Let's start at the beginning. The very beginning.
"I— I can't believe it," Pink Diamond murmured, voice soft, disbelieving. ". . . My own colony!"
"Isn't it exciting?" Pearl agreed. "And it looks so beautiful! What should we name it?"
Pink smiled at Pearl's boldness. If any other Pearl had suggested their owner's colony was just as much theirs, they would undoubtedly be reprimanded. It was safe to say, as well, that Pearl wasn't really hers anymore—she was her own Gem, and if anything, Pink found herself more Pearl's than the other way around.
"What about. . . Earth?" she gave a soft laugh. "It feels good to finally say it. . . I've been saving that name for so long."
"I love it," Pearl grinned.
"Have you already organised the Lapis Lazuli schedules for us?"
"Of course! The terraforming should only take a few weeks, and then we'll be making our own Gems!"
"I can't wait," Pink sighed, wistfully.
Pearl sighed, reaching out to the control panel from her seat on Pink Diamond's lap.
For now, the moon base was as close as they could get to their new colony, but it quickly grew dull. The Earth hung in front of them like a giant blue marble, teasing them through the communication room's full-wall window.
"The Kindergarten was injected years ago! Shouldn't they be emerging by now?"
Pearl squirmed a little on the restless Diamond's lap and placed a hand on the panel, electricity buzzing up through her arm and into her head. Graphs appeared before her eyes.
"The terraforming is going as scheduled. Lapises are already terraforming the Beta Kindergarten in the northern-western hemisphere. Bismuths have constructed strategic warp panels across the Earth and Peridot technician stations are planned to be developed in the Kindergartens soon. The first—" With a gasp, she lit up, quite literally. "Pink, the first Quartz soldiers are scheduled to emerge soon!"
"Finally, something exciting!" Pink agreed.
In a rush, they bustled down to the viewing orb and Pearl turned it on. The walls lit up with a holographic vision of the Prime Kindergarten.
Pink gasped, gazing around in awe, and Pearl threw an arm out, pointing. "Pink, look!"
On the far rocky wall, what appeared to be a Gem-shaped hole was glowing pink. A beat later and a grinning Amethyst burst from the rock and landed on the floor. The gem set against her upper arm was clean-cut and pristine.
Pink felt excitement flare up within her. "We're creating life from. . . nothing!"
"Welcome to Earth!" Pearl cried to the hologram, and then her face fell as it walked right through her and into the arms of a pair of newly-emerged soldiers.
Pearl sighed, face resigned. "I wish we could be there."
Pink said nothing, dreading the inevitable.
As she'd anticipated, Pearl's features suddenly lit up. "Wait— of course we can be there! We can warp into the Prime Kindergarten!"
"Wh-What? Pearl, no—" Pink Diamond found herself cringing. "If we went down to the kindergarten—if we were caught—I would never hear the end of it from Yellow and Blue." She let her eyes drop. "Blue would throw me in the Tower."
The room was silent for a moment, and then Pearl padded over and reached up, lifting her face a little. She could just reach her this way, as she was kneeling on the floor.
"Pink. . ." Pearl's voice was soft. "You can't let them control you like this."
Pink only shook her head. "I can't do anything about it—they're my family. If. . ." Her voice petered out. She didn't like the idea herself, but if it would make Pearl happy. . . "—If you want, you can go by yourself. I'll stay here and wait for you."
"What? No!" Pearl sounded scandalised. "I'm not doing that! We'll both go, together."
Pink tried to ignore the fluttering feeling her words brought about in her stomach. ". . . How?"
"What if. . . you shapeshifted? To look like another Quartz?"
Pink raised her head. "You think so. . .?"
"Yes!" Suddenly, Pearl was completely onboard with the idea. Gem aglow, she projected a model of her Diamond into the air before them, saturated in a holographic blue. "If you shrink down in height, widen your build, grow out your hair. . . no one would know the difference!" The model complied, shrinking down into a soldier with tight ringlets.
"I. . . I can try," Pink said, if only to appease her. She took a good look at the hologram and then closed her eyes, imagining the form in her mind's eye, withdrawing the excess of her light projection back into her gem.
She heard Pearl gasp, and she opened her eyes.
"You look amazing!" Pearl cried, and brushed a hand over her chest. She shivered. "You even remembered the Court symbol!"
Pink smiled down at her in relief, and she could have sworn Pearl flushed before she stepped back and cleared her throat, shooting her a mischievous smile. "Are you ready to go?"
The Kindergarten warp pad chimed, shooting a beam of light into the sky. When the light cleared, it left a Pearl and a pink Quartz soldier standing together, gazing in awe around at the enormous canyon.
"Pearl. . . look!" Pink-Diamond-as-Quartz leaned over the warp pad ledge, pointing at a band of marching Amethysts. Pearl's grin was luminous.
