Earth

Tanya

After arriving at what I could only guess was ancient Earth, going by the fact that I couldn't see the abundant light pollution on the night side portion of the rotating planet; I'd say I'd be shocked to see an alternate Earth, but I'd be lying to myself. I've already gone through the song and dance a first time, it'd be tiresome the second time to come to grips that I'm on a different Earth than my own; with that said, I accepted that I was once again in a different alternate timeline of Earth.

Afterall, I'm pretty sure many historians would have picked up any notion that gem space faring aliens once waged a war on Earth.

Cloud Arena

Idle talk filled the arena between various gems of Blue Diamond's court, most were Garnet type gems such as Hessonites and Pyropes; among the more militant types of gems, A Blue Sodalite and her Misty Blue pearl could be seen in front of a procession of Blue Quartz soldiers. Said Blue Quartz gems were of the Dumortierite variety, with some similarities to the Amethyst Quartz gems' appearances. In the distance where Blue Diamond's palanquin could be seen, a Blue Demantoid is in the midst of speaking with her Diamond before giving a sharp diamond salute and taking her leave.

In the midst of all this, Tanya stood beside her Pearl with no one else having approached her yet. With her arms crossed, Tanya let out a soft sigh or boredom while her Pearl behind her kept her hands folded behind and awaited her next orders. 'That Sodalite said I was supposed to stand and wait for her Blue Diamond to call on me once she's finished with her prior duties…ugh, I'm not getting anywhere if I'm stuck waiting around!' Tanya thought to herself while letting a sour face slip over her facial expressions.

"Something Troubling you, My Citrine?" Orange Pearl spoke up softly, prompting Tanya to glance over her shoulder and at her addentent/secretary of what would likely be most of their lives. Her Pearl gave her a simple smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her, "I can try to remedy whatever ails you." Orange Pearl offered with an expectant look in her eyes.

Tanya shook her head while keeping her arms crossed, and turned her head back forward to continue looking around, "No, no need." Tanya responded with a dry tone in her voice, "I'm simply a bit cross, that's all." she griped, "I was sent here to aid a war effort against a rebellion, but all I see is postering!" Tanya pointed out with a gesture of bringing her arm out and steadily swinging it out to all the aristocrat gems around them.

A new voice piped in with a snide tone, "Get used to it!" a Blue Demantoid spoke aloud as she passed by the two, and paused in her step to turn and faced Tanya with a smirk. "Unlike you brutes from Yellow Diamond's court, my Diamond's court at least knows how to be civilized in war." she remarked.

The way the Blue Demantoid talked to her, she could let pass, but to let the gem tell her that war was in any way civilized, irked her to some degree. Tanya narrowed her eyes at the Demantoid standing across from her, and folded her hands behind her back, "Oh, I beg to differ." she quipped back with a rather hostile smirk of her own. "War has nothing to do with being civilized." she argued back.

"Demantoid!" Sodalite hollered with an annoyed look as she walked over to find out why the gem was heckling the new Citrine Commander from Yellow Diamond's court, "Can you not go five minutes without pestering gems you think are beneath you?" She questioned the gem that supervised various aspects of Blue Diamond's court of gems.

As Sodalite reached the three of them, she stood between Tanya and Demantoid, with her Misty Blue Pearl not far behind her, "Honestly, I find your lack of etiquette quite abhorrent." she admonished the Demantoid gem.

Demantoid scoffed and gestured at Tanya with a wave of her arm, "I'm simply pointing out that we don't need those barbarians from Yellow Diamond's court." she defended herself with annoyed grunt.

With a raised eyebrow, Tanya flashed a smirk of her own and brought her hand up to thumb her chin, "Oh, care to say that to my Diamond?" she challenged back. "I was afterall all, sent here on my Diamond's orders."

While Blue Demantoid seemed to clam up at the mention of doing such a thing, Sodalite brought her hand up to cover her mouth, "Oh ho ho ho, Good one Citrine." she remarked, and flashed a smirk as well at Blue Demantoid, "You hear that, Demantoid, you've been called out." she laughed lightly with mirth.

"Grrr! Shut it!" Blue Demantoid yelled and pointed at Tanya with an angry expression, "Don't think I'll forget this!" she yelled before storming off through the crowd of Hessonites, pyropes, and many other Garnet types of gems.

As Sodalite calmed down from her laughter, she stood closer to Tanya and sized her up a bit before speaking up. "I must say, that's the first time in a long while since I've seen a gem pull that sort of come back at her." she mused.

Tanya lifted her arms into a shrug, and crossed them in front of her chest once more, "I don't mind the insult towards myself, but that Demantoid better be careful how she words her insults." she quipped back with a light smile.

