Polygems

Polygems is the polyship between Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl from the Steven Universe fandom.

Canon
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are really great friends with each other. When they fuse together, they form Alexandrite. They are members of the Crystal Gems, and are also Steven's caretakers, as they care not only for Steven and the Earth. but also each other.

Amethyst
While Amethyst chafes at being told what to do, she will follow orders from Garnet. Amethyst respects Garnet's leadership abilities and judgment, even referring to her as "the boss". Garnet has also been shown to be much more willing to play along with Amethyst's jokes than Pearl except in serious situations. However, Garnet is not beyond scolding Amethyst when she feels her reckless actions impact the integrity of the team. Amethyst also appears to depend on Garnet's strength, expressing hurt when it looked like Garnet enjoyed fusing with Pearl more than fusing with her.

Pearl
Like Amethyst and Steven, Pearl respects Garnet's leadership abilities. While she is occasionally patronizing and condescending to the other Gems, Pearl treats Garnet as an equal. In "Cry for Help", however, her relationship with Pearl sours after it is revealed that Garnet was duped into forming Sardonyx multiple times without finding Peridot. Following the events in "Keystone Motel", after Ruby and Sapphire make up, she finally speaks to Pearl again, even if only to wave her off, meaning Ruby still hesitates to forgive Pearl. In "Friend Ship", Garnet talked to Pearl, saying that she looks to her and wants her to be strong; this eventually led to Pearl's full redemption with Garnet. It was revealed in "The Answer" that Garnet had found her to be 'terrifying'. In fact, in their second encounter, Garnet had begun to beg Pearl (as well as Rose Quartz) for mercy, after being pinned down by Pearl's sword. Pearl had shown surprise upon seeing her for the first time, especially after the reaction of all of the Homeworld Gems. However, it was then revealed that Pearl (along with Rose) had accepted Garnet for who she was, understanding that she was a fusion of love. It is evident that after Garnet had joined the Crystal Gems, her relationship with Pearl had definitely improved. In "Back to the Moon", Garnet and Pearl are seen easily fusing into Sardonyx, suggesting their relationship has been completely repaired. This is seen again in "Know Your Fusion", when Garnet and Pearl fuse into Sardonyx and remain in that form for a substantial amount of time, only unfusing when they realize they have stolen Smoky Quartz's chance to impress them.

Garnet
While Amethyst dislikes being told what to do and often does what she wants to do, she respects Garnet's leadership abilities and judgment. She, like the rest of the Crystal Gems, is aware that Garnet is a fusion, and after Steven had revealed he had discovered this, she shouts out "You met Ruby and Sapphire!?". In "Cry for Help", Amethyst admits that she is jealous of Garnet's power and admits it is easy to get carried away when fused with her, which causes her to quickly catch onto Pearl's scheme.

Pearl
The two used to share a strained relationship, due to their contrasting personalities; Pearl being clean and tidy while Amethyst is loud and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Amethyst frequently teases Pearl, who often scolds her in turn. Regardless, they value each other as both teammates and friends. It has been implied in "Secret Team", they only get along when they're in risk of getting into trouble or during fights against other adversaries. Amethyst had thought that Pearl perceived her as a "mistake", due to her origins in the Kindergarten. She had since dismissed the notion when Pearl assured her, "You were the one good thing that came out of this mess. I always thought you were proud of that."

During the episode "Cry for Help", Pearl and Garnet fused to form Sardonyx, as opposed to Amethyst and Garnet fusing to form Sugilite, resulting in Amethyst's lament and being jealous of Pearl. However, when Steven and Amethyst learned that Pearl was fixing the Communication Hub just to create Sardonyx, Amethyst was not angry or upset once she discovered Pearl's motivation for doing so. When the truth was revealed to Garnet, Amethyst defended Pearl as she knew why she did it. In "Keystone Motel", when Steven, Garnet, and Greg return from their trip, Amethyst can be briefly seen trying to console a very upset Pearl, whom Garnet is ignoring due to Pearl's irresponsible actions in "Cry for Help".

