A/N: Another fun-full episode for our Cat-Ra fic ^^ (maybe i should call this Cat-Ra from now on? Nah XP).
Not much to say here, but i'd like to give a special shout out and thanks to WingedPegasus who made my invite to Ao3/Archiveofourown a lot faster! I'm so glad to see a literal thousand She-Ra fics already on that site compared to this site, but no need to worry folks. I'll be posting here for you guys first, so lucky you ^^ (like 1 minute before them but still).
Anyway, as another reminder I'm still looking for someone who can come up with scenes for the intro lyrics to this fic. Whoever does will get their scenes added to each of the episode first parts that have the intro in it!
With that said, onto the show!
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...
...
Bright Moon Castle. The heart of the Rebellion. The single, unified resistance that made up the only force capable of opposing the Horde.
After several long hours of travel, the trio of allies had finally made their way through the Whispering Woods. Like Bow expected, Glimmer was already warn out of it by the time they made it there, even though she was riding most of the entire way out there as he directed the steed. On the bright side, she did have a fun way to entertain herself, looking back to her newly recruited ally with a smirk.
"You doing alright over there?" She called over.
She hated this. With sooooo much of her hate as possible. Here was Catra, a newly promoted Senior Cadet of the Horde who was now a newly defected member of the Horde who gave up her old life for her own personal gain.
Up till now, she thought the worst was behind her. After the events that led her to this place, she wondered if she truly was brainwashed like Adora told her she was. It would make somewhat of sense after all when she thought about it. Yesterday she was happily working alongside her only friend and allies as they worked through their obstacle course to become Senior Cadets, and after finding a mysterious sword created by these First Ones in the Whispering Woods, she found herself now siding with the Rebellion of her own free will.
Well, technically free will would imply she wanted to out of "kindness" or anything Glimmer said people had in their hearts. Catra on the other hand had a much more personal objective out of all of this. Playing her cards right, and eventually find herself the ruler of her own kingdom gifted to her as a reward!
That and the sword she finally got after putting up with a day's worth of annoyances. And one regret.
Adora.
She could not comprehend any reason that Adora turned her down. Having met each other not two hours ago, she offered Adora to come along with her to get anything she desired too. She could've had anything she wanted along with the kingdom like riches, resources, who knows what this queen would offer? And what did she do instead? She completely ditched her to return to the Horde!
Why is the question Catra asked herself ever since. Didn't Catra herself mean anything to her compared to those other no-necks she called allies? Did she make Adora made before this whole thing started? She was insistent on not bringing her along to find the sword after that morning, so maybe she felt left out or something?
Whatever the case was, it was the second biggest issue she had to deal with, the first one being... Glimmer's new horrifying monstrosity.
"I-I'm fine! Really..." She shouted back, holding the sword firmly in both hands as she stood thirty feet behind the two.
She didn't trust that horrifying beast, and couldn't figure out why she was so scared of it in the first place. Maybe it was the animal half of her but something in her instincts told her to be wary of the mighty creature. With it's thunderous footsteps and it's massive bod, she didn't know what the thing was capable of doing and she didn't want to find out. As long as she was over here and that thing was ten yards, thirty feet, over there, she wa happily fine with being this close.
And Glimmer was enjoying it by every second after Catra's constant harassment on the way to Thaymor. "Come on, Catra, the horsie's not going to biiite." She taunted, petting the Horse's mane again.
"That's what you said the last time it tried to eat my hair!" She growled.
No reminders were needed on Glimmer's end of things, having fond memories of the second time Catra tried to pet it and the twenty seconds it took to pull her large hair out from the Horse's mouth. "Really? Did that happen? I must not have noticed..."
"You were laughing your butt off while it happened, Pinky!"
"Alright, we're here!" Bow announced. Glimmer continued to watch Catra as the cat gulped to herself. She knew she had to get up to them to see everything, and the only thing keeping her from it was the monster that was named Horsie. With one deep breath to herself she shuffled over to the gang, never taking her eyes off the monster even as she moved around it's side, then quickly jumped to the front several feet ahead of it. She's never felt her heart race so badly to anything that isn't Shadow Weaver, hoping to herself she'd never have to face the creature ever again.
"Phew..." She exhaled, catching her breath.
"Heh, you can relax now Catra, we're here." Bow remind, gesturing to the palace. "Welcome to Bright Moon Castle."
"Huh?... Oh..." Catra's eyes lit up at the sight of this place.
She'd hate to say it, hence she wouldn't, but this place was gorgeous looking. All around her was the very definition of serenity and peace in every sense of the word. The skies were clear and beautiful enough to see the birds fly across them, and there was a strange tranquil peace that came from hearing the waterfalls across this place. The castle itself had a similar triangle-shaped design to it, where amongst a large pillar ahead of it held the grand jewel of the castle, the Gem of Bright Moon.
It kind of reminded her of what was drilled in her head ever since she was little, back in the Horde. They would always go on to say how once everything was under absolute control and order, every place would look as beautiful as this place with the right figure ruling it all. While she questioned if it truly would've looked like this as of now, she wondered if Hordak had meant every word of it.
"So what do you think?" Bow asked curiously.
