A/N: The Plantars et al settle into Brightmoon

King had already made himself at home. He lay on the war room floor with the remnants of cake all around him.

"He ate all the cake" Bow said in wonder, inspecting the plates licked clean.

"He does that" Luz noted cheerfully.

"Hey you eat me out of house and home too, kiddo." Eda said. Luz smiled sheepishly.

"Well there's plenty more in the kitchens." Glimmer led them down the hall. "This is where you'll be staying. It's not very big or fancy or anything…"

Their reactions indicated they had a very different idea about what "big and fancy" meant.

"This is also bigger than my farm" Hop Pop said sourly.

"My room is an old storage room. And I share with King!" Luz said in dawning horror.

Anne, Sprig, and Polly were beside themselves.

"Race you!" they all yelled at once. Anne and Sprig immediately hopped on the fluffy purple bed and jumped on it. Polly dived into the tub.

"This, now, I like this" she floated around on her back.

"Uh you may not want to-" Adora winced as the bed exploded in a burst of feathers, throwing Anne and Sprig onto the floor. "Do that. Or that will happen." Adora laughed and helped them up. "Happened to me on my first day here too."

"Look over there, buddy" Bow picked up Sprig so he could see out the window to the training grounds. "That's my target range. I use it for my arrows but it works just as good with sling shots."

Sprig's eyes widened. "This is the best day of my life" he whispered.

"It's also good for swords" Adora pointed out to Anne.

Anne grinned "You're on!"

On the grounds, Sprig and Bow made perfect bullseyes and hi-fived while Polly cheered.

Adora sparred with Anne, teaching her some basic moves. Every time Anne feel down she picked herself up fiercer than before.

After she charged Adora, growling and nearly disarming her Adora took a step back.

"Woah!" she said, alarmed "Take it easy, kid."

Anne breathed hard, looking murderous. She quickly realized what she was doing and her expression softened.

Catra, who was petting Melog on a bench to the side, bristled.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I just...I have to get stronger" Anne finished, rubbing her arm self-consciously.

Adora nodded like she understood. "I know. Believe me, I know. But take care of yourself too. That's something I'm still learning."

Anne looked down so her face was shadowed, not wanting them to see her cry.

Adora put her hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it. Let's hit the showers, ok?" she said in an upbeat voice.

"Um, Adora, this isn't the Horde" Catra reminded her. "There are no showers? Just baths?"

"Let's not hit the showers!" Adora said in the exact same tone of voice.

On the very top of the castle, Eda and Luz were examining the runestone. Eda put her hand on her chin ponderously, and stopped Luz from trying to lick it.

"But what if the secret is to lick it?" Luz asked.

Glimmer walked up the steps. "Can he use it?" she asked Eda anxiously.

"Dunno" Eda said flatly. "It's like nothing we have on the Isles. But best he doesn't know about it. You got like a glamour spell or something, kid?"

Glimmer smiled wickedly. "As a matter of fact, I do."

She appraised the stone and the area.

Glimmer worked on the spell all day, as arrows and stones flew on the grounds, mingling with the crash of swords.

As the sun set they all sat at the long table for dinner.

Bow and Anne fought over the last piece of chicken as Sprig went on about his deadly aim.

Glimmer dragged a high chair from the kitchens and presented it to an unimpressed Polly.

"Disappointing" she drawled as Hop Pop picked her up and placed her in it.

Adora gave Anne more pointers. Catra fed Melog table scraps and looked at Anne grimly.

Glimmer stood up and tapped her glass with a fork. "Ok, everyone, announcement."

Everyone stopped talking and bickering and gave her their full attention.

"We have thrown every spell we can at this. We're safe for now. As for getting our new friends home, I talked to Entrapa about a portal."

"It took us thirty minutes to calm her down about alternate realities. She wanted to dissect you guys" Bow noted.

Glimmer cleared her throat. "After...all that, she agreed to help. We're to meet her when she has more data. In the meantime, please think of Brightmoon as like...a vacation home."

"We don't have those" Sprig said bluntly.

"Aude!" Anne scolded him.

Glimmer blushed and coughed. "Right. Of course. Still, my home is your home."

Polly raised her hand. "Can I have my own room?"

Glimmer looked nonplussed. "Sure?"

"No, Polly" Hop Pop told her sternly.

"Great, even in bizarro world, I'm the baby"

"That's right"

That night, Anne sat in the hallway, sharpening her sword intently.

"Hey" Catra was suddenly there, coming out of the shadows. "Can I sit with you?"

"Sure"

Catra slid down beside her. 'I just wanted to say…" she chose her words carefully like she wasn't even sure why she was saying this. "It gets better"

"What does?"

"You had a friend go dark side" Catra said baldly.

Anne startled. "How can you possibly know that?"

"I know the look. I saw it on Adora's face enough."

"What? Why?"

"Adora and I grew up in the Horde. When she left, I...didn't"

"Oh"

"But I did eventually. Those idiot princesses got to me. Annoying, but eh."

She gave Anne a reassuring smile. "If someone as hopeless as me can change, so can your friend."

Anne smiled back, wiping tears from her face. "Thanks" she said in a small husky voice.

Catra nodded. "Get some sleep, kid. Sparkles says we have to go shopping tomorrow" she said in an exaggerated mock fancy voice. "Ugh. Princesses." She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Goodnight"

She walked away, leaving Anne to mouth "Sparkles?"

Anne went to bed on her (mended) matress with a relieved sigh.

Soon, Sprig jumped in next to her.

"I got a little scared. This place is big and dark." he admitted.

"It's ok, buddy"

"So, Anne, would you rather have a test every day, oooor...fight a giant monster once a week?"

"Don't we do that anyway?"

"Oh yeah"

They fell asleep under the new stars.