"This is incredible!" Her wide eyes sparkled in excitement, and she grabbed ahold of Pink's hand. "Take us down there, quick!"
Taking her under an arm, Pink-as-Quartz obligingly leaped from the warp pad and into the air. Even as they drifted down to the Kindergarten floor, chunks of rock burst from the walls as dozens of Amethysts emerged and jumped down.
"Pink," Pearl breathed as they touched down. "This is. . ."
"Out of my way!" a newly emerged Amethyst cried, and shoved them apart as she ran past. Pink-as-Quartz fell to the ground with a surprised ugh!.
"Oh, dear!" Pearl cried, a small smile on her face, and padded over to help her up. "Are you alright?"
"Of course," Pink returned, taking her hand. "But this is. . . so different."
"Isn't it?" Pearl agreed with enthusiasm. "You're fitting right in! No one's saluting you now!"
Pink-as-Quartz gasped lightly. "You're. . . You're right!"
"This is so fun," her companion gushed. "Thank you so much for doing this for me. I couldn't have done this on my own!"
The words warmed Pink, and she smiled before taking her hand. "What about those Amethysts?"
"Yes!" Pearl cried, and hauled her over to the gathered soldiers nearby. When they pulled up in front of them, Pearl gave Pink a sly nudge.
"Uh, hello. . . fellow Amethyst guards!" Pink-as-Quartz called. "What. . . are we all up to?"
"There's two more from our unit that haven't emerged yet so we're gonna wait for 'em," one replied, eyes half-hidden beneath a neat fringe. At that moment, a section of the rock wall lit up and burst apart. The new Gem tumbled to the ground before them wth a groan. ". . . Here comes one of 'em!"
Delighted, Pearl stepped forward. "Oh, my stars, look at you!"
"Welcome to Earth!" Pink beamed from behind her.
"That is the first and. . . nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," the Quartz smiled back, soft eyes flicking between them.
"What's going on here?" Another light-haired Amethyst ran up to the group, hands on hips. "Our orders were to move out as soon as you emerged!"
"But. . . 8XM hasn't emerged yet," a different Amethyst replied.
"She can catch up with us later! Go! Go! Go!"
Pink began to move after them, but was quickly stopped in her tracks by Pearl. "We can come back here later. Wouldn't you like to explore some of Earth's other features?"
Pink-as-Quartz gasped. "Pearl! Yes, let's go!"
They emerged unhurried from the Kindergarten, transitioning from barren dirt to lush green grass. A light chirping filled the air. "So. . . this. . . is Earth," Pink breathed.
Vast green fields, carpeted with pink organics, and rising on the horizon, majestic purple landforms, framed by a clear blue sky.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Pearl beamed, and took her by the hand. "We have to see it all."
The day sped by. They laid together on the grass and gazed at the clouds; they gathered flowers, throwing petals into the air where it fell as pink rain; they explored the mass of tall trees, glimpsed organics in the patches of dappled light; and at one point Pink-as-Quartz made a grab at a fluttery-looking organic, which escaped her fingers and instead flew around them in circles.
They came across a flowing body of water, through which they watched slippery organics swim, and Pearl bent down to trail her fingers through the water. Then, across the banks, Pink noticed a set of figures. As she watched, the small one gathered water and walked back to the two taller shadows, disappearing again into the trees as Pearl stood up. She thought she could feel Pearl's elation falter.
They made their way back to the Kindergarten in growing shadows. There was a rumbling somewhere nearby—it seemed to come from the grey sky. As soon as they crossed from green grass to brown Kindergarten dirt, Pink stopped.
"We can't go through with this invasion," she said, voice soft.
Pearl sighed, and took her hands into her own. "I know. I didn't realise that. . . that all this life, growing wild on Earth. . . that it's going to be destroyed."
"We're not creating life from nothing," Pink murmured.
Pearl's eyes mirrored her own sadness when she answered. "We're taking life, and leaving nothing behind."
There was a flash from the sky, and water began to fall in droplets from the grey overhead, pattering onto the bare rock walls of the Kindergarten, washing the dirt away in a brown wet mess.
A newly-realised Pearl and her Diamond stood, hand-in-hand, gazing out at the endless green, wondering how much longer it would last.
SO, as you guys must have noticed, there's been some switcheroos here. Basically, Rose is still Pink Diamond, but this time around, due to her life on Homeworld she's more skittish and soft-spoken, and because of her gentle treatment with her new Pearl, that's allowed her to become more confident, and in this AU Pearl is the leader of the rebellion and Rose is more in the role of "terrifying renegade Quartz". Garnet stays the same as a fusion, and so does Bismuth, but her love interest has changed on account of the personality changes.