Catra
"Not only did you happily let She-Ra and the princess known as Glimmer escape but I learned that you've known Adora was She-Ra since the battle at Thaymor." Lord Hordak's voice echoed from the shadows as Shadow Weaver stared Catra down.
"I didn't-"
"Don't lie to us, cadet." Shadow Weaver spat. "This isn't the first time you've broken the rules but it has got to be the worst. We have cameras showing you handing the Sword of She-Ra to Adora and the princess, allowing them to escape." She announced and Catra lowered her gaze.
Hordak stepped out of the darkness. "Your loyalty to the Horde is questionable and you are hereby banished from the Fright Zone."
"What?!" Catra exclaimed, taken aback as she snapped her head up only to be met with King Hordak's sharp glare. She took a step back.
"But-"
"I've had enough of your excuses, Catra!" Shadow Weaver harshly grabbed Catra's arm and began dragging her to the exit.
"It's a misunderstanding! Let me go!" She struggled until she was thrown outside, the doors slamming shut behind her.
"Wait!" Catra banged once on the door before sighing in defeat. Her rage clear on her face, she punched the wall and began to walk in the direction of the Whispering Woods.
.
Scorpia
After hearing the news about Catra's banishment, Scorpia was devastated. She had become her closest friend. She was sure that Catra had had a perfectly good reason to give those girls the sword. Completely expelling a person was too harsh a punishment.
Lost in her thoughts, Scorpia hadn't noticed the massive robot trailing her as she paced the halls of the Fright Zone. She turned around with the intent of returning to her sleeping quarters to calm her mind and jumped at the sight of the thing.
"What the... Are you following me?" She asked, not expecting a reply when a voice said, "No?"
Scorpia immediately jumped into a fighting stance. "Who's there?"
A person with long purple hair that seemed... alive? tied into pigtails rolled out of a vent. "Uh, hi!" She waved.
It was a princess. The one known as Entrapta to be specific. Scorpia quickly put her into her custody. As she came in to interrogate her, Scorpia realized that the cuffs containing the princess weren't very effective as she easily freed herself while Scorpia watched. She sighed. "Let the interrogation begin."
.
Adora
"That's it! I can't stay here and be useless! Bow is right; I don't know how to use my powers!"
"I didn't say that!.. Or, not that, exactly." Bow responded to Adora's exclamation.
She had spent an extensive amount of time attempting to heal Glimmer of her glitch she had acquired after being held captive by the Horde.
"The Horde has a lot of things wrong- okay, pretty much, everything, but one thing they were right about is training, and how can I train if I don't know anything about She-Ra?" Adora explained. "I'm going to go somewhere where I can learn," she put her hands on Glimmer's shoulders, addressing her. "Then, I'm gonna fix you, Glimmer."
Glimmer's eyes lit up and she asked Adora how she planned on doing so. All Glimmer wanted at that moment was to get out of having dinner with her mom, the queen, so that she wouldn't find out what her stay at the Fright Zone had done to her.
Adora recalled the beacon that Madame Razz had taken her to. She was sure she'd find answers there.
"Running away! Great idea, and I don't have to go to dinner with my mom!" Glimmer rambled. "I'll get my things-"
"No, I have to do this on my own." And with that, Adora leaped out the window and began her journey to find the beacon.
.
Scorpia
Less than a few minutes of questioning later, the princess Entrapta had moved to side with the Horde. Scorpia had convinced her that her friends were not coming back for her, and showed interest in her work, Entrapta explaining how she had made more progress in hiding here than free back at home. She rambled on about her plans to integrate First One's tech into her studies. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to find anything new lately.
.
Catra
Night was falling and Catra was lost in the forest. Awesome. Why she had decided to venture into the magic forest in the first place? She didn't know. Continuing to lose hope, she tried to find a shelter for the night. After tripping over branches and clawing through vines, she ended up in a clearing she'd seen already, her frustration only growing. The woods started to make noises and she immediately understood why they called it "The Whispering Woods". She shuddered until she heard footsteps. A familiar voice was speaking to... the trees? She hid behind a tree and watched Adora sink to her knees, telling the forest that she was weak and afraid.
Suddenly a bright light shone from behind the trees opposite the ones Catra was hiding in. Adora stood up, grabbed her sword that she had discarded on the forest floor and followed the source of the light. Catra climbed the tree she was at with ease and saw Adora walking up to the entrance of a tall building with a bright blue light shooting into the sky. How had she not seen it before?
