"Ugh, there's sooooo much paperworrrrrk! Why do we need to do all of this anyway?!" Catra complained as she frustratedly pushed her papers away from her on the table and flopped back onto the couch. Sitting next to her was Adora. Nodding as she read a paper and scribbled something down on it. She slid the paper away and took another one from a stack of paperwork close to her. Moving onto the next paper to do the same thing.
"Catra, you know that this paperwork has important information needed for the kingdom to run." Adora told her, looking up from her paperwork. Right now, she, Catra, and Bow were in the Bright Moon's castle lounge. They were each filling out a MOUNTAIN of paperwork. Bow diligently signed away at his papers as Adora and Catra talked. His son, Arrow was also in the room. Reading an interesting looking history book.
"But there's still way too much! And that's after we split it! Let's do something fun instead. I mean... I can't even remember the last time we went on a date night together. Y'know, just the two of us." She said as she sat back up and looked at Adora.
"Look, Catra, I know we've been busy lately."
"Too busy." Catra rolled her eyes.
"But I promise, as soon as we get this done, and Glimmer is done with her meeting, we'll do something fun together, just the two of us." Adora smiled at Catra and put her hand on Catra's.
"Uh huh, I've heard that before." Catra jerked her hand away, Adora frowned.
"Hey guys... is everything ok? We can do this later if you guys want." Bow spoke up.
"Do you guys need help? Cause I can help too." Arrow asked, looking up from the history book that he was reading.
"We're all right, but thanks for asking anyway." Adora answered back.
"Ok then." Arrow shrugged and went back to reading.
"Wait a second, where are Finn and Cynthia?" Bow wondered aloud.
"Chill out arrow boy, I'm sure they're fine." Catra reassured him. "And I'm pretty sure they don't wanna be watched 24/7 like prisoners." She muttered to herself, not loud enough for anyone to hear.
"Did someone say my name?" Arrow looked up, confused.
"As long as they're not getting into trouble..." Adora said uncertainly.
If I know Finn and Cynthia, they're probably up to something. Arrow thought to himself. Maybe I should find them before they get into trouble.
"I'll go check on them." Arrow said, then he teleported away.
"It's so hard to keep track of everything around here, and we've so busy lately. We need a break." Catra commented.
"Look, I know it's a lot, but-"
"Actually Catra's right, we've been so busy, we haven't really had time for ourselves lately. Maybe we should go on a best friend squad adventure! Like we used to do, or maybe we should visit our other friends, y'know, catch up, it's been a long time since we talked to them too." Bow suggested.
Adora sighed. "I guess it would be nice to get a break from all this work and take some time for ourselves."
"Hell yeah it will!" Catra exclaimed.
"Besides, Swift Wind has been nagging me to go flying with him, and I cannot get him to stop asking. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, we need to finish off this paperwork before we do anything else."
"Ugh, not the paperwork again!" Adora gave her a stern look.
"Ok fine, I'll do it... stupid paperwork, can't they find a more efficient system? One that maybe doesn't involve so much paperwork?" Catra muttered annoyedly as she started writing again. Just then, a purple sparkle appeared, and Glimmer teleported into the room.
"Hey guys, where is Arrow? Me and dad need to practice some magic and spells with him."
"He went to check on Finn and Cynthia." Bow told her.
"Heh, good luck finding them sparkles! I hope you don't fall for their pranks again. Cause if this time is anything like last time... oh boy... you're in for it!" Catra muttered, still loud enough for Glimmer to hear. Glimmer gave her an irritated look.
"Your brat gets it from you, you know." She said, then sighed. "Whatever, I'll go find them." Then she teleported away.
***
"Alright... so just shoot that, and the trap will be set off. This oughtta get their attention..." Finn said as they smiled and rubbed their hands together menacingly. They, along with Cynthia, were currently in the whispering woods, surrounded by trees. They were overlooking a big drop into the palace yard. In that drop was something that looked like one of those Rube-Goldberg machines, and a really long one at that.
