could hardly fault Steven and Mabel for wanting to help Pearl with their overzealous idea, even if it was highly improbable. "Fine, I'm in," he said with a relenting grin. "But if you guys are really serious about this, then we're gonna need some help. We'd have a hard time trying to build this thing by ourselves."

"I'm way ahead of you on that one, Dipper," Steven said with an enthused smile as he leapt to his feet. "In fact, I just so happen to know not one, but two people who would love to help us!"

---

Stan raised a caustic eyebrow upon hearing the request the kids had just proposed to him, but even so, he still continued to count through the rather large stack of money on the desk in front of him. "So, wait… You munchkins want me to help you build a… what exactly?"

"A spaceship!" Mabel reiterated cheerfully.

The con man stared at the trio for a long time at this, his expression awash with both confusion and exasperation. "A spaceship, huh? Alright, which one of you two came up with this harebrained idea?" he asked a moment later, looking between Steven and Mabel.

"Grunkle Stan, how do you know I didn't come up with the idea?" Dipper asked, somewhat offended that he wasn't included.

"Because you're not that creative or crazy," Stan said bluntly, ignoring his nephew's disgruntled scowl. "Now what makes you kids think I know anything about spaceships? I'm not exactly a rocket scientist, ya know."

"But you build design all sorts of cool attractions for the Mystery Shack, Mr. Pines," Steven said with a smile. "I'm sure you could come up with a really neat idea for a spaceship if you wanted to!"

"Yeah, well I don't," Stan said tersely. "And even if I did, I have better things to do with my time then work on some crazy pipe dream. Instead of bothering me with this spaceship thing, why don't you three get some brainiac to help you? Like Pearl for instance. She's into nerdy stuff like that."

"Well we would, but we're actually planning on doing this for Pearl," Mabel explained. "She'll be so excited when she sees the giant, beautiful, spaceship we're gonna build for her! And once it's done, we'll all get in it, and we'll fly into space, and we'll visit a bunch of other planets, and we'll have so much fun, and we'll-"

"Ok, Mabel, that's enough!" Dipper interrupted, knowing that his sister was getting far too excited. "Long story short, Grunkle Stan, we're doing this so we can help Pearl see space again."

"Oh, well that changes everything," Stan said with clearly fake sympathy. "You should have mentioned this was for Pearl. That definitely makes me want to help."

"Really?" Steven asked with a hopeful smile.

"Of course not, kid!" the conman exclaimed with a scowl. "The last thing I'd ever want to do is help Pearl out with anything, especially something as crazy as this."

"I know you and Pearl don't get along very well, Mr. Pines," Steven frowned. "But I'm sure she'd really appreciate it if you helped out! And besides, it won't be that hard, we promise!"

"Kid, do you have any idea what goes into building a spaceship?" Stan asked caustically. "First off, you need a bunch of money, which is something I'm not at all interested investing unless I'm gonna have it at least doubled, if not tripled."

"Well, what about space tourism?" Dipper asked out of the blue.

"Space what?"

"You know, space tourism? When really rich people pay a lot of money to go on short trips into space?"

"How much money are we talking here?" Stan asked, fully interested now.

"I don't know," Dipper shrugged. "Thousands, maybe millions."

Upon hearing this, the conman leapt up from his chair, a huge grin on his face as the enticing prospect of earning untold amounts of cash. "Well, kids, I hate to say it, but you've sold me on this spaceship thing," he said boldly. "I'll help you build it, but only if you let me use it for this 'space tourism' thing. If this scheme takes off, then I could retire early and buy my own island!"

"You got it, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel exclaimed as both her and Steven shook the conman's hand to solidify the deal.

"But only after we take Pearl up to space with it first," the young Gem clarified.

"Yeah, yeah, Pearl-schmearl," Stan waved his hand with little concern. "What are we still standing around here yapping for? Let's get this money-making, hunk of junk built!"

---

Fortunately, Greg was much easier to recruit for the kids' spaceship proposal, mostly because he believed the project was just for fun rather than anything serious. Since Stan was providing "funding" for the spaceship, then the former rock star decided to lend his aid by providing space and supplies for them to work with. And so, everyone piled into Greg's van and rode a few miles out of town to a large barn nestled in the middle of a wide open field. It was rather old and apparently abandoned, but the large amount of space would certainly suffice for their needs. But that wasn't all. The barn itself was stuffed to the ceiling with all sorts of scrap materials and various other miscellaneous items. From tires, to bowling balls, to paint cans, to plane parts. Especially plane parts, however, including wings, propellers, motors and more. It was an impressive collection, one that excited the kids even more as Greg opened up the barn for them all to see it.

"My aunt and uncle had a great love of aviation and each other," the former rock star explained, nodding to the portrait of his relatives hanging from the barn's far wall. "They cherished the years they spent together and they held onto every belonging they ever owned—kinda like me and my storage shed… I'm starting to think our family has a problem…"

"Ya think?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow as he kicked a nearby rudder. "If I were you, Greg, I would have sold all of this junk for scrap metal years ago."

"Aw, I couldn't possibly," Greg said, scratching the back of his neck. "All of this stuff is precious family heirlooms."

"Yeah, 'precious'," the conman rolled his eyes as he glanced over at a busted TV.

"Dad, all this stuff is so great!" Steven exclaimed excitedly. "I hereby declare this barn to be Universe, Universe, Pines, Pines, and Pines Space Travel HQ!"

"So… UUPPP?" Dipper asked, amused.

"Yeah!"

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Mabel quipped cheerfully. "I'll start sewing us all company sweaters right away! We'll need them since I hear it's really cold up in space!"

"Well, we might as well start hauling all of these parts out of here," Stan said to Greg as Mabel ran off to get her yarn and knitting needles. "But if I find something actually valuable in there, I'm not making any promises that I won't swipe any of this stuff and resell it at the shack."

"M-Mr. Pines! Wait!" Greg called with sudden concern as he ran into the barn after Stan. "My aunt and uncle would kill me if I got rid of any of this stuff!"

"And we'll work on the spaceship's design!" Steven proclaimed. "Right, Dipper?"

"Whatever you say, Steven," Dipper said with a laugh, still thinking this entire plan was a bit far-fetched, even despite his consenting to work on it.

"Ok," the young Gem said with apt resolve. "Let's get started!"

And thus the motley crew began their ambitious endeavor. Using a chalkboard that they had salvaged from the barn, the boys got to work on carving out a design for their spacecraft. Dipper took an analytical approach, using his side of the chalkboard for actual formulas and graphs, that is until Steven started imposing onto his space with his own rather simplistic, cartoony sketch of a rocket ship soaring through the stars. After sewing her own space-themed sweater, Mabel decided to take a break and join them, drawing over her brother's statistical plans with intricate doodles of planets and aliens, much to his exasperation. After dragging several random parts and materials out of the barn, Stan and Greg got to work on sorting through them and breaking them apart into more manageable parts. For once, the conman's skill of propagating faux attractions came in handy, as he knew exactly how to help the kids fashion the materials together into something that looked like a believable, if not somewhat rickety "spaceship". And as soon as it was finished, the kids didn't hesitate to invite a certain white Gem out to the barn to see their newest creation.

"Okay… now!" Steven took his hands off of Pearl's eyes, allowing her to see the sign positioned on the doorway of the barn. The white Gem's expression was awash with confusion as she looked between it and the kids.

"'UUPPP Space Travel?'" Pearl frowned. "What is this?"

"Only the most amazing thing you'll ever see," Mabel grinned widely.

"I… somehow doubt that, but alright," the white Gem smirked, amused. "I'll go along with whatever this is, I suppose."

"Good, because you kind of have to for this," Dipper said, knowing that their meager creation was likely nothing Pearl would be too impressed with.