Once she was out of sight, Catra hopped down and surveyed the area, confused to what it might be.
The entrance to the building began to close and Catra leaped inside. She followed Adora through a long hallway with some sort of symbols on the walls that lit up as she passed them. Eventually, she ended up in a large room made of purple and blue crystals. A runway led to a platform in the center surrounded by sharp looking pillars and more of those symbols snaked along the walls and floor.
Catra hid behind a pillar that supported the room as Adora called out.
"Hello?" Her voice echoed throughout the large building and whispers seemed to respond. "I carry the sword of She-Ra," she pulled the sword off of her back, showing it off, "and I've come here for help. Is anyone there?"
After a moment, a figure appeared behind Adora, startling her. "Greetings administrator." A female voice spoke. "What is your query?"
Adora hesitated, then asked for help to heal her friend. Glimmer. Of course. All Adora cared about these days were her new best friends. In Catra's opinion, it was a good thing that Glimmer was cursed. If she was eliminated, Adora'd be crushed. Her plans would fail. Then again, Catra didn't want Adora hurt. Not really. Deep inside, she just wished that things would go back to the way they were before, when it was just her and Adora, best friends. She-Ra didn't exist. There was no divide between the Horde and Adora. Catra wouldn't have to pretend to hate her. No, she did hate her. She had to keep telling herself that because she knew that the two would have no more chances together.
Maybe she should just get out of there. Out of that room, out of the woods, and find a place as far away from Adora and She-Ra and the princesses and the Horde and everything. Be the way she was supposed to be: alone.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Adora's voice again. "For the honor of Grayskull!" Catra peeked around the pillar to see Adora transform into She-Ra with a bright flash of light. She took a moment to admire the princess: long, thick, beautiful blonde hair that always seemed to be captured in a breeze topped off with a golden crown, strong arms that looked wonderful to be held with holding a diamond-like sword, golden trimmed dress complete with a flowing red cape, and a matching set of boots outlining her toned legs.
"How 'bout now?" She said to the glowing figure before her.
"Administrator detected. Welcome, She-Ra."
"One more time," She-Ra said. "What can you tell me about this sword?"
"Subject: the Sword of Protection. Classification: portable Runestone keyed exclusively to administrator She-Ra, Princess of Power."
"How can I use this sword to heal my friend?"
"Query not recognized." Adora groaned and Catra took this chance to explore the room while she was distracted. She heard Adora get more and more frustrated as the projection gave her no answers.
Eventually, Catra came across something that looked interesting. With Adora's back turned, she grabbed the triangular object, surprised when an alarm went off and She-Ra immediately shot at her with her sword.
"Hey, watch it!" Catra yelled.
"Catra? What are you doing here!?" The hologram behind Adora turned from blue to red. "Unauthorized presence detected." The robotic voice said. "Security protocol activated."
The glow in the room became red. "Nononono. Not again!"
"What just happened?" Catra nervously asked.
"This isn't good. You're not supposed to be in here!" Adora retorted back at her.
One by one, doors began to close around them, trapping the two in. Adora grabbed Catra's arm and raced toward an open hall but stopped in her tracks when several sets of red eyes appeared in the dark and giant spider creatures appeared.
"What are those?" Catra demanded.
"Also not good." They ran in a different direction to a door as it dropped shut. Catra watched behind her as the spiders gained on them. What were they going to do?
Then Adora called her name. "We need to run!" Catra spun around to see She-Ra struggling to hold up the heavy door and ducked underneath it after Catra had gotten through.
They continued to dash through the glowing-red halls until reaching a dead end with two directions to choose from. Behind them, lights began to go out and the girls turned around to see even more spiders coming their way.
"What's going on? Why are those things trying to kill us?!" Catra yelled between breaths.
"They're trying to kill you. This place sees you as an invader." She-Ra ran beside her.
"Well, can't you tell them to stop?!"
"No! I can't tell them to stop! Clearly, nothing in here is listening to me!"
They turned a corner and reached a dead end. An actual one. "Adora!" "Stand back!" She grabbed her sword and cut through the rock, making everything even more unstable than it already was.
"What are you doing!" She grabbed Catra's arm, pulling her close, protecting her with a shield that came out of nowhere. It felt nice being that close to Adora again, but only for a second.
