Magic of Etheria

Chapter 38 | Winter Wonderland

(A/N: Check out chapter 5 and chapter 23 for a couple of new illustrations by @apples_dashie and @the.r.account!

Apologies for the delay in this chapter, but my brain was stuck on my 'dive into me' AU that I started in my Tales from Bright Moon book.

With all that out the way, enjoy!)

'So, how do we prove that it's been Iceric this whole time?' I asked, throwing the question out there. We were all thinking it, at least I think we were. I hope we were. Seeing the expressions on Bow and Glimmer's faces through the tracker pad shift to more thoughtful ones, as opposed to the downright suspicious ones they had before, kind of hinted they were thinking about something else beforehand.

But what?

'We could just capture him. Torture him into telling us everything?' Catra suggested from her position in my lap. I batted her tail away from my face.

'Catra! We can't do that... it wouldn't be, um...' I forgot what I was going to say as Catra leant her head back against my shoulder, looking up at me with wide, adoring eyes. I couldn't hold myself back from planting a soft kiss against her forehead and gently squeezing my arms around her waist.

Glimmer's eyes narrowed and Bow beamed a wide smile. I could tell I was going to be interrogated about this later, but for now neither of them commented.

'Why don't we just show up and see what happens? The entire Princess Alliance is going to be there, whatever happens we'll be fine!' Bow provided, bouncing a little as if to emphasise his boundless optimism.

Glimmer sighed and rest her head on his shoulder as I buried a hand in Catra's hair, scratching behind her ear. Catra then let her eyes drift closed and she leaned into the touch, purring softly.

'It really says something that "wing it" is our best plan so far.' Glimmer mused, content to just close her eyes and melt into Bow.

'In my defence, "wing it" was not what I said.'

'It was implied, Bow.'

'Yeaahh, you're right.' He chuckled, knowing better than to stoke the flames of an apparently tired Glimmer.

Catra shifted in my lap, bringing up her legs and tucking her head under my chin. I chuckled when I heard her growl; apparently removing my hand for a second to let her get settled was not allowed. Her purr continued when I replaced my hand and resumed providing her with her coveted ear scritches.

'Bow and I will be arriving tomorrow in time for the Prom, so you two make sure to stay out of trouble until then. Okay?' Glimmer warned, trying to sound authoritative but failing as she steadily succumbed to her sudden bout of tiredness. Bow just smiled fondly at his girlfriend, reaching up to take off her crown when it started running up her forehead at an odd angle.

'Okay, Glim. I'm not sure much can go wrong overnight, and we've managed to keep quiet in Lanche and Ava's house for a whole day without any problems.' I said, keeping my voice down. I could feel Catra's breathing getting deeper by the second, which meant any moment now she'd be dropping off. It was either the excitement from the last few days catching up with her, or she was ridiculously comfortable and my hand in her hair was helping to lull her to sleep.

'Yes, but it's you two. And from the look of Catra I'm not convinced you'll make it through tonight–' Glimmer interrupted herself with a yawn, '–keeping quiet.'

'I make no promises... Sparkles.' Catra grumbled quietly from her position over my chest.

'Ugh, you two are so gross.' Glimmer dismissed us with a lazy wave of her hand and then, finally, flopped down into Bow's lap.