Ruby, now dressed in a cowboy outfit, sat astride a shape-shifted Amethyst and rode horseback across the desert, Steven and Greg following behind.

"Sorry I gotta be a yellow-belly about this," said Steven, "but we don't even have a map. I think we're just gonna get ourselves lost."

"We kind of are lost already," Sadness said. "Emotionally. Which is why we came out here; so Ruby could find herself."

"Well-said, Sadness," said Joy. "For instance," she said, watching as Ruby came across a wall of thick brush, "What's behind there? There's no one to show us, so we get to find out for ourselves!"

On screen, they watched as Ruby went through the bushes- and promptly found that the ground had disappeared beneath her feet.

"Gah!" Fear yelled, pulling all her levers until it she realized that Ruby had landed on a ledge. "Did you see that? We almost fell down a cliff!"

"Yeah," said Joy. "Isn't it great?"

"What? How was that great?" roared Anger.

"We had no idea it was there! Without future vision, anything is possible!"

"Including, apparently, possible damage to Ruby's physical form, or even her gem," said Disgust. "But I guess if that happens, it'll be because of her choices, not anyone else's."

"See?" said Joy. "That's the spirit!"

After a while, they spied a bull, standing all by itself. Greg found a rope in his van and tied it into a lasso. Ruby, from on top of Amethyst, tossed it, and it landed around the bull's horns.

"All right!" Joy exclaimed. "We did it! We're a real rustler!"

"Well, not a real rustler," Sadness said. "We're not actually planning to steal the bull or anything..."

The bull, unamused, lowered its head and started backing up.

"Um, I think that we'd better… RUN!" Fear cried.

"I don't think it liked being lassoed," Sadness said, once they had successfully fled.

"Or maybe it didn't like Ruby's red skin," Disgust suggested.

"Bulls getting mad at the color red is a complete myth!" Anger yelled.

"Wow," said Disgust. "A bit touchy about red skin, aren't you?"

"Garnet's skin is sort of red," Sadness said.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, I guess," Sadness said. "Just something that came to mind."

"I bet Garnet could have taken that cow down easy," said Joy. "Wouldn't even need a lasso. Er, not that I necessarily want to be part of Garnet again. Actually, it might not be that fun, since it wouldn't be much of a challenge..."

"All right, no more talking about Garnet!" said Anger. "Or Sapphire either! We're just going to focus on Ruby and Ruby alone! And Amethyst! And Steven, and Greg! But not Sapphire, and not Garnet!"

Some time later, the group encountered a rattlesnake.

"So, what's party guy doing here?" Disgust said.

"I don't know," said Fear, "But I think the real issue is that he could possibly hurt Steven, or Greg, or both!"

"Don't worry," Anger said. "I've got this."

Ruby coolly stepped between the humans and the snake and make a gun-like gesture with her finger. The snake slithered away.

"See? No one hurts Steven when Ruby's around!" Anger said. "Remember when we saved him from that lightning strike?"

"No, that was Garnet," Sadness said, pulling up the relevant memory.

"Oh, right," Anger said. "Well, like I said, we're not going to talk about her."

"You're the one that brought her up," said Disgust.

"Not on purpose!" Anger yelled. "It's not my fault every truly great memory Ruby's ever had was either as Garnet or with Sapphire!"

"Well," said Joy, "that's just more reason to start making memories on our own."

Night fell, and the posse stopped and made a campfire. Ruby strummed a lonesome cowboy song on the guitar, Greg having given her a quick lesson that she soon picked up on. Eventually, the humans and Amethyst went to bed, leaving Ruby to gaze at the night sky by herself.

"Pretty peaceful, isn't it?" Fear said. "I mean, as long as there aren't any coyotes or anything."

"And the stars are beautiful, aren't they?" said Disgust. "I don't think we've ever looked at them through Ruby's eyes."

"No, we did, once," Sadness said. "All the way back when we first came to Earth, after we had fled from Blue Diamond. We looked at them with..."

She trailed off, conscious that she had almost brought up the one they had promised not to speak about once again. The other emotions shifted uncomfortably.

"...pretty peaceful, isn't it?" Fear said.

"Hey Ruby," came a whisper from behind her. Steven was talking to her from his sleeping bag. "You know, I got really scared when you said you didn't want to fuse with Sapphire any more. I felt like I was losing someone I cared about."

"Okay," Anger said, "I guess even if we try to avoid thinking about her, Steven's just going to remind us anyway, huh?"

"But it's understandable how he feels," Sadness said. "I mean, when Sapphire split, it really felt like we were losing someone we cared about..."

"Er, Sadness?" asked a concerned Joy.

"I saw how much fun you were having today," Steven continued. "All this buckarooing really suits you. I'm sorry I tried to push you back into being Garnet."

Sadness burst into tears.

"Oh! Sadness!" Joy exclaimed, moving to comfort her. "It's okay! Don't cry!"

"No! I miss being Garnet!" Sadness wailed. "I miss Sapphire and all her emotions!"

"But you heard what Steven said! We've been having fun. Buckarooing really suits Ruby, all on her own."

"No, she's right," said Disgust. "All day long, when Ruby was doing her thing, it felt like something was missing. And what was missing was Sapphire."

"Exactly!" Anger said. "Every time we did something, it was always Garnet this or Sapphire that! It was annoying that it kept happening, but even more annoying that they weren't there!"

"I miss them too," said Fear. "I just didn't say anything because everybody else seemed fine, and, well, I didn't want to ruin anyone's fun."