"And what exactly is… 'this'?"

"We built a spaceship!" Steven exclaimed brightly.

"A spaceship?" Pearl asked, intrigued.

"A spaceship!" Mabel reiterated, directing the white Gem's gaze to the craft. Her interest quickly diminished upon seeing the simple vehicle, if it could even be called that. Really, it was just a long wooden box on wheels, with a traffic cone nailed to the front, crude wings taped to the sides, and three seats positioned in very close proximity to each other.

"A… spaceship…" Pearl said with disappointment, knowing that this underwhelming sight was a far cry from any kind of spaceship.

Yet even so, Steven and Mabel were eager to test the vessel out, even if Dipper was a bit more apprehensive about it considering the spaceship's very rough design and construction. Still, everyone took to the nearby hilltop, including Pearl, who certainly had quite a few doubts about the kids' "spaceship", though she didn't really let any of them show, lest she hurt their confidence.

"Alright, listen up, you three," Stan began briefing the kids as they prepared for their maiden voyage. "Your job is to make sure this rust bucket is safe enough for customers down at the shack to ride as long as they sign a liability waiver. I don't want any parents suing me over 'faulty craftsmanship' when their clumsy kids fall out of it."

"But, at the same time," Greg interjected with much more logical advice. "Remember that if you kids run into any trouble out there, you can always bail. There's never any shame in bailing."

"There is when my next potential attraction is at stake," Stan countered. "So don't let that thing crash, got it?"

"Contradicting advice—understood!" Steven saluted with a wide grin. "It's time to blast off!"

"Um, actually, is there any way I can bail out in advance?" Dipper asked, glancing back at the makeshift spaceship with an anxious frown.

"Nope!" Mabel exclaimed firmly yet blithely.

"Are you all sure this is such a good idea?" Pearl asked tentatively, looking between the kids and their ship.

"Yeah, we are!" Steven quipped as boarded the ship along with the twins. "This is gonna be so great! Just think, Pearl: soon you'll be able to see space again, just like you said you wanted to!"

"…Right…"

"Are you kids ready?" Greg asked, striking a match and holding up to the sparkler tapped to the back of the ship.

"You bet we are!" Mabel proclaimed boldly. "Light the engines!"

"Roger that!" the former rock star laughed as he did so.

"Next stop: outer space!" Steven exclaimed, raring to go as he shuffled around in the front seat.

"Or more likely, the ground," Dipper muttered uneasily.

"Oh, come on, Dipper," Mabel rolled her eyes, unconcerned. "Don't be so worried! There's no way this ship could fail! The only place this thing is going is up!"

Before Dipper could even protest this faulty logic, their test flight abruptly began as Stan gave the vessel a shove with his foot. "Whelp, there you go!" the conman exclaimed, disregarding the kids' mingled cries of excitement and fear. Gravity immediately began to work on the spaceship, propelling it down the steep hill and towards the ramp that had been set up towards the bottom that would hopefully launch the ship upwards towards the stars. However, it didn't take long for this idea, and the ship itself, to start literally falling apart. Steven and Mabel immediately joined Dipper in ongoing fear as they noticed one of the ship's wings tear off as the tape's strength wore out, followed by one of its wooden sides collapsed and fell to the wayside. Pearl, Greg, and Stan all watched the craft begin to quickly break apart from the top of the hill, all of them showing varying levels of concern for the kids' safety.

"Uh, guys? Now might be a good time to bail!" Dipper called, clinging onto the remaining side of the ship as it rapidly sped towards the ramp.

"No shame!" Steven shouted, agreeing to this plan as he leapt from the crumbling ship first with the twins following only seconds after. The kids made a mostly safe landing as they rolled into the grass, but their ship wasn't so lucky. The moment it struck a rock right in front of the ramp, the remainder of the rickety vessel broke apart violently, its various pieces sent flying in every direction.

"Whoa…" Mabel gasped, sitting up alongside the boys as they looked towards the wreckage. "That was… awesome!"

Dipper let out an exasperated sigh as Steven simply laughed, largely out of relief that they had escaped unscathed. Meanwhile, at the top of the hill, the white Gem simply shook her head as she looked to Stan and Greg.

"Darn it! I told those kids not to crash it!" Stan scowled in disappointment.

"I… think your calculations may have been off," Pearl noted caustically, ignoring the conman's frustration.

Greg let out a sheepish laugh at this. "Well, they can't be off if you don't do any."

---

Pearl frowned as she looked over the chalkboard back at the barn, mulling over the very simple sketches Steven and Mabel had scribbled all over it as the others awaited her evaluation. "Hm… these designs are… interesting…" she mused, making sure to tread lightly with her choice of words. "I can certainly see where the initial concept derailed. Though these formulas up here do seem to be onto something… Dipper, are these yours?"

"O-oh, yeah, they are," Dipper admitted somewhat bashfully. "They aren't anything really important though. Just some stuff on angular velocity and impulse momentum."

"Impressive…" Pearl grinned proudly, though her smile faded as she turned to Greg and Stan. "I imagine you two didn't bother to incorporate any of that into… whatever it is you helped the kids build, did you?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Stan said, glaring at the white Gem. "I was only in this for the money. And I'd like to see you do any better."

"Well…"

"Pearl, you know how to build spaceships?!" Steven asked, amazed.

"I know a little…" the white Gem said, wiping the chalkboard clean before beginning to draw a more complex, yet clean concept design. "First of all, you need smooth, curving surfaces, otherwise, you're never going to get enough speed to break through Earth's gravitational pull. Probably swept-back wings for supersonic flight, airtight cockpit with ejector seat, and we'll need some serious engines, or maybe rockets would be better."

"I vote rockets!" Mabel exclaimed excitedly.

"Wait… like real rockets?" Dipper asked, suddenly quite invested in this project. After all, Pearl's intuition and knowledge on aerodynamics and space travel were certainly a great deal more than anything they had to work off of with their first attempt.

"Well, of course," Pearl smiled. "What other kind of rockets are there?"

"Rockets! Rockets!" Steven cheered happily, not noticing the bewildered glance Greg and Stan exchanged behind him.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a sec," the former rock star interjected before the kids could get too carried away. "We're not actually talking about building something like this, right?!"

"What? This?" the white Gem glanced at her design, letting out a forced laugh. "Of course not. That would be ridiculous!"

"Aw…" the kids all sighed in dejected unison, their sudden hope of building a real, genuine spaceship abruptly dashed. But only for a moment.

"I mean, yes, theoretically, it's not a stretch…" Pearl continued thoughtfully. "You've got plenty of spare parts here, albeit for incredibly primitive propulsion based space travel."

"Then let's do it!" Mabel encouraged as Steven and Dipper noted their ready agreement.

"Oh, but the idea is ludicrous," Pearl said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It would never work! Although… several humans, a monkey, and a dog did make it into space…"

"I heard on the radio that some doofus once had a pizza delivered to him out there," Stan pointed out offhandedly.

"I don't even wanna think about the delivery charge on that one," Greg commented. Yet even so, Pearl went on, growing steadily more and more excited by the moment.

"I don't know why I've never thought of it before!" she exclaimed with a bright grin. "This could actually work!"

"Uh…" Greg began to speak up, standing as the voice of reason amidst the kids' elation and Stan's relative apathy.

"I hear what you're saying, and I agree," Pearl interrupted, pacing around the area as the idea continued to solidify itself in her mind. "It would be incredibly dangerous; a fool's errand! This couch is disgusting," she cringed as she pulled a bit of stuffing out of the old sofa everyone was sitting on. "But aren't the true fools the ones who don't seize an opportunity, despite the inherent risks? And just think, kids: you'll all be able to go where few humans have ever gone before, to see the wonders of the cosmos with your own eyes!"

