#the way hollow looked at pale king feeling like a proud child to please their dad

[applexi]

i don't have the balls to talk abt this in my other blog but holy fuck am i emotional over hollow looking back at ghost at that flashback i rewatched it just now and i feel awful for what would soon happen to hollow RAAAGGGH

[kathyprior4200]

Frosta Fanfiction Seasons 1-5

Season 1

  A young girl, eight years old, stood at attention as the crowd watched. She had short dark blue hair and wore a dark blue dress with white fur covering her shoulders and her wrists. The front of her dress was decorated with seven short icicles carved into diamond shapes. Her round dark eyes met a dozen other eyes in front of her.

“Today,” announced Frigid, a blonde general of the guards, “is a day of both celebration, and mourning. His Majesty King Freeze led several of our strongest men into battle against the Horde on the edge of the Kingdom of Snows. Their leader, Hordak had attempted to invade our kingdom and steal our wealth and resources. King Freeze held Hordark off…but gravely, didn’t make it.”

The crowd muttered in low voices and several younger individuals gasped.

A tear threatened to fall from Frosta’s eyes, but she held it in. She couldn’t afford to be seen as a weak child during her coronation.

As an only child, Frosta had always known that she would become a ruler someday. Both her parents had taught her etiquette and rules early on. After observing weekly meetings with the king and the council, she could recite the anthem and the names of the other kingdoms with her eyes closed.

Despite all the formalities, Frosta still had time to closely bond with her parents in the late evening. She remembered the warm smile behind her father’s dark beard as he watched her practice her ice magic in her bedroom. When she had accidently froze a butler against the wall who had arrived to her room, her father showed her how to melt the ice surrounding him.

“Frosty, you must always be careful,” explained her father. Frosta rolled her eyes at her silly nickname, but smiled all the same.

Frosta remembered the subtle reassurances from Queen Iceis, her mother.

“Follow me,” she had said to her daughter. The two royals entered a hidden passage that led to a dark cave. They both stopped at a ledge.

A young Frosta pointed at something glowing from above. “What’s that?”

“The Fractal Flake,” the queen explained, the light briefly illuminating her long black hair. A large snowflake-shaped crystal hummed with power and stayed in place. She could feel the pulse from the gem similar to how she felt her heart beat.

“This gem has powered our kingdom for hundreds of years,” said the queen. “Its power has been used by kings and queens of the past to protect our land, as well as replenish their power. There will come a time, when it will be your turn to assume the throne. When you do, the crystal’s power will be transferred over to you, amplifying your power.”

Frosta’s eyes filled with both wonder and concern. “I know I’ll be able to do it…but what if I cannot?”

“You will,” said her mother. “There is a reason why we have taught you how to stand your ground so early. It is to best prepare you in case the inevitable comes.”

Frosta tried to pronounce “inevitable” and asked what she meant.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” said the queen. “Now, let’s be off to dinner. The food-tasters should tell us reports on the food when we arrive.” Frosta wrapped her arms around her mother in a hug. Shortly after, she returned the embrace.  

 Frosta didn’t know how fast time could fly by, until now. How could her mother’s clear ice blue eyes sparkle with happiness at her, only for them to roll back into her head, days later. Iceis’ pale white skin became sheer white as her body struggled to fight off a mysterious poison that had entered her veins. Medics and healers rushed into the queen’s chambers, doing all they could to heal her. All the meanwhile, Frosta looked on in fear from the distance, feeling ever so small and vulnerable.

“Definitely poison, alright,” stated a food taster, lifting his nose up to the silver wine chalice the queen had drunk out of. “The Horde must have slipped some in when they arrived with barrels of wine and fish for us.”

“We gave away our weapons to them for nothing,” spat a guard. “But surely, they would want us on their side. It must have been a mistake.”

But the queen’s pained gasps and coughs suggested otherwise. No longer able to stay in one place, Frosta rushed over to her sick mother. Her mother’s hand was ice cold, yet the young princess did not let go.

“My time is almost done, Frosta…” she stuttered. “Remember all the things I have taught you…”

“Mother, please…I’m not ready…”

“You are ready…you must be ready,” said her mother. “Make sure that all your subjects are well cared for. Enforce the rules when necessary. Be strong as a glacier, sharp as ice…but remember to be soft as snow at times.”

“I…I will make you proud, mother,” mumbled Frosta, her eyes turning red.

Iceis squeezed her hand tighter. “Oh, Frosty…you already have…”

Her head turned to the side and her hand went slack in Frosta’s.

“No! No! Mother!” cried Frosta. One of the guards tried to pull her to the side, but she screamed and sobbed loudly. It was the only time when she did not care when she acted like a child. It was even harder to get back into her responsibilities the next day. That was the day when the calls of war were heard.

It was the last time she would ever see her father’s face.

 Frosta’s thoughts were interrupted when she felt something hard being put on her head. It was a small ice crown.

Who would have imagined Frosta being crowned on her birthday…and her feeling like the world was already weighing down on her.

Another man with brown hair stood by her side and spoke. “By the power vested in me, I hereby crown you, Frosta, Princess of Snows.”

The crowd clapped politely, while a few other people looked at her with pity and disbelief in their eyes. Frosta stared at them icily, daring them to challenge her.

‘Don’t underestimate me because of my age,’ she thought. ‘You have no idea what I can accomplish.’

“Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!” called several teenagers as Frosta climbed down the stairs and walked toward the snack bar. For the rest of the day, she was bombarded with gifts from other kingdoms and endless requests of joining the Rebellion.

“Bright Moon needs you, Your Majesty,” said a messenger of Queen Angella who had been sent to her kingdom. He wore armor and the white garb of Bright Moon. A small insignia, a crescent moon, was pinned to his chest over his heart. “The Horde have almost destroyed the Whispering Woods and the Meadowlands. They could be up to something else!”