Once the dust cleared, it was back to business. She-Ra transformed back into Adora and she turned to Catra. "You shouldn't be here, Catra."
The two went back and forth at each other for a bit, and Catra declined to mention that she was no longer a part of the Horde, maybe because she wanted her to fear her. But doing so felt wrong. She hated having to lie to her best friend of so many years and she hated being enemies, but it seemed nothing could change that now. She didn't want to change it, did she?
*Time skip* (a/n: right now I am following season 1 episode 11 but with a look into the character's thoughts that I made up; everything in this time skip is the same as in the episode, I just don't want to write the whole thing down)
Catra was reliving her second memory that night. Crying in the locker room. Definitely not one of her favorite memories in the Horde. She looked back up at the mirror and saw her present self again; she was back in control. She wanted this all to stop. She wished she could just go home, but she couldn't. Never again. There was no way she was telling Adora that though. Once she got out of that place, she'd let Adora think that she returned to the Fright Zone. She didn't want to seem vulnerable.
She turned around and the room glitched. Backing away, she heard the same voice from before: "Unauthorized presence detected. Security protocol activated." There was something in the mirror, something bad.
One of the spider creatures climbed through the mirror and bound Catra with a green substance. She couldn't move. She screamed.
"Catra!" And then Adora was there. Adora was always there, whenever she needed her.
Oh, God, Adora. Why did you leave home?
Catra reached out her hand and she was being pulled towards her.
Adora, don't you let go, not again.
And then she was just out of reach, closed off behind glass as Catra was dragged into the dark.
"Adora!"
Help me.
Please.
.
Adora
There was no doubt about it. Adora still wanted to be close with Catra and now that she was in danger, there was nothing else on Adora's mind than her. She never wanted to leave her and she almost wished she never left in the first place. Almost. She was still glad to have met Glimmer and Bow and the other princesses and she wanted to keep that. She was also glad she finally realized the manipulative motives of the Horde and wished that Catra cared enough about her to understand how much this meant to her.
As she ran through the maze of still glowing-red halls Adora assessed herself. What was she to Catra? They were best friends about as close as you could get for all their lives. But that was until she'd left to be a princess. Left to be something that for her whole life she'd sworn to never ally with. How did this even happen?
Her thoughts were forgotten when she heard Catra's voice ahead of her. From what she could tell, she had freed herself and was now fighting the giant killer spider robot with her bare hands. Impressive.
No time to dwell on it though. She leaped into the air, sword lifted high and jammed it right into the spider's head. Adora sighed and hopped of the dead creature. "Are you okay?" She asked Catra, genuinely worried.
She looked angry for some reason. "I had it." She replied, her voice sharp.
"Sure you did." That came out wrong. Adora rested her hand on Catra's shoulder.
"We need to make sure we stay together from now on-"
"Will you stop telling me what to do?" Catra snapped, hesitated, and shoved Adora's hand away, avoiding eye contact. "I'm sick of this stupid place. Let's just get out of here."
Adora frowned and followed her to a set of cliffs. "What is your problem? I was trying to save you!"
"For the last time, I don't need you to save me. I've been doing just fine on my own. No thanks to you." She turned away and Adora grabbed her hand. It was rough from constantly training at the Horde, just like she remembered it. She knew that she had to bring Catra back into her life, she wouldn't be able to stand it anymore otherwise.
"I'm sorry for leaving. I couldn't go back to the Fright Zone. Not after I saw what the Horde was really doing. But I never wanted to leave you." Adora explained, trying as hard as possible to keep her voice soft and to keep her grip on Catra's hand. She never wanted to let go. "You could come with me, you could join the Rebellion. I know you're not a bad person Catra. You don't belong with the Horde." They looked into each other's eyes, Adora admiring Catra's multicolored eyes like she had many times before. She waited patiently for a response but none came because the sound of a door opening distracted the both of them.
Catra crossed her arms. "Let's just get this over with." She said as another memory began to replay.
.
Catra
To say she was considering Adora's suggestion was an understatement. Catra wanted nothing more than to be with Adora again, to find a place to call home, but she couldn't. She didn't know why; there was nothing stopping her from rebelling against the ones who tossed her out like trash. But yet, she couldn't bring herself to accept it.
"What's it like being the world's slowest person?" She heard her past self say and watched through the old painful memory.