"Mmh, it's not bad, I guess." Catra replied shrugging. "Definitely has a Princessy feeling to it. Kinda small though, isn't it?"
"Just wait until you get inside." Glimmer replied, having the horse take a few steps up. "Some of the rooms go into the mountain itself."
"Well then, why are we standing around? Let's go-"
"Whoa, whoa whoa, wait a second." Glimmer quickly interrupted, putting the horse between Catra and the pathway. "I'll go on ahead. I'll recharge, talk to my mom, then introduce you after awhile. Bow, why don't you take Catra through the backway? I might need a few minutes talking my mom through this." With her instructions given, Bow nodded as the two watched Glimmer trot away. "This is going to be fun... I'm sure..."
Honestly, as long as it kept her away from the horse, Catra was willing to listen to anything Glimmer had to say. Besides, she was interested in the idea of there being a secret entrance to their castle. If it was anything like her time running around the Fright Zone's numerous shortcuts and hidden paths, she could tell she was going to have a lot of fun using it.
"So, what's this secret backway she mentioned?"
...
"YOU CALL THIS A BACKWAY?!" Catra shouted angrily and fearfully, hanging on the rope for dear life.
"I told you not to look down." Bow reminded casually as he climbed through the window. "Besides, I thought you liked heights?"
"Yeah, heights, not picturing what would happen if I fall from this height!" She was all too eager to grab his hand as he helped her inside.
On the list of numerous and stupid things she's done today, this was the biggest. At first she thought diving head first into a collapsing building was the stupidest thing she could do, and before that she thought stopping in the middle of the road in the hopes that a tank wouldn't run her over was the dumbest thing she could do. Thankfully with the right encouragement from Bow, she finally realized what the greatest and dumbest thing she could do today was.
Climb three-hundred feet up a mountainside in order to reach a single room in a castle full of people that would most likely attack on sight if they spotted her.
What a great plan!
At least the room itself was rather nice looking. While she couldn't tell if it was a bedroom for someone or something else, the space around here was already more liveable than the bunks she used to share with a dozen different cadets back in the Fright Zone. It only further emphasized how much of a Princessy-feeling this place had.
"Oh hey, here! Why don't you put on this robe on?" Bow didn't even give Catra enough time to look back to him before tossing the robe to her, covering the entirety of her head with a pink garment. "No reason."
"You're trying to hide me, aren't you?" She already put two and two together, the unamused look on her face telling her all she needed to know.
If his quick recommendation wasn't enough to tip her off, his terrible acting was. "Whaaat? No. I'm not trying to hide you, I'm just uhhh trying to help you blend in better..."
It's official. He was hiding her.
...
~ We're on the edge of greatness ~
~ turning darkness into light ~
~ We're right beside you ~
~ Ready to Fight! ~
~ (fight, fight, fight fight) ~
~ We're gonna win in the end! ~
~ We must be strong, And we must be brave ~
~(we must be brave) ~
~ We're gonna find every bit of strength that we have ~
~ and never let go ~
~ (Oh ah Oh) ~
~ We must be STRONG! ~
...
"Glimmer!" Queen Angella shouted angrily. "Where have you been?"
"H-Hey mom..." Glimmer sheepishly replied as one of the guards escorted her horse away.
Ok, she just had to think. There were several different things she needed to get through to her mom, while at the same time trying to avoid being grounded for life. Given that her mom was the queen, she could easily make that happen. At least she didn't have to worry about making a scene inside of the castle instead of the entrance to it.
Too bad it didn't make talking to her mom any easier.
"All of Bright Moon has been worried sick." Her mother stated as she stood before her. "What were you thinking?"
"Mom-!" That was the only word she managed to utter before her world suddenly became lighter. Her vision grew hazy by the second as her mom's shouting began to echo all around her.
"How could you be so selfish and disobedient?"
"Ugh..." Glimmer moaned as her head filled with fog. Everything was going lighter. Lighter. Then everything began to fade to black as she collapsed.
"Glimmer!" Her mom cried worriedly. This wasn't like those times when she was little, always pretending to be sick or out of magic just to get out of trouble. This was serious. Looking on ahead to the gem of Bright Moon, her mother quickly scooped her precious daughter into her arms before stretching her wings out, flying her daughter to the gem without pause. Grounding her for life and giving her a stern talking to came second.
Being a mother came first.
At least Glimmer caught a brief glimpse of her mother's caring concern before she passed out again.
...
"Mmmh.." Glimmer moaned as she finally came to. She felt better, re-energized in more ways than one. Light filled her eyes as she gazed into the miraculous Gem above her, the source of their magical power. And there in the corner of her eyes she saw her mother, with the sweetest, caring, smile she's always known her to have.
"Are you all right?" She asked calmly.
"I'm fine mom." She replied as she leaned up. She twiddled her fingers back and forth as she watched the small sparkles of light dance around them, ensuring her her powers had returned.
"Don't think you're not still in trouble." Her mother said as Glimmer continued to test her magic. "You didn't even take the time to charge up before you left?"
"I didn't think I'd be gone that long." It was comforting to see a warm smile coming from her daughter despite the circumstances.
"Where did you go anyway?"