Frosta ignored him and popped a frost covered fish egg into her mouth. “Not interested. Being involved with the rest of Etheria has only caused problems for our kingdom. It would be beneficial if the Rebellion and the Horde could solve their problems like real adults. I suggest you do the same.”

The messenger looked aghast. “But the princesses…”

“Nope.”

Frosta walked away, leaving a bewildered messenger behind.

A strong burly man walked over to her later on while she was chewing a ball of dark chocolate candy. “The Horde and I have the best technology in the land. With our people and your kingdom ruling together, all of Etheria could be ours!”

“Not today,” Frosta replied with a wave of her hand. “Have a nice evening.”

Desperate to get away from the crowds and noise, Frosta headed back toward the council room.

“Scribe Chiller,” she ordered. The black haired writer looked up from her seat. “Yes, Your Majesty?” she asked.

“I want you to create a new law for this kingdom. Call it the Neutrality Treaty. We will not be involved with the Horde nor the Princess Alliance anymore.”

“Yes, Princess,” she nodded, not daring to question Frosta’s orders.

For months afterward, Frosta felt safer and more secure in her icy palace. The rules and regulations that had formerly confused her, now served as a good way for her to escape her troubling thoughts.

 Soon enough, the hidden pain of the loss of her parents and the ever increasing stress of her job made her perfectionistic.

 The rules had to be followed by the book: no cracks were to be evident in the ice walls and floor. All the beds had to be carefully made and smooth. The food had to be meticulously decorated and prepared. And for Snows sake, nothing on the plate could be touching each other!

Some people may have been put off by Frosta’s perfectionism and her antisocial ways. The more traditional nobles and several jokesters called her derogatory things like “youngster,” “ADHD Autistic Anarchist” and “Lost Frost.” But she didn’t care much anymore. How could she? Sharp comments weren’t going to penetrate her stone cold stance. There was no point in pretending like everything was fine and dandy when she still felt that hollow loneliness each and every day like a gaping hole.

Frosta lived by the rules and her role, day by day, only letting her emotions flow freely in her bedroom when she cried herself to sleep. In the back of her mind, she hoped to have her father and mother appear by her side once more. She imagined them saying that there hadn’t been a war. That they had made peace with the Horde and that they would live safely in Snows for the rest of their lives. Certainly, she could enjoy herself and become queen at 16, the traditional age where she would be shown proper respect.

But just as quickly as they came, her hopeful thoughts faded away in a cold blast.

 It wasn’t long before Frosta was almost twelve years old. Her kingdom had kept to itself for a long time. They had more than enough resources to keep busy and stable.

 The day came when Princess Frosta put together a rule list for the Princess Prom event. The sooner she got this event over with, the better. Already, the scribe was working on dozens of other copies to send out across the land.

“All Princess Ball: Winter Wonderland.” Was written in elaborate script at the top of the scroll. The rules were listed below.

“Rules:

No weapons allowed in the palace. Castle guards are the only ones permitted to carry weapons.

No use of magic powers for harm or fist fighting. Any form of violence will not be permitted.

For the chefs: All food must be prepared properly (fish and meat frozen with the right amount of ice power).

All guests must wear formal attire: (dresses, suits, ties, etc.)

Any princess may bring a plus one individual with them to the event

Princess Frosta is eleven and ¾ years old. No one is allowed to mock her or make any comment on her age or experience.

 The day of the prom arrived. A guard stood by a table, confiscating weapons from the guests. Adora was very reluctant to let go of her sword. Snow and icicles wrapped around the columns in the hallway. On and above the double doors were stain glass snowflake designs. The ballroom was shining with rows of icicles arranged in rows. People from all walks of life were dancing under colored strobe lights and pop music. A chandelier of long icicles hung from the high ceiling. A small band of beautiful women were playing string instruments on top of some stairs in a corner. An array of fruits and exotic food were positioned on ice covered shelves, made to be preserved throughout the night. There were small sandwiches, wrapped hotdogs, cookies, and cupcakes with wintery designs and colors. A large jelly-like sculpture was positioned at the edge of one table.

A line of guests walked up the steps to Frosta, who was sitting on her blue and white throne. The people bowed and greeted her, and they were then escorted back down the stairs by guards. Frosta didn’t particularly enjoy the moment; for her it was just another chore, albeit a necessary part of the ancient traditions. It was then that Adora and princess Glimmer arrived to the front. Adora bowed and Glimmer curtsied.

“That’s Frosta?” Adora whispered to Glimmer. “But she’s like…ten!”

A collective gasp came from the crowd as they heard Frosta’s age mentioned out loud by Adora.

“I’m eleven and three quarters,” said Frosta coldly. If she could, Frosta would have told her to shut the hell up.

“Revered hostess,” said Glimmer. “We come under the ancient rules of hospitality, bringing greetings from Bright Moon.”

“And She-Ra” added Adora.

“You are welcome under the rules of hospitality,” Frosta stated. “Leave conflict at the door. Enjoy the ball.”

Glimmer tried to remediate the situation and Adora started to say something about the Rebellion but Frosta had enough. The two princesses were moved along by Frosta’s guards down the steps.

Later on, during the party, Frosta went over by the snack bar, wanting to be left alone. She observed the light orange jelly and the fruit on the table. However, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, Adora walking over to her from her right.

Chatting with this disrespectful blonde stranger was the last thing on Frosta’s mind.

“Revered hostess,” said Adora with a bow. “I’ve come to apologize. I was so rude.”

“Yes, you were,” Frosta replied bluntly.

Then she turned back to Adora. “But you’re only an honorary princess. You can’t be expected to know better.”