"Ahh... I don't know if this is going to work... I mean... what if I miss, or what if something goes wrong and it doesn't work the way it should? Or what if-"
"Ohhhh come onnnn Cyn! You're a master archer, there's no way you're gonna miss, and we already checked the trap for any mistakes, twice. Well, you did most of the checking, I just followed you." They muttered. "But still! I wouldn't have even built this contraption if it wasn't for you!" Finn said, gesturing to the looooooong chain of contraptions on the field below them. "Now shoot it, this thing's foolproof! It's gotta be!" They said as they leaned back against a tree and tapped their foot.
Cynthia sighed. "Alright, but if we get caught, or something else happens, this is on you." She readied herself to shoot the arrow and set off the trap. Finn leaned forward eagerly, ears flattened, tail lashing as they got ready for Cynthia to shoot the arrow, then their eyes flitted to a falling leaf. They unsheathed their claws and lashed their tail excitedly and readied themselves to pounce on it, but just as they were about to do that, a purple sparkle appeared in front of them, and Arrow appeared. Finn jumped in surprise, fur sticking up.
"Hey guys, where have you been? I've been looking all over the castle grounds for you!" Cynthia jumped at the sound of her brother and let go of her bow and arrow.
"I missed." She grumbled as she picked up her bow, then walked over to Finn and Arrow.
"Uh- we've been here the whole time, duh. Why, are our parents looking for us?" They asked as their fur began to lie flat. Their tail moving as they talked.
"They're not exactly looking for you, but they are wondering where you are. You guys have been gone a pretty long time... anyways, we should go back before you get caught." Arrow said as he and Cynthia started walking back to Bright Moon.
"Awwww man! Do we have to?!" Finn complained, but their attention flitted to another falling leaf.
"Come on Finn." They heard Cynthia's voice calling them just as they were about to pounce on it. Finn turned their head toward the sound and saw that Arrow and Cynthia had already moved far ahead, and they ran after them.
"Ok, remind me again why are we walking back to the castle? Can't you just teleport us in or something?" Finn asked as they hurriedly caught up to the siblings. Their tail lashed passively as they talked.
"Arrow needs to get closer to the castle to make sure he doesn't miss, remember?" Cynthia reminded them.
"What she said." Arrow agreed. "Anyways, did you guys get here without anyone seeing you? I thought the guards would have caught you at the gates."
"Simple, Cyn had a rope arrow, and she used it and her bow to zip line us from her room to the woods."
"And how were you guys planning to get back without getting caught?"
"Simple, I'd climb up into Cyn's room using my claws," they brought up a hand and unsheathed their claws, "and throw down a rope so she could climb."
"And if that didn't work, I brought along a grappling hook arrow, so that we could both climb up it." Cynthia began. "And if that didn't work-"
"Ok ok, we get it! I don't understand why we need to have so many plans anyway, or any plan at all." Finn said as they crossed their arms and blew a loose strand of hair off their face, they muttered that last part.
"Puh-lease, do you have any idea how much trouble you'd get in if it weren't for my plans, admit it, the only reason you ever get away with pranks at all is because of my plans."
Finn scoffed. "Not a chance, there's no way I'm admitting that."
Cynthia gave them a smug look. "So you do admit it?"
"Shhhh! We're almost at the gates! We have to be quiet or the guards will find us!" Arrow whispered loudly, and everyone just stopped talking.
"But for the record, I get away with my pranks a lot of times without you." Finn whispered to Cynthia.
"Oh really? Name one time."
"Umm... uhh... I've gotten away plenty of times! There's too many to count!" Finn said as they crossed their arms and turned their head to their right, ears flattening.
"Uh huh." Cynthia looked at Finn and raised an eyebrow. "Well, anyways, we're here." They peeked in front of them from behind the trees. A little way ahead of them was a bridge, and at the end of the bridge there was a grand open gate, with 2 guards on each side.
"So... now what?" Finn asked.
"We just stick to the plan and- AAAH!" A sparkle appeared and Queen Glimmer appeared, covered in slime and confetti, with a frustrated expression on her face. Finn and Cynthia smiled guiltily.
"Ohhh!" Cynthia laughed nervously. "Hi mom! What are you doing here? And why are you covered in... that?"