Inspired by Pearl's bold speech, the kids all shared huge grins, all of them leaping at the change that the white Gem was offering to them. After all, when would they ever have the opportunity to venture into space, the final frontier, in an actual spaceship, ever again? Before, it had sounded like a fantasy, a case of wishful thinking; but now, the idea seemed like it was very much within their reach. And with this possibility finally being so close, they had no choice but to take it.

"Pearl, that sounds so amazing," Dipper began, yet even still, he had his doubts. "But do you really think we can do it?"

"Yes, I do," the white Gem nodded with a determined grin. "After all, nothing is impossible if you work hard and put your mind to it!"

"That's what I said!" Mabel cut in brightly. "Did you read that off a cat poster too, Pearl?"

Pearl gave her a look of befuddled confusion at this, but Steven was quick to interject. "I'm so excited, Pearl! This is gonna be even more fun than building the first ship was!"

"I'm so glad you kids agree!" Pearl clasped her hands together in delight, looking to the sunny skies with a wistful smile. "And who knows? Maybe for just a second, from a distance, I could see what's been going on without me… All right! Let's do it!"

As the kids all congregated around the elated white Gem, none of them happened to notice the looks of confusion and apprehension that both Stan and Greg seemed to share. But even so, they were far too excited to at the moment, especially as the young Gem cheered them into action. "UUPPP Space Travel, go!"

---

With a legitimate, concrete design in mind and Pearl's intellect to guide them, the group set to work immediately on their second build of their spaceship. The white Gem had no problems taking the reins of the project, but despite her firm command, she readily let the others help in any extent they wanted to. After a detailed inspection of the barn, she pointed out which tools and parts would be best to use and helped the others haul them and organize them on the lawn.

"Oh, these will work perfectly," Pearl smiled as she sorted through a box of old tools, picking out a drill from among them. "Greg, do you know if any of those plane parts in there are composed of any titanium or aluminum alloys?"

"Um… maybe?" Greg shrugged, looking to the discarded wing that him and Stan were carrying. "They look like they could be made of something like that, I guess…"

"Well, no matter," the white Gem said as she continued working. "We can always strengthen the hull with carbon fiber towards the end. How are things going with that washing machine, kids?"

"They're… going!" Dipper called as he strained to pry one of the internal parts off an old washing machine. Pearl had given the kids the task of taking the machine apart, with the reasoning that quite a few of its parts could be very useful for the ship's interior. Steven had already pulled off all of its dials and Mabel was in the middle of beating the back of it with a hammer, though she paused as she noticed her brother's plight.

"Oh, let me get that for you, bro-bro!" she exclaimed, reaching into the machine and easily breaking the part off. "Neat! Hey Pearl, I got the twisty thing you wanted!"

"How did you do that?" Dipper asked, bewildered. "I've been trying to get that thing off for almost an hour!"

"I just pulled it right off," Mabel shrugged blithely. "What were you doing?"

"…Twisting it."

"Well, there's your problem, Dippin-Dots!" Mabel laughed as she threw the part up and caught it again. "You were spending all that time wearing your brain out overthinking something that was super easy!" Before Dipper could offer a defensive response to this, the part happened to slip out of Mabel's lax grip, though fortunately, Pearl saw this coming and managed to catch it just before it could hit the ground.

"Careful, Mabel," the white Gem advised, handing the part off to Steven. "We'll need this agitator perfectly intact. It'll make a good basis for a small-scale test propeller."

"Can we help you build it, Pearl?" Steven asked eagerly.

"Well, of course!" the white Gem beamed, leading the way back to the barn. "I'll need all three of you to help with every stage of construction. After all, this was your idea in the first place; I'm just here to help get it off the ground. Now, who wants to get started on our first scale model?"

Of course, the kids all readily agreed to this as they ran after her, all of them already contributing their own ideas to the model, both realistic and outlandish. Stan and Greg stood by watching as they headed inside, the former rock star frowning apprehensively and the conman shaking his head incredulously.

"She's not serious about this whole spaceship thing, is she?" Stan asked caustically.

"It's hard to say…" Greg said. "I mean, she did give me this book on advanced avionics and told me to 'study up'…"

"Yeah, well she can talk big and get the kids excited all she wants," the conman crossed his arms. "Just as long as I get a decent kiddie ride to put in front of the shack, then we won't have any problems."

"Eh, yeah, you're right," the former rock star consented. "We might as let Pearl and the kids have their fun. Still," he frowned as he flipped through the heavy book the white Gem had given him. "I really hope she doesn't expect me to memorize any of this stuff…"

---

"Ok, so we have to remember to factor in both wind speed and velocity, as well as the slope of the take-off area…" Pearl noted as she paced in front of the chalkboard as Dipper jotted everything she said down. They were already well into day two of their project, and since Steven and Greg had driven back to town to grab everyone some lunch, Pearl and the Pines remained back at the barn to continue working. As Stan and Mabel continued assembling supplies, Dipper and Pearl had taken to working through several complex, yet essential calculations that they needed to even get their spaceship off the ground at all. "Gravity will also be a very important thing to consider… Dipper, do you know anything about kinematics?"

"Um… a little," he shrugged, knowing that whatever meager knowledge he had on the topic would certainly pale in comparison to that of the white Gem's. "Isn't kinematics basically all about geometry and motion?"

"It is," Pearl nodded with a smile. "It really is impressive how much you know about all of these advanced concepts. Most twelve year olds would likely have no idea how to solve parametric equations or how centripetal forces work, but you navigate those ideas with ease!"

"Oh, it's no big deal," Dipper said with a small, slightly embarrassed laugh. "Physics have always sort have been sort of fascinating to me, so I guess I kinda just learned a bunch about it without even realizing it. I could have never guessed that I'd be able to apply any of it to building an actual spaceship, though."

"Well, I certainly appreciate your zeal for it," Pearl grinned warmly. "It's good to know that someone else is just as concerned with the scientific side of this project instead of just the idea itself. Just think, Dipper: the equations we're working on at this very moment will serve as the very heart and soul of our vessel! Without them, we might as well go back to that little boxcar from earlier."

"Uh, no thanks," Dipper said as his smile faded. "That thing was a disaster."

"Agreed," Pearl nodded. "Which is why we should hunker down and keep working on these formulas. Now, let's see if we can configure our ship's kinematic viscosity first…"

As the pair continued working through their calculations, they both failed to notice the other duo peer down at them from atop the barn's roof. Stan and Mabel both wore mischievous expressions as they readied their latest prank, namely, a large bucket of water balloons stuffed with chilly ice water.

"Alright, Mabel, are we all ready with those balloons?" Stan asked with a daring smirk.

"You bet!" Mabel exclaimed, grabbing one of the cold balloons. "These babies are freezing cold! See for yourself!"

"Mabel, wait-" the conman tried to stop her, but he was seconds too short as she lobbed one of the balloons at him. Of course, it splattered on his suit, soaking and aggravating him quite a bit. "Thanks for that," he said sarcastically. "Now let's save the rest of those for those two nerds down there, ok?"

Mabel gave her uncle a solid thumbs up before helping him push the bucket towards the edge of the roof. "Ok, on three," Stan said. "One, two-"

"Three!" Mabel finished, prompting both of them to tilt the bucket and allow its contents to spill down to their targets below. Needless to say, neither Dipper nor Pearl were prepared for this sudden frigid downpour, which was why they both let out startled cries as it abruptly hit them. Stan and Mabel simply high-fived their success, laughing hard as their pair on the ground scowled up at them angrily.

"Stan!" Pearl shouted heatedly, dripping with the freezing water. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"We figured you two could use a chance to 'chill out' from all that boring math," the conman called down to them. "So there ya go!"

"You're welcome!" Mabel exclaimed cheerfully.

