My Little Universe: Season 8

by EquestrianKirin


Enraged Marriage

"Good morning Beach City!"

Those four words was what kickstarted Steven's day. All that time during the festival was fun and all yesterday, and no doubt he will go back and check on it again at some point, but it'd been long enough since he chilled back in his old territory. The Beach House was kept pretty clean since he last saw the place, which was plenty good for him as he didn't want to end up going through the trouble of cleaning up the house himself. Not that it minded too much.
So, after getting himself up and about, it was off to his morning routine, namely cleaning himself up (something he didn't have too much time to do while galivanting off into space). It was as typical as a morning routine would go for him: a good warm shower with some good ol' singing, and with that done some good drying off, and then getting his clothes on. But as he was going on to brush his teeth and freshen up, Steven looked into the mirror in front of him after brushing his teeth, just seeing his reflection ...

"Oh, morning, Steven. Haven't got a good look at you since your big trip through outer space," said Steven.

"Yeah, I know," said Steven. Again, "But it does feel great to have all of the Diamond Authority now on our side. And it's all thanks to you!"

"Oh shucks, it wasn't anything special, all it did was start a whole new era and helped White Diamond, what's so big about that?" Steven said bashfully, waving it off. A little bit of silence hung in the air for a bit until he started to just laugh.

"Okay, Mr. Universe, let's not let this get to your head," Steven said, going back to his morning routine. He took a seat and lifted up his shirt, taking a cloth and wiping clean his gemstone to give it a little shine and reflection. Despite just saying what he did, he still gave a grin as he looked to the gemstone.

"Well mom, Earth is safe and all the diamonds like what you tried to do. I dunno if you can see through me, but I hope you're loving this as much as I am," Steven said to his gemstone. Thinking on that, the old Pink Diamond would very much love this if the new Pink Diamond was as accurate to the original as she was made to be. Before he went out, Steven paused and looked to his reflection again.

"Everything's looking up," Steven sighed, almost dreamily, resting an elbow on the sink. No one could really blame him for thinking that, all things considered. The only real thing to worry about now were Corrupted Gems and the occasional magic monster, both of which Steven tango'd with more than enough times to consider it less of a threat and more of a day job. He just stayed there for a bit more, until a little signal from his stomach told him what to do next.

"Alright, I'll feed you. Hmm. Maybe I can introduce the diamonds to a batch of donuts! Boy, hope Dewey can make that kind of delivery," Steven figured. What better time to do that crazy idea than during the festival? After all, the festival still had a few more days to it. However, as he was about to find out, that might have to be put on hold for just a little bit.

"So you think we got enough party favors?"

"I say there's about enough to work. It covers everyone in our team and then some."

It's impressive how fast some things can happen while someone was in the bathroom. While waking up shown no one with Steven, now there were a few of his pals now with a box of party favors. For this morning it was Star Quartz, Sapphire, Rarity, and Applejack.

"Morning Steven. Glad to see you're awake," said Sapphire.

"Sapphire!" Steven gasped, "I didn't know you were gonna be here this morning! … Uh, where's Ruby?"

"Let's just say Rubidot wanted to try out for the art contest this afternoon. And yes, I'm okay about it. I got my proof right here," Sapphire explained, showing the wedding ring. So long as she and Ruby had those rings, Sapphire had nothing to worry about.

"Cool, maybe I'll run into her when I get to the festival. Hey, you guys want anything from the Big Donut? I'm going all out today," Steven offered.

"None for me, but if you can, perhaps get a dozen for the celebration if you're heading that way?" Rarity asked, referring to the preparations they were doing.

"Oh so all that is for the festival," Steven concluded, going over to see what the stuff included. The exact party favors didn't really include a big pinkie party, but looked like more formal items actually. Before anyone could say anything else, they all then heard a knock coming from the door. Steven was the one to go and answer it.

"Good mor -" Steven was cut short by who actually showed up. And the Gem herself was probably about as confused about the meeting as Steven was, as she sorta invited herself in. She looked primped and pretty as a Gem of her class should, but there was still something a little bit … what's the word … rotten?

"And a fare "good mor" to you as well, Steven. … See the base hasn't gone through much alteration since I last saw it. And it's still using this Earth wood?"

"Aquamarine?" Steven wondered. Yes, the same Aquamarine they've grown "familiar" with, teardrop gemstone and all. Aquamarine herself just was going along around the.

"Yes, that's me. Shocking to be in my presence, I know."

"Uh, I suppose so but, what're you doing here? Of all the Gems, I'd expect you to be the last to want to visit," Rarity asked, being more honest about things here.

"I'm more than aware of that, thank you," said Aquamarine, "But apparently something called me here, and it was seemingly under strict orders. Ah, but alas I have to do what the highest authority instructs me to. … Even if it means returning to this mess of a quarry. Again."

"Called you? … Hey, maybe it's about this celebration going on," Steven figured, referring to the box of party favors. Aquamarine looked to the box in question, and suddenly she was starting to feel less disgusted.

"OH, so that's the idea. Well I dunno why they didn't say this was for me. I mean, why wouldn't it be? Though, I would suggest making a few more of those … whatever it is," Aquamarine advised.

"Hate to burst your bubble," said Applejack, "But this ain't for you."

"... well. … Then what is this for?"

"We're uh … wait, what are these for? Sapphire? You told us this was for something, but you never said what that might be," Rarity realized. The others looked over to Sapphire, who was still smiling a bit about … something? Whatever involved the party favors mainly. Then Sapphire's gemstone then started to glow slightly, and soon a small object appeared within Sapphire's hand. A bit chilly perhaps, but still in one piece in the form of a letter.

"Because of this," Sapphire revealed. Star Quartz grew the most curious over the letter, having a vague idea of it thanks to the whole Gem Wedding involvement. Sapphire willingly gave it to her, and she went and opened it right up to see what the news was.

"Hmm … You are in … uh in … in-invited! To the … the uh … enraged marriage. … What's an enraged marriage?"

"I think you mean "Arranged Marriage"," said Applejack.

"Oh … what's an Arranged Marriage?" Star Quartz asked again.

"Well it's like a normal marriage, except your parents pick the bride or groom that they like before someone can try their luck with you," said Applejack.

"Wait. Is that what that is? …" Sapphire asked, actually surprised.

"Didn't you already know, Sapphire?" Rarity asked. Sapphire actually was a little embarrassed. Maybe she should've looked into what an "arranged marriage" actually was before getting all excited over it. There still was one important question though.

"So who's getting married?" Steven asked. Star Quartz looked back to the letter, but she didn't answer right away. This made some a bit more curious than probably needed to be, and … well, they were a bit shocked. Except for possibly Sapphire and Star Quartz.

"Well, who is it? I don't have all day, you know," Aquamarine questioned. Rarity, Steven, and Applejack were a bit quiet, just … staring at Aquamarine for a little bit more. Before they could give any proper answer, the warp pad activated behind them. The user this time was Emerald, him seemingly just getting back from a good time at the festival according to the amount of party stuff he had already. Just as well, he also had some headphones in and listening to some music, dancing his way off of the warp pad.

"I wanna party, and live my life.~ I wanna party - partae - and FLY," Emerald sang. Copyright or not, he didn't care he liked it. Aquamarine was left a bit taken aback, but not pleased at all for seeing HIM. Eventually though, Emerald did end up seeing the group standing there.

"Oh, morning guys. Some party right? … Hello?"

Not an exact response from the group at first, but Emerald did notice that Steven's face of blank shock was slowly turning to that of joy, a smile growing bigger as his eyes sparkled.

"You guuuyyyyyys! Why didn't you tell me?!" Steven beamed.