"Looking for you guys, what are you three doing out here?"
"How are you gonna improvise your way out of this one?" Arrow whispered to Finn.
"Easy!" They whispered back. "Time to use my spectacular acting skills." They muttered to themself. Arrow looked over at them nervously.
"Please don't." He whispered back.
"Haha, funny story about that actually, Queen Glimmer, you see..." Finn began smoothly.
"Don't bother trying to act your way out of this one, I know exactly what you were doing. Thought you could get away with it?" Glimmer handed Cynthia her arrow. She hesitantly took it and put it back in her quiver.
"Uhh... Cyn, are you sure your arrow missed?" Finn asked.
"Your trap worked perfectly, covering me and a few other Bright Moon guards in slime, now their armor is ruined, and it won't wash out for weeks!" Glimmer said as she shook her hand out. Finn and Cynthia exchanged nervous glances.
"It did work well, didn't it?" She said nervously, but only earned an angry stare from her mom.
"Cynthia, you are grounded for a week! Go to your room! And if I hear anything about any more trouble, I'll make it two weeks. And as for you," she pointed at Finn, who was staring at bugs crawling instead of paying attention. Startled, they whipped their head around to look at Glimmer, "your moms will decide what to do with you. Arrow, with me, we need to practice some magic and spells with your grandpa!" She continued yelling. Cynthia stared angrily at Glimmer for a moment, then half walked, half stomped away.
"Come on Finn." Cynthia said as she dragged Finn by the wrist, who stumbled a little as she dragged them before following her.
Glimmer watched Cynthia go sadly. "Great, now I'm becoming my mother." Glimmer muttered to herself as she palmed her forehead. "I should apologize to her later, but right now, I should practice spells with Arrow. Mayyyybeee I should wash this stuff out of my hair and change my clothes before I do anything else though..."
***
"So... what was that you were saying about getting away with your pranks every time when we follow your plans? Finn asked Cynthia as they were lying on the couch, tossing a ball up and catching it repeatedly.
"We just didn't plan enough, Finn, if you had listened to me, maybe we would have gotten away with it, but you're too stubborn, you never listen to anyone." Cynthia flopped back onto her bed. She faintly heard her brother, mom, and grandpa practicing magic in the distance.
"Arrow! That was amazing! You're really good at this!" She heard her mom praising Arrow.
"He'll be a great sorcerer one day." She heard her grandpa Micah say.
Cynthia sighed, no one ever appreciated what they could do, more specifically, her mother never appreciated what she could do as an archer. Although she figured a prank probably wasn't the best way to go about it, but it's not like they had any other option. Nothing ever happened around here that gave them a chance to actually prove themselves.
"No, the problem is that you did too much planning. If you'd just winged it, like I said, we wouldn't even be in this mess. And now we're cooped up in here again! Where we're treated like babies and never taken seriously!" Finn complained. Just then, a beam of light caught their eye, and they tried to catch it. Cynthia sat up suddenly.
"Ok, first of all, you can never plan too much for anything! Planning is necessary to make sure everything works out! Otherwise you can end up screwing everything up!" She threw both her arms up and flopping back onto the couch.
"Oh my god Cyn!" Finn groaned. "Have you never heard of overplanning before?" Suddenly the doors burst open and standing in the doorway was Bow. Cynthia jolted up, startled. Finn jumped, their fur shot up again.
"Finn, Cynthia, come quick, something's wrong with Arrow!" Bow said urgently.
Finn and Cynthia looked at each other uncertainly.
***
"What happened? What's wrong? Why are we here at the Moonstone?" Cynthia asked as they approached the Moonstone.
There, already at the Moonstone was Catra, Adora, and Glimmer, who was setting Arrow under the Moonstone before teleporting away again, everyone had a worried expression on their face. Finn stood there, looked around and took in the scene. Their mind raced with thoughts and unanswered questions.
He must have passed out while practicing magic. Cynthia thought. What's so urgent about this? This happens a lot. Why is everyone looking so worried? Just then Glimmer teleported into the room, along with Micah. Finn went over to look at Arrow, but Cynthia grabbed their wrist, and they went back to where they were standing.
