Pink Diamond stared out the window of her palanquin. This was it. She was finally getting her own planet. Earth. She smiled, thinking about what she intended to do.

Just then, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned, but no one was there. Then she faced forward again and gasped.

"Surprise!"

"Spinel?" said Pink. The small cartoony gem was standing in the middle of her palanquin "What are you doing here?"

"The five-minute rule, remember?"

"Oh, right," Pink awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "Anyway, make sure to stay quiet. There's no telling what Blue and Yellow would do if they found you,"

"Got it!" said Spinel. "Anyway, isn't this exciting? We get to go to Earth together! It'll be so much fun!"

"Right... fun," said Pink. She sighed. Well, so much for moving on. To be honest, she was actually a little glad to have someone with her on this new step.

A few days later.

Pink Diamond swiped through screens, displaying the status of all the various aspects of her colony, while Spinel awkwardly stood by herself, gazing out the window.

"Okay... hydration... temperature... kindergartens... organics..." said Pink. "I gotta admit, this is way harder than I thought,"

Spinel stretched her eye over to look at the screen.

"Hey, it's kind of like a game!" said Spinel.

"A game?"

"Yeah! Except with a bunch of numbers and letters!"

Pink Diamond giggled, giving Spinel that ever-so-pleasant satisfaction.

"I'm glad I brought you with me, Spinel. This would've been surprisingly boring without you,"

Just then, a different gem appeared on the nearby warp pad. She was white, short, with round eyes, and a short pink dress.

"Greetings, Pink Diamond," she said. "Blue Diamond has assigned me to be your pearl," she took a bow. "I am at your service, my Diamond,"

"My own pearl?" said Pink.

"Oh boy!" said Spinel, literally bouncing with joy. "A new friend!"

Spinel bounced on over to Pearl. "Hiya Pearlie! I'm Spinal! Your new friend!"

Pearl's eyes widened when she saw the cartoony gem.

"Uh, what's a spinel doing here?" she said.

"Oh yes, introductions," said Pink Diamond. "Pearl, this is Spinal, she's my... friend,"

"Friend?" said Pearl, very confused.

"Exactly!" said Spinel. "And now you're our friend too! I can already think of tons of new games for three friends!"

"Right..." said Pearl, awkwardly stepping away.

"Oh that's right!" said Pink Diamond. "Pearl, as my first order, you can't tell anyone about Spinel,"

"Won't you do that for us, pretty pleeeeeeeeeeease?" Spinel made her eyes look wider.

"Um... okay, my diamond," said Pearl.

"Good," said Pink. "Then I'm sure we'll get along splendidly!"

"So Pearl," said Spinel. "What kind of fun do you like to have?"

"Um," Pearl tilted her head. "Forgive me, but I don't think a Pearl would be meant for... "fun" as you call it,"

Spinel's eye's widened into literal saucers.

"Do you mean to tell me... that you've NEVER had fun before?"

"No, why?" said Pearl. Spinel gasped.

"Well, we have to change that ASAP!"

Pearl awkwardly scooted away.

"My diamond, a spinel should not be attempting to fraternize with pearls,"

"It's okay, Pearl," said Pink Diamond. "Spinel just likes to play. Anyway, I have to manage the new kindergarten, so why don't you two get to know each other."

"Okay!" said Spinel. "So Pearl, whaddya like doing?"

Pearl blinked.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said, whaddya like doing?"

Pearl ran through her memory. Then she remembered. Unlike other gems, spinels had no knowledge of ranking or position. To them, every gem was simply someone to be entertained, or "friends" as she called them. So, logically, this spinel wouldn't care if she were a pearl or a diamond.

"I can not discuss things with you, Spinel," said Pearl. "I must attend to my diamond, even while she is working,

Pink Diamond clicked on various buttons and screens, determining the nature of the Alpha Kindergarten.

Spinel sighed. PInk wasn't any fun when she was working.

"So..." said Pearl, as she stood at attention. "What exactly do you do here, Spinel?"

"Duh, Pink is my friend!" said Spinel.

"I see," said Pearl. "Seems kind of impractical, if you ask me,"

A few thousand years later.

"And, that's your last move!" said Pearl, triumphantly moving the piece on the game board.

"Wow!" said Spinel, "I've never seen anyone so good at this game! Which is why I don't usually play it with Pink,"

"Well, I just can't get enough of it!" Pearl let out a small giggle "The logistics, the control, the perfect organization! It just makes me feel so good!" Pearl lost control for a second and laughed like a maniac until she remembered that her diamond was also in the room.

"Gah! My most sincere apologies, my diamond!" she said. "I... don't know what came over me!"

"It's okay, Pearl," said Pink Diamond, as she flicked about screens on her monitor, a dull expression on her face. "It's the only interesting thing that's been happening for the last few thousand years. Could you imagine running a colony would be this dull?"

"I could imagine it. If you would like me too, my diamond,"

Pink sighed. Pearl clearly had a much less monotonous side to her, she just wished she wouldn't hide it,"

"Show me the status of the prime kindergarten,"

"Yes, my diamond,"

Pearl's eyes went white, as a blue hologram emitted from her forehead.

"The first quartz soldiers are due to emerge soon,"

Pink Diamond gasped and accidentally startled pearl out of her trance.

"Finally something new!" she said.

"Yay! New friends!" said Spinel.

So the three of them walked down into the viewing room. Pink Diamond excitedly jumped down from the stairs, as Pearl and Spinel walked down, Spinel with much more enthusiasm.

"Hurry! We've gotta see this!" she said.