"Tell you what? What's the hubbub about?" Emerald asked, taking off the headphones briefly. And Star Quartz provided the big news …

"I think I should be the first to congratulate you. On your marriage. Since you two are getting married."

…….

"WHAT?!?!"

That screech could possibly be enough to shake up the entire beach house. Aquamarine and Emerald. MARRIED?! HOW?! Emerald was left frozen stiff and almost horrified as Aquamarine felt a bit more disgusted than anything.

"M-m-married? Wait, what?! I mean - … WHAT?!"

"You're getting married?" Steven asked.

"We heard what you said, you bloomin clod! Let me see that," Aquamarine demanded, her wand coming out and grabbing the letter for her so she could ready it over word for word, Emerald looking too. But it was all there:

You are hereby invited to the arranged marriage of Aquamarine and Emerald.

"Now wait a minute," Emerald said, "This could literally by ANY Aquamarine and Emerald anywhere in the galaxy, it doesn't mean us."

"No, it's you two," insisted Star Quartz.

"Oh really? And how can you be so sure?" Aquamarine asked.

"Because I arranged the marriage."

… OKAY THEN.

"WHAT?! WHY?! I barely even know that floating pixie stick, why would I marry her?!" Emerald snapped. Star looked a bit confused.

"But you called her your girlfriend … didn't you?"

"WHEN? Give me the day, the minute, the second you heard me say that!" Emerald insisted.

And she did.

(flashback)

*BAM*

Another group off at another festival game, this time being a bit close to sunset. Garnet, Lapis, and Pearl wandered around the area just in time to see their shooting gallery get underway. It was something they did have to work out only within the training grounds in accordance to Yellow Pearl's instruction, so in a sense it wasn't that much different from the normal training sessions done on Homeworld.
And Flint was killin it on his turn against Emerald and Starlight Glimmer. Sure his opponents were a decent shot, but Flint was shooting the targets left and right like it was no big deal. He was mainly using the "guns" provided though - they really were just BB guns - but it worked just as well for him either way. Once he was done he turned to the others nearby, which included Peridot, Applejack, Trixie, Star Quartz, and a group of Homeworld Gems close by seeing how this worked. One of which included -

"Isn't it my turn yet?"

"Aquamarine?! What're you doing here?" Lapis asked on seeing her nearby. Her memory never brought up any actual idea that Aquamarine of all Gems would be interested in shooting galleries. And yes, it was the same Aquamarine with a teardrop for a Gemstone that was there and not just some other Aquamarine sitting there and watching bullets and magic beams fly with some interest. Not as much as some of the other Homeworld Gems, but interest either way.

"Oh, you decided to observe? Not that it's any of your business, but As a matter of fact, one of your friends wanted to challenge me to this shooting gallery," Aquamarine said, amused someone did challenge her at all to, well, anything. "He actually thinks he can beat me in this, can you believe that?"

"He, huh?" Lapis thought a bit on this. The only real he's in the Harmony Gems were Spike, Flint, Emerald, and Steven. Spike and Steven weren't even there to begin with, so it was either Flint or Emerald that challenged her.

"And … where's Topaz?" Lapis asked, sitting next to her now.

"Nothing important," Aquamarine shrugged off. Topaz could be anywhere and Aquamarine honestly wouldn't have much care for it.

"So, that's all there is to it," Flint concluded, once he was finished, "Just aim at the target and try to get to the center of the circle. So, who's first?"

"Do we have to use those sticks?" one of the Era 1 Peridots asked, pointing to the object.

"You just saw me use my horn, so no. Just make sure whatever you use doesn't explode or ricochet onto someone else," Starlight advised. They didn't want to poof anyone during this festival. Suddenly as the two were distracted, Emerald decided to slip in a few extra shots in the form of a few smaller hexagons, marking at least four of them hitting the target.

"Winning. That's winning," he said.

"Ha ha ha, you know we're done with our turn right?" Flint questioned.

"I didn't hear anyone call the winner's horn," said Emerald smugly, "Besides you're the one's that stopped to chat while I'm over here being awesome." and to prove his point he had his back turned to the target and threw a hexagon behind him. … It completely missed, sending the target spinning a little bit.

"Smooth," said Trixie, Peridot laughing as only then Emerald realizing his little goof-up. Here was when Garnet and Pearl started coming over, catching their attention.

"Oh, howdy," said AJ.

"Howdy. Saw your performance out there Flint. Impressive," said Garnet, giving Flint a thumbs up. Flint didn't really feel like it was too much trouble though, spinning the BB gun in hand.

"It's hardly much. Feels more like a test of persistence than accuracy to me," Flint said, giving the party gun to Applejack. The only trouble was how many times he can click the trigger to keep up, if anything at all. Then did he look to the others.

"Anyway, who else wants to try?" Flint offered, "Just don't shoot eachother and anyone can give it a try."

"Well it's about time," Aquamarine said.
Flint stepped aside as some of the others began to bring themselves in to try, either getting a BB gun or just bringing whatever else they got to the party. He just went over towards Garnet as this was going on, the fusion of Sapphire and Ruby already getting some ideas flowing in her head. Those by the shooting gallery were more about ready to go, lining up with their own sets of two to match up. And it didn't really take long to find out who did challenge her, as Emerald and Aquamarine stood side by side with eachother, Emerald with hexagons and Aquamarine with her wand.

"So Emerald challenged Aquamarine," concluded Garnet.

"He REALLY wanted to rub a win into someone "higher up the food chain", and Aquamarine just happened to be there," concluded Peridot, who rather than get herself into it was actually having something her own version of the Metallixer. She'd go in there too, but she really didn't want to end up risking the chance of losing to Emerald and having him rub that win in her face for the next half an hour.

"So you enjoying the festival Garnet?" Flint asked Garnet, as he observed the others.

"I'm doing alright. Though I haven't seen you around the actual festival or the royal ball."

"I've been busy Garnet, you know that. You're all here having fun, someone has to keep up with things," Flint said. Garnet just smiled to him.

"I know, I know. Though you should try to enjoy yourself a little bit. You were just having fun while playing this game here."

"I was just trying to make sure no one shoots themselves, that's all," Flint insisted, seeing some of the Peridots trying to work out how to even hold the BB gun properly, Starlight quickly getting the weapon in the right direction before she could shoot a BB into her eye. Garnet adjusted her shades with a knowing smile.

"Whatever you say," Garnet simply said. Flint didn't bother going into that any further, his mind already preoccupied as it is. With Grogar's presumed "robbery" going through his mind he was left a bit on edge, but for the sake of the others and what they wanted to do he didn't really say much about it.
There wasn't too much time to work with that though. Off nearby, Emerald and Aquamarine were in the heat of the moment. Sure many of them were doing a fairly decent job at shooting, and Emerald and Aquamarine were surprisingly no different but while emerald was putting his efforts in his hexagon throws, Aquamarine was making it look way too easy. Emerald at one point made a multi-shot, and launched a well-aimed hexagon at one target, it bouncing off it and onto another, and landing on a third. A ricochet of three hits in one go.

"OOO. BOOM! Three in a row!" Emerald exclaimed, like winning a combo in a video game (which in a way this did feel like it to him).

"You make it sound like that's impressive," Aquamarine remarked, readying her wand. Three in one shot just didn't cut it for the fairy Gem.

"Yeah yeah, just you try to -"

Top it was what he was gonna finish with, but Aquamarine was quick to oblige. But instead of just three, with some focused working, she got her shot to blast around up to seven in one go! And to make sure no one forgot it or mistook, that shot came with a blue line from point A to point B. Aquamarine had a smug grin on her face, even more so when she saw Emerald's look of disbelief.