*Another Time Skip*
Before she knew it, Catra had just finished another argument with Adora, this one effecting her so much, she couldn't take it. She ran away after telling her that she didn't want her to come back, this being the reason she gave her back the sword in the Fright Zone. It wasn't true but she couldn't help but get away from Adora, more old memories shoving themselves in her head. It was too much, she just wanted to go home.
Just when she was about to break down, one last memory replayed in its entirety. It was Adora promising her that they would be there for each other, no matter what.
She couldn't just walk away. She couldn't do that to Adora. They had made a promise, and when Catra was in trouble, Adora was always there. She wouldn't fail her now.
Catra ran back to where Adora was and saw her struggling to fight off the spider bots without She-Ra. The last thing she saw was Adora being knocked off a cliff when she finally brought herself back to reality. She had to save Adora. It was the one thing she could do after all the times that she had been there for Catra.
She began to fight off all the monsters the same way she had tried to earlier, but this time, she had a weapon: her perseverance was stronger than ever and all the creatures were broken with ease.
She walked over to where Adora was hanging.
"Hey, Adora."
Adora smiled as she was pulled up to safety. "Thank you, Catra." She said and hugged her.
"Fine." Catra whispered into her ear. Adora pulled away, confused. "I'll join your stupid rebellion."
The look on Adora's face was enough to let Catra remember why they were best friends. She realized just how much she had missed her after all.
Just then, the world around them began to disappear. Adora stepped back, not remembering about the cliff that she had just almost fallen off of and lost her balance. Catra grabbed her hand to stop her from falling but it was too late and Adora ended up pulling her down with her.
.
Adora
Falling off a cliff with your best friend. Again. Not the worst way to die, right? But was Catra her best friend? Adora doubted everything had been resolved. Catra did do a lot of terrible things: she continued an attack on an innocent town, she captured Adora's best friends and held them prisoner, ultimately causing her to end up in this place anyway... among other things. So were they even friends at all? Or enemies? Frenemies?
As they plunged down the seemingly bottomless pit, more memories between the two resurfaced and flashed before them. Catra's hand gripped Adora's. Was this the end?
They'd been falling for thirty minutes (a/n: anyone get the reference? edit: take it as you want it lmao but the original reference was thor ragnarok-) when suddenly Adora didn't feel Catra's hand anymore. She'd vanished.
"Catra!"
And then she landed. Feet first, no pain, but still no Catra.
"Catra!"
"Hello, Adora, you've come at last." A voice sounded from behind her. Adora spun around, startled. It was another hologram but this one looked familiar. It was the woman she'd seen when first touching the sword. It was,
"Light Hope. I can't believe I'm actually seeing you." She said. "Well I've seen you... heh, in my brain, I think.
"But this is real! Is this real? Wait am I dead? I fell..." Adora scanned the room she was standing in. Catra was nowhere to be seen. She looked up at Light Hope. "Where's Catra?... Sorry I'm freaking out." She cleared her throat.
"I'm Adora."
"Yes, I know."
Well, duh, of course she knows who you are. Stupid.
"I have been waiting for you since you were an infant." Light Hope continued. "But I could not reach you. And I could not protect you from the Horde. I watched you grow up from afar."
Creepy much?
____________
Once introductions were finished, Adora went straight to business. First, she asked for information about the First Ones, the people who first inhabited Etheria. Learning more about She-Ra, it was discovered that Adora was the first person to carry the sword in a thousand years.
Her two most important questions were one: "How do I heal my friend?" and two: "Where's Catra?"
The answer to the second question was vague. "You'll see her soon." Light Hope had said.
"What does that mean?"
She ignored the question. "Glimmer's connection with her runestone was disrupted."
"Can I fix it?" Adora asked, mentally sighing. She figured she'd find Catra later herself. She hoped she was okay. Right now, her main focus was learning how to heal Glimmer.
"You will be able to do many things with training."
"Great, so how long will this training take? Like a day or-"
"Years."
"Years?" Adora questioned, shocked. "Glimmer doesn't have years! She's hurt because of me! I messed up. I got Glimmer and Bow captured and Entrapta-" she didn't dare say it. "It's- It's my fault. I have to fix it."
The image of Light Hope flickered before she answered.
"Yes. Your mission is to fix the planet."