Changing the subject, Adora looked around at the magnificent walls of ice and the vast architecture of the place.

“Your kingdom is beautiful. I’m honored to be here.”

“Thank you,” said Frosta, not looking at Adora.

Frosta sighed in annoyance, knowing why Adora had decided to speak with her. “And now I expect you’re gonna ask me to join your Rebellion?”

“You know about that?” asked Adora.

“Of course I do,” Frosta replied. “Princesses talk, you know.”

Just then, one of Frosta’s guards came over with a tray of food. He offered some to the princesses.

Frosta looked at the tray with disapproval. “The snow peas and the cookies are touching. Do it right.”

The guard left.

“Princess Frosta, the Rebellion needs you,” Adora pleaded. “Your kingdom is powerful. Your alliance could defeat the Horde.”

“The Horde hasn’t threatened us here,” stated Frosta. Despite several mishaps, the Horde had kept to themselves thanks to the Neutrality Treaty. Not even the Horde soldiers could get into the kingdom back when she lost her parents.

“Because the Kingdom of Snows is so out of the way,” Adora added. “Joining the Rebellion is your best bet.”

At this point, the ice princess was getting frustrated at the sight of a stranger telling her what her best choices were.

She had heard comments like that quite often in the castle, especially after the death of her parents.

“Are you sure you know what’s best for you?”

“You’re too little to run a kingdom! Do you even know what you are doing?”

“Maybe she’s too scared to associate herself with the outside world. Not doing what is best.”

The truth was, no one knew what was best for her…except herself. She certainly wasn’t going to let another person test her like that.

Frosta spoke. “The Kingdom of Snows has defended itself well for thousands of years. We do not need your help or your rebellion.”

She turned to Adora. “Please continue to enjoy the ball.” She left with her guards by her side.

Frosta was sitting back on her throne, doing her usual routine of meeting and greeting her guests. She was about to go into another state of boredom when she saw two guests that stood out from the crowd: Catra and Scorpia from the Horde. Catra was wearing a fancy maroon suit, while Scorpia was wearing an elegant black dress and red gem earrings.

“Revered hostess!” called Adora in concern.

‘Not this again,’ thought Frosta.

“They’re from the Horde!” Adora yelled, pointing at the two villains.

‘So what?’

“Hostess,” said Catra. “Princess Scorpia was invited per the rules of this ball. Rules which I personally have utmost respect for.”

“You do not!” shouted Adora to Catra.

“Princess Adora!” said Frosta sternly. “The rules state clearly that all princesses are welcome.”

“They’re up to something. I can feel it!”

“That’s enough!” Frosta reprimanded. “You look at me and see a child, but I have worked too hard to gain respect, only to throw away because you feel they’re up to something.”

It was quite clear that Adora had no evidence to back up her statement.

“The All-Princess Ball is neutral. I will not dishonor that legacy,” finished Frosta. “Scorpia is a princess. Princesses get plus ones. They. Stay.”

Adora grumbled in defeat and deviance.

After the guests left, pushing Adora and Glimmer below the stairs, Frosta grumbled, “Teenagers.”

The guests were all scattered around the ballroom now, eating food, and chatting with their friends. With no more people to greet and the time drawing near, Frosta stood up and announced, “It is my solemn duty as hostess to announce, it is time for the first dance of the ball.”

The crowd flooded toward the dance floor, laughing and pairing up in couples. Frosta watched and saw Adora and Catra dancing…and arguing at the same time. The dancing remained uninterrupted…until Adora suddenly pushed Catra into an ice structure, breaking it. The music stopped and the crowd gasped.

‘I knew Adora was trouble,’ thought Frosta.

Frosta stomped over and with a raise of her hands, entrapped Adora in a cage of ice.

Frosta glared at Adora. “The Princess Ball is a ceremony of unity. Violence is strictly forbidden.”

“You don’t understand…” started Adora.

“I understand perfectly,” spat Frosta. “In accordance with the rules set down over the centuries, I hereby revoke your invitation. You are to leave my kingdom and never, ever…”

A sudden loud explosion interrupted Frosta’s reprimand. Then a series of crystal bombs went off one after the other. Guests screamed and ran away in a panic. The food and plates crashed to the ground and crack appeared in the walls.

“Remain calm! Stop!” ordered Frosta to the crowd. Frosta knew what she had to do next. There was no time to stop the mysterious intruders. She had to keep her kingdom safe. She ran off, flanked by two of her guards.

Frista raced down the hall toward the secret passageway.

“Help get everyone out of here. If you see the intruders, freeze and restrain them.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the guards.

Frosta opened the ice covered door, which blended in well with the rest of the ice wall from a distance. Heart pounding, Frosta ran in the dark, searching for the beacon of light. Finally she found it: the Fractal Flake. She stopped, took a deep breath and raised both of her hands.

In several seconds, the falling debris that had threatened to fall on the guests froze in mid fall. Slowly, the castle started to amend itself. The roof closed back together, a light fixture flew back up into place and the large star structure outside the palace was fitting itself back together. Frosta strained herself and grunted with effort. If she was going to risk collapsing or even death protecting her kingdom, then that’s what she would do.

Once the palace was fully repaired, Frosta gasped for breath and fell to her knees on the cold ground.

How did all of this happen? Here was an event that only happened once a decade, which was supposed to be harmonious and secure. Seeing the two sides in harmony would have strengthened Frosta’s confidence of her rule.

Now, everything had fallen apart.

Frosta had lost her parents. She had lost her sense of security and safety.

And now…though she was reluctant to admit it, she had lost her trust in the Horde.

She wiped away some tears that had fallen down her face.

‘I have failed you, mother, father,’ she stuttered through her sobs. ‘I almost failed my kingdom. What am I supposed to do now?’