"Ok." Glimmer stood as she began her lengthy explanation. "Bow and I found a super powerful First Ones tech in the woods. We knew it would help the Rebellion, so we went to get it and bring it back, but we got a little sidetracked. It was fine though, I totally had it under control. And while we were out, we found something even better!"
Everything was going well so far. Even the skepticism on her mother's face told her so. "What did you find?"
"I can't tell you yet. But you're going to love it, I promise!" She was so excited! She couldn't wait to hear the praise and pride her mother was surely to give her after everything she's been through!
"Glimmer-"
"Ah! Wait here, I'll be right back!"
"We are not done talking about this, Glimmer. Glimmer!" There wasn't any time to get a single word out before her daughter teleported. Angella sighed as she rubbed her brow. It was times like this she couldn't tell if being a Queen was easier or being a mother was easier. All she knew is that it left her with a splitting headache that never ended...
...
...
*thud*
*thud*
*thud*
"You know you're more likely to draw attention if you keep slamming the door open and shut, right?" Catra commented as she slouched on the bed. There were too many things going on that was growing her impatience. She didn't know how Glimmer's talk with her mother was going, she didn't know how long they had before someone else had found them, and she didn't know how long she could put up with Bow quickly opening and closing the door to make sure the coast was clear.
And it didn't help when she had this weird stuffed creature that looked like a mix between a butterfly and an elephant staring at her for the last twenty minutes.
"It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious." Bow commented quietly, never looking away from the hallways. "I've never really smuggled in a Horde soldier before into Bright Moon castle."
"Yeah, well I never defected before," she reminded, "so how do you think I feel?"
There really was a sense of tension in the air. How was she supposed to know if Glimmer's talk with her mother was going to work in the first place? Was she supposed to expect a simple escort of Glimmer bringing her mother to the room? Or was she supposed to expect the heavy march of a dozen armed soldiers ready to raid the place and capture Catra before she had a chance to escape? Time would only tell, and time is what made Catra the most nervous.
"How are you holding up with that, anyway?" Bow asked closing the door again. "Glimmer said you seemed a bit out of it ever since we left Thaymor."
"Meh... I don't know..." Catra replied leaning against the bed. "Honestly I never really felt welcomed in the Horde in the first place. Whenever I talked to anyone I always felt like they weren't even looking at me half the time, it felt like they were looking at the wall."
"Was it really that bad? I mean, I get the Horde would be kinda rotten, but I figured they'd at least treat themselves better."
"Well they did... for the most part..." She looked over to the sword on her left, the thing that started this whole defection. "They still weren't welcoming to everyone though... " She didn't bother going into detail out loud, not that it mattered. It was just something worth forgetting about, like everything in her past...
...
...
*sniff*
The little cat girl cried silently to herself as she sat behind some trashcans on the playground.
A playground was one of the strangest places to picture being present within the Fright Zone, weirder to picture guards and cameras watching the place, but it wasn't without it's purpose.
Like everything else meant for the upbringing of children amongst the Horde, the playground was exclusive to young children between four to six years old. It was the beginning fundamentals of teaching kids how to interact with other people new to them and grow some muscles. It also taught them how to use the environment to their advantage, whether it was playing tag or something more simple like Hide-and-Go Seek. If it educated or helped children grow to become better cadets and future soldiers, the Horde would have it.
Unfortunately, this didn't mean everyone had to like everyone, and, to her, it seemed everyone was intent on not liking one person in particular.
This particular person was a five-year-old girl named Catra, a simple girl with cat-like features who found herself crying away from the other kids. What she was crying about remained mysterious, save for the simple large red mark across her right cheek. Nobody paid her any mind, nobody seemed to care about the strange crying noise they heard near the trash, and those who did immediately left after seeing who was there.
Except for one.
"Are you okay?" A perky voice spoke up, causing Catra to lift her head from her arms just enough to see who was talking. The greeter seemed to be a strange blond girl Catra had never met before. Around the same age as herself presumably, given her height, and definitely one of the happiest-looking kids she's ever seen within the Fright Zone.
Catra continued to cry to herself silently, digging her head back into her arms as she sobbed. The blond girl tilted her head as she watched her sniffle to herself. "Why are you crying?" She still didn't give an answer. All she did was try to wave her away, letting the other girl get a good look at her small claws. "Ooooh... those look sharp." She commented. "Are you the one who scratched Lonnie earlier?" As if to answer her question the girl's sobs grew louder and the sniffling doubled.
"Mmmmhmmmh..." She whimpered into her arms.
"I heard about what happened." The girl continued as she sat left to the crier. "Kyle said Lonnie took someone's doll without permission and made her cry, then some monster attacked Lonnie and made her cry." She heard Catra hiccup at the mention of the word "monster", confirming what the girl already thought. "I heard the guards got really mad and hit the monster then to scare it away. The monster they were talking about was you, wasn't it?"
For the first time since she came across her, the young Catra tilted her head up a bit, letting the new girl see her different-colored eyes and the tears that flowed down her face, along with the red mark on her cheek.
Why couldn't this girl get the message? Catra remembered thinking to herself. I just want to be alone.
"The girl with the doll was more scared of the monster than Lonnie, and she wouldn't even tell the guards what really happened."
"Mhmhmmmmhmmm..."