"Look what you guys did!" Dipper gasped in abject horror as he looked to the now blank chalkboard. "All of our equations are gone! We'll have to start all over again!"

"Eh, but you two enjoy boring sciency stuff like that," Mabel said with a wave of her hand. "So you'll get to have all that fun all over again. Isn't that great?"

"No, it most certainly is not great!" Pearl scowled. "You two just set us back hours!"

Before Stan or Mabel could say anything in their defense, however, Steven and Greg happened to arrive back, and the young Gem didn't hesitate to hop out of the van upon seeing what was going on. "Whoa, Pearl, Dipper, why are you guys all wet?" he asked, running up to them.

"Somebody decided to play a prank on us…" Dipper said crossly as he glared up at Stan and Mabel.

"And it's definitely not appreciated," Pearl added pointedly, wringing out her sash.

"Hey, Steven!" Mabel called down from the roof. "I saved a water balloon for you!"

"All right!" the young Gem quipped happily. "Lay it on me!"

"Steven, wait!" both Dipper and Pearl exclaimed in unison, but it was too late as the rather large water balloon splashed down on Steven, soaking all three of them in the process.

"Nice one!" Stan laughed, high fiving Mabel again.

"I don't know what you guys are so mad about," Steven grinned to Dipper and Pearl, who were both still quite perturbed. "That felt great!"

---

As soon as the scale model had been constructed, Pearl wasted no time in getting everyone started on a "mach 2" build of the spaceship. After gathering the proper materials, their first task was to weld the framework of the glider, which was something Stan and the kids took responsibility for as Pearl and Greg got to work on the cockpit. And since he saw no inherit danger in letting a child use a blow torch, the conman simply stood by and watched as Mabel finished melding two metal pipes together with it.

"Aaaaannnnd…. You're done," Stan advised, looking over his niece's work. Mabel let out an excited squeal as she threw her welding mask up to see that the bars had been melted together seamlessly.

"Grunkle Stan, how'd I do?" she asked eagerly.

"You did great, pumpkin," the conman said with a sincere smile. "And you get bonus points for not burning your hand off with that thing."

"Yes!" Mabel cheered, waving the still-lit blow torch around in celebration. As she did so, however, the tip of the flame only barely missed setting her brother's hat on fire, much to his alarm.

"Mabel! Be careful with that thing!" Dipper chastised, quickly taking his hat off to protect it.

"Whoops… Sorry!"

"Hey, Mr. Pines, can I give that blow torch a try?" Steven asked as Stan took it out of Mabel's hands. "I want to melt things together too!"

"Sure thing, kid, but only if you do me a favor first," Stan said, handing the torch to the young Gem. "See that sandwich over there?" he nodded to the cheese sandwich sitting on the nearby workbench. "Bring that puppy over here and toast it up for me, will ya?"

"You got it!" Steven gave him a thumbs up as he retrieved the sandwich and began lightly grilling it as the conman held onto it.

"Yeah, that's right," Stan said with a hungry grin. "Fry it up nice and crispy, kid. And make sure to get both sides!"

"Grunkle Stan, are you sure you should be using a blow torch to make a grilled cheese sandwich?" Dipper asked skeptically.

"I dunno," Stan deadpanned. "Are you sure you should be using your mouth to complain about it?"

Dipper didn't even bother to reply to this, but instead simply crossed his arms and let out a disgruntled sigh. Steven was still in the middle of toasting Stan's sandwich when Pearl happened to walk into the barn, a hammer and box of nails in hand.

"Well, we just about have the chassis built," the white Gem reported. "How's the glider go-" She abruptly cut herself off, dropping her tools upon noticing what was going on. "What are you doing?!"

"Um… making sandwiches?" Steven grinned awkwardly.

"With a blow torch?" Pearl asked, looking to the conman caustically. "Really, Stan?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to get a decent lunch here," Stan said defensively, taking a bite out of his grilled sandwich as he grabbed the blow torch. "Not that you'd know anything about that, what with your boycott on eating and all."

The white Gem sent the conman a particularly sour glare at this, but even so, she figured that the kids didn't need to be around for the rather harsh words she had for him. "Steven, Dipper, Mabel, why don't you three go help Greg tighten the bolts on the cockpit?"

"Aw, but we wanna watch you guys fight!" Mabel protested.

"What? We're not going to fight," Pearl shook her head.

"Yeah, Pearl's just gonna nag at me and I'm just gonna tune her out, as usual," Stan remarked, smirking a bit as he watched the white Gem's eye twitch in annoyance at this.

"Kids, just… please, go outside, alright?"

The trio begrudgingly did so, sulking out of the barn as Pearl pointed to the exit. The white Gem made sure they were well out of ear shot before finally addressing the conman, who was simply giving her a bored, expectant look all the while.

"Well?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he finished off his sandwich. "Go ahead and let all that hot air out of your head. It's been a while since we've had a good yelling match."

"I'm not going to yell," the white Gem said as patently as possible. "I am simply going to speak in a very firm, very unhappy voice."

"Pfft, might as well be yelling, if you ask me."

"Stan, if you're not going to be taking any of what we're doing seriously, then why are you even here?" Pearl asked crossly. "The kids are all dedicated to the cause and even Greg is being sincere about helping. So what's your excuse?"

"My excuse is that all this is kind of, oh, I dunno, completely insane?" Stan scowled, throwing his hand out towards the glider's framework. "Really, I figured you would be the first one to realize that and not just jump on board to the idea as gung-ho as you did."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this whole spaceship thing!" Stan exclaimed in exasperation. "You really don't think you're gonna be able to build a real one, right?"

"We're well on our way to that point," Pearl countered confidently. "But we'll never get there if you keep using our tools like they're simple cooking ware. Just give the torch to me and I'll finish this framework the right way."

"And what makes you think I can't finish this thing the 'right' way?" Stan asked, holding the torch out of the white Gem's reach.

"Do I really even need to answer that? Really?"

"You know what? Why don't you just run back outside and hammer nails into wood with Greg and the kids?" the conman deadpanned condescendingly as he lit the torch. "I've got this covered."

"Well why don't you just head back to the Mystery Shack and continuing fooling the innocent masses with all your tawdry sideshow attractions?" Pearl challenged harshly, reaching for the torch.

"Oh, you mean like this stupid fake spaceship you're having all of us build?" Stan asked, attempting to push her away, despite her solid resistance.

"It's not a fake spaceship! It's going to be a real one, one that will take us to the stars, and to-"

"And to the museum in the shack, 'cause that's the only place it'll ever be able to fly to!"

Pearl growled angrily as she finally got a hold on the blow torch, though Stan refused to relinquish his own grip on it. "By the time we're done, you'll be eating those words just like you did that disgusting sandwich!" the white Gem hissed as she pulled on the torch.

"Hey! I'll have you know that sandwich was pretty tasty!" Stan argued, pulling back on the torch. "I mean, the kid burnt it a little on one side, but it was still decent!"

The two of them continued fiercely bickering over the blow torch, to the point that the group outside the barn could clearly hear them yelling at each other. The kids frowned worriedly as them and Greg momentarily paused in securing the chassis, all of them wondering what the huge fuss was about.

"Yikes… sounds like they're really getting into it," the former rock star frowned apprehensively.

"Shouldn't we go in there and stop them?" Dipper asked. "They are fighting over something that spits fire out, after all."

"Eh, I've learned over the years that it's best not to get in between Mr. Pines and Pearl when they have an argument," Greg said with a nervous chuckle. "Trust me; things usually get… pretty ugly when those two duke it out."

"But they shouldn't be fighting!" Steven exclaimed worriedly. "We're all here to build this spaceship together!"

"Maybe we should get them a big tee-shirt and force them to wear it together!" Mabel suggested. "That'll force them to get along!"