Adora was trying to get answers but this didn't cut it. Light Hope was refusing to tell her how to save Glimmer or where Catra had disappeared to. Meanwhile, the Horde was probably planning something against the princesses who's alliance was broken anyway. She needed to do something, anything, that would help, no matter how small.
"My mission is to help my friends. That's why I came here!"
"You are She-Ra. Your purpose is to protect all of Etheria. You cannot help only your friends."
Adora was getting kind of frustrated. "Why can't I do both?"
"Adora," Light Hope placed her hand on Adora's shoulder though it just fazed through. "You do not yet realize the power you have." She continued. "You are distracted by your attractions. There was one before you who could not let go. Her name, was Mara." And then Light Hope went on to explain more history about She-Ra and how the line was broken by this Mara girl, the girl that Madame Razz kept referring to.
Wait, if Madame Razz knew Mara, and that was a thousand years ago, geez, how old is she?
Anyway, apparently Mara had been overwhelmed by power that she couldn't control and gave into her fear, nearly destroying Etheria in the process.
"Adora, I have waited for a thousand years," Light Hope said, "alone." Adora started feeling bad. "I did not know if I would ever see another She-Ra."
Adora, after hearing this, hoped that she could make Light Hope proud of the She-Ra she had and would continue to become.
"You must stay here and train; learn to be the She-Ra that Mara could not be."
It was very tempting. Stay underground and train, come back to Bright Moon and the Rebellion as the She-Ra everyone expected her to be.
"I will. I'll- I'll do whatever you want. I'll come back and train and learn about everything. But I have to heal Glimmer first. I can save the planet and save her."
.
Bow
"Shouldn't she be" Glitch "back by now?"
Glimmer was pacing her room, worried about Adora. Understandably. Bow was too.
"She said she was" Glitch "trying to get training to" Glitch "fix me! How long is that going to take- Ow!" She stubbed her toe on a chair that was in her way. "And what kind of monster puts a chair here?" She was just getting more and more frustrated.
Bow stood up. "Okay, I'm worried too, but taking it out on the furniture isn't going to help." He said, grabbing Glimmer's shoulders and sitting her down. She just stood right back up again.
"We can't sit here and hope she comes back eventually." She inquired, turning to Bow. "We have to do something."
"Like what?"
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Glimmer opened it to see a royal guard standing outside.
"Princess, there's, uh, something here to see you."
"Don't you mean someone?"
"No, I mean something."
Bow and Glimmer followed the guard out to see their horse majestically pacing toward them.
"Our horse!" Bow exclaimed.
"I am my own horse. Call me... SWIFT WIND." The horse stood on its hind legs, stretching out large colorful wings.
Wait.
Did our horse just speak?
Bow and Glimmer blinked and jumped into each other's arms, screaming. Bow pointed with an amazed look in his eyes while Glimmer stared at it in awe.
"Our horse can talk!" Bow's voice cracked and he gasped, clinging to Glimmer again.
"Yeah, yeah, I can speak my mind now, pretty crazy. So, I'm thinking-"
"He's a talking horse!"
"As we established." Both Bow and Glimmer were freaking out.
"He has wings!" Glimmer finally managed to say.
"Okay." The horse looked done with their reactions. "I'll give you a moment to freak out, and then we need to talk."
Bow and Glimmer stood still, gasping until Swift Wind spoke again.
"Great! I think Adora needs our help." He said. "Since Adora transformed me, I've been able to feel where she is at all times." He looked at his reflection in the window. "It's like instinct. But now I feel a pull, as if I'm being summoned to her side."
Bow walked up and admired his wings.
"As part of Adora's herd," he snapped his head around, "I need your help. Will you come?" Glimmer glitched again. "Of course. Lead the way."
"But Glimmer, you're glitching."
"Is what got us into this. Adora left to save me. Now it's time for us to save her. You in?"
Bow smiled. "Always." He said. "But I don't think your mom is going to like us leaving so soon after our last mission." He followed Glimmer to her door. "She doesn't need to know." The princess said, already gripping the door handle. "We'll sneak out and be back before my mom even realizes we're gone." She opened the door and there stood Queen Angella, her fist up as if she were about to knock.
Glimmer shouted in surprize, glitching again. "Mom! What are you doing here?" She asked innocently.
"Coming to see why my guard was escorting a horse into your room."
Swift Wind jumped up next to her. "I like to think of myself more as a role model for all horse kind."
Silence.
