A dark, empty room with an elevated set of seats in front of a large screen sat empty. The room itself was really a theater; a dark grey material made up three of the walls. Wood was used as scaffolding across the roof and a theater box was even located stage right above a small stage area. The seated were all red cushions in black framing, bolted down to an elevating black and white checkered tile floor. The theater's lights were ethereal; dots of glow suspended about the supports and scaffolding in hues of white, blue, yellow and pink. Red velvet curtains flowed down, framing the blank, almost clear screen. Above the stage was an immaculate and detailed white stone carving of a maiden's close-eyed face center around wisps of water, fire, vines and mist that acted as her hair, with a sphere shaped crystal centered in her forehead that shimmered a spectrum of colors.
From behind the curtain a male figure stepped out. His overall stature was tall, very tall around 7'6" while on the lanky side, and was outfitted in an usher's uniform; black slacks and coat with red lining exposed with one of the button's undone and flap resting across his chest. He wore the cap as well, but was crooked to the side, exposing short and spiky hair. The most striking detail about him was that his skin was completely silver, shining even in the dim light of the theater. His cap covered half of a grey, speckled gemstone that took the place of his left eye.
The usher looked up to the face in the theater and grunted, face impassive. "Evening, Crystal." He said in a low voice.
In response, the maidens face opened her eyes and smiled. "Good Evening, Magnetite. I hope you are ready for the show to begin~." The carving, Crystal, said in an almost teasing manner, as her spherical gem glowed.
Magnetite simply rolled his one good eye, but couldn't help but smile. "This is going to be fun."
From Crystal's gem, four streams of light beamed into four of the chairs. The four beams then shaped into four members of the one and only Crystal Gems; Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and of course, Steven. The four had just celebrated Thanksgiving with Steven's relative, Andy, and had enjoyed relaxing a bit after taking care of things like Malachite, The Rubies, Jasper and of course The Cluster.
Of course, now they weren't so relaxed.
"What in the-!?"
"Ok what's!-whoa."
"Ah! Steven stay close!"
"I'm fine, Pearl. Just...where are we?" Steven asked the question they all were thinking. After all, their Movie Night of Fun had drastically went into a new direction now that they they were zapped into, from what he could tell, a movie theater.
"Greeting, Crystal Gems." Magnetite said, wherein the most welcoming face he could muster.
It did little to calm the gem's.
"Who are you!?" Pearl squawked as she and the Gems all summoned their weapons and attempted to get into a sort of formation, but were held down by some force in their seats. "What's going on!?"
"Pearl." Garnet said in a much more relaxed tone than before.
"Where is this place!?"
"Pearl…" Steven and Amethyst followed Garnets example and put away their weapons.
"And if think you can take us, let alone Steven, I'll shove this spear right up-!"
"Pearl!" The three others shouted at the lone gem, who upon seeing her teammates exasperated expressions, became flustered, and vanished her spear with a quiet 'sorry'.
"It's quite alright, everyone. I didn't mean to startle you all." The 'Gems looked around, trying to find the other person speaking, and followed Garnet's open-mouthed gaze up to the carved face. "It's just, so good to finally meet you all!" The maidens face stretched into a wide, energized smiled, not to dissimilar to Steven's.
"Whoa~." Steven and Amethyst said with stars in their eyes.
Pearl and Garnet looked on, still in wonder and immense realization. "She's really real~." Pearl said, tears at the corners of her eyes.
Steven and Amethyst were startled by Pearls switch in emotions. "Hey P, you know this girl?" Amethyst asked.
"Crystal Ball" Garnet answered for Pearl.
"Again," The Gem in the wall said. "It's so good to finally meet you."
"Who's Crystal Ball?" Steven asked.
Pearl looked to the boy with a look of wonder "Steven, when your mother founded The Crystal Gems, she didn't come up with the name herself."
"Millions of years ago; when White Diamond was the first and only Diamond in existence, she was planning to expand her empire's size." Garnet said. "She later decided to make other Diamonds, but before that, she sanctioned the creation of a gem that could look...into Alternative Universes."
"What!" Steven said with wonder, putting together who the gem in the story was.
"However," Crystal Ball now decided to speak for herself, catching everyone's attention. "My immense power gave way to free thinking, and soon I used my growing list of abilities to defect from White Diamond's order. To sum it up; I'm the reason why Rose named her revolution The Crystal Gems."
"It's because she's the first gem, ever, to abandon the rules of the Diamond Authority." Pearl said.
Steven looked back to Crystal Ball. She's the gem his mother looked up to? Her inspiration? A sensation unlike anything before; something along the lines of pride and relief, swelled into his chest.
Pearl then looked back with a puzzled look in her eyes. "However, I must ask how you brought us here? Let alone where 'here' is?"
The seemingly forgotten Magnetite cleared his throat and got the four's attention. "After Crystal Ball defected from White Diamond, she began to develop powers that were either locked away in her programming, or manifested through her new independence."
"I have the power to exist within my own pocket universe, separate from the bounds of other realities." Crystal Ball said. "Another power allows me to bring matter from other universes into my pocket universe, including living being like you four."
"So why are we here?" Garnet said, crossing her arms in her seat.
Magnetite moved off the stage and leaned into one of the seats in the gem's row. "We felt that, since you all took care of stuff like Jasper and The Cluster, you all deserved a well earned time off. A vacation without limits."
"To put it simply;" Crystal Ball said with sparkles shimmering all around her face. "We want to have fun!"
"Aw, that's really nice of you guys!" Steven said with the smile. Both of the new gems returning the gesture. "So what do want to do? Play video games, draw pictures together, tell stories?"
"Heh, I can tell you the time I spanked Pearl so hard she-"
"Amethyst." Pearl chided the gem, a blue blush across her cheeks.
"Well, we had something else in mind." Magnetite said, scratching his cheek. "You guys were supposed to be having a movie night tonight, right?" The Gem's nodded. "Well we thought we watched some...special movies."
"What do you mean?" Amethyst asked.
"To put it simply, we plan to show you stories from alternate universes...all involving yourselfs."
The group was shocked at first, but others were on board with the idea earlier than others.
"Oh heck yeah!" Steven shouted with glee, and no longer restrained in his seat, shot up into the air. Crystal Ball giggled at his antics.
"That. Sounds. Wicked!" Amethyst said. She may not have been a movie fan like Steven, but if it involved her in it, she was intrigued.
"I don't know...Is it safe?" Pearl asked.
Magnetite nodded. "Perfectly fine. We won't be doing anything drastic or disastrous, just some good old, goofy fun across the multiverse." He answered with a smile and wave of his hand. "From the safety of the theater, of course."
"I think it would fun." Garnet answered with a small smile. "We have been through a lot, and I think we all deserve a little break from it all."
"So that settles it, then." Steven answered. He looked and watched Magnetite go through the stage curtains and reappear inside the theater box. "I guess we should let the show begin?"
Magnetite smiled, holding up some kind of book and tapped on one of the pages. "Let's."
Crystal Ball's Gem glowed once more, the lights going out completely, before the screen glowed brightly. "You are about to watch an…"
"Alternate Universe."