Glimmer looked like she was about to faint. She stumbled a little, but Bow caught her.
"Damn, sparkles looks bad..." Catra commented.
"Yeah..." Adora agreed.
Come to think of it, I feel a little woozy too. Something's wrong with the runestone. Cynthia's mind quickly put the pieces together as she stumbled too. Finn caught her just in time.
"Cyn, you ok?"
"Yeah... I'm fine." She put her hand on her forehead and then shook her head vigorously to stop herself from feeling woozy. "Yeah... I feel better now."
"Glimmer, are you ok? You look like you need to rest." Bow said.
"Yeah.. I'm fine, thanks anyway." Glimmer said as she stood up. "Arrow fainted quicker than usual today, and we were teaching him fairly simple spells, right dad?"
"Yeah... the spells we were teaching him weren't complicated at all, and he said he had plenty of magic left before we began, there was no way he could have fainted this quickly." Micah said as he looked up from Arrow.
"Was it the magic or the sorcery?" Catra asked.
"I think it was both..." Micah mused, "something must be wrong with the magic..." Finn and Cynthia were now hyper focused on the conversation.
"How do we fix it? Could it have something to do with the Heart of Etheria?" Adora asked.
"Maybe..." Micah thought aloud.
"But... we destroyed it like... 30 years ago, how would it be affecting us now?" Catra asked.
"I don't know... wait, if something's happening to our runestone the other princesses runestones must be weakening too. Maybe we should talk to the other queens." Glimmer suggested.
"We need Entrapta too, because if anyone knows about the Heart of Etheria, it's her." Bow added. Just then, they saw the Moonstone, flickering and dimming. Everyone gasped and looked at it in fear.
"Agreed, we should set up a meeting for the entire alliance. Maybe then we can figure out where to go next. And we should do it fast. We need answers as soon as possible." Adora concluded. Just then, they heard a ringing sound coming from Bow's tracker pad, Bow fumbled to take it out of his pocket, and answered the call.
"BOW! GLIMMER! ADORA! CATRA! WE NEED YOUR HELP!"
***
"Hey guys, it's been so long! How have you been? Tell me everything that's happened since you last visited!" Perfuma joyfully greeted her friends, Mermista and Sea Hawk. She tried to hug Mermista, but she stopped her.
"We've been busy, that's all you need to know." Mermista said, rolling her eyes. Just then Scorpia scooped up Mermista and Sea Hawk in what looked like a bone-crushing hug.
"OH MAN! IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I HAD A CONVERSATION WITH YOU GUYS! OR ANY OF MY FRIENDS!"
"Put us down please." Mermista said rudely.
"Oh, sorry!" Scorpia put Mermista and Sea Hawk down and smiled sheepishly. Perfuma chuckled.
"Oh my gosh, are those your kids? They've grown so much!" Scorpia looked over at the four siblings who were just walking into her and Perfuma's quaint little house.
"Huh?" Miranda looked up.
"It's only been two months since we last saw each other you know." Mermista commented.
Scorpia gasped. "IT'S BEEN THAT LONG?! WE REALLY NEED TO CATCH UP! Come on and sit down! We're gonna have a long talk!" Scorpia exclaimed excitedly as she led her to a small table with a few chairs, Sea Hawk and their kids followed.
"UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH! FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!" Mermista groaned, and went to sit on a chair by herself. Sea Hawk sat on a chair next to her, but she splashed water in his face.
"Sit anywhere you want, as long as it's NOT next to me."
"No promises!" Sea Hawk flopped onto the chair with his feet on the table. One leg crossed over his other one and his hands behind his head. He glanced over at Mermista, whose arms were crossed.
"UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! Fine, as long as you're not being annoying, although knowing you, there's probably no chance of having any peace." Mermista rolled her eyes.
"That is correct Mermista!" He turned to look at Perfuma and Scorpia, who were sitting across from him. "So Perfuma, Scorpia, tell me of the glorious adventures you had since the last time we visited!"