"HACKER!" Emerald shouted. The tables had officially turned.

"Oh no did I upset you? Look, I'm getting emotional. I'm crying," Aquamarine said, looking sad as she pointed to her gemstone. "... HA! Just kidding! That's my gem."

"Woooow, that joke wasn't even any clever. Wonder how Blue Diamond deals with Ms.pixie stick every day?"

Aquamarine took the mockery in stride, finding a comfortable spot on top of Garnet's head (whether she wanted it or not), "Ha! Blue Diamond's lucky to have me, I can more than easily handle any challenge without even lifting a finger."

"Yeah yeah, keep talking Dollface," said Emerald, "you only won because you fiddle with your pixie stick all day."

"DOLLFACE?!" Aquamarine flew off of Topaz's head and was standing face to face with Emerald, "How dare you, I'M a royal court supreme leader! What part of my perfection looks so much like this doll?"

This statement barely fazed Emerald, who was enjoying the reactions Aquamarine was shooting at him though some really didn't know what she was talking about. She was royal court material sure, but not supreme leader.

"Come on, look at you -" he began by lifting up one side of Aquamarine's hair to show the side of her head. "- you got no ears, -" he then released her hair and pointed to the middle of her eyes. "- I don't see any nose, -" Aquamarine rubbed the spot where he poked like it was diseased, and Emerald brought his hand suddenly was holding her skirt! "- and come on, your outfit screams "school girl"!"

Aquamarine took flight and was suddenly above him just enough to look down at him. OH, the blue pixie Gem can easily arm up and shoot back, and she knew where to start.

"Well at least I came out right."

"What?"

"Look at yourself -" her wand beamed out a beam from the tip of it to the ground like a ruler. "- You barely hit three feet, -" the light retracted as her hands grabbed one of his sleeves. "- your uniform's in complete shreds, -" she did release the uniform but suddenly she had one of his spikes, "-and I don't even KNOW what this is!"

"THAT'S a mohawk, THIS is just a style, and I'm still taller than you!" retorted Emerald.

"Well I'm still how I'm supposed to look, and I look better than any other Aquamarine out there. I mean just look at me," Aquamarine said, giving a wink and a smug grin as she landed by him.

"So you're supposed to look like a midget with butterfly wings," Emerald shot back.

"Exact - wait, NO!"

"NOPE, you said it, you admit it!" Emerald said smugly in his mockery, feeling good only for a brief moment.
As all of this was happening, this whole argument did take aback the few off nearby.

"Is Emerald … arguing with someone? This feels weird," said Lapis.

"I know. … You want some?" offered Peridot some of the metallixer, as if this was a show itself. Lapis refused right away as Aquamarine and Emerald kept going at one another.

"Blabber your nonsense all you want, all you're doing is proving my point that you're a low-class barbarian."

"Oh yeah, well you're proving my point that you're a -" and then Aquamarine went right for the throat, and suddenly she had her hand up right in his face, her eyes closed and turning away from him. THAT DID IT.

"OH, OHHH, YOU DID NOT JUST GIVE ME THE HAND! OH, OH, OH IT'S ON NOW GIRLFRIEND!"

"Girlfriend?" Star wondered. But before any of them could do anything else, the metallixer that Peridot had weas suddenly levitated out of her hands, and Emerald shot it right at Aquamarine. The pompous pixie princess suddenly found her head covered in grey liquid and an empty cup. When she lifted the cup off her head Emerald was met with such an angry expression that could kill.

"So it's a fight you want. Well I have a few tactics of my own!"

… which was just her using her wand to levitate one of Starlight's magic shots and slamming it on Emerald's head.

"If you're not gonna fight a clean fight, then neither am I!"

And in the end it was just a kid-style rumble, Emerald jumping at Aquamarine and the two going at it. The situation was an odd one, Aquamarine being too regal for a physical brawl, and Emerald hardly known to really blow his top like this. But yet this was happening pretty roughly.

"Hey!" Lapis quickly got in between the two before this fight could get out of hand. As all of this was going on, Star Quartz slowly started to think more and more, namely about the exclamation Emerald shouted. With these questions coming up in her head, she took her action and jumped off.

"Hey hey Star! Where're you going?! I can't watch you if I can't see you!" Peridot shouted. This made Star Quartz come right on back.

"Sorry mom," Star said … as she picked up Peridot and bolted off again. Peridot only yelped as she was pretty much taken away like that, yet the others didn't really seem all that spooked. Garnet watched Peridot and Star Quartz go off, and as she was, Garnet started to think. …

"He REALLY wanted to rub a win into someone "higher up the food chain", and Aquamarine just happened to be there."

Those words though. Garnet began to understand what was going on now. Or rather, what will be going on, and her muffled giggles were just about caught by one of the others.

"What's so funny?" Applejack asked. Garnet recovered herself.

"Oh nothing. You'll see tomorrow morning."

(end Flashback)

"WAIT! … WAIT. It's coming back to me now," Emerald said, now fully remembering the whole ordeal.

"You and your big mouth!" Aquamarine snapped. The Gem pixie tried to calm down and then turned to Star and said in a calmer voice "Star is it? If you'd be so kind as to cancel this "arranged marriage" of yours so we can all get back to our normal lives, that would be grand."

Silence.

"... There … is a way to stop this," said Aquamarine. Hopefully.

"Why would there be a way out of a marriage?" Star questioned, scratching her head. Did their anger really fly over her head? Whether it did or not, the message seemingly was pretty clear. And Aquamarine wasn't having any of it.

"Why you little -" Aquamarine was just about to zap away with her wand but Applejack quickly jumped in the way.

"Alright, everybody calm down!" Applejack said, "There is a way outta this without destroying the house!"

"... Go on," Aquamarine said, retracting the wand. Applejack never thought she would see the day when a marriage would have to be stopped, and by extension neither did anyone else, but in this extremely rare case that might make things a bit better for all of them.

"Alright, first off this is recent news and can change anytime. Star, how many did you tell?" Applejack asked. Star Quartz thought it over.

"All of our friends. … And maybe the diamonds," Star Quartz replied. Rarity had to yank the wand out of Aquamarine's hand before she could send the gem flying into space without a spaceship, and Steven had to keep Emerald held back just in case he would try anything.

"Well that explains why Aquamarine got the message," concluded Rarity, "But if you don't want this wedding we'll have to … have to …"

"Spit it out already!" Emerald said. Rarity took a deep breath, preparing her nerves for what she had to say.

"A … d-divorce." A cold shiver went through the entire room just upon mention of that very word, and Steven had that look as if that was such a horrid crime.

"Divorce. … divorce … what's that again? I swore I heard that somewhere before," Emerald asked. Rarity shivered again, but AJ decided to be more of the rock in the situation, despite being unnerved about it herself.

"To sum up, a divorce is to … well … uh, un-marriage a marriage. You know, to break up a bride and groom."

"Perfect!" said Aquamarine. "how do you do it? The sooner I'm back with Topaz at Homeworld the better."

"HOLD IT, we can't just throw a divorce your way! It's so … evil," Steven said, finding it very hard just even thinking about it.

"Trust me, I know, but sounds like it's all we got to do. Come on, y'all, let's see the Diamonds and see what we can do," Applejack decided.

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Aquamarine asked. This time it was Sapphire who answered, but not until after most of them had already left.

"You two will figure it out. for now. We'll leave you two to get acquainted," Sapphire decided. A bit odd, but neither could predict the future. So, now Aquamarine and Emerald were just … well, there. The two just stood there for a bit, side by side.