"I mean uh, what talking horse? What's happening?" He said and gave her space again. She smiled and turned back to Glimmer.
"You should get going if you want to track down Adora." She hinted.
"You're not going to stop us?"
"Glimmer, I told you I regretted giving up after your father died. I will not consign you to the same regret."
Both smiled, Angella pressing her forehead to Glimmer's. Bow watched happily. Their mother-daughter relationship was his favorite.
The Queen stood up straight, addressing Glimmer like a soldier. "Commander Glimmer, I order you to continue your mission to find Adora," Glimmer smiled, "and bring her back home."
Glimmer saluted. "Right away, Your Majesty." She turned back to Bow and Swift Wind. "Come on!"
Bow followed suit and saluted to the Queen before marching out and noticed the horse do the same.
"And when we're back," Bow heard Swift Wind say and ran back to push him back to where Glimmer was, smiling.
"Please be careful," was the last thing he heard before exiting.
.
Scorpia
"Uh, Entrapta? I got your note." Scorpia opened the door to 'Entrapta's Lab' and looked around, seeing only Emily standing by a bunch of screens and wires.
A vent flew off the wall near the floor and the purple haired princess climbed out.
"Scorpia! Wonderful! I wanted to show you something that I found."
She walked over to the screens and pulled up some data that she had obtained.
"Look at this. Etheria's not just a planet!" She ranted. Scorpia didn't understand all that much of what she was showing her but looked impressed anyway.
"Whatever the First Ones did to it, it went deep." She looked overly excited.
"And what does that mean?"
Entrapta turned to her. "You're asking me about my theories? I've waited years for someone to ask me about my theories! Hang on, I made a model!" She grabbed Scorpia's wrist with her hair and dragged her to another room.
Here, Entrapta had set up an entire prototype of Etheria. It was a large sphere with several green lights sticking out of it.
"Behold, Etheria. The First Ones didn't just settle on the surface of Etheria, their technology runs throughout the planets core."
She walked around her model several times as she spoke.
"The whole planet!" She leaned in close. "It's all First One's tech."
"And what are these supposed to be?" Scorpia pointed to the green lanterns that were placed across the figure.
"Runestones. From the data I've managed to extract, the regulate the planet through the princesses. They're directly connected to each other and to the planet's power grid in a delicate balance. If I can get my hands on one of these, the possibilities are endless!"
"Runestone? What- you mean like the Black Garnet? 'Cause heheh, we have the Black Garnet." Scorpia bragged.
"The Black Garnet?" Entrapta was getting excited. "You have a runestone? The Fright Zone has a runestone?!"
"Uh, duh, it was my family's." Obviously. "But when the Horde landed, we gave it to Hordak, who then gave it to Shadow Weaver, who, y'know, you tell a friend, he tells a friend it's like- it's kinda one of those things."
Entrapta leaped onto Scorpia, nearly knocking her over.
"Where is it?! Can I see it?! Can I touch it?!"
She had an extremely wild look in her eyes.
*Time Skip* (a/n: okay so i know it was catra that got rid of shadow weaver but like she's not there so like something else went down and shadow weaver is gone. I really dont feel like explaining all of it)
Shadow Weaver was now no longer a threat and Scorpia and Entrapta had the Black Garnet to themselves.
"Entrapta, if you would." Scorpia permitted and Entrapta excitedly flung her hair around and raced over to the computer that was attached to the machines they had hooked up to the runestone.
"Alright everyone. Let's get weird!" She said, grinning. Scorpia watched her press buttons and adjust knobs until a red light began to emit from the Black Garnet. She gasped as she saw natural shadows begin to be sucked away as if there was light shining on every single angle of the room. The light bulbs shattered and the shadows rose to the ceiling until an explosion sounded and a beam of dark red light shone into the grey clouds above. As soon as this happened, red lightning struck from the source and everything started to spread.
It had begun.
.
Glimmer
Something had happened. Giant beasts that occupied the Whispering Woods were now racing away from it. From what? They didn't know.
"What was that about?" Glimmer asked. They watched Swift Wind step forward.
"I feel something." He hesitated. "We should run. No, we need to get Adora, then run."
"Swift Wind, what is it?" Bow interjected.
"A bad thing. Hurry!" He whimpered and began walking faster.
As they walked Glimmer noticed herself getting cold which was unusual for the Whispering Woods because the weather was always appropriate for her outfit. Bow noticed too.