"Nothing much, just a really, really long and busy two months doing lots of stuff here in Plumeria." Perfuma said, smiling.
"I'm just so glad you guys finally visited us! We've been working a lot lately and this visit really helps take our minds off of everything!" Scorpia said.
"Really? No adventures, nothing interesting at all? That sounds like a loooong booooring two months." Miranda said as she yawned and stretched.
"I can't help but agree with my daughter. You should go on a GLORIOUS ADVENTURE! A romantic getaway from Plumeria ought to bring some excitement into your day!"
"Are you saying we should go on a date?" Perfuma asked. "If you are, that's actually a really good idea."
"Not a date, a GLORIOUS ADVENTURE!" Sea Hawk exclaimed as he stepped on the table and flexed his arm.
"So... a date?" Summer asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, yes, a date." Sea Hawk admitted as he slumped back in his chair.
"Uuuuuuugggggghhhh, can we please stop with the drama and move on already?" Wave groaned.
"Come to think of it, that is a good idea, I can't even remember the last time I spent time with Perfuma!" Perfuma put a hand on Scorpia's pincer, and looked up at her and smiled.
"Yeah, I think we should spend some time together sometime, shouldn't we?" Perfuma agreed.
"Ok, seriously, can you guys just stop with the drama and move on?" Wave said rudely, Summer jabbed Wave in the stomach with her elbow.
"Ah! Summer, what the fuck?"
"Well you don't have to be so rude!" Summer scolded. "Anyways, I'm bored, where's Flora? I thought we could play a game together."
"She's outside, she went to bring in the veggies we grew, I hope she finishes soon." Perfuma answered.
I don't think bringing in the vegetables is what she's doing. Summer knew that Flora had trouble controlling her powers, and she didn't like letting her family down. She thought that Flora was probably practicing her magic, so she could learn to control her powers.
"I'm sure she's fine, but I'll go check on her anyway." Summer said as she got up and left the house to find her friend.
"Flora? Flora! Are you out here?" Summer called, she circled the house to see if she could find Flora, she checked the front yard and the backyard, but there was no sign of Flora.
"Flora! Where are you?" Then she remembered, Flora's favorite place to go if she was feeling sad, or angry, or anything else, to calm herself down. If she was anywhere, that's where she'd be.
She's at the Willow Tree!
***
Come on come on come on! You can do this Flora! You can learn to control your powers! Just concentrate! She concentrated on the drooping flower in front of her, trying to make it bloom. Now, making it bloom was easy, when her powers worked like they were supposed to (which almost never happened). The problem was gaining control of her powers, so she could make it bloom instead of blasting lightning and destroying the flower. That is something she really had trouble doing. She kept concentrating on the flower, on making it bloom instead of blasting it with lightning.
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this! Flora concentrated harder and harder. She thought about her family, she really didn't wanna let them down.
Her family... the pressure of being a good daughter, of not letting them down, of making them happy, of keeping her kingdom happy. It all seemed to weigh down on her until it was crushing her, crushing her will and confidence, draining it from her body.
"AAAAHHH! I CAN'T DO THIS! I JUST CAN'T!" She screamed, then she felt electricity flowing through her body and coming out from her hands, then she saw the red lighting, then she knew what was gonna happen next. She barreled through the hanging branches of the Willow Tree, filled with purple and pink flowers. There were so many flowers hanging from the branches that they concealed the actual branches they were hanging from. The branches drooped down all the way to the ground, and created a sort of dome to sit under, with no gaps or holes whatsoever. Under the tree, all that could be seen was the trunk, the branches, and the dome of purple and pink flowers all around.
Hurriedly pushing the branches aside, she got behind the huge purple-ish brown trunk of the Willow, and put her back against the trunk, sticking to it like glue. She shut her eyes tight and braced herself for an explosion. She heard the crackle of electricity, and then, a loud boom.
She tentatively peeked out from behind the trunk, and slowly started walking toward the explosion site, then she slowly pushed away the hanging branches, so there was a little window for her to peek through.
She saw a patch of grass. It had turned black. Scorched. Reduced to ash where the flower had once been.