She clenched her fists and stood up. “I…I must go back outside. Tend to those who may be wounded. Reassure the public.” She remembered some advice from her father: “Professional in public, playful in private.”

Maybe…perhaps maybe…this Adora person was right after all.

But would joining the Rebellion really be her best bet? Even if it meant going against her centuries long tradition of neutrality? Her Neutrality Law was, in fact, nothing new. Her parents made a similar law, as did her grandparents and the ones before them. It was expected of a ruler to be partial and logical…never to fight unless the enemy invaded first.

Which of course, they had.

With one last surge of energy, Frosta stood up and raised her hands once more. This time, huge towers of ice rose up from the outside and encased the palace like a triangular shield. Now her kingdom was more isolated and insulated than ever.

She now felt safe…but never had she felt more alone.

She made her way out of the chamber and was met with one of her messengers, a young man named Frigid. “Your Majesty, no one appears to be hurt after the bombs went off. There were reports of two men in blue coats taking away Princess Adora’s comrades.”

Another messenger came over, this time a woman with dark hair, Glace.

“We think that Bow and Glimmer have been taken away by spies. They disguised themselves as our guard!”

“And the Horde must have set off the bombs. That scorpion princess was suspiciously nowhere to be seen…”

“Alright, I understand,” said Frosta holding up her hands.

She cleared her throat. “Strengthen the defenses. Search the castle for any other intruders. See to it that all weapons are observed and stored away.

“Yes Princess,” said Glace. The two messengers wandered off to their duties.

 Days and weeks passed. Frosta sat in with the council, going over document after document. She wore her usual blue coat, tan pants, and blue boots. She was about to sign a Treaty from the Horde when she felt a strange uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

It wasn’t from hunger nor was it cramps. It was the everlasting feeling of fear and dread. Even her hands had begun to shake of their own accord.

“Excuse me for a moment,” she said. Frosta walked fast out of the room, leaving the council members in confusion.

When Frosta felt the Fractal Flakes power diminish, she knew that something was not right.

It felt like another, much darker power was trying to corrupt it. Although it felt far away, she knew that the force could grow increasingly closer. It was a feeling of dread that she couldn’t seem to let go of.

Her fears were further confirmed when she saw a pale blue light shine up into the dark sky. She knew what it was: a distress beacon from BrightMoon!

Perhaps it was the time for her to do something different.

Perhaps it was the time for her to take action and go outside her comfort zone.

Making her way into her office, she came across the Neutrality Treaty that she had meticulously put together…and threw it out of a nearby open window.

The wind blew away the documents and Frosta felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Her previous life of rules and solitude had blown away.

If the Rebellion truly needed her help, than that is what she would have to do.

“Princess?” asked one of two guards, who were standing outside her door. “Are you alright?”

“Go back to your positions. Don’t let anyone know I’m gone. If I don’t come back…”

“You’re leaving?” asked one of the guards.

“To help save the Rebellion. I sense that something bad is happening.”

“But the Neutrality Treaty…”

“Is henceforth disregarded!” she declared. Frosta never believed that those words would ever leave her lips.

Her guards stood in frozen shock. They wondered if Frosta had lost her mind.

Which, due to the events, she most likely had.

“If I don’t make it, tell the people that I left this world with honor,” she finished, managing to make her face emotionless.

“Princess, wait!” the guards called with concern.

But Frosta jumped out the window and shot long sheets of ice from her hands as she fell.

The ice rose from the ground and created an icy path that Frosta slid down and across. She moved gracefully as if she were wearing ice skates instead of her blue boots.

Red lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the world in a blood red glow. The sight made Frosta’s hair stand on end.

‘No time to back away now. I must do what is right for my kingdom.’

She slipped over the Whispering Woods…or what was left of them. The majority of the ground was frozen below. As she came up to the palace of BrightMoon, she saw quite a sight.

Horde tanks were firing green blasts at the castle. One of the blasts fired by Catra made impact with the large stand that held the Moonstone upright. It stared to crack in half and threatened to fall, bringing the Moonstone to its doom under the lake. With a quick flick of her wrist, the stand holding the gem was encased in ice.

She proceeded to blast more Horde soldiers away with her powers.

Adora and the other princesses looked happy to see her.

Frosta flipped through the air and landed in front of She-Ra. “I hope I’m not too late,” she stated.

“No, you’re right on time,” said Adora.

For the first time in a long time, Frosta smiled. Then feeling impatient with Glimmer teleporting again and the group reuniting, she said, “Let’s do this already,” holding her staff in front of her.

Feeling a new energy within her, Frosta fought alongside the other princesses, forcing the Horde to retreat. She shot blasts of ice from a long staff she carried in her left hand.

Soon, the Moonstone brightened up the world, healed Glimmer and made things right again. When Frosta joined the other group of princesses who gave She-Ra extra power in rainbow waves, Frosta had never felt such happiness before. She glowed in a blue aura, with Perfuma and Glimmer on either side of her.

With victory for the Rebellion, Glimmer shook Frosta hard with glee, which she did not expect nor appreciate. Later, Frosta found herself cheering with Perfuma after the rainbow of power had been unleashed. “We did it!” both of them cheered. “We defeated them together! Isn’t this wonderful?” She happily hugged Perfuma and she hugged her back.

‘So this is what friendship is like,’ Frosta thought. For the first time in a while, Frosta truly felt like a kid again.

‘Mother and Father would be proud of me. If only they could see me now!’

As Frosta said her goodbyes and skated back to her kingdom, she did not know what the future would hold for her. In the back of her mind, she knew that the Horde was still out there. They would stop at nothing to conquer the land of Etheria along with the whole world. Now, she realized that her kingdom would be included on their list.