"... Soyou ... wanna go and get some hot coco or somethin?"

"You must be joking," Aquamarine scoffed. "We're being forced to marriage and the firs thing you think of is getting some "Co Co"? And what even is this "Co Co"?"

"You got a better idea?" Emerald questioned.

~~~~~~

"Coming right up."

Aquamarine would've never guessed she would just end up here. With no other option but to wait, Emerald and Aquamarine went off to the Big Donut to get some of this hot coco of theirs. Sure it wasn't their specialty, but given it being autumn and all, it was more of a seasonal thing.

"So this is one of the Earth establishments," Aquamarine said, looking around a little bit. She wasn't even remotely impressed by much of it, being so used to high-class pizazz and all that.

"Yeah, it's no homeworld classy, but it gets the job done," shrugged Emerald, "Besides, you know how much it would cost for a standard cup of joe elsewhere?"

"I could care less for earth currency … but for the heck of it, how much?"

"Ok get this: FIVE. BUCKS. Five bucks for a standard, barely tasty cup of hot coco from Stardoes, and we get the better tasting cup of joe here for a buck fifty."

"... First of all: I don't know what male deer and beings named "joe" have to do with this beverage. THAT, and what difference would it make getting it here than there if it the same thing?"

Emerald had to actually be impressed that she would know what a deer even was, let alone what a make deer was even called. But then again, she did spend at least some time on Earth after being stuck on White Diamond's Space Station, so perhaps she did pick at least a few things up.

"About four bucks and fifty cents difference, babe."

"Don't call me babe!"

"Rather be called a pixie stick?" Emerald questioned. Aquamarine just kept quiet, just as Sadie came back with the beverages in questions.

"Here you go, and added some extra sugar to it," Sadie said with a wink. Emerald, licking his lips, was more than happy to take his own "cup o joe", but Aquamarine wasn't so thrilled. It looked brown, hot, and above all just not too appetizing. As she flew off with the cup, Lars looked to Emerald.

"Hey Emerald, who's your friend?" Lars asked, "I swore I've seen her somewhere before."

"She's one of those high-strung Gems from Homeworld, Aquamarine. Can't tell you much but I can tell you this, she's gonna be hanging with me for the day. … Being my fiancé and all," Emerald replied. The news kinda struck hard, almost making Sadie and Lars stumble back. Aquamarine blushed a prominent blue on hearing that.

"Fiancé? You're getting married?!" Sadie gasped. "When did this happen?"

"About five minutes ago."

"... Huh?"

"If you must know, humans," Aquamarine said, not thrilled by the by, "One of your "Crystal Gems" -"

"Harmony Gems, we had a name change since last winter," corrected Emerald.

"I don't care - had set me and Emerald up for one of your "Arranged Marriages" because someone thought it would be a thrill to call me his girlfriend!"

"I was raging, give me a break!" Emerald retorted, before calming down and adding "So now we're waiting on Steven, Applejack and their company to get this fixed before we walk down the isle."

"Dang," said Sadie, "... Well, good luck with that I guess."
Luck was something they both were gonna need, given how many already know about it. So, with the coco in hand, and it being paid for, Aquamarine and Emerald found a seat by one of the tables just outside. Aquamarine of course was still fuming about the whole thing.

"What did I do to deserve this? My position as a royal court Aquamarine, and suddenly I'm stuck on this miserable rock. What a load of nonsense. And Emerald? I blame you for this."

"You and me both," Emerald groaned, taking a sip of the hot coco. Perhaps it was the added sugar, but he was already feeling pretty good. Aquamarine took a look to her own cup, so what else was a bored Gem to do? She held her cup, pinkie extended like the high class Gem she was, took a gulp and -

"GAH! *COUGH**COUGH* What the devil?!" she snapped, her mouth on fire from the hot drink. Emerald was just seconds away from spewing his own hot chocolate, but he didn't manage to swallow his before laughing like crazy.

"THAT FACE!" Emerald laughed. That bulgy-eyed shocked look with puffed cheeks the second it struck her was an image he would surely keep in his mind.

"You trying to shatter me?!" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"No, no, you just don't gulp down coco," Emerald said, feeling a lot better seeing that reaction. "Here, just sips, watch."
And Emerald then went on to demonstrate, taking some small sips of the coco instead of gulps like Aquamarine did. You'd think such a high-class Gem would know this already, but drinks were never a common sight on Homeworld. So Aquamarine, taking her pride into account, tried the challenge again and this time went at it a bit slower. Sure it was still hot, but a lot more tolerable this time … and actually pretty good. A bit sweet, and maybe a slight buzz from the sugar, but good either way. Aquamarine's eyes actually sparkled from the flavor, but they were gone pretty quick when she saw Emerald's knowing grin.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop," Aquamarine stated, putting the cup down and pretending like it wasn't anything fancy.

"Yeah yeah, just learn to not be so jumpy," Emerald said. Aquamarine was fuming, but a little idea went through her head too. Using her wand, as Emerald was having another drink, Aquamarine simply angled the cup a little bit higher, and a bit quicker, making emerald gulp the hot drink instead of sipping it. Emerald gagged and coughed, his mouth burning up as it was Aquamarine's turn to give some smug grin of her own.

"Why, Emerald, what got into you all of a sudden?" Aquamarine asked, resting her elbow on the table.

"Oh clam it," Emerald coughed. Aquamarine just gave him a closed mouth kind of giggle. And here Emerald though it would only be him playing games today. However, despite all of this, there still was another factor. And this factor was flying their way.

"Incoming! Clear the way!" Coming in from the air, Rainbow Dash was making her landing. Typically the Pegasus was an ace flyer, and at first Emerald and Aquamarine didn't really seem too worried. But as she was flying in, and flying fast, Emerald reacted just quick enough to get out of the way. Aquamarine though wasn't so quick, and suddenly she found herself stuck underneath a injured Rainbow Dash, and a mess of the table and chairs.

"Get. Off," Aquamarine said. Rainbow Dash did get off eventually, but she didn't have much time.

"You okay? You're not really known for crash landing," Emerald asked.

"I'm not too known for a busted up wing either," said Rainbow Dash, showing a rather nasty looking mark on her wing. Not exactly the scar the Everstorm left her, but a newer cut that made her wing a bit more stiff. Emerald stepped back.

"Geesh, what happened there?" Emerald asked.

"Tell ya later after I clobber that thing!" Rainbow Dash said. She may be down, but she was not out and even with her busted wing she took off into the air again back the direction she came. As she was flying though, she then found her tail stuck in another one of Aquamarine's wand beams.

"Hold on, you think you can just fly into me and get away with it?" Aquamarine questioned.

"Yeah, no, I dunno," Rainbow said, not really thinking about it at the moment, "Look, let me go, I got a monster to fight! We'll talk later!"

*GRAAAHHHH*

That noise was just enough of a distraction for Rainbow to whack the wand and get that hold off of her tail, the Pegasus flying straight away towards the fight. Even with a injured wing she still was pretty quick.

"How dare you, GET BACK HERE!" Aquamarine demanded, but it wasn't much use.

"Sounds like another monster fight. We got time to kill, why don't we check it out?"

"Oh that's funny. Because typically when you hear a scream like that you -" Aquamarine was cut short when she realized Emerald was already gone.

"Seriously?!"

~~~~~~

*BAM!*

And what a fight to be had, the adversary slamming Jasper into the nearest wall. While Rainbow Dash was off handling her own, whoever remained for this mission was still stuck in quite the tussle all of their own. This monster in particular was dangerously close to Beach City literally just along the coast, which was what prompted the group in the first place (one of those rare times a mission came to them).
As for what this adversary is this time, the creature was standing up off the coasts in the shallow waters of the sea. Its skin was a deep red, scaly like a koi fish. In fact, much of the pattern did look a bit like the said fish, but the body looked more saurian than fish, a mix of a shark and a tyrannosaur to make up the bulk of it.