Walking over to the patch of scorched land, she knelt down, and touched it delicately. She scooped up some ash on her fingertips, then glanced down at her fingers sadly.
She went back under the branches of the Willow Tree, and sat down in front of the trunk. She curled up into a ball, then she buried her head in her arms. She failed, again. She had failed to control her powers. She'd let her whole family, her whole kingdom down. All because she couldn't control her powers.
She glanced up again and looked at the hanging branches from the Willow Tree. She felt the warmth of Etheria's magic around her, and the cool breeze that balanced that warmth out, breathing in the air around her contentedly. It felt so refreshing. She looked up and saw how the breeze gently swung the purple and pink flowers back and forth. That same breeze that carried the sweet smell of pollen through the air. It all felt magical, peaceful, and intoxicating. She let it calm her until the burden of crushing disappointment was lightened. Lightened, but not removed.
"Flora! Flora! You out here? Where are you?" She recognized the voice. It was her friend Summer. She was about to get up and meet her when she saw a pair of hands separating the branches. Then she saw a face with a bright red bindi and ocean blue hair peeking through the flowers.
"Flora! I thought I'd find you under here, come on! Everyone's waiting for you!" Summer said as she walked through the branches and sat next to her. Flora just looked down sadly.
"What's wrong? Having trouble controlling your powers again?" Summer looked concerned, Flora looked at her sadly and nodded.
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually, I think all you need it a little push, something that will help you gain the confidence you need to finally control your powers." She encouraged, smiling.
"But that's just it! I'm not finding that push! Every time, I try and try, I feel like I can do it at first, but then, it- it just vanishes! I don't know why, but I just can't find it, no matter how hard I try!" She buried her head in her arms again.
"I think you're just a late bloomer, everyone takes their own time, and when you get it, you'll be the best ever! Until then, just know I believe in you." Summer smiled and put her hand on Flora's shoulder. Flora looked up at her and smiled.
"Now come on! You're missing all the fun! Let's play a game and get your mind off of this." Summer said, laughing as she nudged her friend, Flora smiled and followed her. On the way, the passed the scorched land, Summer looked at it carefully, it seemed a little... smaller than usual, she should know.
"Hey... Flora, doesn't that scorch mark look a little... smaller than usual?" Flora turned to look at the scorch mark.
"Huh... I didn't think about it at first... but now that you mention it... it does..."
"Do you think this is something you should worry about? Sorry, heh, I'm not an expert at magic and stuff like that."
"I don't know... it's... not that big of a deal... but... I feel like the magic is leaving my body." Flora said, looking down at her hands, which were now shaking. "Oh... I feel a bit... woozy..." She fell into Summer's arms, almost passed out.
"FLORA! ARE YOU OK?! HANG ON! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU BACK HOME!" She took Flora on her back and started dragging her back home.
After a few minutes, Flora looked up weakly. "S-Summer?" Flora said weakly, "I think... I'm starting to feel better now." She said as she stood up. She put her hands on her head, trying to stop the dizzy feeling and regain her balance.
"Are you alright?" Summer asked, concerned.
"A little dizzy, but other than that, fine."
"Ok... but we should get to your home, just to be safe."
"Ok." And with that, Summer and Flora started walking home. After some time, they arrived at the quaint little house where Flora and her family lived. Only to see something terrible happening in the front yard. Perfuma, Scorpia, Mermista, and Wave all seemed to be weak and fainting, like what happened to Flora earlier. But they still seemed to be standing. Summer quickly ran over to Wave. Flora also fainted like she did earlier, but no one noticed. She just leaned against a nearby tree for support.
"Wave, you all right bro?"
"Yep, I'm fine, I don't need help."
"The look on your face would say otherwise."
"Summer, seriously, don't help me."
"Ok." Summer said and let Wave go. He started wobbling, unsteady on his feet.
"Mayyyybe a little help?" Wave asked, everyone who'd blacked out was starting to regain consciousness, they were shaking their heads to clear it, wondering what happened. Flora quickly ran over to where everyone else was.