Her visit back was met with celebration and some apprehension. There were still people who could not accept a mere child ruling their kingdom but they were few and far between. The castle was now fully cleaned, repaired, and routines were set back in order. It was the same as it usually was.

Only this time, Frosta made plans to interact and travel with the Princess Alliance and help out in any way possible. Even though at times, she still had high expectations of other people.

No matter what the future would bring, Frosta would meet it head on like an unyielding glacier. To herself, she had the audacity to thank the Horde for what they had done. For without their involvement, Frosta would not have grown stronger and more resilient. Their attack at the Princess Prom made her want to defeat them more than ever before. It was a peculiar surge of adrenaline that she formerly, was not allowed to feel.

Being with her friends was…freeing. Weird, no doubt, but also freeing.

Frosta smiled as she hugged Perfuma.

“Yeah! We did things together! Isn’t this wonderful?”

 Deep down inside herself, Frosta knew she had made the right decision. She would not just honor tradition…she would expand upon it, alter it to better her kingdom for the good of her people. It was a daunting task for such a young girl who was so used to routine…but then again, she was one not to be underestimated.

One thing was certain…her memories of her new friends would stay frozen in her mind for a long time.

  Season 2

 Time had passed since the Rebellion had been victorious at the battle for Bright Moon. Frosta had grown more light-hearted and friendly with the other princesses. She was more than happy to accompany them on their journey. She liked to imagine herself in large ice armor smashing through the Horde's robots and creating ice weapons from her hands. After being secluded in her ice palace and having to learn her responsibilities for four years as a ruler, she felt a new thrill of freedom with the others. She felt like she had made friends at last. In contrast to her previous cold and distant attitude, she has been shown to be reckless and wants to prove her strength in order to impress the others. She had learned how to be professional back at the castle, but around the other princesses, a different side of her appears...one that is enthusiastic, though socially awkward. Due to her traumatic situation at a young age, and being the youngest princess, she did not have a normal childhood. However, Adora and the others show her that it's never too late to make friends and step out of one's comfort zone once in a while.

   Frosta smiled as she pounded her ice covered fists against one of the Horde bots that had been swarming the frozen forest. Frosta knocked one robot aside and gasped as another one flew at her.

“Got it,” said Mermista, stopping the robot with a wave of water and tossing it to the side. Bow lodged an arrow in the robot, causing it to explode.

Perfuma arrived on the scene, vines trailing in her wake. “Sorry, Frosta,” she said, feeling bad that she had accidentally flung the robots high into the air before.

“Wow, flower princesses can’t aim,” said Mermista with a playful grin.

“I-I’m working on it!” Perfuma stuttered.

 “Look out!” cried Frosta as another robot appeared.

“Got it!” called Glimmer. The pink and purple haired girl teleported herself and the bot up into the pink sky. She kicked the robot down to the ground, where it exploded in a stream of smoke.

“Thanks for dropping in,” said Glimmer with a grin.

Frosta appeared by Glimmer’s right side and let lot a loud laugh.

“Dropping in, because you dropped him from the sky. Good one.”

Frosta slapped Glimmer playfully on the back, resulting in a glare from her. She rubbed her arm in pain, since Frosta’s ice hands had hurt. Glimmer wondered off in search of another bot, Frosta eager to follow.

 Glimmer noticed another wondering bot and summoned a thin purple staff from purple light in her left hand.

“How’d you do that?”

Glimmer noticed Frosta and shouted in surprise.

Frosta showered her with questions. “Can you teleport anything you want? Like a cannon? I can make ice cannonballs.”

“What? No. Just the staff. It was my dad’s…Ugh. Actually, I was sort of in the middle of something here. Do you mind?”

A purple beam emerged from Glimmer’s staff but with a shout, Frosta had impaled the bot with a large ice spike.

“It’s more effective if you hit their core processing unit,” Frosta explained.

“Ugh. I know,” said a frustrated Glimmer. “I was about to…”

“Hey. There’s another one. Let’s get it,” interrupted Frosta. Glimmer groaned as Frosta hurried off.

Eventually, all the bots had been defeated.

Adora, Bow, and Glimmer walked down the hall at Bright Moon castle, Glimmer’s home. The other princesses had also arrived to the Rebellion’s base and were waiting inside the council room with Queen Angelina.

 “You should have seen it,” Glimmer exclaimed. “With the Moonstone super-charged, I’ve been so much more powerful. I took out, like, at least five bots,” she bragged.

Bow rolled his eyes from behind her. “Just like the day before, and the day before that.”

Glimmer turned around and looked at him. “So? What are we supposed to do? Not fight? We have to protect the woods. The Horde is going to keep taking ground until it regrows.”

“I know,” said Bow. “But how long can we keep this up?” He faced Adora.

“Did you learn anything from Light Hope?”

“Uh…” Adora smiled nervously and pointed at her sword in her other hand. “Getting way better at transforming my sword. Look.”

The sword morphed into a golden water pitcher.

“A pitcher,” said Bow with a nervous chuckle as Adora gave a small thumbs up. “That’s so useful.”

“We can picnic once the woods regrow,” said Glimmer.

“We should turn it into a dagger,” said Frosta eagerly from behind her. Glimmer screamed.

Frosta continued.  “See me take out that bot with daggers?”

“Where did you come from?” asked Glimmer.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” she stated.

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Frosta. “Well, we have to go. We have an important meeting.”

“The war council?” Frosta asked. “I’m heading there, too.” She winked and whispered, “Better, hurry, you’re gonna be late.” She hurried down the hall, went into the room and took her seat.

Glimmer’s eyebrow twitched as Bow said playfully, “Do we have a new addition to the Best Friend Squad?”

“Shut up,” she replied with a sigh.