"Now everyone else is scared of the monster over here, and everyone hates her and calls her a freak."
Then get it through your head already! I want to be alo-!
"But I don't." She remembers going silent at this statement, fully lifting her head to look the strange girl in the eyes. Nothing but sadness and a runny nose filled Catra's face, and none of it bothered the other girl. "You don't look like a freak. You were just trying to help someone fight off the bully, right? I think that's really nice!" There was no audible indication coming from Catra's sobs, only a small twitching sensation as her small tail wiggled slightly.
"Do you wanna be friends?" That was the one question that sent Catra over the edge. She remembered doubling her cries of misery and sobbing as she laid her head into the girl's shoulder, holding her tightly like she would disappear if she didn't. She was the first one to ever say an F word to her that wasn't Freak, the first person to ever make herself feel wanted. She couldn't remember what was going through her head at that time, just that she didn't want to be alone at that moment.
The other girl continued to smile as she patted Catra's head, enjoying the possibility that she made a new friend. "My name's Adora. What's your's?" It took all of Catra's willpower to fight through the sobs, continuing to press her head against Adora's shoulder as she answered.
"C-Catra..."
"Catra..."
...
...
"Catra!" The sound of Bow calling out her name snapped her out of memory lane.
"Huh?" She blinked to herself as she came back to reality. It felt like minutes had passed through her mind despite the several seconds that came and gone in the real world.
"You all right? You just kind of zoned out there for a minute."
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine..."
What was that?
Why did she just recall an event like that?
Flashbacks and moments of de sha vue were a common occurrence in everyday life, but this is something that shouldn't have occurred with Catra. She hated recalling her old life, she didn't want to recall any moments of her past. Everything about her past was something painful or saddening, and most of the time, usually both. It's like something forced her to recall those events no matter how much she wished against it.
"You know when people say that they usually aren't fine?" Bow commented walking over. "I get it if you feel weird about all of this. I can't imagine how it feels to suddenly betray your home."
"My home?" It sounded like she was ready to chuckle at the word. "My home wasn't anywhere in the Horde. Honestly I was better off betraying them from the very beginning. If I screwed up even once there since becoming a Senior Cadet, they probably would've chased me off with robots and bombs anyway."
"Well if you ever want to talk about it, we're here you know." Bow reminded sitting next to her. "You can talk to me about it, you can talk to Glimmer about it, you can talk to anyone. It might feel weird but you're among friends here."
"..." Somehow that one silent expression on Catra's face told him everything she had to say about that.
"You... Don't really consider us friends, do you?"
"Don't take it personally, it's not a you thing, ok? If you guys don't stab me in the back, I won't stab you in yours, but it doesn't make us friends." She gazed into the sword again as she held it in her hands. "I just-"
*Swoosh!*
"Ahh-!" Bow nearly shrieked as Glimmer materialized back within the room, powers fully restored.
"Ok, I'm here!" She announced happily as the two stood back up. "My mom's on her way, but no one panic."
"What-"
"I SAID NO ONE PANIC!" She screamed. "Don't worry, she'll love you. At the very least she'll have to trust you, especially after you transform into She-Ra!"
"Wait, we're jumping straight into She-Ra first?" He could see the logic behind the idea but it was all at the risk of a gamble. "Shouldn't we tell her how she saved Thaymor first before we try the whole She-Ra thing?"
"No, because like I thought when they first invaded, she's probably going to think it was all a plan to get closer to Bright Moon."
"But... " He really wanted to find a way to ease her mother into the information. "I mean she's only done it once you know."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Catra asked raising a brow. It almost sounded like a challenge to her and she wasn't one to back down! "I can do it with one hand tied behind my back. Watch!" Grabbing the prized possession and raising it above her head, she called out. "For the Honor of Grayskull!"
"..."
"..."
"...?" Ok, that was nothing to worry about. "I said, for the Honor of Grayskull!" She raised the sword even higher, meeting the same results.
"..."
"...Uhh Catra, it's not-"
"Just give it a second!" Catra cut bow off as she shook the sword. "I said, FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!...Come on you stupid thing, transform me already!"
"Ok, so you can't exactly call it on the fly, but no worries." The panic in Glimmer's tone was slowly settling in. "You just need to practice it for a few minutes while I take my mom the long way up here. It's simple, right?"
"Err... ha, of course it is!" Catra looked away nervously while trying to pass off with a smile. "I'll have your mom aweing at my She-Ra... ness... by the time she's up these stairs! Hahaha...ehhhhh..."
"You don't sound too confident." Bow commented.
"I-I'm sure I'll have it in a few minutes. I mean I did it once in the woods on the first try, remember?"
"She has a point." The princess agreed enthusiastically. "She just needs to get the right feel for it, like she did in the woods."
"But Glimmer, I don't think-"
"Would you stop it with the negativity already?" Catra groaned interrupting him. She hated put downs. She hated people talking down to her. Above all else, she hated people who repeatedly told her she was incapable of doing something! She heard enough of that in the Horde, she wasn't about to hear that crap here! "I'll be She-Ra any minute now! Just give me some space and I'll be She-Ra by the time you get back!"