"Hmm, yes, indeed." Sodalite mused as she lifted her arm to fix the monocle over her eye a bit, then brought it back to clasp her other hand behind her back as she stared at Tanya across from her. "But what was that you said about war?" she questioned Tanya with a quizzical expression, "Please do, elucidate me on your view on the subject matter." Sodalite asked.

Tanya shifted a bit on her feet as she spoke with the Blue Sodalite gem while still having her arms crossed, 'Crap, how do I wing this? Gotta convince her I have a fresh look on the subject that matches up with how brief it's been since I emerged as a gem!' Tanya thought to herself in panic, while on the outside she had a cool facade to mask her panic.

With her eyes gazing at the crowd of gem aristocrats discussing different matters to each other, Tanya spoke while doing so, "Well…I may be a newly emerge gem, but what I've managed to collate from the data that my Diamond has given to me on the war so far on this planet, I've managed to glean a few things so far." she answered with a measured tone, before glancing back at the Sodalite across from her.

Sodalite resting her elbow in her palm, while bringing her other palm up to cup her chin, "hmm, yes, A fresh mind on war would benefit us in any capacity, please do illuminate me on your thoughts." she responded with a rather amused expression.

"War is not civil, there is nothing about this that is civil, this rebellion war is costing the Diamond Empire resources that it wasn't prepared in the slightest for." Tanya answered with an annoyed look in her eyes, "Gem versus gem, It doesn't seem like Gem society has ever faced such a thing until now."

"...Yes…" Sodalite let out a hesitant breath out, her brows furrowed as she crossed her arms and tilted head down a bit as she thought on the matter, "I can't argue about that, any other time it's been small skirmishes against the local wildlife of planets we colonize, nothing on a grand scale such as this has ever happened." She remarked.

'What? Are you telling me, this galaxy spanning empire hasn't come across another space faring race yet?' Tanya questioned inside her mind, before actually voicing her thoughts with a confused look, "Pardon me, but the Diamond Empire has yet to face another advanced race, in all the years they've expanded in our home galaxy?"

Sodalite shook her head as she relaxed her arms and folded them behind her back, "Indeed, as far as I know in all my years I've served my Diamond." she remarked, before tilting her head a bit as she thought on the matter more, "Though, perhaps during White Diamond's solitary Era, maybe the Diamond Empire did come across one or two, and they just faded into obscurity, or most likely stamped out and erased from gem history." Sodalite shrugged to herself.

Tanya withheld a grimace, and simply nodded, "I suppose that's possible, thanks though for indulging my question." she allowed a grateful smile to grace her lips.

Sodalite gave Tanya a nod, "My pleasure." She smiled back, however, just as she finished speaking, A Blue Sapphire and her bodyguards of Ruby Gems walked past the four of them.

Tanya's attention was now on the Sapphire Gem and her contingent of Ruby Guards walking behind her.

"Ah." Sodalite spoke up as she stood beside Tanya and watched the four gems head in the direction of Blue Diamond's palanquin, "I was wondering when my Diamond would request one of her Sapphires to aid our cause on this dirtball." she mused while adjusting her monocle over her eye once more.

As the Sapphire and her Ruby bodyguards halted to wait in line to converse with their diamond, Tanya allowed her thoughts to be let known, "A Sapphire…" She mused, "Those are the gems that can glimpse into the future, correct?" she questioned the Sodalite gem side her, while their Pearls continued to stand behind them.

Sodalite nodded while glancing in Tanya's direction, "Yes! Quite the magnificent cut of gem, wouldn't you say?" she remarked with a smirk. "And not just that, My Diamond has been able to create the most amount of them compared to the other courts!"

Tanya frowned, "Rubbish…" she let slip out from her lips without thinking of the consequences.

Meanwhile with the Blue Sapphire gem, she could hear the faint talk of the Sodalite gem Commander of her Diamond's court, and that new Citrine Quartz Commander from Yellow Diamond's court that was sent to aid in the war effort on Pink Diamond's colony; Sapphire focused her attention on what was being said between the two while not facing their direction, it was quite rare for gems to disparage a Sapphire's ability to tell the future.

Sodalite made a look like someone had insulted her court, she narrowed her eyes at Tanya. "Excuse me? I'll have you know-" she tried to defend the abilities of her Diamond's Sapphires, only for Tanya to cut her off with a calculating look in her eyes as she glanced her way.

"The Ability to tell the future is not what I am criticizing." Tanya spoke to sodalite with a sideways glance in her direction, "What I do not except, is the ability to accurately tell a concrete future."

While Sapphire allowed herself to finally turn her head and glance in Tanya's direction, Tanya continued to voice her thoughts on the Sapphire's ability, "There's such things as self fulfilling prophecies, no future is set in stone, and the future is always like a river with many branches." Tanya listed her thoughts on the matter, but continued to voice her misgivings, "Tell me, how often has a sapphire been able to accurately tell the future?" she asked.

