With a dramatic beam of light, the warp pad, by the Demayo family barn burst into life, and Penny and Amelia appeared. Andrew had been invited to the barn by Garnet, the previous night, so that he might hear the story of how Ruby and Sapphire had met. Garnet had been planning to tell Steven the story, on his birthday, ever since he prematurely discovered her nature, as a fusion, not long before the hybrids' arrival. After Steven went back to sleep, Andrew stayed up, caught up with Peridot, and loaned his strength to the drill construction project, which was coming along nicely.
"Penny!" Andrew called, excitedly. He ran towards his sisters, dropped to his knees, so he was at eye-level with Penny, and pulled her into a hug. "Happy birthday!"
"Thanks Andrew." Penny replied, somewhat winded, but hugging her brother back, anyway.
"Hey Penny! Hey Amelia!" Steven called from the barn.
Steven was already wearing his birthday cape and crown, and behind him, Greg was helping Connie unload her belongings from the van.
"Hey there schtu-ball!" Greg greeted, as the hybrids made their way over from the Warp Pad. "Second schtu-ball..." He specified, thoughtfully stroking his beard. "TWO-BALL, one might even say!"
"Hey... dad..." Penny said, experimentally. Immediately after finding out who Penny was, Greg had invited her to call him 'dad' once she was comfortable doing so, but this was the first time she took him up on his offer.
Greg seemed to struggle for a moment, containing his joy, before cordially clearing his throat. "Now Penny, I know the Greg in your old universe wasn't there for all your birthdays, but the Universes in this universe wouldn't dream of letting a birthday go by without making a big deal about it!" Greg held an arm out to Steven, in demonstration. "You may have noticed the lavish costume your twin brother has on..."
"I had..." Penny noted, smirking at Greg's formal attitude. "It's very fetching." She added, with a hint of sarcasm.
"It's my birthday costume! My dad made it for me when I was a baby, so we'd know who the birthday king is!" Steven excitedly stated.
"But this year, we have two birthday monarchs!" Greg went on, walking backwards towards a large pile of birthday paraphernalia, and reaching behind him for something. "Aaaaand... TWO BIRTHDAY COSTUMES!"
With a flourish, Greg produced an identical cape and crown, save for a blue colour scheme, rather than red.
"Haha, what!?" Penny gasped, in joyous astonishment. "You made that for me?" Every time she met Greg, she was newly astonished by how different he was from her own. Even though she thought the costume was ridiculous, it warmed her heart, that she had a dad who had taken the time to make it for her.
Penny eagerly put the cape and crown on, and stood proudly next to Steven, while the Gems wished them both a happy birthday.
Connie, who had been removing her belongings from Greg's van, ran over, and threw her hands into the air, dramatically. "All hail the birthday king and queen!" She cheered, loudly.
While the group laughed and cheered their approval, Greg retrieved a photo album from his van, and sat down on the grass, with Steven, Penny, and Connie.
"So, let's take a look down Memory Lane, before we start making room for group pictures in this bad boy!"
In the album, were pictures of Greg and Steven, on each of the latter's birthdays. As they approached the end of the album, one thing was immediately clear.
"Wow... Steven hasn't aged at all in, like, five years." Penny pointed out.
"Is that... normal?" Connie asked, uncertainly.
"Well... I'm pretty sure I aged more consistently than that." Penny said. "But now that you mention it, I think Amelia's looked more or less the same, since she was three."
"How about Andrew?" Greg asked, curiously.
Andrew had been deep in discussion with Garnet, regarding the drill project, and working with Peridot, and Garnet had just finished recapping the story of Peridot and Pearl's robot battle, much to Andrew's amusement. Andrew turned around, at the sound of his name.
"What's up?" He asked, walking over to the group.
"Did you age like a normal human?" Connie asked.
"Not really..." Andrew replied, thinking back. "I remember Rose telling me I was basically a toddler, up until I was five, then Penny was born, and I had a growth spurt."
"Because you felt like a big brother!" Steven realised. "A while ago, I threw a bunch of birthday parties for the Gems, and I started to get older, because that's how I felt!"