"We have been having fun, though, right?" Joy said. "Even just on our own."

"Would have been more fun with Sapphire," Anger grumbled.

Joy sighed. "True. It's hard to fully enjoy something if you think you might not be getting the full enjoyment you can out of it."

"Ugh, this is so lame," Disgust said. "We came here so Ruby could be her own Gem, but we kept making her think of Sapphire the whole time."

"Yeah," said Sadness. "I guess we're not very good at not needing nobody."

"Come on, that's not lame," said Steven. "You led us on a frontier adventure! You're still the same Ruby who did all that stuff, even if you're thinking of someone." He held up the comic book Ruby had been inspired by. "Look at our friend Lonesome Lasso. They call him that 'cause he's lonesome! He's still a rooting-tooting cowboy, blazing his own trails, but he loves someone, too."

"Huh," said Disgust. "We probably should have paid more attention to that comic and not have spent so much time rereading To the Digital Limit."

'So what do we do now?" Fear asked.

"Ruby usually makes decisions that make her happy, right?" said Joy. "Well, I've decided that what will make her happy is deciding to get back together with Sapphire."

"We'll have to ask her first," said Sadness. "Make sure it's what she wants as well."

"But do we really want to just go back exactly to the way things were?" Disgust said. "I mean, with what we now know about Rose, it'd still be… sort of uncomfortable."

"Yeah," said Anger. "If Ruby gets back together with Sapphire, it'll be because we want to, not because someone else told them to!"

"Right," Sadness said. "We should make it different somehow."

"Wait a sec!" Steven flipped through the comic and showed it to Ruby. In the pages, the cowboy was marrying his sweetheart.

"That's it!" Joy yelled, shaking Sadness in excitement. "Why didn't we think of this before?"

"Probably because marriage is a human concept," Disgust said. "But I'm for it anyway."

"Think she'll accept our proposal?" Fear asked.

"I'm sure she'll be ecstatic," said Joy.

"So," said Disgust, "you think Steven and Amethyst have found Ruby yet?"

"Hard to say," Fear said. "Between those three, they could wind up doing anything."

Sapphire and Pearl had finally calmed down a little, and Pearl had made a pot of tea. Neither of them drank any, but the aroma seemed to help.

The door creaked, and Sapphire looked up. Steven had returned, bearing a grim expression that was hard to interpret; it wasn't happy, but it also wasn't the sorrow that would have been the result of a fruitless search- or worse.

"Steven's back!" Joy exclaimed. "But… where's Ruby?"

"Were they not able to find her?" Sadness asked.

"Or maybe they did find her," said Fear, "but she didn't want to-"

"She's outside," Steven said. "She's got something to say to you."

"Whew, she is here," Joy said. "That's a good sign."

"But what's she going to say?" Fear cried. "Why's Steven acting so… serious?"

"I can't believe it," Anger said. "Here we are, bearers of the gift of future vision, and we are still in a constant state of anxiety over not knowing what's going to happen!"

Sapphire went out onto the porch of the beach house and looked out at the beach. There, on a horse-shaped Amethyst, sat Ruby, wearing chaps and a Stetson.

"Wait," said Disgust. "Did she seriously become a cowboy?"

"That doesn't matter," Sadness said. "But we need to sincerely express our remorse to here."

"Ruby, I'm so sorry!" Sapphire said, running up to Ruby. "I should have never said those awful things to you. That we didn't matter any more; I shouldn't have pushed you away like that. I was wrong."

"Naw, you were right," Ruby said.

"No! Wrong!" cried Sapphire's Fear. "I was wrong! She's not going to break up with Sapphire, is she?"

"Hey, she hasn't said anything specific about that yet," said Joy. "Plus, she's dressed like a cowboy! She wouldn't dress like a cowboy to break up with her, right? See, check out that sweet flip she just did off of Amethyst! That's not a move for unhappy occasions!"

"I have to admit, that was a pretty sweet flip," said Disgust.

Ruby walked slowly towards Sapphire. "Someone else told us we were the answer. But I don't believe that anymore."

"You don't think we're upsetting her, do you?" Ruby's Sadness asked. "I mean, acting all serious, saying that she was right about Rose forcing this relationship on us…"

"That would definitely make me worried," Fear said.

"Everything makes you worried," Anger rejoined.

"It's for dramatic effect," Disgust said. "She'll understand."

"Especially when we spring this on her!" Joy said.

"At least, not till I hear it from you." Clasping Sapphire's hand in hers, she kneeled down. "Sapphire, will you marry me?"

"Marry her?" Sapphire's Fear asked, confused. "I mean, it's better than breaking up, but… why?"

"There's no duties they share that require marriage," Disgust said. "Especially since they're Garnet most of the time…"

"Who cares?" said Joy. "I mean, look at how adorable she is! How could we say no?"

"This way we can be together, even when we're apart!" Ruby continued." "This time, being Garnet will be our decision. What do you say?"

Sapphire smiled. "Of course," she said.

"Yee-haw!" Ruby yelled, embracing her new fiance.

"Yee-haw!" Joy R cried. "She said yes!"

"I'd hate to think what would have happened if she said no," said Sadness.

"So don't think about it!" said Anger. "She said yes, and that's all that matters!"

"Right!" Fear said. "We're going to get married!" She paused as the enormity of what was happening hit her. "We're actually going to get married." With a mighty swoon, she collapsed on the floor on the control room.

Disgust glanced at her unconscious body. "I'm willing to leave her like until the wedding."