Shortly after Ruby and Sapphire fused, Steven and Spinel left to locate the Amethyst, who had wandered off, leaving the brand new Garnet in the care of Umgreg Universe and his Pearl servant. The two of them were preparing for a concert for that evening, and Garnet, despite her inexperience with her new form, with existence in general, and with the various aspects required for such an event, lent her assistance as best she could. Which is how she found herself helping retrieve equipment from storage.
"There are two different wires," Disgust S said. "Which one does he need? The red one or the blue one?"
"The blue one looks nice," Sadness R said.
"Are you crazy?" Anger S said. "The red one's clearly the one we need!"
"Guys?" said Fear R. "Hey, watch out! Garnet's going to-"
While comparing the two, a curious Spinel had approached Garnet unnoticed, causing her to lose her balance and become tangled in the wires. Umgreg and Pearl, along with Steven and Amethyst, looked on with concern.
"Did you want the red cable? Or the blue cable?" Garnet asked.
"It doesn't matter! They're the same!" Umgreg responded.
"But one's red and one's blue," Disgust S said with a frown.
"He said it's fine," Joy R said. "But look! The others are back!"
"Why does that Amethyst look different now?" Disgust R asked.
"Maybe it shapeshifted?" Sadness R suggested. "It was doing that a lot."
"The bigger question is, why did we fall over?" Fear S said.
"Because Spinel pushed us," said Anger S.
"It wasn't on purpose," said Sadness S.
"No, I mean, shouldn't our future vision have warned us before she tripped us up?" Fear S said. "Wait, does Garnet even have future vision still? Was it lost because of fusion?"
"I don't see anything in the manual," said Anger R.
"That's the manual for Rubies," Disgust S said. "Of course it wouldn't have information on a Sapphire power."
"Hold on, is this something?" Fear R asked, pointing to some of her controls. "I don't think these were in Ruby's mind."
"I think you're right!" Fear S said, reaching over to switch it on. "In Sapphire's mind, future vision was more or less automatic, but I guess we need to manually activate it now..."
On the screen flashed a series of images that rapidly switch from possible timeline to possible timeline, overwhelming and disorienting the emotions, who were unable to focus enough to begin guessing what would actually happen.
Fear S hurriedly switched it off again. "Well," she said, "that's… not how it usually works."
"I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually," Joy R said. "But in the meantime, relax! Garnet's got a concert to go to!"
The concert took place that evening in a partially-destroyed building on the other end of the town. In the audience were a few fellow gems, but mainly organic beings similar to Steven and Umgreg. On stage were four more organics, along with the Amethyst on drums.
"Who's here for the show?" screamed one of the onstage organics, presumably the lead singer for the ensemble.
The crowd cheered.
"Who's here 'cause it's the end of the world?"
More cheers.
"Wait, end of the world?" said Fear R in a panic. "Did we miss something?"
"It's probably just a metaphor," Disgust R said.
"This first song's a special request from Steven Universe," the singer continued.
"Ahh!" Joy S squealed. "We know that person!"
"Barely," Disgust S retorted.
"Hey, Spinel's also excited about it," Joy R said.
"We barely know her either!" Anger S said.
"To be fair, we barely know anybody," Sadness S said. "We barely know ourselves."
"So let's start self-discovering!" Joy S said. "Through music!"
The band launched into a steady-paced but energetic song. "I think about all the wasted time I spent! I wanna be disobedient!" they sang.
"Yeah! Disobedience!" Anger R cheered. "No orders! No rules!"
"Hey, rules can be a good thing," Fear S said. "If they're sensible, they can help keep people safe, make things not so chaotic-"
"No rules," Anger R repeated.
"And yet you're continuously looking through that guide," Disgust R remarked.
"Wh- this isn't rules! It's information!"
"Yeah, whatever." Disgust R turned back to the monitor. "Oh, hey, the Amethyst's shapeshifted again."
The other emotions looked. Indeed, Amethyst had taken over center stage and was now transformed into a large, curly-haired figure wearing a flowing dress.