"That would actually explain a lot..." Andrew agreed. "Plus, it would explain why Amelia's been small for so long, since she's the baby sister."
"But... does that mean none of you will ever age again?" Connie asked, worriedly.
"I... don't know." Penny admitted. "I guess even with four hybrids here, we don't really know how hybrid aging works... But if we have any say in it, I'd say Andrew and I are all set for aging. I mean, Andrew's tall enough to make full use of his strength, and if I get any bigger, I probably won't be as fast or agile..."
"But... What if you fell in love with a human?" Connie gently pointed out. "They'd keep aging! I mean, Andrew, what will you look like, when Jamie's fifty?"
Andrew seemed to spend a few moments formulating an answer, before giving up, and uttering a quiet, "Oh..."
Andrew, Penny and Steven all looked troubled, as they thought about the topic Connie had brought up, seemingly for the first time.
Connie sighed. "I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to bum everyone out..."
"Hey, that's okay! We can still pick this party up again!" Greg quickly said. "How about we get some tunes going, and open some presents?"
With some unenthusiastic confirmation from Steven and Penny, Garnet put one of Greg's records onto a record player, in the van, and Pearl and Amethyst produced an enormous cookie cake, with two candles in the shape of the number 14. Everyone else gathered an assortment of presents.
Connie had gotten a new shirt for Steven, and a box set of Spirit Morph books for Penny. Greg had gotten both hybrids a collection of video games he knew they'd both enjoy. Andrew and Amelia had gotten Penny a new, bronze sword, and Steven a collection of Lonely Blade manga.
The party picked up and, just as Greg hoped, thoughts of Connie's foreboding prophecy were mostly forgotten. The group played badminton, ate cake, and danced to some of Greg's favourite, old songs. The hybrids even persuaded Peridot to take a break from the drill, and play a game of hide-and-seek with them, which she proved terrible at, due to her constant complaining about the game's logical futility.
As the sun was beginning to set, Garnet put a slow song on the record player, and Pearl and Amethyst, and Andrew and Amelia took to the dance floor. Steven and Penny turned to Connie at the same time, but Penny spoke moments before her brother got a word out.
"Hey Connie, would you like to dance?" She asked.
"Sure!" Connie replied, but she had noticed that Steven had been about to speak, and correctly guessed he was about to ask the same thing. "Can... I dance with you next, Steven?" She asked, sympathetically.
"Yeah, that sounds great!" Steven agreed, with a note of disappointment in his voice.
While Steven sat in the van with his dad and Garnet, Penny and Connie took to the dance floor, and slowly swayed to the music, with their hands on each other's shoulders.
"Connie..." Penny nervously began. "I'm sorry I never thought about what you said before. I never thought about the future when I was with my last Connie... and our relationship just ended when I left, without even saying goodbye..."
Connie noticed tears welling in Penny's eyes, and pulled her closer, for a hug.
"I know she's glad you're okay."
"But... what if I do the same thing to you...?" Penny sniffed. "What if I'm still a kid, when you're fifty years old?"
"Then we'll still be friends." Connie insisted. "We'll both change as we get older in one way or another, even if you don't age like I do, it won't change how much I care about you and Steven."
"Thanks Connie..." Penny replied, reciprocating her hug.
While Steven took his turn, dancing with Connie, Penny sat on a small, folding table, watching the sun, as it set over the sea. Connie's words were soothing, but they sat on top of the cauldron of bubbling emotions, that this jarring birthday had become.
Penny jumped slightly, as she was pulled from her thoughts, by Peridot's voice. "Penny. If I might have a moment of your time?"
"What's up Peridot?" Penny greeted.
"Pearl explained the importance of these birth anniversary rituals, and told me not to bother anyone with talk of the drill, but I assume you're sitting here doing nothing, because you've finally realised how pointless this celebration is, and therefore won't mind lending your assistance."
Penny smirked at Peridot's unique speech pattern. "Sure, what do you need?"