"Is it just me or is it really cold?" Bow announced. Glimmer made a face until she saw a white spec of something enter her field of vision. Suddenly it started to snow excessively.
"It's... snowing?"
"That's impossible." Bow said. "It never snows in the Whispering Woods."
An explosion sound rang through the forest and a high wind blizzard began to blow. It was so windy that Bow and Glimmer had trouble catching up to Swift Wind.
Glimmer went up close to the horse so that he could hear her. "What's happening?"
"The bad thing!"
Red lightning struck in the sky above them. "We can't stay here!" Bow shouted. "Swift Wind, do you sense Adora?"
His horn lit up as he lowered his head. "There! She's over there!" He nodded toward a large beam of blue light rising into the sky.
The three made their way to the source of the light as fast as they could through the heavy storm. Once they reached the tall blue building, a locked door with First One's writing on it stood locked in their way. Bow and Glimmer struggled to open it with no success. Glimmer let out a sound of frustration.
"This would be a great time for my powers to come back!" She yelled to no one in particular.
"Wait, wait! I know this! Hang on, I think I can..." Swift Wind lined his head up perpendicular to the center if the door. As soon as he did, the writing lit up and an entrance opened up on the ground, allowing them access.
Just as they ran inside, the glow in the hallway turned red and Swift Wind directed them to a room where Adora was lying on a large inclined crystal.
"Adora!" Glimmer and Bow said simultaneously. "Were here! Wake up!"
They all ran over to her. She was asleep, her sword laying right next to her. Glimmer thought she saw something from behind a pillar across from her but didn't have time to think about it because Bow said, "Uhh, Glimmer?" He pointed to the path that they had just walked through, showing at least eight sets of eight eyes moving towards them.
Swift Wind was trying to reach Adora while Glimmer held her safe and Bow fought off the monsters.
Hope was beginning to be lost.
.
Entrapta
The experiment was a success. With access to the Fright Zone's runestone, the Black Garnet, Entrapta had all the First One's tech she needed. Entrapta spun in circles around the room that held the Black Garnet, logging her progress.
"This experiment has been more effective than I could ever have dreamed. This proves my hypothesis correct! With the Black Garnet functioning at 200 percent power, the precarious equilibrium that governs all of Etheria's natural functions has been thrown into complete chaos! No doubt as a result of the other elemental runestones-"
Scorpia stopped the princess's spinning. "Translate please?"
"By making the Black Garnet more powerful, we've sapped power from the other princess's runestones, upsetting the balance and making the weather go screwy."
All of a sudden, all the power in the room went out and the machines shut down.
"What's happening?" Scorpia asked.
"No, no, no!" Entrapta exclaimed. "We blew the circuits! I didn't even think that was possible! You guys have top notch technology but the electricity system can't handle this kind of work!"
She groaned. "Damn it!"
"Well can you fix it?"
"No! Everything's fried! Fixing it would take weeks, and I think the Garnet's power has depleted."
She sunk down and sat on her hair, then jumped up.
"But! That was incredible! Now that I can have access to this runestone whenever I want, I can continue experimenting until I get things right!" She giggled. "Just imagine what this can do if I can find even more information on the First Ones!" She grinned and rushed out of the room.
She needed to find another disc to extract information from. She already had suspected a signal was being emitted from the Whispering Woods and went to look further into it.
.
Glimmer
Glimmer sat with Adora in her arms. Still nothing from her or Swift Wind as Bow continued to attempt to fight off the spider creatures.
Suddenly, Adora opened her eyes. Glimmer felt her stir. "Adora! You're back!" She hugged her and Bow shouted at them. "Adora! Spiders!" His voice cracked.
She immediately stood up and started towards the beasts. "For the honor of Grayskull!" She transformed and defeated them with ease. Bow and Glimmer jumped on her, excited to see her back in action again.
Once they had let go, Glimmer turned to She-Ra.
"Adora." She said. "We need to go, the Horde has done something bad!" Adora nodded but hesitated.
"Wait, Catra!" She looked around her.
"Catra?! Isn't that our enemy?!" Glimmer shouted, urging Adora to come quickly.
"No, she's on our side now. Catra?!"
Glimmer saw the feline Horde soldier appear from the shadows. She peeked out slowly and began to walk toward Adora. Adora smiled.
"Adora, she's from the Horde!"