"What's going on? I think I blacked out for a second." Scorpia wondered, everyone was staring at the Heart Blossom, Perfuma's runestone. Scorpia followed their gaze, and she saw the most terrible thing. The Heart Blossom was flickering like a light. Losing its natural glow. When it finally stopped flickering, it wasn't as bright as it was earlier. Gasps of shock and fear went around.
"THE HEART BLOSSOM! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO IT?!" Perfuma cried in fear, she went over to it, knelt down on the ground, and put her hands on it. Trying to get it to glow brighter, everyone else followed her. She tried for a while but it wouldn't glow brighter. After a few minutes, she gave up, hanging her head as she stood up. Seeing Perfuma's distress and anxiety, Scorpia put a pincer on her shoulder and smiled.
"We'll figure it out later, k babe?" Scorpia reassured her.
"Yeah, I guess we will, thanks Scorpia." She looked up and smiled back as she put her hand on her pincer.
"What happened while we were gone?" Summer asked, there was worry in her voice.
"We went out to the garden to grow some vegetables for a snack, since Flora didn't bring them in." Flora just looked down in disappointment and shame.
"I tried to grow some plants but they were really small and they wilted instantly! Mermista said it was because they weren't getting enough water. So she tried to water them using her water powers, but she only managed to bring a little bit, and she lost control of it and dropped it on the ground." Mermista rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath as Perfuma said that.
"And suddenly I felt very faint, and I blacked out. Scorpia, Mermista, and Wave fainted too, and here we are now." Perfuma told her, she sounded anxious.
"It wasn't just Queen Perfuma, Queen Scorpia, mom, and I fainted too, this is happening to all of our runestones." Wave thought out loud.
Come to think of it, I did feel my powers getting weaker lately. Flora thought to herself.
"Wait, if this is happening to all the runestones, this is happening to Queen Glimmer too, maybe we should call her to see if she's had this problem as well." Summer suggested.
"Great idea! I'll call them!" Perfuma said, and went in her house to get the tracker pad.
She came out a few seconds later, running hurriedly, tracker pad in hand. She started pressing the buttons to dial Bright Moon, everyone else huddled around the tracker pad in curiosity. Now the pad was dialing Bright Moon, after a few seconds, it stopped dialing, and Bow's face was staring at them.
"BOW! GLIMMER! ADORA! CATRA! WE NEED YOUR HELP!" Bow jumped, startled at how loud Perfuma was yelling.
"Perfuma! We were just about to call you to ask if you've had any problems with your runestone lately." By now, Glimmer, Adora, Catra, and Micah had huddled around the tracker pad along with Bow, who held the pad. Finn and Cynthia were in the background, with Finn's ears perked up to pick up more sound. Both of them looking like they were trying to listen in.
"We have, the Heart Blossom dimmed! And Scorpia, Mermista, Wave, and I fainted! What about you?"
"Our Moonstone dimmed too! And Arrow fainted while practicing magic!" Glimmer responded.
"And it wasn't just the runestone magic. It was sorcery too. I think something's wrong with the magic of Etheria." Micah added.
"But... why?" Perfuma asked
"We... have no idea... but we think it might have something to do with the Heart of Etheria." Bow responded.
"We're also gonna call Entrapta, since she knows the most about the Heart of Etheria." Adora added.
"Oh yeah... it's been a while since we've seen geek princess..." Mermista quipped. "Or geek queen now I guess..."
"Oh man! It really has! I can't even remember the last time we hung out together!" Scorpia agreed.
"I'm going over to Dryl right now!" Glimmer announced, she was about to teleport but Bow stopped her.
"Glim, maybe you should take it easy. The magic is weaker, so you might not be able to teleport as far without running out of power, you should walk." Glimmer hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly agreed.
"Fine, but we better go quick."
"So... I guess that's it then." Bow said uncertainly, wondering if he should say any more.
"Yeah... so... uh... the meeting is tomorrow afternoon in the Bright Moon war room. Don't be late!" Adora reminded before ending the call. Everyone just stared at the blank screen.
"So... what do we do now?" Miranda asked.
Sea Hawk gave an 'I don't know' shrug.