  The council meeting was about to go underway.

Perfuma went up to Mermista. “Sorry, heh, I think that’s my chair.”

“Yeah, don’t you find it helpful to shift perspectives, sometimes?” Mermista asked, clearly not giving up her seat.

Perfuma’s eye twitched and she hummed, sitting down on her knees with her hands together, trying to calm herself. Glimmer, Bow, and Adora entered through the doors.

“Aunt Casta! You made it,” said Glimmer.

The woman beside Angelina smiled, her hair in black braids. “I wouldn’t miss it, dearest. The first war room of the new alliance. How exciting.”

Angelina glanced at her sister. “Shame you couldn’t be there where the alliance was formed.”

“I knew you’d bring that up…”

“We have a great deal to discuss,” said Angelina cutting Castaspella off. “Please take your seats.”

Frosta took her spot next to Glimmer and smiled. Glimmer grunted in response.

 Frosta listened as Swift Wind and Glimmer reported on territories taken by the Rebellion or the Horde. Bow came up with a plan to capture one of the Horde bots for the possibility of using it against them. After a while, the queen rose from her chair. “Glimmer, take your patrol out and capture a bot for Bow to study and carry out his plan,” ordered Angelina.

Frosta stood in front of Glimmer, making her flinch. “Commander, I have ideas to improve. First we should all have code names. I’d like to be Frostbite. And you can be Sparklebomb. Second…”

Glimmer cut her off. “Oh uh, Frosta. I need you to stay back and help Spinnerella and Netossa guard the castle. Great, thanks.”

She vanished before Frosta could get any words out.

With the council dismissed and the mission in place, Frosta decided that she was going to help Glimmer and the others. There was no way she’d stay back and miss all the good fighting. As quietly as she could, Frosta followed the other princesses out the door and toward the frozen forest.

 “Okay,” said Glimmer, pacing back and forth as the others stood in a line. “We’ll split up to cover the most ground. “Adora, Bow and I will go east. Mermista and Perfuma, you go west. Swift Wind, cover the sky and tell s when there’s a bot nearby.”

“And remember, we want an intact bot,” Bow added.

“What if it’s just like, a little waterlogged?” asked Mermista.

Perfuma chimed in, “And also covered in ferns that secrete corrosive poison?”

Frosta jumped out from behind the white Pegasus. “Or what if it’s totally smashed by my ice hammer?” She formed an ice hammer from her hand.

“Frosta!” gasped Glimmer. She sighed and walked fast toward her.

“You’re supposed to be defending the castle with Netossa and Spinnerella.”

Frosta crossed her arms, already tired of being told what to do.

“I know I ignored orders, but, no offence, those orders were wrong. You need me here.”

Glimmer put her hand son her hips. “You can’t just go running off whenever.”

“But I did,” said Frosta. “And I’m here now. And I’m not going back.”

“Fine. You can be in Mermista and Perfuma’s patrol.”

“I’m going with you.”

Glimmer leaned in, angrily. “Don’t push your luck.” She stomped off, Frosta glaring behind her.

 Frosta wondered off with Mermista and Perfuma and, using her soft padded boots, snuck out of sight. She soon noticed Adora, Bow, and Glimmer fighting off a larger robot that looked more advanced than the previous ones.

It wasn’t long before the group was surrounded by four of the new robots. Now was her chance.

Frosta jumped with her ice fists ready and landed on top of one of the robots.

She hit the top part of the robot that held the purple lit camera.

“Frosta!” yelled Glimmer. “Do you even listen when people tell you things?”

“What?” asked Frosta, still attacking the bot.

Glimmer waved her staff. “Get away from that bot!”

“It’s the bot you should be worried about!” Frosta replied. A metal claw picked up Frosta by her jacket and flung her over a cliff.

“Frosta!” Glimmer cried as the ice princess screamed and fell. Teleporting, Glimmer grabbed hold of Frosta in midair and teleported them to another area before they both hit the ground hard.

“There you are. We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” said Perfuma, arriving on a vine.

“Yeah. Everywhere,” Mermista deadpanned.

Frosta stood up and rubbed her nose, while Glimmer rubbed her head.

“That was incredibly stupid!” Glimmer scolded. “You could’ve gotten hurt, or gotten one of us hurt!”

“I was just trying to help,” said Frosta.

“This is serious, not a game,” said Glimmer. “You need to stop getting in our way.”

Frosta stared at Glimmer, stunned. Tears fell from her eyes as she ran off.

“Frosta, wait,” pleaded Glimmer, but she had already left. Frosta climbed up a rock overlooking the land and sat down. So apparently, her friends thought of her as nothing more than a burden. She had wanted to make friends and not feel as lonely as she had for countless years.

Frosta could hear Glimmer’s feet from behind her. Frosta turned her head. “Come to yell at me more? I just wanted to be your friend.”

“By ignoring us and throwing yourself into danger?” Glimmer asked.

“Sorry, I don’t know how to act.” The next words she said were painful for her to hear. “I’ve never had any friends before.” She turned away, head in her arms.

Glimmer teleported next to her and sat down. Frosta looked up at Glimmer, with a sad look on her face.

“I was eight when I took over the throne. Kind of hard to make friends when everyone is your sworn subject.”

“I know how you feel,” said Glimmer, empathetically. “I didn’t have any friends before Bow and Adora.”

“You?” Frosta asked, surprised. “Figured everyone would wanna be your friend.”

Glimmer chuckled half-heartedly. “Yeah, definitely not everyone.”

Then glimmer added, “And I’m still learning how to be a good friend, too.”

They both went silent for a moment, staring at the ground. Gathering her courage Glimmer turned back to Frosta. “I’m sorry I yelled. It’s just…I guess you remind me of…me.”