Peridot lead Penny to the other side of the barn, where the drill stood, the latter having to jog slightly, to keep up with Peridot's long stride, in her limb enhancers. The drill was nearing completion, with a mostly intact, spherical cockpit, and a drill head pointing readily at the ground. The whole thing was held up by a sturdy, wooden frame.
"I wanted to run some basic simulations, but the processors keep overheating. This is hardly something I want to happen when it's drilling towards the Cluster, saving our lives..." Peridot said.
"Yeah, that sounds bad." Penny said, as she placed her foot on Peridot's interlaced fingers, and allowed herself to be hoisted into the drill's open cockpit. "It might be as simple as just throwing a bunch more processors in there, but if nothing else, we can just jury rig some coolant dispensers."
"Oh right, I just remembered, you'll need me to disengage the safety." Peridot summoned one of her screens and sniggered to herself. "Let me tell you, I had a good reason for installing..."
"What? The safety?" Penny interrupted, from the cockpit. "Yeah, I already disengaged that. Why do you need that when it's not even up to the testing stage yet?"
"You did what!?" Peridot shrieked, both impressed and concerned.
Before Penny could question the green Gem's reaction, she found out exactly why a safety had been installed. With the slightest input from Penny, the drill immediately burst into life, at full power. The drill head span with such force that the entire vehicle rattled, throwing Penny to the floor, before she could disengage it. The frame fell apart and the drill fell forwards, forcing Peridot to dive out of the way, before it crushed her.
With a tidal wave of dirt, the drill ploughed forwards, tearing through the ground, and putting a second hole into the side of the barn, before exploding out of the doors, onto the dancefloor beyond. Inside the drill, desperately trying to get her bearings, Penny saw Steven and Connie, on the drill's forward (or downward, as it should have been) display, as they stood, like startled deer in headlights, in the drill's path.
Penny knew that, even if she stopped the drill immediately, the forward momentum would still cause it to crush her friends. Moving and thinking as fast as she could, Penny leapt out of the drill's open door, grabbed the drill's base and, pulling with all of her might, threw herself into the drill's path, hoping to be able to tackle her friends aside.
Penny flew like a dart, wrapping her arms around the stunned Steven and Connie's shoulders, but as she did, her gem began to gleam and glare of its own accord, the piercing white light, flooding the field, forcing the party-goers to shield their eyes.
The drill head was met by the tip of an enormous, snow-white parasol, and with a flourish, the vehicle was sent spinning into the air, like it had the weight of a tennis ball, before it fell, cockpit first, into three awaiting hands.
If the party had been surprised by the unleashing of the drill, it was nothing compared to the stunned silence that followed. While most of the Gems, and Greg simply gaped in disbelief, Garnet and Andrew covered their mouths, to stifle massive, involuntary grins they wore.
Where Steven, Connie and Penny once stood, there was now a ten-foot-tall fusion, with mocha skin, and flowing, silver hair, which reached their knees. They wore a breezy, yellow dress, under Steven's red t-shirt with the Crystal Gems' star, and a practical pair of black boots. Unlike Stevonnie, the new fusion exceeded the common number of limbs for a human, and had four, slender arms, holding the drill with three of them, and with the fourth, brandishing a gleaming, white parasol, with the Rose Quartz insignia on it.
After overcoming her shock, Peridot remotely disengaged the drill, from her screens, allowing the fusion to put it down. While the group inched closer, awaiting the fusion's first words, the fusion ran their hands over their body, and took handfuls of their silky, water-like hair.
The fusion sniggered softly, before breaking out into an excited laugh. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILKY QUARTZ!" They cried.
Milky remained fused for the remainder of the party, danced energetically, and made use of their additional limbs to bring everyone together for a hug, and a group photo. Late into the night, long after Andrew and Amethyst had taken Amelia home, Milky lay on the roof of the barn, resting their head in their hands and gazing at the tapestry of stars overhead.
"Those three will be okay..." Milky sighed to themself. The second they had fused, Steven, Connie and Penny's worries about the future, had melted away. "Whatever happens to them in the future... they'll always have me."