"Dang, that thing isn't giving up. Been a while since we had a decent fight," said Bismuth, helping Jasper up to her feet just in time to dodge another charge from the monster, the beast slamming into the rocky wall of the coast. Jasper spat out a bit of dirt.

"About time too," Jasper said, wiping away some stray dirt from her face. "Keep it from reaching Beach City and we'll be good."

"How you wanna do it? Fun way or creative way?" Bismuth asked, her hand turning into a hammer as the monster started to move closer towards them both.

"Let's have some fun, why not?" Jasper decided. The monster lunged for them both, the two leaping away from the attack, though this aquatic rex was a bit quick reacting, its large tail swinging to try and strike Bismuth, the buff Gem knocking it back with a good hammer swing. The beast tried chomping on Jasper with about as much success.

"Room for one more?!" called another voice, just to fly in and buck the animal in the head. Rainbow Dash was back in the game, the beast roaring in discomfort to the strike. It tried going for a bite, but Rainbow was just too quick for it even with a bite already in her wing.

"Think you can still fight with that wing, RD?" Bismuth asked.

"This ain't nothin," Rainbow replied, "So what did we decide?"

"The fun way. Give that corrupted Gem a few tailspins," Bismuth said, twirling her finger.

"YES! Alright, one, two -"

"PONY!"

Well this fight was in a bit of a halt for Rainbow Dash, Aquamarine's yelling heard just enough for all of them to hear. She wasn't gonna let this slide without some sort of proper punishment, no matter what the excuse was. As if she didn't notice the creature right there - though most likely she didn't care - she flew right up towards Jasper, Bismuth, and Rainbow Dash.

"I never said we were finished! First you crash into me like a dunce, and next you kick me to get away? I demand an apology."

"Sorry, I'm a little busy here," Rainbow insisted. The beast huffed down Aquamarine's "neck" to acknowledge her it existed, but that proved to be a little mistake.

"Oh for the love a -"

It only took about fifteen seconds for what would happen next: Aquamarine got out her wand and just before the monster could chomp her and gulp her down, Aquamarine aimed the wand behind her and zapped the beast into submission, making it stuck frozen stiff in the beam. All she had to do was just flick the wrist, and the aquatic dinosaur was thrown clear off shore, easily a good fifty to sixty feet off shore before it slammed down into the water. Fight and distraction over.

"Don't look too busy anymore," Aquamarine said, brushing her hands off, "Now where were we?"

"What the - you're gonna have to deal with that monster later now," Jasper retorted, apparently not satisfied with this result.

"So deal with it later," retorted Aquamarine. Emerald came out shortly afterwards when the coast was clear, a bit annoyed to "miss the fight".

"What're you even doing here?" Jasper questioned.

"You wanna tell em or me?" Emerald offered. Aquamarine just huffed.

"You do it," she decided, sorta "shooing" him into doing so. Emerald didn't want to but he just got it over with.

"Star Quartz got us stuck married together. I spouted out a "girlfriend" insult yesterday, she screwed up, and now they're trying to fix this so we don't need a pair of wedding rings."

At first the three were a bit quiet, but eventually there was some laughing, starting with Rainbow Dash.

"W-What?!" Bismuth laughed, "Star really was serious! Boy, how long was this coming? So tell me, how long were you two going steady?"

"It's not funny!" Aquamarine snapped, "Bad enough that I'm stuck on this rock, I don't need any of your mockery."

"You know you can just go back to Homeworld," suggested Jasper.

"I'd LOVE to, but circumstances forbids me. The Diamonds made strict orders for me to be here," Aquamarine answered. As contrived as all this nonsense even was, orders were orders. Rainbow Dash then looked out to the sea, knowing well where that monster had gone off to.

"Yeah, this is fun and all, but we got a monster to beat up!" Rainbow Dash reminded. Jasper then got it together, but it seemed Emerald was sensing some inner motives, slowly trying to slip away.

"Good to me," said Bismuth, "K Jasper, Rainbow, let's catch up and get that beast. And Emerald?"

"Dang it - yes?" Emerald asked, turning around fast to see Bismuth towering over him. However, she then gave him and Aquamarine a wink.

"Be seeing you two at the wedding ceremony tomorrow. You lovebirds you."

"What wedd - Bismuth wait!" no luck. The trio of fighters then went off out to sea, Rainbow Dash flying as Bismuth and Jasper just walked on. Aquamarine and Emerald were left dismayed, if not ticked off to high Cloudsdale.

"... Wedding Ceramony. They've made ... a wedding ceremony. COME ON!" Emerald then proceeded to slam his head onto the nearest rock wall. Aquamarine would do the same, but that would risk hurting her gemstone so she just went and kicked a few stones instead.

"I cannot believe this! Emerald, your friends better be competent enough to handle this. My perfection will NOT be tainted because of this!"

"Yeah, keep complaining, that'll help us out of this," Emerald groaned, removing his now gravel-covered face from the wall. It took a bit, but then Aquamarine started to become a bit more worried.

"Oh my stars, what if they can't stop this? Do I have to leave Homeworld for good? Because if I am, we need to talk about arrangements!"

Emerald grew pale. Living. With. Aquamarine. ...

"... K, I'm not waiting on them anymore! Aquamarine, for my sanity and yours, there's only one source that can help us in time before the ceremony!"

"And that would be?"