Frosta was not expecting to hear that. Being more of an introvert and not having the same carefree personality as Glimmer, comparing herself to the Brightmoon princess would be the last thing she would consider.

Glimmer continued, “And I can do really dangerous stuff sometimes.”

“I remind you of you?” asked Frosta, her eyes big and shining.

Glimmer nodded. Then disgust crept into her voice. “Ugh. And I even sounded like my mom when I yelled at you. Please don’t make me to that again.”

“Deal,” said Frosta with a small smile. Frosta held out her hand. Glimmer was about to shake it, but Frosta briefly held it back. “Does that mean we’re friends?”

“Yes,” Glimmer answered. “And we…I could really use your help.”

Relief filled Frosta and she stood up. “You want me to come back? I knew we’d make a great team. So should I do ice hammers or daggers? Your right, one of each.” An ice hammer formed in her left hand and an ice spike from her right.

Glimmer laughed nervously and rolled her eyes, deciding to go along with it. The two of them climbed down and hurried after the others.

 Frosta noticed the robots crawling toward the crystal tower and shot some ice underneath their metal legs, causing them to skid.

“Ice of you to drop in,” she said with a laugh.

Glimmer teleported her to safety to avoid an incoming laser. Both girls barreled into the bot and Frsota banged a large dent in it with her ice fist. “Showed you, bot face.”

 Catra charged at the last remaining robot, landing a punch, which sent it back. Glimmer blasted it back with her magic.

“You ready, ice princess?” asked Mermista.

“Yeah,” Frosta replied.

Mermista shot water at the bot, pushing it back against a cliff.

Yes!” Frosta said as she froze the water.

Perfuma held the bot in place with vines.

Bow held a piece of tech in victory and the princesses cheered.

The princesses watched in amazement as auras outlined their bodies and the forest magically grew back to normal. Frosta’s aura was dark blue.

“Whoa. Did we do that?” asked Frosta, looking around.

The answer was a clear yes.

Frosta laughed and hugged Glimmer.

 Later, the girls were back at Bright Moon castle. Frosta relaxed as Glimmer brushed her short blue hair.

“So, we’re okay now the woods are growing back, right?” Frosta asked.

“Light Hope says there’s still a lot to fix, but at least it won’t be as easy for the Horde to attack us.”

Frosta looked at Glimmer. “Thanks again for saving me, you know, after that bot threw me off the cliff.”

“Friends stick together. No princess left behind,” replied Glimmer. Adora held Frsota’s hand and the three of them laughed.

 During another day, Frosta and Mermista met with the others during a battle plan.

“Mermista said you were playing. We wanna join,” said Frosta.

“Ugh. We’re in the middle of a very serious planning session,” sighed Adora.

“We have lots of ideas for plans,” Perfuma added.

“Aren’t you on watch right now?” Glimmer asked.

Adroa groaned. “But only if you’re serious…”

“I’m sitting next to Glimmer!” Frosta said joyfully as she sat down.

“I have ideas,” Frosta said. “Staring with we punch them!”

One by one, all the members fantasized battle plans, each with their unique twists. In Bow’s fantasy, Catra turned into a purple mountain lion.

“Wait, she can do that?” Frosta asked.

“No,” said Bow. “But I ran out of figures and only have this left, so she can now.”

Perfuma then began talking about using a plant golem to take down the tower.

Then Mermista fantasized about having She-Ra’s powers, holding a trident and calling herself “Sea-Ra.”

 Frosta interrupted Perfuma. “The Winter’s Bane needs no help from a plant.”

Frosta imagined herself in full body ice armor similar to a transformer. The enemies were frozen in her ice. Frosta spoke in a dramatic voice.

“My enemies know me as Frostbite Winter’s Bane. My friends call me Bane. That is, if I had any. But no one comes close to the Winter’s Bane! She’s got a board sword that enhances strength plus three. Her finishing move is the Snow Strike.”

She pointed to a sketch of her character.

“What’s that pink blob?” asked Mermista.

“Her sidekick, Glimmer.”

The group continued talking, with Frosta adding her own ideas. “Frostbite uses Snowstrike to encase the tower in ice, then crack it, kapow!”

 “Frostbite smashes the wall!” Frosta exclaims.

“The ice armor cracks as you hit stone,” Adora says.

 The group then began talking about Catra.

Frosta disagreed with Perfuma and said, “No, no, no, she’s more like ‘I love ruining parties.’”  She imagined a drunk Catra holding a glass of wine, with sunglasses.

Adora soon began worrying that the Horde would defeat them and was about to give up. Her friends gave her words of encouragement.

“The Winter’s Bane stands with you. Also, me, Frosta stands with you. I can’t tell if we’re still in character.”

  The princesses soon launched their improvised attack on the tower, Perfuma staring with her plant golem. Frosta encased the cannons in ice.

“Yay, Frosta!” cheered Perfuma.

Frosta’s arms, hands, and chest were covered in ice armor. “This is colder than I thought, but not a problem.”

She charged through the line of Horde robots, knocking them over the wall with her ice fists. “Snow Strike!” She knocked two robots down and then a third.

“Huh?”

One of her hands was free from the ice, but water splashed on it, making ice appear again.

“Thanks, Mermista!” Frosta called.

“You mean Sea-Ra, Princess of the Oceans!” She conjured up a wave that splashed throughout the tower.

Adora, Mermista, Perfuma and Frosta yelled their battle cries.

“Charge!”

“I am Sea-Ra!”

“Plant magic!”

“The Winter’s Bane!”

The princesses were soon glowing and knocked off Scorpia and the other Horde soldiers. The Rebellion swiped down the red Horde flag and cheered.