"I… think it might be a better idea to just let this run its course," Greg advised with a reassuring grin. "They'll calm down eventually. Either that or they'll end up burning the barn to the ground, but hopefully that first one will happen instead."

And so, Greg and the kids simply continued to listen in on Pearl and Stan's fight from outside the barn, even as their angry yelling seemed to grow louder and louder by the second. "Stan, give me that blow torch already!" the white Gem shouted, her patience wearing incredibly thin.

"Why should I?" the conman retorted fiercely. "I don't need you to do it for me! I can finish this rig on my own!"

"Like that's ever going to happen!" Pearl scoffed. "Just let go of it!"

"No, you let go!"

"No, you!"

"No-"

Before Stan could even finish, the blow torch suddenly flew out of their shared grip as the result of both of them pulling too hard on it. With its tip still aglow, the tool soared over both of their heads and towards the half-finished framework, landing squarely on one of the pipes and miraculously balancing on top of it without tumbling to the floor. It did roll a bit, however, towards a loose crossing of pipes, and since the flame was pointed towards them, it immediately began fusing the two of them together in its intense heat.

"Now look what you did!" Pearl scolded after the moment of tension had broken. "That thing could have set the entire barn on fire!"

"Yeah, well clearly it didn't," Stan pointed out bitterly. "Plus, this was also your fault, so don't stand there trying to pin all the blame on me."

"Ugh… Stan, sometimes, I swear you act more like a child than any of the kids do," the white Gem pointed her nose up as she began to head for the blow torch. "Which is why it's a relief for me to relieve you of this."

"Wait! Don't move that!" Stan exclaimed after a beat, having noticed something about where the torch had landed.

"And why not? It's not like I have to worry about it burning my hand like you would."

"It'd be a good bit of karma if it could," the conman remarked as he rushed for the blow torch himself. "But look at where that thing landed; that's the perfect place to fix those two bars together. It'll make the framework much more stable."

"Please," Pearl rolled her eyes. "That couldn't be any further from my calculations. Why, its-" the white Gem stopped herself short as she took a look for herself, her jaw dropping as she did so and saw that the positioning of the bars was actually quite ideal for the glider. "You… you're right… H-how did you know that?"

"Because maybe I might just know a thing or two about this sort of stuff myself," Stan informed her pointedly. "Not that you'd think so, Miss 'Supersonic Flight and Ejector Seats'."

The white Gem was admittedly dumbstruck as a large part of her perception of the conman suddenly shattered. She could have never guessed that he would have any knowledge on advanced avionics or scientific design at all, but alas, he did, and she honestly had no idea what to make of it. Still, she couldn't help but feel the slightest bit ashamed for her behavior, especially now that she knew she should have been viewing Stan as an asset in this project rather than a nuisance. "W-wow, Stan… I'm… I'm impressed," Pearl admitted a bit sheepishly. "And… I guess I owe you an apology… I think I might have blown things a bit… out of proportion."

"Ya think?" Stan retorted.

"I mean, maybe you're right," Pearl continued. "Using a blow torch to heat up a sandwich really isn't that bad, I suppose."

The conman's cold expression lightened a bit upon hearing this as he realized that the white Gem was trying her best to actually be genuine, which was something she so rarely was with him. To be fair, he was hardly ever genuine with her either, but still. It was something different and better than really most of the conversations they ever had before. Which was why Stan couldn't help but smirk a bit, just enough to show that he was sincere, but not too sincere. "Ya know… I could fry you up your own sandwich using that torch, i-if you wanted one, that is."

"I would take you up on that offer, Stan, but I don't eat, remember?" Pearl let out a small chuckle. "Still, I appreciate the thought."

"Yeah… well don't think this means we're suddenly buddy-buddy with each other now," Stan crossed his arms, trying to come as gruff. "I still think you're an annoying, naggy prude."

"And I still think you're a cheap, swindling scoundrel," the white Gem laughed again, knowing it was all in good sport. "Who apparently has a surprising knowledge of aerodynamics, against all odds."

"What can I say?" Stan shrugged with a grin as they both began finishing up the glider together. "I'm more talented then I let on."

---

As the hours turned into days, the construction on the mach 2 steadily marched on. Using only what was contained in the barn, the group managed to build a surprisingly working engine from scratch, one that, Pearl claimed would possibly be capable of powering their ship. Of course, the test model itself exploded during its first run, but that hardly fazed the intrepid white Gem. She continued working regardless, testing different calculations and constructing more models and pieces of their eventual ship. The others all helped her in whatever way they could, with Stan and Greg aiding in most of the heavy lifting as far as actual construction went while the kids often salvaged parts or lent a hand in perfecting the designs. With Stan and Pearl now working in relative harmony, there seemed to be no more hitches in the road as everyone worked together and did their part. And after days of dedicated labor and toil, the small group finally had something to show for it.

The mach 2 was, in Pearl's own words, the idea prototype. The vessel consisted of a wide hang glider, attached to the three seated chassis the white Gem had designed so all three of the kids could test it out for her. Supposedly, its engine was quite powerful, which was something the trio got to experience for themselves as they took it out on its maiden voyage through the dusky skies above the barn.

Pearl, Greg, and Stan all watched from down below as the kids piloted the small vessel. The trio in the air hardly noticed as they flew overhead as they were encapsulated in both crippling fear and overwhelming excitement. They steered the prototype together, curving it through the air that it cut through smoothly and gracefully. Still, the former rock star couldn't help but be nervous as the craft glided into the sunset clouds and momentarily out of sight.

"Ground control to mach 2," Greg called to the kids via walkie-talkie. "Come in, mach 2. How are you kids doing up there?"

Since the march 2 didn't have much in the way of an actual wind shield, none of the kids were really able to reply intelligibly as the high winds blew in their faces. Still, Steven let out an incomprehensible cheer to let his father know he was alright, as Mabel simple squealed in exhilaration and Dipper shouted in apt terror.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Stan remarked upon hearing these three very different responses. "Told ya you should have put a wind shield on that thing," he said to Pearl.

"I'll be sure to make that a footnote on the next model," Pearl smirked as she scribbled on her clipboard.

"Uh, don't you guys think we're taking this a little too far?" Greg asked apprehensively.

"Oh, we're not even close to being done," the white Gem shook her head.

"We're not?"

"How much longer is this whole horse and pony show gonna take?" Stan asked impatiently. "I've already had to close the shack for almost a week now because of all this!"

"I can assure you both that it will all be worth it in the end," Pearl said calmly before speaking to the kids through her headset. "Ok, you three. Go ahead and bring her down slowly."

And thus, the trio began their descent, though they did come in a bit too fast. Still, they managed to avoid any injury as the prototype screeched to a rough landing on the ground, shaking its passengers up a bit.

"Mabel, she said bring it down slowly," Dipper said, knowing that landing had been his sister's responsibility.

"Sorry! I just got excited and I couldn't help it!" Mabel quipped. "That was so amazing!"

"It so was!" Steven exclaimed. "We were-"

The young Gem was interrupted as the engine suddenly exploded behind them, bursting into flames and causing the glider wings to collapse. Fortunately, the ejector seats worked just in time, propelling the kids away from the danger, albeit a bit roughly as they fell to the ground.

"Woo!" Steven cheered. "Let's do the whole thing again! Especially that last part!"

"Was it supposed to… fall apart like that?" Greg asked Pearl tentatively.

"And catch on fire?" Stan asked with sudden concern.

"Don't worry," Pearl reassured. "This was just to test my engine concept. I'll work out the kinks in the next one."

"Hang on, next one?!" Greg asked, alarmed.

"You do know we only have so much useless junk in that barn to make a spaceship out of, right?" Stan asked caustically. "We'll run out of supplies eventually."