"That's great! Then Bow and I will go get her while you work on it!" The warning lights in Catra's mind telling her she made a mistake were going off like mad as Glimmer said this.
"Ehhh W-Wait I don't think we need to go that fast-"
*Swoosh!*
Anything she had to say after that fell on deaf ears as Glimmer and Bow teleported in another flash of light. Catra found herself left in a room all to herself with a very heavy level of awkwardness filling the air.
"Ok... Soooo... it's nothing to worry about..." Telling herself this didn't make the worry go away. In fact, she the worry only doubled saying this out loud. "Eh hem... For the Honor of Grayskull!" This was it! She was going to transform into She-Ra! She just had to think positively about everything up to this point and what she wanted to look like! A superpowered Knight in a golden tiara and bracelets with the whitest outfit she could imagine.
And for some reason one that shrunk her pants.
Despite using the correct phrase, the sword didn't react in the slightest. Was it solar powered? No, that couldn't be it. It was well into the night when she used it against that giant beast, remembering how her transformation came immediately upon deflecting the creature's attack-
"That's it!" Catra's eyes lit up with revelation. "I just need something scary or big to intimidate me and everything will work out!" Realization aside, she just needed to find something now to take the place of that scary monster. The monster itself wasn't too frightening to her, even with her instincts telling her, so she just needed to find something around here that was just as scary.
That alone brought up a troubling realization to her. How the heck was she supposed to find something scary around Bright Moon of all places?! Being a castle, she knew this place would've been heavily guarded with constant patrols probably a mile outside of the castle just to ensure no monster could trespass among the ground, or Horde soldiers for that matter. Obviously she couldn't just pick a fight with the guards themselves, that would've made negotiations and alliances a teensy bit more difficult to pull off otherwise.
If she was going to find something to attack her, she needed something already within the walls, and that could've taken forever to find-!
*Neeeiiigh!*
"No..." Her ears drooped at the familiar sound. "Anything but that..." She begged to herself as she looked out the window.
Fate was always a cruel and mysterious mistress. Sometimes it threw a bone to someone and jumped in at the time it needed, like when someone needed rescuing and there was no one around. At other times, it was a royal pain in the tush, like when someone needed a winning hand at a gamble they placed, only to lose everything in one go.
Catra, sadly, fell in to the latter category.
Sure enough, over on the nearby hill a little ways from the castle, was the all too familiar horse that made this entire trip to the castle horrifying and frightening for her.
And gave Glimmer more than enough excuses to exact her revenge for Catra's previous annoyance.
"Ok, so what are my options?" She prayed the one she needed didn't involve the horse. "Either A: Fail to get this stupid sword working, caught by the Queen or guards, and spend the rest of my life in a jail cell where I'll never see natural light again, or B: Get the Horse thing to help me get this sword working and risk it eating me alive or at least my hair, or C: Return to the Horde, forget everything ever happened, and hope nobody remembers anything I did in the last twelve hours of my life...Ugggh!" No matter how much she hated it she knew she didn't have any options.
Looking back over to the couch, sighed as she surrendered her dignity by donning the pink robe. Least with this she wasn't going to get attacked by any guards that saw her... hopefully...
...
...
"Heh heh... hey horsie..." Catra greeted with a nervous smile, holding the sword tightly in her hands. "Well... go on with it... attack me or something!" She demanded holding the sword out. She just needed the beast to attack her or the sword and then she could call out for Grayskull and all that. The horse looked at the pink-robed knight in front of him for a few seconds, then returned to grazing in the grass like she wasn't even there. Catra blinked as she stared at the horse for a few seconds, scratching her head at the calmness and peacefulness it seemed to be giving off. "Huh... guess you aren't exactly aggressive, are ya?"
Was this a good thing or a bad thing? On one hand, she didn't have to worry about the horse terrifying her as much, on the other, she was right back to square one. Ok, well I'm still a bit freaked out by it so maybe that's enough to get it working. She thought to herself, taking a deep breath as she raised the sword again. "For the Honor of Grayskull! ...Let's try this differently." As long as she was near the thing that intimidated her, it should work... right?
"For the Honor of Grayskull!" ... Maybe she had to feel more intimidated? She breathed deeply as she took a few more steps towards the horse. "Ok... for the Honor of Grayskull!" ...Still nothing? Much to her grievance, she found herself being forced to take an additional step closer each and every time it failed.
"For the Honor of Grayskull!" This was it! She was five feet from the horse so it had to work!
"...For the Honor of Grayskull!" Any second now! She was right in front of it now!
"...For the Honor of Grayskull!" She could feel herself transforming into- "Oh come on!"
"For the Honor of Grayskull!" She was on it's side. "For the Honor of Grayskull!" She was on the other side. "FOR THE HONOR OF FREAKING GRAYSKULL ALREADY!" She grumbled again. By now she was sitting on top of the horse. It's amazing how quickly you can get over your fear of something when you have something more annoying than what you fear. She slumped over on the horse itself with a moan, looking over the sword irritated as the horse looked back at her curiously.
"Look you stupid sword, you spent half the day torturing me and nagging at me after I found you, so at the very least you could give me this one thing when I truly need it!" She stared at the reflection in the sword as if expecting an answer, getting nothing but utter silence in return. She didn't get a headache, she didn't get any sense from it, she didn't even get one of those annoying visions.