"I know, but she's with us now! I trust her."
"Ugh, no time! Let's go!"
Catras face showed shock and confusion suddenly. She pointed at Swift Wind. "Wait, is that a-"
"Talking horse, yes. Hop on!"
"What's a horse-"
"Come on!" Glimmer urged.
They flew out, expecting a horrendous blizzard complete with red lightning and strong winds.
But,
As they rushed out, the weather was normal: blue skies, warm, soft breeze. It was as if nothing had happened at all. But they knew it did, because right in front if them was a fallen tree, and another several feet to their left.
"What the-" Glimmer let out.
Swift Wind lowered the four to the ground.
"What's going on?" Adora asked and dismounted her flying horse friend, the others following suit.
"The bad thing," Swift Wind said. "It's not happening anymore. I don't sense anything at all."
"How is that even possible?" Glimmer exclaimed.
"Something must have went wrong in... whatever they were doing." Adora suggested. She reverted back to her normal form.
Swift Wind jumped in. "Well let's not dwell on it! This is good."
"Swift Wind's right." Bow said. "Now can we talk about why there's a Horde soldier standing next to me?" Catra scoffed.
"Right! Adora, can I talk to you for a minute?" She dragged her around the corner of the building. "Watch. Her." Glimmer directed Bow. Catra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Her tail swung around a bit.
Glimmer turned back to Adora. "Hi, I'm really glad you're safe!" She smiled. "But why is our enemy following you around?!" She whisper-yelled.
Adora groaned. "I told you, she's on our side now."
"She's from the Horde."
"I'm from the Horde."
"Yeah, but you're She-Ra. Catra's not secretly a princess, is she?"
"She is on our side."
"How do you know that? She could betray us."
"I know her, okay? We were best friends back at the Fright Zone. She wouldn't do that."
"Oh yeah? Did you know her when she led an attack on Thaymor? What about when she kidnapped me and Bow?" She didn't give Adora a chance to respond and glitched again.
They didn't realize that Bow and Catra could hear every word they were saying. "This could be a spy mission from the Horde-"
"I'm not part of the Horde!" Catra interrupted from behind Adora.
Silence. Every eye was on her. "I was... banished."
"You were what?!"
"We still don't know if she's telling the truth, Adora." Glimmer whispered to her. Adora ignored her, gesturing for Catra to go on.
She sighed. "Shadow Weaver found out that I let you and your princess friend escape," Glimmer pouted, "and she and Lord Hordak decided to finally get rid of me."
Glimmer placed her hands on her hips and watched Catra suspiciously. "Why did you let us go?"
"Because I couldn't stand looking at yours or Adora's face any longer."
"Ugh, and why are we letting her stay with us again?"
"I know right? Maybe I should just leave. You're a princess." Catra made a disgusted face.
"Catra! I'm a princess!" Adora said and Catra scoffed.
"No you're not, that stupid sword just makes you look like one. And I never said I wasn't referring to leaving you too. I told you, I don't like you. Princess or not."
"Okay, kitty-" "Don't call me that!" "Can we all just calm down?" Bow interjected.
"You said you'd join the rebellion." Adora reminded her. "We're bringing you to Bright Moon."
"I only joined your dumb rebellion because I have nowhere else to go."
"Okay- Can we just go home?" Glimmer proposed.
"That sounds great."
"Wait, Glimmer. Before we go anywhere, I think I can fix you. I- Light Hope didn't give me an exact answer, but I want to try." Adora remembered the reason she had gone in there in the first place.
Glimmer didn't know who this Light Hope was but assumed it wasn't anything bad."Uhm, okay, give it a go."
"For the honor of Grayskull!" Adora transformed back into She-Ra, looking majestic as usual and lifted her sword in the air, her eyes closed.
A golden light began to emit from the crystal on She-Ra's sword, nearly blinding Glimmer, Bow, and Catra. A ring of light spread throughout the Whispering Woods and when it died down, the fallen trees had been reverted to their original state and Glimmer was back to her normal self.
"No way!" Bow exclaimed. "Glimmer, you're sparkling again!"
She stood still and braced herself in case her powers weren't completely back and then disappeared and reappeared. No glitching. No pain. "Yes!"
"Now let's go home." Adora said and changed back into her normal self.
They decided to walk rather than fly and began their trek to Bright Moon with a new ally in their grasps.