Following the events of "Back to the Barn", Amethyst is shown to have high respect for Pearl after her tremendous display in the Robolympics. Amethyst is shown to have been quite astounded at Pearl's display of physical feat and strength of will, showing a much more compassionate side of the relationship between the two. In "Know Your Fusion", Pearl hugs Amethyst and tells her that she is amazed at what Smoky Quartz was able to do with the yo-yo, and lets Amethyst know how much of a good influence she was to Steven, while Amethyst blushes. In "Last One Out of Beach City", Amethyst is quite surprised and happy after Pearl is eager to go to the rock concert with her after Greg has to cancel the show due to a previous request from Barbara to play cards with her and Vidalia. In the same episode, Amethyst compliments Pearl about how hardcore and cool she is, but is also shown to be concerned about Pearl in fear that she might get rejected by the mysterious woman.

According to "A Guide to the Crystal Gems", Opal is a balanced fusion, showing how Amethyst's and Pearl's personalities balance out into a fusion so peaceful that it is sometimes uncomplicated for them to forget. However, this balance is laborious to hold. If Pearl and Amethyst begin to fall into their usual dissonance or come across an issue otherwise, they can separate almost immediately. It appears that their relationship has greatly improved as of "Log Date 7 15 2", as they were able to form Opal with ease to lift the drill head.

Garnet
Like the other Gems, Pearl respects and follows Garnet's orders without question. She does, however, believe that the Gems are a team and so may not exactly see Garnet as the leader, most likely because she will always see Rose Quartz as leader despite her absence. When situations are requiring executive decisions, however, Pearl usually defers to Garnet. In "Secret Team", it is clear that she shares an unprecedented fear towards her, along with Amethyst, to such an extent that both she and Amethyst willingly set aside their differences to keep the popped Gem-bubble a secret instead of facing the consequences. She has known about her true identity as a fusion for several thousand years. In "Cry for Help", it is apparent that Pearl looks up to Garnet as she is excited to fuse into Sardonyx to destroy the Communication Hub that Peridot rebuilt. Pearl enjoyed fusing with Garnet so much that she rebuilt the Communication Hub twice so she and Garnet could just fuse into Sardonyx resulting in Garnet's anger and temporary estrangement for the deception. In "Friend Ship", Pearl repaired her relationship with Garnet, making peace with her insecurities in the process. She is shown to idolize Garnet, or rather Ruby and Sapphire's relationship, as in that same episode she claims that they are the perfect relationship, and she wanted to fuse so badly because she craved being a part of a stable relationship.

Amethyst
The two used to share a strained relationship, which was likely due to their contrasting personalities. Pearl is often seen scolding Amethyst, who often teases Pearl in return. However, Pearl and Amethyst have been shown to be able to put their differences aside on multiple occasions to work together. For example, in "Secret Team", Pearl and Amethyst are forced to fight together, and complement each other's skills, even sharing appreciative smiles; in "Warp Tour", they praise and admire each other's fighting techniques; in "On the Run", the two reveal that they really do deeply care about each other, despite their differences and frequent fights. In "Story for Steven" they are shown having a much closer relationship before the events of the series, close enough to be perfectly content hugging and resting in each other's arms. It can be assumed that Rose's departure and Steven's birth somehow lead to their relationship deteriorating over time, as Amethyst implies that they used to fuse more often in "Giant Woman". Their relationship seems to have been slowly improving over the course of the series. In "Log Date 7 15 2" it is shown that it has improved enough for them to form Opal with little effort. In "Know Your Fusion", Pearl hugs Amethyst and tells her that she is amazed at what Smoky Quartz was able to do with their yo-yo, and lets Amethyst know how good an influence she has been on Steven, while Amethyst blushes. In "Last One Out of Beach City", Pearl is eager to go to the rock concert with Amethyst after Greg has to cancel the show due to a previous request from Barbara to play cards with her and Vidalia. In the same episode, Amethyst compliments Pearl about how hardcore and cool she is, and is also shown to be concerned that Pearl might get rejected by the mysterious woman.

Fanon
Polygems is one of the earliest ships to appear in the Steven Universe fandom. Their co-parenting of Steven and the fact that they all live together in the temple made them easy to ship together. After the first season, Polygems become less popular in favor of other rising ships such as Rupphire and Pearlrose, however it is still generally liked within the fandom.

On AO3 it is the most written for poly ship for the Steven Universe fandom.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Garnet/Amethyst/Pearl on FanFiction.Net

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Variations

 * Garnethyst refers to the ship between Garnet and Amethyst
 * Pearlmethyst refers to the ship between Amethyst and Pearl
 * Pearlnet refers to the ship between Garnet and Pearl