"Not if we conserve them," Pearl pointed out. "By the way, do either of you know if there's a shop in town that carries F-1 single-nozzle, liquid-fueled rockets?"

"You really are serious!" the former rock star gasped. "All this time I thought we were just doing this for fun, but you really plan on building this thing, don't you?"

"Of course!" the white Gem exclaimed, as though it was obvious. "Oh, and we'll also need a space suit for each of the kids so they don't freeze or explode."

"W-what?" Dipper asked, suddenly concerned upon hearing this. "You never mentioned anything about freezing or exploding before."

"Can my space suit be pink?" Mabel asked, still completely on board with the idea, despite her brother's hesitance. "And covered in glitter?"

"I want my name on the back of mine!" Steven quipped enthusiastically.

"Um, Pearl?" Dipper muttered apprehensively. "Just for reference sake, what are the odds of someone, I dunno… actually dying in space?"

"About… 1 in 100, I'd say," Pearl mused. "But still, it's definitely worth it!"

"Whoa there, Armstrong," Stan cut in, just as bothered by this idea as Greg was. "You're not taking the twins into space. Especially not with odds like that."

"And Steven's not going either," Greg said firmly, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Aw, what?" Mabel asked in sudden dismay. "But Grunkle Stan, we wanna go! Right, Dipper?"

"I'd wanna go more if there wasn't a 1 in 100 chance that we'll die out there, Mabel," Dipper retorted plainly, though he quickly retracted his statement after his sister elbowed him hard. "Ow! I mean—y-yeah, we totally want to go. And preferably, not die in the process."

"I don't care what you two want!" Stan exclaimed. "Your parents would kill me if either of you ended up freezing or exploding out in the middle of space!"

"Well, that's not going to happen," Pearl said solidly. "I'm taking all three of the kids into space and nothing is going to happen to any of us and that's that!"

"No its not!" Greg protested. "We're not allowing it! This is crazy, Pearl, and you know it!"

"Crazy is just another word for brilliant," the white Gem said dismissively.

"But Dad, why can't we go?" Steven asked with saddened sincerity. "Isn't this why we founded Universe, Universe, Pines, Pines, and Pines in the first place?"

"Steven, you're grounded," Greg asserted, much to the young Gem's dismay.

"What?!"

"No, I mean you're grounded. You don't get to leave Earth."

"Oh. What?!" Steven exclaimed, even more distraught at this news.

"You two can't possibly be serious!" Pearl scoffed in disbelief. "What about all of our hard work?! You can't just throw all that away!"

"Uh, I think I can," Stan remarked, crossing his arms. "Do I need to remind you that I'm the one funding this little project?"

"But Grunkle Stan, all of our supplies are here at the barn," Dipper pointed out. "Did you even actually pay for anything?"

"Quiet, kid!"

"Well, I don't need your supposed 'funding' anyway," Pearl said crossly. "We'll still be able to build a suitable spaceship on our own, right kids?"

"No you aren't," Greg contented, still completely against the idea. "As C.E.O. and supreme space commander, I hereby cancel this mission."

"Aw man!" Steven exclaimed, disappointed. "Stupid company bylaws."

"They ruin everything!" Mabel added in despair.

"Hey! Who made you C.E.O.?!" Pearl asked, appalled.

"They did," Greg said, nodding his head to the kids, who were only able to smile sheepishly at this.

"Fine!" Pearl shouted, completely livid. "If none of you will help, then I'll just do it myself! Not like it'll be much different."

"Pearl, wait!" Steven called after the white Gem as she stormed off. The kids exchanged a disheartened glance as she left, knowing that their promising project was no more. The basic reason why they had wanted to build a spaceship in the first place was to make Pearl happy, but in the end, it had only ended up isolating her even more. But even so, they all knew they couldn't very well go against Greg and Stan on this, especially considering how adamant they were against it. The dream they shared with the white Gem of seeing the stars would have to remain just that: a dream.

"Pfft, like she'll be able to build an entire spaceship all by herself," Stan sneered as he walked away as well. "Well, I'm gonna head back to the shack and have Soos rig me up a real fake spaceship for the tourists, like I should have done all along."

"Sorry, kids," Greg said with a sympathetic frown as he noticed how dejected they were. "But sometimes, you just gotta know when to bail."

---

Night fell upon the barn softly, bringing with it a radiant, starry sky. As disappointed as they were about being "grounded", the kids still managed to fall asleep relatively easily as they had something of an impromptu campout near Greg's van. Since Stan had already driven back to the shack hours ago, Greg had agreed to watch all three of the kids overnight so they could clean up the barn from the remnants of their failed project tomorrow. Pearl was nowhere to be found since her falling out with the conman and the former rock star earlier, and while this worried the kids, they eventually relented in looking for her and resigned themselves to sleep. What none of them knew, however, was that the white Gem had no intentions of giving up, even now. If anything, she was prompted to work even harder and faster, to the point that she ended up with something to show for it long before the night was through.

With an excited grin, Pearl snuck past Greg as he snoozed in the van, tip-toing towards the sleeping kids as quietly as possible. She took care to remain stealthy as she gave each of them a gentle poke to waken them up, still smiling as they all groggily sat up and looked to her.

"Wha-?" Steven asked, rubbing his eyes. "Pearl?"

"What's going on?" Dipper asked in tired confusion.

"Ugh, is it morning already?' Mabel groaned, brushing her hair out of her face. "Where are the pancakes?"

"Shh!" the white Gem quieted, glancing towards the van to make sure Greg was still asleep. "Do you three want to see something really cool?"

Though none of them knew what Pearl had in store for them, they all got up and followed her, her bubbling excitement not lost on any of them. They all managed to slip past Greg easily, considering the fact that he was lost in dreamland, and soon enough made it to the barn, which was where the white Gem stopped them. "Alright," she said with a daring smile as she pushed the barn doors open. "Presenting the brand-new, ballistic flight capable… UUPPP Mach 3!"

Upon seeing what Pearl was referring to, Steven, Dipper, and Mabel let out an awed, unified gasp. Standing before them was unquestionably a spaceship, and very impressive one at that. It was massive, to the point that it was almost as tall as the barn itself, with a strong, sturdy metallic body and wide, graceful wings. In a way, it almost looked like an airplane, only more futuristic and suited for space travel, which was what Pearl had built it for.

"So?" the white Gem asked, happily taking in the kids' stunned reactions. "What do you think?"

"Spaceship!" Steven and Mabel cheered in unison, both of them not hesitating to run towards.

"Wait, you two!" Pearl chuckled. "Keep your voices down!"

"Pearl, how did you build this so quickly?" Dipper asked incredulously. "I thought you said we weren't close to being done yet."

"Oh, well it was actually quite simple," the white Gem shrugged. "I just reworked a few of our equations, welded the hull together, reconfigured some old plane wings, rebuilt mach 2's engine on a larger scale and, viola! The final model!"

"I love it!" Mabel gushed, hugging the side of the ship. "It's so big and shiny!"

"And it even has the logo from the van!" Steven laughed, noticing the "universe" label from his father's vehicle.

"If Greg asks, we'll just say we borrowed it," Pearl smiled. "And I wasn't able to find anything that said Pines on it, so I just wrote it on the side in permanent marker." She nodded pointed to word "pines" out to the twins, scrawled in elegant cursive under the label. "You're welcome."

"Whoa, look at all the buttons!" Mabel exclaimed as she climbed into the high cockpit. "I wanna press them all!"

"Uh, that might not be the best idea, Mabel," Dipper warned, taking a glance outside to make sure that Greg wouldn't catch them. After all, what Pearl had done was certainly enough to get all of them in some pretty hefty trouble with both the former rock star and the conman.