"Ugggh..." She groaned again as she lied on the ground. "I'm so boned..."
*Neeigh!*
She looked to her left as she saw the used-to-be-horrifying horse, enjoying the feeling of the grass right next to her as it lied on it's back. "What do you have to be so miserable about? You're a horse." She muttered. She raised the sword over her head as she stared back at her reflection. "How am I supposed to make you work? I swung you over my head just like this and then..." Her eyes slowly widened as the memory came to her. "Wait a minute!"
...
That's when she saw the creature towering over her again, surprised by how quickly it rushed over, and raised it's giant mandible over her head to strike. "Ah!" She yelped, using all her might to lift the heavy blade over her head.
It was then, all at once, that an emanating, glowing, light ascended from the blade just after the creature's massive claw struck it. Like all the previous times, each and every time Catra tried to connect to the blade through some physical means, did she see the various visions play out in her mind along with a familiar voice.
"Catra..." Light Hope's familiar voice echoed as the images played out. The ranged to more varied and vivid locations, from a tranquil castle surrounding a giant gem, to the rocky plains with a mysterious black hole in the center, to an asteroid crash landing on a planet, closing in with a mysterious ruin she had never seen before, and finally to an image of the sword itself shining in the darkness. "Catra... will you serve for the Honor of Grayskull?"
That was it.
"For the Honor of Grayskullll!" Catra shouted at the top of her lungs. Immediately, light expanding from the sword across the surrounding clearing, just as Bow was helping Glimmer back to her feet. The two were shocked by the massive energy they felt radiating from the Horde spy, watching in amazement as light enveloped her entire body, causing the massive creature itself to seemingly recede a little.
...
"That's it!" She sprang to her feet as she looked around her surroundings, looking around until she spotted a large boulder next to a tree near them. "I don't need anything to attack or scare me, I just need to give this thing a good hit on something hard!" She grinned to herself and her reflection as she came up with this. With absolute pride in her veins and certainty in her mind, she swung the mighty blade against the hardened boulder.
*CLANG!*
"For the Honor of Grayskull!" Yes. Yes! It was working! She saw light emanating from the center of the gem locked in the center of the blade! Her eyes lit up as much as the blade did, maybe even brighter with how proud she was of her ingenious plan!
Everything good from this was coming back to her. She could become She-Ra, take on the Horde that treated her so badly, get the kingdom she always wanted, rule it alongside Adora, and live out the rest of her days in peace, luxury, and a brand spanking new castle! And with this sword, no one would dare threaten her kingdom for as long as she-
*PEW!*
What was that?
This didn't happen before. The sword was NOT supposed to be doing this. Those few sparks that filled her with encouragement previously ended up being traitor in disguise, because the next thing she knew the supposed sparks she saw coming from the sword began channeling several beams of light, shooting across the hill a dozen different times.
"Oh no..." She started to grow worried as the beams of light continued to dance around her. Did this happen before? No, she's pretty sure Bow or Glimmer would've mentioned it if any beams of light hit her before turning into She-Ra. Did she make it mad? To be fair, if someone hit her against a rock that'd tick her off, and she knew the sword had to be alive in some way. Then again maybe it was just really advance? That's when the beams of light suddenly struck the horse.
"Ahh! What's going on?!" The Horse began shining entirely all around itself. Did the lights really transform things that way? Was it going to transform the horse into some form of She-Ra? She watched as the light enveloped the entire horse, hearing it screaming in fear and trotting side to side as it underwent a bizarre transformation. After several seconds a final brief flash went off, temporarily blinding Catra until everything faded away. What she saw next left her baffled.
"Umm... That's not normal for horses, is it?"
The horse itself opened it's sparkling eyes, almost immediately beginning to panic as it saw it's newly evolved state. The horse's mane, for starters, changed into a more serene morning appearance with several shades of warm oranges and yellows. Secondly, it's newly grown wings which spanned almost as long as the horse's body, were spread away, revealing a dazzling array of rainbow colors across it's new feathers. As if none of that was enough, the final piece of resistance was the newly fashioned horn that grew from atop it's head, spanning at least a foot long with swirls of yellow.
Naturally, like any sane person or animal coming across this strange phenomenon, it reacted in the most casual way possible.
Panicking.
*Neeeiigh!*
"W-Whoa, calm down!" Catra began to panic as well as it flailed about. Before she knew it the majestic creature began running away as if running far enough would remove whatever ungodly curse had been placed on it.
This is bad... Catra thought correctly to herself. She had no idea what was wrong with it or what the sword did, and both cases would've made meeting the queen rather troubling. Was the transformation permanent? Temporary? Was the horse going to burst into flames after a few minutes for crying out loud?! It wouldn't exactly look good to meet the queen and mention how she accidentally turned her horse into some more horrifying creature of beautiful terror!
Oh god what if it was contagious?! That'd be really fun story to explain to the person that she didn't want to anger!
She was so preoccupied with her worries and the sight of the horse flying up and down that she didn't even realize as she was running into a Rebellion training camp. Numerous passersby were watching with confusion, surprise, and/or shock as they saw the mysterious creature and the strange person that was chasing it. All she was focused on was trying to get the horse back that could ruin everything!
