A Day in the Life of…

Amethyst:

Inside the donut shop, the Crystal Gems were having a little break from protecting the world. Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl, and Steven were all sitting around a table outside of the shop. Amethyst was laughing wildly at Pearl's new golden necklace. "C'mon!" she laughed around a mouthful of donut, "Just say it!"

"I'm not saying it," Pearl smiled.

"Pleease, Pearl?" Steven tried his best to look adorable.

"Come on, Pearl!" Garnet urged quietly.

"Oh fine!" Pearl looked as serious as she could, and with utter solemnity proclaimed "I pity the fool!" All the Gems laughed at her surprisingly good impression of Mr. T.

"No, wait!" Amethyst smiled mischievously, "I can make it better!" She took off her earring put it on Pearl's right ear. Amethyst back up and observed Pearl, pursing her lips in thought like an artist observing her masterpiece. She took a black marker from her pocket, removed the top with a pop, and drew comically large sideburns on Pearl's face. "Perfection!" The Crystal Gems burst into refreshed laughter, even Garnet smiled at Amethyst's handiwork.
After a few more silly imitations of Mr. T, Pearl removed the earring with a smile and gave it back to Amethyst who was still smiling impishly. She began rubbing her cheeks in an attempt to wipe away the marker. Pearl looked at her hands, "It's not coming off!"

"That's because it permanent!" Amethyst let her head drop and smacked the table as she shook with laughter.

"So I'm going to have sideburns all day!?" Pearl gasped in horror.

"Probably tomorrow too!" Amethyst choked with laughter. Steven covered his mouth in an attempt to smother the laughter, but just couldn't hold it in. Garnet looked away, laughing softly. Pearl looked at them all, aghast, with an expression of horror and disbelief.

"No!"

After Pearl promptly lost her composure at the Big Donut, the rest of the morning went by fairly uneventfully for Amethyst. Garnet went on a walk; Pearl was staying in her room- desperately trying to wash away the permanent marker; Steven was… somewhere- Amethyst didn't actually know where he was; and Amethyst was BORED! And… she felt like maybe she was forgetting something. Amethyst frowned and stared absently at the tv as she tried to remember. "Hmm…." Amethyst's eyes widened and she gave a start, "Steven!" She jumped off the couch and burst through the door. Amethyst ran down the beach for awhile until she saw Steven sitting criss-cross under the cliff on the beachside. "Steven!"

"Hey Amethyst," he said, unusually subdued and calm. "Ready to begin our lessons?"

"I'm sorry I was late, Steven," Amethyst began, looking at Steven oddly, "but I guess you don't mind?"

Steven broke his composure, "You were LATE?!" Steven stood up abruptly, "I thought you just weren't coming to test my patience!"

Amethyst snorted with laughter, "Okay, yeah, sure, we can go with that!"

Steven glared at Amethyst, but quickly got over it. "So are we still working on shape shifting Amethyst?"

"I dunno Steven, can you shape shift yet?"

"No…."

"Great we can do that then." Amethyst sighed with relief. She had forgotten about this completely and didn't have any idea what else to teach him. "Hopefully we won't have another cat finger accident!" Amethyst laughed, "They were kinda cute though."

"What? They almost killed me, they're not cute!" Amethyst turned her cat into a finger and it mewled loudly into Steven's ear. Steven yelped and jumped away. Amethyst laughed.

"That's not funny Amethyst!" Steven said grumpily.

"I laughed!" Amethyst giggled again. "C'mon!" Amethyst turned into a pony and tossed Steven onto her. They galloped off the beach and into Beach City. She galloped straight at Big Donut and Steven screamed,

"Amethyst!"

She made an impossible leap to the roof of Big Donut with Steven on her back. "Relax, Steven!" she laughed as she changed back to her original form. "I'm not gonna hurt you or anything!" Amethyst drew Steven close to the edge of the roof.

"Why are we on top of the Big Donut, Amethyst?"
"Well, here's the idea. My powers are always there when I need them, so I'm going to push you off the roof so you'll need to shape shift into, like, a bird or something to save yourself."

"Wait, what?"