"You know, if you kids wanted… we could always take her out for an engine test…" Pearl offered with a mischievous grin. With a quick flash of her gem, she transformed her usual outfit into a sleek, form-fitting spacesuit. "It'll be quick…"

"Yes!" Steven immediately agreed as he clumsily fell into the cockpit alongside Mabel, who was bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" she cheered. "What are we waiting for?! Let's go right now!"

"Well, if you say so!" Pearl laughed, climbing into the cockpit herself.

"We're… not actually going to space in this thing, are we?" Dipper asked as he hesitantly joined them, still remembering the frightening odds of survival the white Gem had mentioned earlier.

"What? Of course we're not! That would be ridiculous!" the white Gem scoffed, though none of the kids noticed her cross her fingers behind her back. "Now, let's just start up the engines and… we'll be off!"

Despite Pearl's earlier attempts to keep the spaceship hidden, nothing could really stop the massive clamor the ship made as soon as its powerful engines turned on. The violent rumbling it caused was enough to easily wake Greg from his heavy slumber, and the moment he did, he was quick to see that something was wrong upon noticing that his van's wheels and logo were missing.

"What the-?! Pearl!" the former rock star shouted, knowing the white Gem was responsible for this.

Of course, she hardly heard him, since she was in the process of making sure all three of the kids were strapped into their seats tightly. "Alright," she grinned, pushing forward on the thruster. "Ready? Here we go!"

With a loud rev of the ship's engines, the spaceship shot forward out of the barn with a powerful boom, bulleting across the yard and easily lifting off into the air. The force of the blast was enough to knock Greg to the ground as he ran after it, not even needing to ask if any of the kids were on board it or not. Still, he wasn't about to let this forbidden mission continue as he hurriedly picked himself up off the ground and ran to grab his phone.

Still keeping the ascending ship in his sights, Greg scrambled to dial up the Mystery Shack, impatiently waiting as the phone rang before Stan finally picked up.

"Hello?" the conman answered tiredly, having clearly just woken up.

"Mr. Pines, you need to get over here now!" Greg practically shouted, watching fearfully as the ship disappeared into the clouds. "We have a big problem!"

"Greg? What the heck is going on?" Stan asked sullenly. "It's 3 in the morning for crying out loud!"

"It's Pearl. She built the ship on her own and she's taken the kids with her! We gotta do something!" the former rock star pleaded desperately.

Stan was silent for a long time upon hearing this before letting out an exasperated groan. "See, this is exactly why I didn't want to get involved in this mess," he huffed angrily. "I'll be there in a few."

Greg didn't even have time to thank the conman before he abruptly hung up. Still, the former rock star was far from allayed. Without wasting another beat, he grabbed his binoculars and walkie-talkie, hoping that there was some small chance he could convince Pearl to abort this dangerous mission and return the kids safely to the ground.

Meanwhile, high up in the air, Pearl steered the spaceship with confidence, smiling proudly all the while as the kids looked out the window in apt amazement. Gravity Falls grew ever smaller and more distant the higher the ship flew, to the point that it soon became but a mere collection of lights amidst a seemingly endless sea of trees.

"Wow! Look! You can see the temple!" Steven pointed out, looking down at the town far below.

"And there's the Mystery Shack!" Mabel added, just as excited.

"Mm-hm," Pearl nodded, though she knew that these mere overhead sights would pale in comparison to the interstellar wonders that awaited them.

"S-so, you do have a plan in case something goes wrong, right?" Dipper asked the white Gem apprehensively, gripping onto the edges of his seat for dear life.

"There's no reason to be concerned, Dipper," Pearl reassured. "Nothing's going to go wrong. I built this ship strong enough to withstand anything."

"Yeah! How else would she have finished it so fast?" Mabel smirked over at her brother, who wanted to question this logic, though the ship's intercom lit up before he could.

"Hey, can you hear me?!"Greg's asked through the com, frightened and concerned. "Where do you guys think you're going?!"

"Hey, Dad!" Steven greeted blithely. "Guess where we are!"

"I know where you are!" the former rock star exclaimed, still watching the ship through his binoculars. "It's where you're going that concerns me!"

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Universe!" Mabel chimed in. "We're just going on a fun little test flight! We'll be back down in a few!"

"Uh, no. I think you'll be back down NOW!"Stan's voice came in through the intercom this time. The conman had only just jumped out of his car, but he didn't even need any briefing from Greg to know that this had to be put to a stop as soon as possible.

"Uh oh… We're in trouble," Dipper frowned, knowing that Stan certainly wouldn't let them off the hook for this one.

"Mr. Pines, how did you get here so fast?" Greg asked the conman, knowing the shack was quite a ways away from the barn.

"I have my ways," Stan replied quickly before addressing the passengers on the ship once more. "Now listen up, Pearl! You better bring those kids down here right now, or so help me, I'll-"

"Stan, please, calm down!" Pearl interrupted evenly. "This is perfectly fine. The kids aren't in any danger whatsoever. We're just going to pop over to the nearest star system for a quick visit. I'll give them back in 50 years."

"50 years?!" the kids all exclaimed in shocked unison, looking to the white Gem in disbelief.

"What?!" Greg shouted, exchanging a horrified glance with Stan. "We'll both be dead in 50 years! Pearl, you have to land the ship! Or we'll-"

The former rock star was cut off as Pearl abruptly turned the ship's intercom off, immediately ending all communication between them. "Hello?" Greg shouted at the walkie-talkie as he only got fuzz on his end. "Hello?!"

"That's it!" Stan stormed off, absolutely livid. "If she won't bring that ship down, then we will!"

"H-how?!"

"I don't know! We'll build something to disable its engines or something! Do I look like I know how to bring a spaceship down, Greg?!" Stan retorted harshly, even if he was still just as desperate to get the kids back. "But we're gonna figure something out, because I'm not about to let that crazy broad take my niece and nephew into space for the next 50 years! Now come on!"

Back up in the air, the kids themselves were doing their fair share of panicking, even if Pearl was just as calm and content as ever. "Pearl, the sounded really mad!" Mabel exclaimed worriedly. "I don't think we're supposed to go!"

"You think?!" Dipper scoffed bitter. "I told you guys this was a bad idea, but you didn't listen, like always!"

"Pearl, I thought you said we weren't going into space!" Steven reminded the white Gem anxiously, though she was hardly listening to any of their complaints.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" she quipped happily as she tinkered with the ship's controls. "You kids are going to love it up there!" Gracefully, Pearl ran her fingers along the piano keyboard she had rigged to control the engine, hitting a loud, dissonant key that revealed the primary thrusters on the wings. "Hold on tight!" she exclaimed, pushing the ship into a sharp, 90 degree upward. As the vessel rocketed upward, everything on the ground became even more miniscule, not that any of the kids noticed as they clung on tightly to Pearl to brace themselves against the intense rattling of the ship.

Still, Steven was the first to give a tentative glance out the window, only to see a piece of metal fly past the ship in a sudden blur. "W-what was that?!" he asked in alarm, though he soon got his answer as the ship's warning alarm began to blare loudly.

"Uh, Pearl?" Mabel asked, just as concerned as she looked out the other side of the cockpit to see more small pieces of the ship's exterior begin to break off. "Is that supposed to be happening?!"

"We can make it," Pearl said with resolve, paying little attention to these warning signs as she pushed the ship even harder. "We're almost there."

As the ship approached the atmosphere, more and more bits and pieces began to peel away from it, including important parts of its hull. Its integrity was starting to wear drastically thin, to the point that its internal engines soon became visible and smoke poured heavily from its back end.

"Pearl, we have to stop!" Dipper shouted over the ship's aggressive rumbling. "The ship can't take much more of this!"