"The power of the Internet."

~~~~~~

So it was straight back to the Beach House from there. With Aquamarine still under orders to stay there with him, all she could do was fly with him back to said Beach House to this "power of the Internet" thing. Aquamarine just paced back and forth impatiently as Emerald was on Steven's bed, fiddling away on his iPhone to try and get some quick answer to this problem (and check his vids in the process, see how they were doing).

"Okay okay … let's see Mr. Internet," Emerald said to himself, looking through good ol' Flamefox to see what it had to offer, the main question he typed in being "how to get out of an Arranged Marriage within 24 hours".

"Did you find anything yet on that touch screen?" Aquamarine asked. Again.

"It's an iPhone, and not yet. Seriously, there's hundreds of links going every which way, you expect me to find it in one go?" Emerald retorted.

"Preferably. Whatever can make this idiotic situation gone that much faster," Aquamarine replied. Not entirely realistic, but Emerald just kept looking. Eventually …

"AHA! Here we go," Emerald exclaimed. Aquamarine flew right next to him, practically jumping on him to see what he had found. Emerald clicked the link in question, mostly leading to one of those "questions and answers" sites.

"K, let's see what we got here. … "The successful people learned to say No when they mean it's No. Failures mostly say yes even for a No. Because they are not very clear in the mind. If you are very clear no matter what no matter who it should be No."."

"... WHAT? We already did that, and that didn't work! Can't you make this just end?" Aquamarine retorted, yanking the iPhone out of Emerald's hand and seeing it for herself.

"Well what do you want me to do? I was just as blind-sided about this shtick as you are!"

"It doesn't matter what you say: this is your fault, therefore you have to take responsibility for your actions EMERALD," Aquamarine stated, giving the Gem almost a death glare. Emerald shivered, the tone easily matching a women scorn.

"Please. Don't say that in the way you did … I feel unclean," Emerald muttered, feeling a shiver go through him on that statement. Aquamarine didn't get the whole unclean bit, but didn't really care for it.

"Clean or dirty, I expect this problem to be solved by now," Aquamarine insisted. Emerald was just fuming at this point: all day long of her griping about his mistake and barely making effort to fix it.

"You know what, if you want this done so quickly why not just fly your fairy butt to your Diamond and tell them so?" Emerald "suggested". However, Aquamarine didn't seem up to do that.

"Because one: I don't need to waste my Diamond's time in filing any complaints, especially since it was her who assigned me to come here in the first place, and two: why should I be the one to tell them when it should be you for making such a situation happen?"

"How many times are you gonna say that puffy?"

"Puffy? … Are you calling me fat?!" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"Well, that dress is looking a bit tight around the hips."

"WHY YOU LITTLE GREEN -"

*BAM!*

Aquamarine and Emerald were easily silenced with a ring of a loud pistol. It wasn't one that damaged much of the beach house, but it was aimed in a way that it flew right in between them, blowing up in their faces. As the smoke cleared, Aquamarine and Emerald were hugging eachother tight, shivering from the sudden blast.

"You finished I hope," said Flint, who at this point was readjusting his pistol off of smokescreen mode, back to normal mode as he was heading out from the back door. Emerald and Aquamarine looked to him, not saying anything at first, but eventually the fear was shaken off.

"I'm an idiot for asking, but WHY'D YOU SHOOT US?!" Emerald asked.

"There wasn't anyone else around to stop you from destroying the Beach House, so I finished the argument for you."

"But we weren't going to -" Flint simply gave them a look to get them to be quiet. Even Aquamarine was humbled by one of Flint's signature glares. Once things were quieted down, Flint spoke again.

"... So. Aquamarine's here today."

"Just under "strict orders", captain," Emerald said, both of them getting to their feet. Flint began to feel a bit more bothered by this answer, seeing Aquamarine and Emerald stuck together. Strange too how conflicted he was about all of this, hand to face as a exhale was heard. He WANTED to tell them something, but he just felt unable to.

"... Very well then. Look, I'm gonna be going out for a bit, but I do NOT want to come back to a wrecked temple," Flint instructed.

"What position do you have to give me orders, sir?" questioned Aquamarine, "I'll have you know that I'm -"

"I don't care."

Nevermind. Flint didn't have much time to talk to them, as he went out through the Beach House door for, whatever the heck he was doing. It was Emerald and Aquamarine left to themselves again.

"How dare he treat me that way?! Oh my stars, are your friends ALWAYS this irritable? … Emerald?" Aquamarine turned to Emerald, who was still just staring off right towards the back room, right at the back door. The back door leading to every room of the original Crystal Gems. And when Aquamarine looked herself, she saw that there actually was a small crease still open to one of the rooms, as if it were left open by mistake.

"... No. NO. Oooo, I ain't missin this!" Emerald beamed.

"Missing what?" Aquamarine question, not enthused as Emerald bolted right towards the back.

"Flint's room. Holy Luna, this is HUGE! I don't think anyone has actually seen his room yet. Just think of what kind of stuff he's got cooking in there? I bet it's something BIG," Emerald said, very excited.

"Wait a minute. … None of you? You're telling me Flint and only Flint has been in there?" Aquamarine asked, actually beginning to grow a bit curious. She may not have known Flint personally by any means, but word does get around. And as she saw the crease in the door, she began to wonder just what kind of Gem like Flint could have in there. …

"You wanna go exploring?" Emerald said smugly.

"I could use the entertainment. Let's."

The FIRST THING they agreed on all day long, and it was invasion of someone's personal space. It took some bit of work to make the door open up for them, but Emerald just managed to make it just big enough for him and Aquamarine to slip right on inside, the door closing behind them.
Now for a Gem room, many of the rooms were rather vast for the most part, with a bit of rocky or magical bit to tie it over. However, Flint's room was set up a bit differently than expected: a sort of flattened room seemingly made up of clean, "metal" wood along the floor. Nothing much in form of comfort in this room except for a couch off to the side, but there was indeed some work equipment for a Gem like Flint. In this case, a office desk with a line of filing cabinets, each one with a selected subject or a specific person in mind. One odd detail they saw was on the desk, a small cage with a bubbled gemstone inside could be seen. The Temple Gate door appeared more like an office door from the room's side.

"Huh. So this is his room. Geesh, I know he's acts all detective, but this is just cliché as ever," Emerald commented as he and Aquamarine looked around a bit. With the room not as big as others though, it didn't take Aquamarine very long until she began to examine some of the filing cabinets off nearby. Especially since many of these was special labels on each (in Gem writing by the by) that Aquamarine really started to get intrigued by.

"OH? And what do we have here?" Aquamarine said. Her question got Emerald's attention to the filing cabinets and saw the same labels. Aquamarine was already looking through one of these cabinets by the time Emerald went over with her.

"Looks like your "friend" has been keeping a lot of information on the rest of you," Aquamarine said, finding this very interesting as she was skimming through a number of the files. None of these appeared like projection screens, but more like actual paper files but information was still there either way.

"No way, really? Let me see one of those," Emerald said, having to levitate up on one of the hexagons he had to get to the proper level. The first one he grabbed and opened actually was one a bit closer to home, him reading it allowed because why the stars not.

"Amethyst, Colony; Facet-5 Cut-8XM, last Gem to be created on Earth post Gem War, deeply affiliated to life on Earth. Carefree highly mature. Has teenager-like demeanor, possibly human influence. Enjoys food of numerous sources, prefers spiced materials, Specialized properties: -"
Emerald paused and saw an extra sticky note added, showing a past date and simply saying "look further into". He knew this was Amethyst right off the bat thanks to the picture of her clipped to the written reports, showing Amethyst with a smile, and tongue sticking out in her typical fun manor.
At this point Aquamarine then pulled out another file, this time one being that of a fellow court member.

"Lapis Lazuli, Colony; unknown, high ranking member of Blue Diamond royal court, but shown high level of traumatic experience. Still shows decent behavior however, yet past experience shows isolation. Specialized properties: water manipulation, flight, supernatural memory. … Boring," Aquamarine sighed, tossing the file aside out of boredom. Through pure luck (and contrivance), the file landed right back into the cabinet, as Emerald tried to find something neat out of this bunch. But then.

"Aww yeah, Peridot! Come on girl, give it to me," Emerald beamed. This oughta be good. …

"Peridot, Colony; Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, first created Peridot of her colony cut, Era 2 creation and prime Kindergartener. Has desire for attention and deep withdrawal in isolation or loss, even on a minuet level. Enjoys construct study, attention, and (recently) "metalixer" beverage … Dang it, I hoped for some embarrassing secrets or something," Emerald said, disappointed as he put the file back. "What kind of files even are these? There's barely a thing to work with here!"
An annoyed result really. But then Aquamarine noticed a little file that could give her a good laugh …

"Emerald, Colony; unknown -" she saw a similar sticky note saying "look further into", but continued anyway. "- Captain of Homeworld fleet pre-Diamond attack, deeply affiliated to life on Earth at current point. Mischievous teenage-like demeanor, possibly modernized influence. Enjoys "mangas" and casual time above responsibility -"

"HEY, hey, that ain't true!" Emerald quickly cut in, snatching the file before she could go any further. She already read through the rest though and already was giving Emerald a sort of smug grin.

"That weasel - how'd he even get this out of me?"

"Not too sure. Course I never knew you were scared of mannequin heads." Aquamarine said smugly.

"You will never understand the evil behind those eyes. K?" and with that he placed the folder of himself back into the cabinet. His method was a bit more sloppy though, the folder missing the cabinet and landing over onto the table, accidentally hitting the cage. It didn't open the cage, but it did end up popping the bubble inside, the notable sound of delicate glass hitting the bottom of the cage getting both of their attention.

"K, I know what you're gonna say, and no I didn't mean to pop that bubble," Emerald said quickly.

"I was actually gonna remark about your trajectory being pathetic for a Emerald, but I guess that works too," Aquamarine said. But before either or could say anything else.

"Emerald! Aquamarine! ……. Must've gone out for a bit."

"Clod - hide!" and quick as a flash, Emerald grabbed Aquamarine (covering her mouth for good measure), and quickly scrambled for a place to hide. The only hiding spot anywhere was under the couch, which he had to kinda force himself and Aquamarine under just before the Gem door reopened again. And to their suspicions, in stepped Flint … who already saw, almost immediately, the unbubbled gem in the cage, and the extra file now on the desk.

"Those two. Why did I agree to this?" Flint wondered. Agree to what?

Well he can check on them later. For now, he got his essential - it looked like just a picture - and brought it over back to the desk. And then he opened the cage, gently placing the gemstone down onto the desk in front of him … as it started to reform.

"What's he doing?" Emerald quietly wondered, only for Aquamarine to cover his mouth instead.
A reformation normally would take a bit, but this time the reforming took a pretty short time, only about ten seconds at the shortest. Lucky for them and probably for Flint too, this gem was actually kinda small. As it was forming, Flint presented the picture in front of the figure for the Gem to look at, making sure that it was the only thing it could see. Neither Aquamarine nor Emerald could see what the picture actually was, but for a brief moment the Gem was almost trying to re-create whatever it was seeing. Flint stayed quiet, not wanting to disturb the gem.

"Come on, come on …"

*scree*

And just like that, the "animalistic side" of this corrupted Gem came shooting out. The humanoid shape quickly turned into an animal once again, looking less like a person and more like a insect of sorts, the four wings appearing almost dragonfly-like instead of what they would normally be. Whatever limbs disappeared from the body completely, the legs fusing into one pointed end. There was a dress on this form, but it still didn't exactly match the picture in question. The eyes were very big for the head, and where the straps would be turned into a pair of antenna.
And right away, not long after fully reforming, it began to bolt around the room for a bit, trying to find a way out. Flint, crumbling the picture, just make a small shot at the corrupted Gem, poofing her once again. The stone landed by Emerald and Aquamarine, Flint not noticing either as he picked it up.

"Well that's attempt number seven. That's enough for today," Flint groaned, rebubbling the Gem and placing it back in the cage. He sat down by the desk, seeing the folder briefly before getting out what seemed to be a list. And he crossed off yet another possible un-corruption method.

"And here I thought everything was in that book, but that Diamond HAD to complicate it further. There's got to be a way to beat this," Flint monologued, as he looked to the cage, "First corrupted Gems, then these magical monsters everywhere, if this isn't fixed soon there won't even be any time left to handle anything. …"

And then he saw the folder again, bringing it over to him. He would know if they were snooping in his room or not.

"And now I gotta juggle THIS nonsense around. Emerald and Aquamarine's wedding. All five diamonds, the whole Harmony Gems, and now practically half of Homeworld? I don't know why they're hyping this up but this wedding better be worth it or we're all gonna suffer for it. I'd better get going."

What? Emerald and Aquamarine weren't the smartest, sure, but this was just enough information dropped by Flint to work out what was actually going on here. Flint eventually just sighed, getting back up and putting the folder and its contents back in its proper place. Flint went off from there and over towards the door, seemingly unaware of Aquamarine and Emerald overhearing him. The two simply looked to one another in silence, as they went out of the room (making sure Flint left through the Warp Pad first, of course).

"... H-Half of Homeworld?" Aquamarine shuttered. Well there's no doubt about it now.

"OK, we have to put a stop to this, with or without the other's help," Emerald concluded.

"There's no stopping it now! If over half of homeworld heard of this, my reputation's ruined! THEY ALL WANT ME TO BE SOMETHING I'M NOT!" Aquamarine said, shockingly in more panic than anger.

"Me too, man! But there's one more thing we can do," Emerald stated, not wanting this anymore than she did.

"Well go on then, what?! I'll do anything at this point," Aquamarine said, getting a bit desperate now. With a divorce out the window, and no time to actually fix it now, Emerald could only get one more conclusion. He took a breath, and …

"We have to come out and say we're in love."

"... WHAT?! Are you tumbling my rocks?! - "

"Wait! Because if we're in love, then we can BREAK UP!" Emerald cut in before Aquamarine could go into a panic attack. Unfortunately that didn't seem to suite her well either.

"Break? Up? I'm not doing this to SHATTER myself!"

"That's not what I - oohhh just follow me," Emerald said, taking his leave. Aquamarine simply had no choice anymore, and she and emerald went right off on their way out of the Beach House.

And only then did Flint remove his camouflage cloak.