Gritting her teeth, she used her enhanced agility as she quickly lept to the horse several feet off the ground, grabbing onto it's left wing. Any moments of relief or victory she could've felt were ignored as the horse started flailing about, falling from the sky and into an empty tent before Catra could realize grabbing onto a horse that never flew before was a bad idea.
That's a third thing she could add to her bad-idea-list.
*CRASH!*
Dust and a bit of debris from whatever wooden materials were present within or around the tent were flung in all directions as the horse crashed, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the camp. As the dust began to settle, the trainees all saw two shady figures through the dust cloud, one of which opened it's wings again as it took off in a hurry. The gust it created was enough to give everyone a proper view of the other mysteriously figure, the same one rubbing her sore head from the crash.
"Ugh... stupid horse..." It was at that moment she saw nearly a dozen soldiers of various size and races slowly approach her, half of them enraged and the other half already having drawn their weapons. Something was off about this. She knew they might've been mad for destroying one of their tents, but the hate in their eyes was one that was all too familiar to her - the stare of somebody gazing at their mortal enemy. "What?" It donned on her as she stood up from the ground, noticing a slightly heavier draft around she didn't feel before.
Looking down, everything became clear as she saw the robe she came out in earlier, slightly shredded and completely fallen from her body. If they weren't aware of her allegiance from the helmet she, once again, forgot to remove, the full outfit she was wearing was proof enough. "Oh..." Her ears perked up just as quickly as they drooped after hearing the various shouts of anger from the surrounding soldiers.
"It's the Horde!"
"She's infiltrated Bright Moon Castle!"
"Someone catch her before she gets away!"
"Grrr..." Catra growled as she raised her sword. Any chance Catra had to possibly remove some of the tension and anger she had building up throughout the day were dashed away as she lowered the sword again, remembering one very important detail that was preventing her from causing trouble. "Oh, right... same side..."
"Huaaaaaah!"
*WHAM*
Catra narrowly avoided the oncoming slam of a giant mace from behind her, quickly sidestepping several feet away as it collided to ground with full force. No sooner had she dodged did she find herself tackled again by another soldier of hulking mass, grabbing her and intending to hold onto her until she could be bound. She found herself forced to scratch at his vulnerable face, being careful not to damage his eyes, causing him to cry out in pain and lowering his grip, giving her enough time to climb atop his shoulders before kicking him away from her.
"You guys have no idea how badly I want to fight you right now!" She hissed. She found herself blocking another strike from a giant axe that nearly decapitated her, finding the female soldier's strength quite impressive as she slowly pushed Catra towards the ground. "F-For the Honor of Grayskull!" What she was hoping would get the sword working only aided in providing a confused look on the soldier's face. It gave her enough time to quickly legsweep the soldier off her feet, backing flipping out of the way as another soldier tried to attack her.
There wasn't enough time to fend off the army of soldiers that continued to chase after her, she had to get away! With sword in hand, she sped off through the trail of tents behind her, being careful not to run directly into any approaching soldiers and switching between left and right turns whenever she found her current path blocked off.
Eventually it led her to a cliffside overlooking a ravine with a small river running through it, finding no time to stop as she lost her footing and began tumbling down the rocky side several dozen feet into the freezing cold water. It was at that time several soldiers began pulling strange white colored orbs with fuses on them. Coughing out what little water got into her mouth, skin shivering at the freezing cold water, her attention turned back to the soldiers just as the strange looking explosives were right over her head.
*POOF*
As opposed to what she thought would result in a fiery explosion she instead found her entire surroundings coated in a strange white dusty substance. Her confusion didn't even have a chance to surface as she got back to her feet as her entire body suddenly felt heavier and her head filled with fog.
"Hack! OUgh!" She covered her mouth as she inhaled the strange smoke. "Ngh... W-What is this?" She rubbed her head as she found her consciousness beginning to weaken. She had no time for answers as she continued to run off as fast as she could, several more explosions of these white bombs going off around her, each one of them ending up right next to her in the process. "D-Don't fall asleep." She kept telling herself. With each additional explosion her body became heavier and her legs wobbled further. She didn't know how these bombs were making her dizzy, just that they were intended to make her capture easier.
The only ease she got out of this entire chase was the explosions stopping as she entered the nearby woods.
"F...For the Honor of Gray... Grayskull..." She muttered, hoping to herself the sword would finally aid her. Like every other time, no matter how much she begged to herself for the sword to help her compared to all the other times, she found her prayers unanswered, no matter how much she pleaded. "For... t-the Hon... Honor of Grayskull..."
It was too much. A fourth of a mile into the woods she finally collapsed onto her knees, panting heavily. She couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't stay awake no matter how hard she tried. What little resistance she had in her arms gave out as she finally collapsed to the ground, eyes growing heavier as she dropped the sword. She couldn't feel if she was holding the sword anymore or not, just that everything was getting dark.
"F... For... For the...For the Honor of..." As the last bit of light began to fade, she saw a mysterious figure looming over her, too dark to see through the growing haze. "Grayskull..." And with that final utterance, everything went black...
...
...
The Fright Zone.