"Pretty significantly, too," Fear S said. "Is she trying to imitate someone again? But who?"
"Whoever it is, she's not bad looking," Disgust S said.
"Is it just me," said Sadness R, "Or does this form bring on a tinge of… melancholy?"
"No, it's just you."
"Actually, I feel it too," said Sadness S.
"Like I said."
The shapeshifted Amethyst finished the song and returned to her normal form. She and the rest of the band left the stage and were replaced by Steven and Umgreg, each holding a guitar. They began playing their instruments, gradually moving towards one another until they were close enough to stand back to back. As their strumming reached a crescendo, their bodies began to glow, though this could only be seen briefly before the pyrotechnics obscured them with a thick cloud of smoke. Steven and Umgreg were no longer there; in their place was a large, four-armed being who resembled but was clearly not them. They tossed a jacket into the crowd; Garnet caught it.
"Wha- is that Steven's jacket?" Disgust R said.
"But where'd he go?" Sadness R asked. "And Umgreg?"
"That is Steven and Umgreg!" Joy R said. "They fused!"
"They did?" said Fear S. "They can do that?"
"Yeah, aren't they organic or something?" Disgust S said.
"I mean, just a few hours ago, we didn't know Rubies and Sapphires could fuse..." said Sadness S.
"This manual is worthless," Anger R grumbled, rereading the section on fusion.
The Steven/Umgreg fusion – Steg, for lack of a better name – began singing, and soon after, floating. He was joined by Pearl and Amethyst, who themselves fused shortly after, and by Garnet, who hitched a ride on a pink beast.
"A couple questions," Fear S said. "One: What is happening? Two: How is it happening? Three: Why is it happening?"
"Four: Should we be concerned about Garnet falling?" Fear R added.
"I can answer all those questions with a single answer: stop worrying so much about it!" Joy R said. "Let's just enjoy the experience."
The Fears looked at each other, but knowing that further protest would be fruitless, simply slumped into their seats and wordlessly watched the screen.
"Guys!" Steven called from the stairs. "Guess who's back?"
After their song concluded, Steven had unfused from Umgreg and gone after Spinel, who had fled for unknown reasons. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had remained at the concert until it was over and returned to the beach house to wait for them to come back, which they now had.
Spinel entered shyly. Compared to how she was before, her pigtails were longer and more unkempt; she had dark lines emanating from her eyes; and the gem in the center of her chest was upside down.
"Now Spinel looks different," Disgust R remarked. "And I'm not sure how I feel about her new appearance."
"Let's not be too judgmental," Sadness S said.
"Yes, let's be supportive," Joy S said. "Maybe make a neutral comment about her hair, but in a cheerful manner."
"Do you guys not notice how tense everyone else is being?" Fear R said. "I mean, the others have gotten their weapons out!"
"Maybe they really hate her new look," Anger S suggested.
"Steven doesn't seem too concerned," Sadness R said, "so why should we?"
"Yeah, quit worrying and let Garnet feel good," Joy R said.
Fear R frowned. "Look, being Garnet might be nice, but she can't just be full of wonder and delight all the time. There's still going to be threats and unknown variables, and we have to be prepared to react accordingly."
A portal appeared and through and from it emerged the pink beast. Riding upon it was another organic, about Steven's size but with darker skin, wearing blue garments and wielding a sword.
"See? Like this! Who is this? What's happening?"
"Don't fight!" Steven said. "Everything's chill!"
An odd sound emanated from a side room. The door opened and a figure emerged. The group turned their focus – and weapons – to this newcomer.
"Alright, alright!" Umgreg said, retreating back into the room. "I'll wash my hands!"
"Wait, he didn't wash his hands?" Disgust S said. "Gross."
"Not washing his hands?" Sadness R asked. "Why? How would they get dirty?"
"I'm not really sure," Disgust S said, "but it just seems gross."
Fear R whimpered and slunk into her chair. "I just want things to make sense."