~~~~~~

Homeworld was sure getting itself prepared seemingly by the look of things. Within the Blue Diamond corners of the main palace, those of the Harmony Gems that did manage to get to the place looking nice, mostly thanks to the help of the flying members of the group, bringing around what looked like flowers for the celebration. These flowers were hung up along the walls, Lapis Lazuli flying with Steven hanging them up as Fluttershy was doing a similar maneuver with Connie.

"How do these look, guys?" asked Connie, getting another batch placed up to position. On Blue Diamond's shoulder, Rarity was given a more eye-level view of the decorations, her hoof under her chin and working her special judgement.

"Hmm … perfect. But perhaps just one more batch just above the throne, if you don't mind Blue Diamond," Rarity said.

"I don't mind at all. Oh, they do look lovely," Blue Diamond said, as the final batch was placed up right above Blue Diamond's throne. Blue Diamond even went in and gave a sniff of these special flowers.

"And there we go, full floral decorations complete," announced Steven, as he and Connie were flown back down to ground level with the others. But there was only one little complaint.

"Yeah. Nothing like lacing the whole room in these flowers," grumbled Spike. And spike did not look too good: his eyes a bit poofy and his nose runny from these special plants. It was a struggle just not to sneeze his head off as it is.

"It sure is noble of you to bring those flowers Spike. Even if you have a condition towards them," said Rarity. Just before Spike accidentally slipped out a sneeze, making a few green flames come out.

"Sure … anyone got a tissue? Or maybe a ticket out of here?" Spike asked, wiping his nose clean.

"Here, I got something," said Steven. The party favors luckily had some special napkins for the wedding, so Steven went and used those, giving it to the dragon. Unfortunately, a sneeze did slip as he was blowing, turning the bit of cloth into ash … or possibly sending it to Canterlot castle. Whichever.

"You sure are allergic to flowers, huh?" Lapis said.

"No," said Spike, "It's just these flowers. They're called "Dragon Sneeze Trees" for a re - … re - … REAAACHOO!" and another blast of green fire shot out. It was a good thing many of the flammable stuff was kept well away from Spike, otherwise this could be a little problem.

"Hmm. Well you can go and look for the bride and groom if you want Spike," Sapphire said. Spike didn't have time to even say thanks as he went right out of the room, FINALLY getting some air. Good time too, just as Starlight was coming back to them.

"Well, looks like everything went well in here? nothing burnt?" Starlight asked.

"Everything except for a piece of cloth," said Bismuth, "So how long until the bride and groom arrive?"

"Not before long," said Sapphire, smiling. The anticipation in the room was rising up quite a bit, though some of them did remember how against this whole wedding thing even was. There was still one that did feel a little bit rough about this thing, and it was a bit of a surprise, as the orange mare went up towards Sapphire.

"Uh hey. Y'all sure about this? Why can't we just talk to em?" Applejack asked quietly.

