Lamp Entertainment presents…

Chapter 16: Santa's Workshop & Two Little Gremlins

Space…

December 16th.

Homeworld was buzzing and so were countless colonies throughout the galaxy. Buzzing with frantic activity. Trillions of gems worked like an enormous horde of ants towards one single goal. It was a testament to the true power of unity, teamwork, and determination.

After all, it does seem impossible, doesn't it? Delivering gifts to every single person on Earth in one single night? Surely, that was an impossible goal… right? Even if the entire gem empire was working in unison, they barely had twenty-two days to prepare. How could they possibly hope to be ready in time?

Well, dear reader, there are a few facts you've got to keep in mind about gems. Firstly, they don't need to do things like eat or sleep. They can if they want to, but most gems found that they wanted to work on Operation Christmas more. So a lot of them, not all, but a lot, worked around the clock to get everything ready on time.

Shipwrights worked tirelessly on converting old dropships into gift delivering ships. Entire armies' worth of Pebbles, Aquamarines, Beetles as well as any other gems that were small or could fly were being trained to break into human homes and deliver gifts.

Speaking of gifts, what exactly were the gems planning on giving to humanity?

Honestly, mostly just stuff they had lying around. Despite their best efforts, even the entire might of the gem empire couldn't possibly hope to produce over seven billion gifts in less than a month. So they raided their old warehouses and storage facilities for stuff they didn't need. Low-tech gadgets and trinkets. Well, low-tech by gem standards. Most of the Earth's leading scientists could spend their entire lives trying to understand some of the gems' gifts, only to be forced to shrug and say "I dunno, magic?"

Remote-controlled robonoids that no one was using anymore. Clumsy, outdated hover trays that you couldn't fly on, but could still be used as shelves. Multi-colored light orbs with batteries that could last for about a thousand years or so. Since humans loved music just as much as gems, then a few wailing stones that had been converted into speakers would surely be appreciated. Hard-light drawing tablets, similar to the ones used to document court proceedings.

One of the many gifts included something that looked like a thin sheet of dark glass. On the sheet blinked billions of tiny stars, showing the Milky Way's slow dance through the cosmos. This exquisite object was sure to make countless astronomers cry tears of joy. To the gems, it was basically just a fancy but impractical map.

Since humans couldn't poof and reform when they got hurt, some humans were missing their limbs from various accidents. Some decommissioned limb enhancers could fix that right up.

Over the years, various mining colonies had amassed enormous quantities of precious metals, like silver, gold, and platinum. These metals were only used in relatively small amounts, but some upper crust gems liked to keep large vaults of the stuff. Mostly because it looked pretty and shiny. Now it was being put to good use, turning into jewelry, rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

Of course, all of this was just stuff. Sometimes the best gifts aren't the most valuable, expensive, or flashy things. Sometimes the most valuable gift is something much simpler and honest.

xxXXxx

Somewhere on Earth…

Picture a scenic clearing in the middle of a forest during wintertime. Snow is covering the ground, except for a few patches where spruces and pines caught it in their branches. The sun was hanging high up in the sky. It'd be getting dark soon, but for the moment, the rays of the Earth's star was still making the snow sparkle.

Close to the clearing stood a particularly large spruce, big enough for two small gems to hide underneath it.

"I hate this!" Eyeball Ruby growled. She was in a bad mood. Which wasn't that unusual. It was a bit worse today, however. She and Aquamarine had been flying over this clearing in some random forest in some random part of the Earth when they suddenly crashed. And of course, Aquamarine had to use her as a cushion.

"I know," Aquamarine hissed. She was trying and failing to reach her back where her wings had frozen to ice. She was in an even worse mood than Ruby. "You've already told me! Seven times!" She winced as she tried to straighten her back, sharp edges of ice digging into her form.

Ruby huffed and turned her back to Aquamarine. She entertained herself by drawing the face of that accursed Steven Universe in the soft cold stuff on the ground and then stabbing it with her chisel.

She stopped when she heard Aquamarine gasp behind her.

"Hey…" she turned around and saw the blue gem's face contorted by pain. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look like I'm okay!?" Aquamarine snapped. She was sitting on the ground. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her chest and her hands clutched her shoulders hard. "My wings are frozen." Every little movement she made seemed to send a new stab of pain through her body. "It…" her voice wavered for a moment. "It hurts quite a bit."

Ruby sighed and threw her chisel to the side. She stood up and walked over and kneeled behind Aquamarine. She rubbed her hands together and heated them up. Aquamarine winced when Ruby's warm hands touched her shoulders, but she soon relaxed as the warmth spread through her body. Slowly, Ruby started moving her hands closer to the frozen wings to thaw them.

"You heard about this 'Christmas' thing they're doing on Homeworld?" she asked after a while. "Some human tradition Steven taught the Diamonds. Sounded really stupid."

"Yeah, I've heard," Aquamarine scoffed. "What a load of rubbish."

"Yeah…"

It got dark quick and snow started falling slowly around them. Aquamarine didn't want to risk flying, freezing her wings again and crashing in the dark, so they stayed where they were. They sat underneath the large spruce together, Aquamarine keeping close to Ruby so her wings wouldn't freeze again.

Despite their souls being filled with spite, bitterness, and wrath, they at least had each other.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Fun Fact: Those Wailing Stones turned speakers come with a few songs installed already by the gems. Rainbow Aura Quartz In the Dark, Paint It Blue, Smells Like Spirit Quartz, I Am a Rock, Rock You Like a Jasper, Shine on You Crazy Diamond…

Tell you what, why don't you leave me with some more puns to be mildly entertained by?