"..." Sodalite couldn't say much on the matter, for there have been precedents of such a things, a sapphire's ability to see the future do come true, but very rarely there were times when two more sapphires are needed to see multiple paths of the future. "I suppose, what you're saying, My Diamond should have requested more than just one?" Sodalite questioned Tanya with her brows furrowed a bit as she glanced her way.

As the line for the audience to speak with her Diamond moved some more for her to move, Sapphire waited for her Rubies to go first and for her to walk behind them, but kept her ear in the conversation between the two commanders. The Citrine gem wasn't wrong in her opinion, and even she didn't know why her Diamond didn't ask for more than one sapphire, she could only see one point in the future at any given moment, and took her more energy to view more paths than she liked to be able to.

Tanya nodded at Sodalite, "Yes, forgive my insult, but I was simply giving my thoughts on the matter that Blue Diamond wouldn't go the full length to maximize the full potential of her Sapphires." she answered back with an apologetic look directed at the Sodalite gem.

All of a sudden, "Three this !" One of the Rubies said during their little argument between each other, earning both Tanya's and Sodalite's attention as one of the Rubies punch the other and caused said Ruby that was punched in the shoulder to stumble back and bump into the Sapphire behind her that they were all assigned to guard.

The crowd of gems that saw it happen, gasp in shock while the Ruby gem stepped away from her Sapphire she was supposed to guard. "Oh, I, um, I'm so sorry, I, let me, uh…" she fumbled her words while reach out to check if she harmed the Sapphire she bumped into.

Sapphire faced her Ruby gems and held her hands up in a placating manner, "I'm fine" she began to say, while earning a 'what' from the Ruby that bumped into her, "It's okay. It was bound to happen." She told the Ruby with a soft voice that left no room for argument.

Ruby Blinked a few times, before finding her voice, "I, uh... okay." she worded out softly.

As the line for getting an audience with her Diamond finally shortened to her turn next, Sapphire began making her way to her Diamond while saying, "Now please wait here. I must attend to my duties." Sapphire said as she passed the three ruby gems and soon approached Blue Diamond's palanquin.

Back with Tanya and Sodalite, both gem commanders witnessed the entire thing, and while Sodalite was among the gems that gasped, Tanya couldn't help but allow an amused smirk to grace her lips at how the interaction between the Ruby and Sapphire gem played out.

"The audacity!" Sodalite gasped out, "That Sapphire should have her Ruby shattered for such an offense." she fussed over what she just witnessed.

Tanya frowned at that, and glanced at Sodalite with glare, "Rather excessive for such an offense, wouldn't that be?" she remarked.

Sodalite faced Tanya, "Don't even joke about such a thing, for such a low level type of gem to even touch such a high class cut of Sapphire gem, the thought boggles the mind!" she remarked with an aghast expression.

"Careful, you just might get a brown spot on your nose with that kind of talk." Tanya quipped with a deadpan tone and expression as she sighed with annoyance.

"Ah! Brown spot? Where? Pearl! Mirror!" Sodalite panicked at Tanya's insinuation of her face being marred by something brown.

"It's a euphemism, Sodalite!" Tanya told the gem commander before said gem's Misty Blue Pearl did as she was told, "I was simply using a word to say that you are being too much of a sycophant."

"Oh…oh!" Sodalite began to chuckle at Tanya's explanation, "My word, you had me worried, but yes, Thank you." she preened at being called such a sycophant.

"...you're welcome?" Tanya could simply say on the matter, not bothering to correct the gem that the word is used more as an insult.

Sodalite smiled back as she folded her arms behind her back, "Yes, quite. It's always prudent to gain favor in Blue diamond's court, it's just how the aristocrats work."

Just as Tanya was about to ask Sodalite how Blue Diamond's court works as a means to pass the time some more, a loud voice shouted out above the court. "Blue Diamond, leave this planet! This colony will not be completed!"

"It's the rebels!" One of the Rubies shouted.

"Who are you!" Yelled one of the gems within Blue Diamond's Court.

"Show yourselves!" Another gem within the court.

Meanwhile with Tanya while Sodalite was turning her head around to find where the voice came from, Tanya glanced up to see a Pearl standing atop one of the floating pillars, while a Rose Quartz in a white dress could be seen floating down to stand behind the Pearl who had swords in each hand. Both chorused together, "We, are the Crystal Gems!" they said together.

While Blue Diamond's palanquin began exiting the area with Blue Diamond and her pearl inside it, the rebel Pearl landed soon after where the palanquin once was and managed to slice her way past two quartz soldiers with ease.

While Sodalite went immediately into command mode and began issuing out orders to her soldiers to get themselves together and attack the Pearl and Rose Quartz, Tanya couldn't help but watch at how easily a pearl was dispatching the gems around her. "Pearl." Tanya spoke aloud for her pearl to hear while the commotion around them was abuzz with fighting and mayhem, "How well are you able to fight?" she asked.