"Everything will be fine, Applejack, I promise. This can be a good learning experience. … That, and I want to see what they have in mind to try and get outta this," Sapphire stated. Mischievous as she was meaningful. Well, what was the mare to do now at this point? Talking to Blue Diamond didn't seem to fix anything, so there wasn't much else they could do here on out. There wasn't much time to talk anyway, as they then heard Spike coming back (extra sneeze of course)

"They're coming," he said.

And indeed they were. Down the hall towards the room in question, with some information from Blue Diamond's pearl, both Aquamarine and Emerald began their own move towards the room.

"This better work Emerald. And why can't you go in first?" Aquamarine said.

"Because this is MY idea, now just start walking in and I'll kick this off," Emerald instructed. Aquamarine didn't like being told what to do by anyone, but at this point, she might as well just go with it.

Emerald stood aside of the door, not heading in just yet as Aquamarine began to make her walk inside. The room sure looked fully decorated and fancy for this wedding, the Harmony Gems and Blue diamond herself present. Yellow and White weren't there, neither was Pink (kind of), but Aquamarine needed to keep some of her composure.

"Hello, everyone. Your favorite Aquamarine has arrived," said Aquamarine.

"It's my pleasure to see you, Aquamarine," said Blue Diamond. "Love between two Gems like this."

"Ehhh … yeah," Aquamarine said. Lucky for her and her troubles, then did emerald start coming in. Well, here it goes.

"Hey Aqua, hold up," Emerald said, starting to go over to her. He didn't waste anytime in getting this act of theirs up and ready, and before anyone else can get a word in edge wise, Emerald made sure their message was more than clear with the first sentence.

"Listen. It's just not going to work."

"What?! … But what, why not?" Aquamarine asked, getting a bit of her skills in acting together. Emerald rolled with it.

"Look, we can't lie to ourselves anymore. Sorry but this isn't going to work out between the two of us. Yes, we're in love, but we do not belong together."

A clear lie if they ever heard one, and emerald honestly wasn't even trying. Acting was not his best forte, to say the least, but Aquamarine continued on anyway as if even half of what he's saying is true.

"Don't belong together? Us?! W-what suddenly changed here, Emerald?" Aquamarine exclaimed.

"It's just some cuts are a bit different from others, that's all," Emerald stated, almost casually. But then …

"Oh. I see," huffed Aquamarine. "And who's this Jade, huh? You think you can tell me THAT?!"

"... Wait, what're you talking about?" Emerald was completely blind-sided by that statement, but Aquamarine just kept pouring on the steam as she started to hover over Emerald. If this was gonna be a break up, it had to be plenty good … even if Emerald was out of the know here on out.

"I've took a look into that "iPhone" as you kept calling it, and I saw all the messages that YOU wanna go with her!" Aquamarine "revealed. Emerald really didn't know what to say here.

"... Wait. That - that's not what happened."

"Oh, it's not, is it?!"

"N-No! No look - we both know this is for the better," insisted Emerald, again not really the best acting voice and trying to keep together.

"Don't you try your games on me! You don't wanna feel bad so you tell me what I want?!"

"Wait, wait, don't make me out as the bad guy."

"Oh, right, you're not the bad guy, YOU'RE NEVER THE BAD GUY ARE YOU?! Y-You just step on everyone else and use them!" Aquamarine accused, even going as far as to bring some tears. Tears, for stars sake! Was this even acting anymore?

"Okay, this is going to far, Aquamarine, this isn't necessary."

"I'm going too far?! WHAT ON EARTH'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Oh forget this - THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!" Emerald finally said.

"Well guess what? Love doesn't follow a plan!" Aquamarine retorted.

Unbeknownst to the two, some of the group was actually getting a little bit close to just laughing themselves silly. This would be very dramatic and sad if this was actually the real deal. But there actually was eventually someone who started laughing, a bit quietly over this "play" of theirs made up on the spot. And shockingly, the first to laugh was Blue herself.

"Perhaps it is time to tell them, don't you think?" Blue Diamond suggested.

"I think it's a good point to," Sapphire replied.

"Thank you," thought Steven and Applejack, who were probably about besides this as Flint was. Aquamarine and Emerald both kinda stopped on the spot hearing this, as Sapphire went over to the two "newly weds".

"Time to tell them? K, Sophie, what is?" Emerald asked. Sapphire sighed.

"It isn't really fun treating others like this, isn't it you two?" Sapphire asked. A rather odd question.

"Like what? I've not done anything, it was your Emerald who's been causing trouble for me," Aquamarine stated.

"Oh, like you were the innocent victim," retorted Emerald. "You've been complaining all day long!"

"So were you!" Aquamarine retorted back, "You enjoyed this as little as I -"

And suddenly something clicked. They both did "enjoy" this as much as expected. Complaining stopped altogether and they looked to Sapphire, who now had the cheeky smile.

"Wait a minute. … You were uh … at the shooting gallery as Garnet."

"Right," Sapphire said. The gears started turning in Aquamarine and Emerald's heads, looking to the others. some were also smiling, others were kinda just waiting for them to just get it. Now thinking, some things weren't adding up. For one thing, where were the rest of the Diamonds, or the "half of Homeworld" for that matter?

"... And there's … not as many here? …"

"Just us," said Blue Diamond.

Three.

Two.

One.

"YOU ALL WERE FAKING THIS WHOLE TIME?!" They both concluded. Some of the group just couldn't help themselves and just started laughing at their reaction.

"You should've seen yourselves!" laughed Rainbow Dash.

"But hold the phone, what was all that stuff for? The party favors, the invitation, the flowers?" Emerald asked.

"They were just for decorating the extra palace rooms," explained Sapphire, "It's nice to add a few things. And the invitation Star Quartz and Peridot made last night."

"But didn't your Bismuth say there was a Wedding Ceramony for us?" said Aquamarine. Bismuth just laughed.

"Oh that, I was just getting a raise out of you," Bismuth admitted. Aquamarine didn't get it, but emerald filled her in.

"That means make us angry," Emerald said, "And wait wait wait, you said this morning you were gonna talk to the Diamonds about stopping this for us! … Right?"

"We just didn't."

Blunt, but ok. Emerald and Aquamarine REALLY felt stupid now, but then another thought came to Emerald's head.

"But that means … APPLEJACK, STEVEN, YOU LIED!"

"Hold up, we just found out this morning," insisted AJ, hooves raised.

"Actually we didn't want to do this but it was kinda too late to stop it," admitted Steven.

"... So we spent all day together. Driving eachother up a wall …" started Emerald.

"For literally no reason …" concluded Aquamarine.

And on that conclusion, Aquamarine and Emerald collapsed to their knees, both victims of this whole thing.

"Wow. They do act a lot alike, don't they?" said Star Quartz. No that didn't help them much at all. Jasper then went over to the two.

"So, maybe you two should start treating other with a bit more respect. Got it?" Jasper stated.

"O … K … Well, now that the prank's over, I'm just gonna go back and rethink my life choices," Emerald decided. Just about to go off, but they weren't done just yet. Or at least Blue Diamond wasn't done yet.

"Not so fast. There is something else. …"

…….

"Whelp. I've learned my lesson," Emerald sighed, as he continued cleaning up the shooting gallery. Their fight may have been small, but there still was damage they had to clean up from not only their challenge but from their little tiff as well. At least the two had their telekinetic powers to help them out, though it was still a bit.

"I've learned one too … never work with you again," Aquamarine groaned, feeling humiliated for acting like such a drama queen in front of her diamond. Emerald was too humiliated to retaliate against her on that one, so he just huffed.

"Oh, who asked you?"