The white Gem knew this, but even so, she stayed the course, keeping her gaze set on the stars they were rapidly approaching and nothing else. Her eyes were wet with what looked like oncoming tears, but even so, her expression was determined, even in light of the grave danger they were all in.

"Pearl!" Steven called to her, trying to get her attention, but in vain.

"I'm gonna show it to you…" she said more to herself than any of the kids, even as the alarm continued to blare and the ship was pushed to its greatest limits.

"What do we do?! What do we do?!" Mabel panicked, noticing that the ground was many miles below them.

"We gotta get off this thing!" Dipper exclaimed, looking around for an escape hatch, even though there wasn't one.

"Yeah, but what do we do after that?!" Mabel retorted.

"We… uh… we should…" Dipper stammered, having no clear idea in mind in light of the massive, deadly disaster they were facing. Steven, on the other hand, took the first option he saw as the twins continued to argue about their plight, pulling a lever that read 'hatch release'. As soon as he did so, the roof of the cockpit flew clean off, subjecting them all to the high winds and frigid air of the upper limits of the troposphere.

"Steven! What are you doing?!" Pearl gasped in shock at this, broken out of her obsessive trance.

"We need to go, Pearl!" Steven shouted, pressing himself against the other side of the cockpit. "We're not gonna make it!"

"But we're almost there!" the white Gem argued desperately.

"Yeah, but we'll die once we get out there!" Dipper pointed out, unable to believe that Pearl still wanted to keep going.

"But… but I-" Pearl tried, her expression falling as she looked to the depths of space once again. They were so close, so very close to the place she had been dreaming of returning to for countless centuries. They had worked so hard, come so far. They could do it, they could make it, she knew they could. If they could just press on a little further…

"Pearl!" Steven exclaimed, grabbing the sides of the white Gem's face and forcing her gaze towards him. She was admittedly taken aback upon noticing how terrified he looked, how terrified all three of the kids looked, really. Yet even so, the young Gem made his desperate plea. "I know you miss space and I know you worked hard, but sometimes… you just gotta know when to bail."

Pearl took in a deep breath upon hearing this, glancing towards the sky one more time. The stars glittered brilliantly, reminding her of all of the times she had soared through them herself, ages ago, upon Gem ships to missions on far off worlds long before she had ever set foot on Earth. She was reminded of the beauty of the cosmos, the breathtaking, endless expanse that was space, one that seemed to confound yet fascinate her all at the same time. Being there, among the stars, the planets, the galaxies, the universe, was a feeling that she couldn't possibly begin to describe, one that she hadn't felt in so long yet craved to know again. And she had come to want Steven, Dipper, and Mabel to feel it with her, to let them see the majesty and mystery of it all and experience every exciting new discovery with three fresh young minds, basking in the awe in their expressions at each one.

And yet… as she looked back to the kids themselves and saw the unbridled fear in their eyes as they looked to her, Pearl realized that she couldn't. She couldn't put their lives in danger like this, she couldn't bear the thought of any of them getting hurt, or worse yet, dying on her watch. She cared about all three of them far too much. Which was why, as much as she wanted them to take this journey with her, she knew that Steven was right. There was a time to bail and a time to stay the course and this… this was the time to bail.

A single tear fell from the white Gem's eye as she nodded solemnly. And, before she could even think to change her mind, she quickly reached down and pulled the lever on the side of the couch that served as the cockpit's seat. Knowing that it would only take but a second for the lever to work, Pearl wrapped all three of the kids into a very tight, secure embrace as the couch ejected itself from the crumbling ship and began flying backwards towards the earth.

Fortunately, they had bailed just in time. For mere seconds after they were ejected from the ship, it exploded in a fiery blast, one that even Stan and Greg were able to see far from the ground below.

"No!" they both shouted in horrified despair, their shared first thought being that certainly there were no survivors. Still, Greg used his binoculars to scan the skies in desperation, hoping and praying that there was some small chance they were all alright.

"Please, please, please, please, please," the former rock star pleaded, looking all over before finally spotting the couch as it floated down slowly thanks to the parachute attached to it. "Oh, thank goodness! They're ok!"

"Let me see!" Stan demanded, taking the binoculars and letting out a sigh of relief upon spotting the couch. "Geez, these kids are gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!" he exclaimed, crumbling to the ground alongside Greg.

"Tell me about it," the former rock star muttered tiredly, lying down and letting out a groan to ally his frayed nerves.

It took some time for the group to land on the ground once again, considering the explosion had happened so high up. And once they did, Pearl was a bit hesitant to relinquish the kids out of her firm embrace, though she soon did to let Steve hug Greg and the twins hug Stan.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're ok, Steven!" the former rock star said as he fretted over his son. "Maybe now you'll listen to me about going on crazy space missions. You know, I feel like that's something very few other fathers even have to say."

"Heh, yeah, I'm sorry, Dad," Steven said sheepishly. "I feel like you were right. Maybe we would have been better off just building a fake spaceship for fun instead of a real one."

"Eh, well you kids had your hearts in the right places," Greg shrugged with a grin. "Right, Mr. Pines?"

"Sure, whatever," Stan deadpanned, quickly relinquishing his hug with the twins. "But if you kids ever pull anything like that again, then I'll make sure you two stay grounded by fixing you both up with a pair of cement shoes, got it?"

"Um… got it?" Dipper frowned as he exchanged a confused glance with Mabel at this odd threat.

"Aw, Grunkle Stan, you care about us!" Mabel gushed with a smile, hugging the conman once more.

"Yeah right," Stan rolled his eyes, trying to come across as unconcerned. "I just didn't want to deal with trouble that would come my way if either of you two yahoos exploded."

"You care about us!" Mabel reiterated once more with a teasing smirk. "You care about us!"

"Stop saying that!" the conman scowled, though he still allowed her to playfully swing on his arm.

As all of this was going on, Pearl stood at the edge of the group, glancing down guiltily as she rubbed her arm. She knew giving an apology wouldn't be easy after what she did, but she knew it was necessary all the same, especially for the kids' sake. "Um… kids?" she began tentatively. "I'm so sorry. I almost got us all killed…"

"I think we're getting used to almost getting killed on a regular basis now," Dipper remarked with a shrug. "Not that that's a good thing, but still, it's not as crazy as it used to be."

"And Greg, Stan? I'm sorry to the two of you as well…" Pearl continued. "I… might have gotten a bit… carried away with things… Just a little."

"A little?" Stan raised an eyebrow.

"Pearl, you nearly took the kids into orbit," Greg pointed out.

"Y-yes, well…" the white Gem trailed off, blushing awkwardly. "I'm still ashamed for how I blew up at you earlier. I hope you can both forgive me."

"Sure thing, Pearl," Greg said with a warm smile.

"Yeah, fine," Stan consented stoically. "But you owe me another sandwich for making me come all the way out here this late."

"That seems fair enough," Pearl chuckled.

"Pearl, we're sorry we couldn't help you get into space…" Steven said with a frown. "But we'll get you there someday, we promise."

"Yeah! And it'll be in an even bigger, and fancier spaceship!" Mabel chimed cheerfully.

"You know, I think I'd rather be here on Earth," Pearl said with a contented smile.

"With us?" Steven asked as the white Gem wrapped her arms around all three of them.

Pearl's smile widened at this, knowing that after everything that had just happened, maybe she didn't need to stray into the stars once again. Those days were long over anyway. No, what she really needed and wanted, she realized, she had all along on, right here the humble planet Earth. "Yeah," she said, not bothering to look to the skies this time as she embraced the kids. "With you."

---

Awwww, I love Pearl so much, so writing any chapter centered on her makes me happy. But next time around, we'll be beating the heat with a little fun by the poolside, if you catch my drift... ;D But anyway, I don't have too much else to say except for REVIEW! Until next time!