Orange Pearl stepped forwards and clasped her hands in an eager manner, "I'm not sure how well, but I do wield a shield and spear." she answered.

Tanya shook her head and watched as the three Rubies charged in, fused, and made for an attack at Rose Quartz "Not…what I was asking, I was asking how well can you fight compared to that Pearl, she's fighting gems way outside her class." she mused with an intrigued look in her eye. 'If gems can fight outside of their parameters and designations…' Tanya pondered to herself inwardly.

"I'm…not sure…" Orange Pearl responded with an unsure look as she watched the ruby fusion get easily dispatched by Rose Quartz, two of the rubies poofed while one remained.

Tanya watched as the Pearl leapt into the fray and made an attack upon the Sapphire next, only for the remaining Ruby to shout, 'no', and leap into the midst of the two to try and push Sapphire out of the way of the Pearl's swords. Tanya's eyes widened in astonishment as she watched the two different gems fuse into one singular being.

While the entire audience of Blue Diamond's court of gem gasped at the taboo fusion of different gems, Tanya's pearl gasped as well while covering her mouth in shock. "...such a thing to happen between two different gems…" she spoke in an aghast manner.

Tanya on the other hand allowed her expression to become more analytical and intrigue, "So it is possible for two different gems to fuse…" she murmured while cupping her chin in thought, "do you think the functions multiply between the two, or dilute to some degree?" she mused.

Orange Pearl faced her Citrine and jerked back a bit at her commander's interest on the subject, "My Citrine! You can't be serious!" she gestured at the fusion while in the background Rose Quartz and her renegade Pearl fled the scene. "Different gem fusion is taboo!" she responded with an indignant attitude.

While the Ruby and Sapphire fusion unfused, Tanya quirked an eyebrow up as she glanced her Pearl's way, "I'm simply making an observation, Pearl, nothing more, who knows, maybe there are more finer points to mixed fusions, it might be even beneficial if it maximized the output of power between the two gems that have fused."

"Unbelievable!" Shouted a gem amongst the crowd as the court surrounded the Ruby and Sapphire.

"Disgusting!" Spat another gem amongst the crowd.

"This is unheard of!" Said from another gem amongst Blue Diamond's court that circled around the two gems that unfused.

From the corner of her eye, Tanya noticed Blue Diamond's palanquin hovered back and set down for the Blue Diamond Matriarch to confront the Sapphire Gem. "The rebels have fled. Sapphire, this was not the scenario you described!"

Tanya could notice that the Sapphire sweated nervously as she responded to her Diamond. "This is... not what I saw! I don't know what happened, I…"

Ruby rushed in to defend the Sapphire gem and put herself in the spotlight, "No! It was me!" she shouted in worry.

From within Blue Diamond's palanquin, the Diamond matriarch leaned forward in her chair. "Clearly." Said Blue Diamond. "How dare you fuse with a member of my court!"

Ruby tried to reason with her Diamond, "Forgive me, I... !" she tried to say, only for Blue Diamond to cut her off.

"You will be broken for this!" Blue Diamond said as she clenched her hand in a gesture of what she was about to do to the Ruby gem.

Tanya could only stand back and watch as the court of gems closed in on the Ruby and Sapphire, A shame really, she could have used the two for a point of reference for further study; the only problem was Blue Diamond's and the other Diamond Matriarchs had a fixation on making mixed fusions taboo, she didn't know the ultimate reason why so far. If you asked her, it seemed like some hangup that needed to be tossed in the wind, especially if mixed fusions gave boons in combat since they are a space conquering race…who knows what other space faring race they might run into.

She'd much rather have everything at her disposal to win, rather than be hampered by some arbitrary taboo within gem society.

Just as the situation seemed bleak for the Ruby gem, the Sapphire gem grabbed ruby by the hand and dashed off with her through the crowd at high speed and dove off the edge of the Cloud Arena.

"Well now…" Tanya mused with her arms crossed, as the crowd of gems dispersed and either tended to their Diamond's whims or left to try and see about chasing after the two. "Do you think we'll see them again?" she quipped.

"My Citrine?" Orange Pearl Questioned her commander, "Whatever do you mean?"

Tanya shrugged, "Just a hunch, those two gems are now incentivised to join that Rose Quartz's rebellion." she remarked candidly.

"Do you really think that, my Citrine?" Orange Pearl asked as she looked in the direction where the two gems leapt off of the edge of the Cloud Arena.

"Hmm." Tanya murmured out, "Only time will tell." she answered back.

AN; Yes, I manipulated the timeline for Tanya to witness Ruby and Sapphire fusion, so that she could catch a first glimpse of Mixed fusion.