Amethyst pushed Steven off the roof of the Big Donut. Steven screamed and Sadie peeked outside to see what was happening. She spied Steven falling to his death. "Come on Steven, turn into a bird!" Amethyst yelled. Sadie crept back into her shop looking worried, but knowing better than to get mixed up in magic business. "Just do it Steven!" Amethyst yelled, getting worried. But there was no need, a pink robin was fluttering back up to the roof of the Big Donut.

"I did it!" tweeted Steven, "I'm a bird Amethyst!"

"Great job Steven!" Amethyst cheered, "Now try to turn back!" Steven settled down beside Amethyst and visibly shuttered. Steven turned in a little circle in agitation.

"I can't!"

"Just imagine being human Steven, and just shake it out." Amethyst suggested, wiggling her arms for emphasis. Steven flapped his wings and shook about

"Human!" Steven focused aloud, "Human!" Nothing happened. "Amethyst!" Steven was panicking.

"Calm down, Steven!" Amethyst was also panicking, "Just… Just keep trying!"

"AMETHYST IT'S NOT WORKING- HELP ME." Bird-Steven now had his wings over his eyes in a human matter and was chirping in hysteria.

"CALM DOWN STEVEN WE CAN FIX THIS." Amethyst grabbed Steven and cupped him in her hands. She sat down and stroked Steven lightly, "We just need to keep trying. Keep trying Steven!" Steven breathed in and out deeply. A few moments passed. Steven still wasn't human again.

"AMETHYST I'M STILL NOT HUMAN," Steven was panicking again.

"IT'S ALRIGHT STEVEN, I KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS." Amethyst had to yell to be heard of Steven's frantic tweets. Steven slowed down for a moment to hear Amethyst out. "Look, you were doing a bird thing and you turned into a bird, so maybe if you do a human thiiiinng…"

"I'll turn back into a human!" finished Steven hopefully.

"C'mon!"

Amethyst was sitting down on the kitchen table back at home with Steven perched on top of a stack of papers. Steven looked about as nervous as a bird could be. "Okay Steven, just do the taxes." Amethyst whispered. She knew this definitely wasn't going to work, but she needed to keep Steven busy until she could actually find a way to shift him back into human.

"I-I'm not sure I can do taxes, Amethyst."

"I believe in you Steven. You can do this. All humans can!" Amethyst cheered Steven on enthusiastically, but kept a wary eye on the doors. She didn't want Garnet or Pearl walking in and finding Steven stuck as a bird. A few minutes passed as Steven struggled with grasping a pencil. Amethyst smiled as she watched Steven get in an awkward laying position and trying to write numbers sideways onto the files.
Ten minutes later Amethyst had no new ideas and Steven was beginning to doubt the validity of working with taxes to turn human.

"Amethyst, I don't think this is working!"

"What?" Amethyst exclaimed incredulously, "Of course it's working Steven! Can't you feel it?"

"No…." Steven chirped uncertainly.

"Didn't think so, this isn't going to work Steven." Amethyst admitted suddenly.

"What?"

"Yeah, I lied. I can't turn you back."

"What!?"

"Garnet and Pearl are gonna be soooo mad!"

"WHAT?!" Steven screeched and began flapping his wings about, violently knocking over all the papers. He was in quite the state, but Amethyst looked pleased with herself. "I bet they might even take away your last few Cookie Cats!" Steven flew into the air and ricocheted around the house in an utter panic. "Hey, I think that's Garnet coming up the stairs!"
That was the final straw, Steven flew right into the couch in his panic. There was an audible pop and a flash and Steven was human again.

"Wha…?" Steven was upside down. He flipped over and sat up. "I'm human again!" he exclaimed, happily patting himself everywhere.

"Yup!" Amethyst smiled mischievously. "I made you panic until you didn't have enough energy to hold the form!"

Just then the door opened with a creak. Amethyst and Steven jumped guiltily. In walked Garnet. She looked around, "The house is a mess." She commented in her normal British monotone, "How did your training go, Steven?" Amethyst and Steven exchanged a look.

"Just fine, Garnet!"