The place that started the violence, that declared war on Etheria itself. Here, numerous races found themselves aiding a cause they thought to believe pure, one to unify the world under one rule by their leader, Lord Hordak. It was the place many found a purpose in life, for others a home to the races that considered them outcast.
And it was within the hallways of the fine Citadel of this place that Shadow-Weaver eagerly awaited Adora's return.
Adora was her pride and joy. Adora knew it, everyone knew it, and everyone else feared her for it. If anyone had a death wish, confronting Shadow-Weaver on anything or doing something to harm or threaten Adora was the quickest way to do it. She expected the best for Adora. She expected the most from Adora. Not once in her life had Adora ever let her down. And she knew today would be no exception.
Just as she predicted, right on time, she saw Adora entering from the Launch site. There was a strange look of fire in her eyes, no doubt still filled with the passion of battle flowing through her veins.
"Adora," Shadow-Weaver greeted with a welcoming hand, "how was your first mission my dea-"
*WHAP!*
"!" What just happened? For the first time ever in Shadow-Weaver's life Adora slapped her hand away.
Harshly.
"You lied to me!" She hissed, pointing to Shadow-Weaver accusingly.
"Lied to you?" The weaver of shadows grew intrigued at the statement, being careful not to show it. "About what my dear?"
"Everything!" She stated. "You've been lying to me since day one! That wasn't a mission to a facility, they weren't heavily armed! They were just civilians running for their lives!"
Oh my. Someone had apparently given the revelation to Adora. She knew the soldiers were wise enough not to do it themselves. Any soldier that was aware of the truth behind all this knew better than to display this information to any of the other troops, especially Adora herself. That could only leave one other possibility that made Shadow-Weaver's blood boil.
The cat.
"What was everything I've been working for?" Adora continued angrily. "Have we always been like this? Have we been spreading nothing but chaos and destruction since the very beginning?!" Shadow-Weaver's silence only drove her more insane. Was she admitting through her silence what Adora found out? Was she unaware of everything just like Adora was? She needed some answer from her because no matter how troubled she found herself, Shadow-Weaver was the only person she could turn to for answers! "Tell me!"
"...I see..." Her tension remained as Shadow-Weaver placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Oh, my poor, innocent, Adora. I see there's no point in trying to hide it from you." Adora flinched at the reply. Was she actually admitting it? Was Catra right all along?
"So... you admit you've been lying!"
"No," Shadow-Weaver shook her head to this with a saddening tone, "I just haven't been completely honest with you. Come with me, my child. I believe there's something you should see." She turned around as she floated away. She stopped halfway through the hall as she noticed the lack of footsteps behind her. "Now!"
"..." Adora remained steadfast as she followed along. Shadow-Weaver was the last person she could trust, and even that wasn't much of a margin. Out of all the people within the Horde though she was the only one most likely to give her the answers she needed. If she couldn't trust Shadow-Weaver, there was no way she could remain within the Horde. This is the one thing she needed from Shadow-Weaver to renew her determination.
And that's exactly what Shadow-Weaver intended to do. Show her the truth.
At least, show Adora her truth...
...
...
"For the last time." Queen Angella spoke as she walked through the halls of Bright Moon Castle. "What is this grand surprise that I'm supposed to be so impressed with?" It was just like her daughter and her friend. Tell her there was something special or interesting she had to see and force her to come see it herself instead of just telling her.
"You'll see it in a minute, Mom, I promise." Glimmer was so excited! "Bow, can you go check and make sure the surprise is ready for us?" She requested coming to a halt.
"You got it, Princess." He replied respectfully, giving a short salute to the Queen before taking off. It brought a smile to the Queen's face to know Glimmer had such respectful friends.
"I like that boy."
"I know you do, mom. You'll like this surprise even more."
This was it! She was going to prove everything she risked her grounding over and her mother was going to shower her with the praise she always wanted to hear! She would prove herself to her mother, they would gain a new ally in the process, and they would be on their way to win the war! And history would look back on this day recounting Glimmer's heroics as she brought this miraculous victory herself!
With the sound of a door slamming, they watched as Bow quickly trotted himself back, the look of excitement on his face so grand that Glimmer almost thought he looked worried! And for some reason he felt it necessary to pull Glimmer to the side.
"So... problem." He whispered.
"What?"
"Your Majesty!" A female guard called from the end of the hallway. "A Horde spy has been discovered on the Bright Moon grounds. She attacked several of our troops at the Training Camp before running off into the woods."
"What?!" If there was one thing Glimmer regretted at that second, it was acknowledging her surprise and shock at the same time as her mother.
"She couldn't have gotten far, your Highness. We struck her with several of our experimental Tranq Bombs before she could get away."
"Find her and bring her to my Throne Room at once!" The guard saluted and left immediately upon her Queen's orders. That just left one angry mother to glare at two nervous teens. "What. Did. You. DO?!"
Things could only get worse from here...
...
...
...
A/N: Now to post over on Ao3 and play my favorite(annoying) game: read my fic, get annoyed with all the typos, and recorrect them a dozen times cause I'll miss it the first 8 times around XP.
As always, leave a like, fave, review, and share with your friends! Hope to hear your guys' feedback as we start getting into the series and it's interesting differences ^^!