So I was having some writer's block. Awesome Kyralih gave me some prompts. Here's what came out of it.

pre-Timewalker!Chibi-Usa is jealous, Serenity steps in to try to help her see the light

The thread started small, peeking out from the hem of her icy pink dress, but by the time the princess was through with it, it was as long as her arm and pulling longer still. Strong and silky like a strand of her own glossy pink hair, Small Lady dispassionately tugged as the seam feel open from the frothy skirt and the thread came free and wound completely around her young hand, leaving an open tear in her skirt as wide as her knee.

"Oops," she mumbled sarcastically, chewing a lip. The children sang from the courtyard below the open-air hall and the adults nearby laughed as they shared a story from earlier in the day.

"Are you hoping to add to your list of today's offensives?" The unexpected lilt of the voice made the princess jump to her feet, eyes wide and hands suddenly splayed at her sides.

"M-mother!" she curtsied and didn't lift her face from the shining white marble of the crystal hallway, "I was expecting father to come scold me for earlier-"

Neo-Queen Serenity shrugged slightly, titled her head and sat down on the edge of the bench the princess had just vacated. She indicated her daughter should join her.

Small Lady felt more nervous now than before – pushing that snobby ambassador's kid into the mud was definitely a punishable offense, but sending her mother to talk to her. This was more serious than she thought.

"So," the elder Serenity said conversationally, as she smoothed her skirt and looked up over the castle to the purpling sky, "why, exactly, did you act so unlady-like today?"

Small Lady wrinkled her nose and sighed. If she were sitting here with her dad, she knew just what she'd say – that the stupid girl had deserved it for being so worried about how she looked all the time, that the other kids were laughing and leaving Small Lady out of their play, that she was sick and tired of being special of being different and that being called a freak was the straw that broke the camel's back. She knew he'd scold her and send her to her room for the rest of the night and everything would be fine tomorrow.

But with her mother.

Small Lady just had no idea.

"I- I asked to join their stupid four-square game."

"I see."

"And she said no."

"Ah."

"Everyone likes her," Small Lady complained, "and I don't know how she does it." Her eyes narrowed and filled with unshed tears. "And she doesn't seem to care much about my feelings."

"That doesn't sound very fair."

"It—isn't."

"She's sure not to like you now that you've pushed her into the mud." Serenity mused, still looking up at the sky, not at her daughter.

"No," Small Lady sighed. Then her small shoulders hunched up to her ears, and she swallowed. And murmured something so quietly Serenity barely caught it. "She's pretty."

"The girl you pushed?"

"Pretty like you." Knees pushed into her chest, arms wrapped around legs, and hazel eyes closed tightly. "They said 'she should be the queen's daughter'." Behind the darkness of her eyelids Small Lady heard her mother gasp.

"Nobody said that!"

"They did!"

She was gathered into an embrace against cool silk and warm arms and the small girl didn't move lest it break. It was so rare to be hugged like this by her mother. "I'll push them in the mud," Serenity muttered, to the reward of watery giggles from her young daughter.

"You are beautiful," her mother whispered into her hair. "Long lashes, sweet face, and thick, soft hair – but more importantly: Quick to laugh and stubborn when you care and clever and brave and earnest –"

"No one says I should be your daughter."

"That's because you already are," Serenity pushed her to arms length and looked into Small Lady's eyes with a half-smile. "Trust me. I see myself in you everyday. Only the best parts."

"What about when you are mad at me?"

"Oh, then it's your father I'm seeing." Serenity said. Small Lady smiled, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

"You are not off the hook, young lady. You will need to apologize," Serenity said sternly, "Officially and publicly. Do you realize the extra work we all had to do to smooth things over after that little stunt?"

"Yes, ma'am." She looked down at her feet, feeling guilty that she didn't feel more guilty.

But for more moments like that with her mother, she'd push a thousand spoiled children in the mud.