***
"HA! HIYA!" Grunts of exertion came from Ellie. The princess of Dryl. She was currently punching a punching bag that hung from the ceiling. Or at least a makeshift punching bag which was really a blanket full of foam loosely held together by a rope.
"HIIIYA!" She gave the bag a powerful kick. The next thing she knew, the rope undid itself complete. The bag full of foam came crashing to the ground.
"Ah!" She let out a high pitched exclamation in surprise. Her hair poofed out instinctively.
"Oh well, it wasn't that well fastened together anyway. I'll put it back together." She shrugged.
"Wait! I just had an amazing idea for a new weapon!" She jumped onto her spinning chair and it rolled over to her desk. Littered with unfinished projects, spare parts, and all sorts of junk, including some instruction papers. She brought two spare pieces of metal together using two tendrils of her hair. She used a third one to pick up a welding tool and weld the two pieces together.
"This new weapon is gonna be amazing!" She exclaimed excitedly. "With twice the firepower, it's gonna be explosive! It's gonna look super cool! And just imagine how effective it would be!" She looked at her desk, which was a mess... and shuffled through the tools she had, including some instruction papers. Picking up things with tendrils of hair, then putting them back, or dropping them.
"But I need better tools to make it! I'm just gonna go get them real quick." She climbed on her bed and used her hair to pull herself up the vent directly above it. All she had to do was drop in without being noticed, grab the tools, and get out, which was pretty easy. Easier than asking them directly, so she never did. She crawled through the vent for a few minutes before nearing the opening which was above her mom's lab. But all of a sudden, she heard a voice. Strangely enough, it was Queen Glimmer's voice.
Queen Glimmer? What's she doing here? She crawled closer to the gap to hear her better.
"...magic is weakening, we think it might have something to do with the Heart of Etheria, do you think you can come over to discuss?"
"Of course! I'd absolutely love to talk about the Heart of Etheria! But I don't know how it could possibly be affecting us now. She-ra destroyed it years ago by activating the failsafe. it's-"
"Save it for the meeting Entrapta." Glimmer laughed nervously as she cut her off, knowing that this conversation would lead into one of her looooong ramblings if she didn't stop her.
The magic is weakening? And it might have something to do with the Heart of Etheria? What's going on? She had no idea whether she should drop down and confront them or call the others and ask them what's going on. It was probably better not to confront them though. That would make for a pretty awkward conversation. She shifted a little bit and bumped her head against the top.
"Oof!" She looked up and rubbed the back of her head in annoyance.
"Huh? What's that?" Entrapta looked up and wondered out loud. Glimmer followed her gaze.
Oh no! They heard me! I gotta go back to my room before they spot me! And with that, she turned around and crawled back to her room.
Looks like I have to call the others now, I wonder what that was all about? Oh well, guess I'll figure it out when I call them. She reached the opening and jumped down and landed on her bed with a soft thud. She picked up her tracker pad from her desk and dialed Bright Moon.
"Oh hey Ellie, what's up?" It was Cynthia who'd answered the call.
"What's this I've heard about the magic weakening?"
Cynthia thought for a moment to process the day's events. "Arrow fainted during magic practice, and the Moonstone dimmed, and then we got a call from Queen Perfuma saying that the Heart Blossom dimmed too! And I think Queen Scorpia, Queen Mermista, and Wave had fainted due to the magic getting weaker!"
"Really?! That's super important! Why do our parents never tell us anything?!" Ellie complained.
"I mean... I guess it's kinda understandable? Our parents just wanna protect us."
"No they don't, they just wanna keep us from the important stuff." She muttered, not loud enough for Cynthia to hear. "Anyway, what does what does the Heart of Etheria have anything to do with this? Wasn't it destroyed 30 something years ago?"
Cynthia shrugged. "Dunno, but there's a meeting tomorrow, maybe we can find out more there?"
"Good idea." Ellie said, and ended the call.
Ellie sighed in exasperation. "Knowing our parents, there's no way they're gonna let us listen! Luckily, I've already thought of something, and she went to her closet to pull out some mysterious things.