Pearl walked up the globe in the middle and touched it. Immediately, the room changed into a different scene. They were in the kindergarten, with many quartz soldiers walking about.

"Spinel, Pearl, look at all this! We're creating life from nothing!"

Spinel and Pink watched as a gem-shape in one of the stone walls glow red before another quartz popped out.

"Welcome to Earth!" said Pink Diamond.

"Hi new friend!" said Spinel.

Of course, not being able to notice them, the soldier simply walked past them and joined the others.

"Gee, sure looks fun down there," said Spinel.

"I wish I could just be with them," said Pink.

"I'll have us warped into the kindergarten at once, my diamond," said Pearl

"Yay!" said Spinel.

"What? No!" said Pink. "If I went down to the kindergarten, I would never hear the end of it from Blue and Yellow,"

"Not yay!" said Spinel.

"But could you imagine it? Me, down there, laughing playing with the amethysts?"

"That would be so much fun!" said Spinel.

"It would be, my diamond," said Pearl. A hologram appeared from her forehead of her laughing with some amethysts. "You look so happy,"

"But, didn't you say something about Blue and Yellow?" said Spinel.

Pink Diamond blinked when Spinel comprehended the situation so quickly.

"Erm.. yes," she said. "I definitely won't be so happy when Blue and Yellow find out"

"But... what if they don't?" said Spinel.

"I doubt that"

"Actually, Spinel's not far off," said Pearl. "What if... you looked just like a quartz? You could change your shape for a day!"

"That's brilliant, Pearlie!" said Spinel.

"Nonsense, it was your idea for her to sneak off," Pearl smiled at her. "In fact, I think you could make a great pearl!"

"Aw shucks, you're making me blush!"

"Of course, if you're okay with it, my dia...mond?"

"Down here!" said Pink. Although, she wasn't quite pink anymore. Instead, there was a quartz soldier with pale skin and pink hair. "What do you think?"

"It'll work perfectly, my dia-"

"None of that, Pearl" Pink shook her head. "Because today, I'm Rose Quartz!"

"Sounds good!" said Spinel. "Now let's get a move on!"

So Rose, Pearl, and Spinel all warped down to the surface of the earth. Rose had a chat with some of the amethysts and greeted one of the newest ones. It was at this point when the squad leader showed up.

"Hey! What are you doing?" she said. "Our orders were to move out as soon as you emerged,"

"What about 8-XM?" said one of the other amethysts.

"She can catch up. Now let's move!"

The amethysts started marching off, and Rose was about to join them, but Pearl stopped her.

"My diamond, it's probably best not to draw any more attention to ourselves than we already have," she said.

"Oh, you're right. But things were getting really fun!"

"Speaking of fun, where's Spinel?"

At the time, Spinel was currently doing a dance routine for some of the guards.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" said the squad leader as they marched by. The crowd that had gathered reluctantly left Spinel to follow the rest. Spinel stopped dancing and sighed.

"Gosh darn it! I almost made some new friends! said a disappointed Spinel.

"I know!" said Pearl. "Why don't we have a look at some of the planet's other features?"

"Oh yeah!" said Spinel, perking up. "I've heard there are plants here! I've always wanted to see plants!"

So the three of them ventured off to go see the rest of Earth, and saw many things. Plants, trees, flowers, rivers, animals, and even some humans. Rose and Spinel had a great time, and while Pearl simply watched from the sidelines, Spinel could tell she was secretly thrilled.

When the trio walked back, Rose seemed somewhat sullen. The grass underneath them faded into the dark geological waste of the kindergarten.

"Is something wrong, my diamond?" said Pearl. "You seem troubled,"

"All this life, growing wild here on earth. None of it will survive my invasion," she stared off into the distance, as the rain began to fall. "We're not creating life from nothing. We're taking life, and leaving behind,"

Spinel looked at Rose, then at the kindergarten.

"My apologies, my diamond!" said Pearl. "I shouldn't have brought you to such a place!"

"No," said Rose. "I needed to see this,"

"This..." Spinel said, her pupils shrinking. "This isn't fun," she began to shake.

"Uh, Spinel?" said Rose.

"It's... bad," Spinel's innocent face started to curl into a devilish scowl. "And bad things... aren't fun,"

"Spinel?" said Pearl.

Spinel's form began to shift until she looked like a completely different gem. Her heart-shaped gem was flipped upside down. Her colors were darker. Her eyes were dark red. Black lines formed on her face from her eyes to her cheeks. Her heart-shaped buns turned into jagged ponytails.

"I... I" Spinel screamed and slammed her enlarged fists on the ground. "If they think they can just take whatever they want, and ruin all this beauty, then they can go shatter themselves!"

"Spinel! Calm down!" said Rose.

"Calm down? How the heck am I supposed to... ahhhhhhh!," Rose held Spinel in a hug, causing the gem to sigh in pleasure. Soon, she shifted back into her bouncy self.

"Woah!" said Spinel "Don't know what that was all about,"

"Spinels aren't supposed to do that," said Pearl. "For a second, I thought you were a completely different gem,"

"I don't know," said Spinel. "I just felt so... not happy about all this bad stuff! It just made me wanna... squeeze those gems until they..."

"Spinel!" said Rose. The tone of her voice made Spinel quiet. "Let's try and approach this carefully. I'll have a talk with Blue and Yellow and try to convince them otherwise,"

"Okay! Sounds like a plan!" said Spinel, happy and chipper as ever.

Little did they know, this wasn't the last time they would see this other Spinel.