  Season 3

Perfuma, Mermista, and Queen Angella analyzed the holographic map on the round table in front of them. Over toward the back of the chamber, Frosta stood by a map, sticking another smaller map into place with an icicle. Netossa and Spinerella watched intently. They were all trying to come up with another way to defeat the Horde.

 Mermista gasped and fell backwards out of her chair, when an exhausted Glimmer and Bow appeared with Huntara.

“You’re already here. Perfect,” said Glimmer nervously.

Mermista picked herself up. “Yeah, where have you been?”

She glanced over at the lavender skinned warrior. “Is this some new She-Ra form?”

“No. This is Huntara,” Glimmer explained. “She’s the leader of the Crimson Waste. Or was.”

Huntara observed the map with fascination and swiped at the image with her hand, a child-like expression on her face. Swift Wind arrived and pushed her out of the way.

Glimmer continued. “Uh, we don’t have time to get into it. We need to get to the Fright Zone.”

“The world doesn’t stop just because you aren’t here,” Angella warned. “We have been planning our attack on the Horde.”

“That’s a relief,” added Bow. “Because Catra kidnapped Adora.”

Everyone gasped, including Frosta, Netossa, and Spinerella, who turned around.  

“The Horde has Adora?” Angella asked.

“Which also means they can open a portal because they have her sword,” Glimmer explained.

“What? I don’t understand…”

“There’s no time.”

“Glimmer, slow down…”

“We need to get to the Fright Zone now,” Glimmer spoke in urgency.

“We?” asked Angella. “You are not going anywhere until you explain.” She stood up and unfurled her white transparent wings. “Glimmer, outside. Now.”

Frosta continued observing her maps, as Glimmer and Angella walked outside, the doors closing behind them.

 When their conversation was over, Frosta and the others rushed from their hiding spot behind the doors. Several of the princesses whistled innocently, like they had not been eavesdropping.

 Later on that night, Perfuma, Frosta and Mermista used their powers to hoist themselves onto the raised platform. Perfuma got up using vines, Mermista via a rising wave of water, and Frosta, via ice.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mermista asked.

Glimmer summoned her staff into her hand. “Don’t try to stop us. This is the only way to save Adora.”

“We’re not trying to stop you. We wanna come with you,” Perfuma said.

Mermista smirked. “We could do the whole “you can’t come with us, it’s too risky” thing…”

Frosta stepped up. “Or you could just accept that we are coming. Because we are.”

Shadow Weaver spoke from behind. “A larger group will be a disadvantage. I won’t…”

Mermista interrupted her, pointing at her. “We’re calling the shots. You’re gonna have to make that thing bigger, weird, scary lady.”

Reluctantly, Shadow Weaver complied.

“Quickly now,” she urged.

She spread out tendrils of dark purple magic from her hands and down below, the complex circle of symbols and shapes lit up.  Shadow Weaver made another symbol in the air, identical to the symbol on the ground. She extended her hand through the small hole, beckoning Glimmer to take it.

After a brief hesitation and a deep breath, Glimmer’s hand grasped hers.

The moment their hands touched, dark purple power swirled around the area, the energies of the Black Garnet and the Moonstone converging. It wasn’t long before all the group members were transported into the heart of the Fright Zone.

 “We did it. I did it. Oh that was amazing,” Glimmer exclaimed, jumping for joy.

“Hmm,” said Bow in thought. “Kind of figured Hordak’s sanctum would be way scarier and not so empty.”

“Yeah no,” Mermista added. “Decorating is not their strongest suit.”

“We aimed for Hordak’s sanctum, but obviously, we missed,” said Shadow Weaver. “We’re not far. Stay behind me. And try to be quiet.”

The door opened to reveal a blue skinner reptile humanoid, holding a blue cup in his hands. All the princesses and Bow turned around. The Horde cadet dropped his cup in shock, spilling the rocky and sloppy contents on the ground.

“We have to go,” called Shadow Weaver, pushing a button and opening a metal door.

“I’ll hold her off,” said Perfuma, before Mermista, Bow, Glimmer, and Frosta hurried after the sorceress.

As the group ran, the door ahead opened up, revealing Lonnie and Rogelio. Glimmer stood, conjuring balls of glittery light in her hands. Frsota already had formed ice fists around her hands.

Lonnie pulled a lever, sounding the alarm before pulling out a stun weapon. Rogelio roared and charged.

Mermista walked forward, pulling water from beneath a sewer grate to the right. “My turn. I didn’t almost drown in these sewers for nothing.”

Frosta strode forward. “I want in.”

She waved her hand and Mermista’s water turned into shards of ice. Mermista fired them at Rogelio and Lonnie, catching their hands and legs in ice.

“We’ll keep them busy. Go,” Mermista called. Mermista and Frosta stayed behind to fight off incoming soldiers while Glimmer, Bow, and shadow Weaver disappeared down another corridor.

  She-Ra walked through the portal. In one strike of her sword, she broke it and the machine collapsed.

“Adora!” shouted Glimmer and Bow, both running over and embracing her in a hug. All of their eyes shone with tears.

“See? We told you, you could do it,” mentioned Glimmer.

“Who hoo!” Frosta cheered. “Yes, we did it. We did it.”

Frosta ran over and hugged Adora as Perfuma and Mermista also joined in.

“Touching as this is, we need to go,” Shadow Weaver cut in. “Now.”

She held out her hand. Glimmer stepped forward and took it. The others let go of Adora and took their positions. The black power swirled around them, transporting them back to the raised platform where the Moonstone resided.

Everyone laughed and shouted with joy; Perfuma even hugging a stiff unamused Shadow Weaver.

“We did it,” said Bow, lifting Glimmer up and carrying her around.

“Did we do it?”

“We did it,” Glimmer assured. “I’m probably going to be grounded for the rest of my life, but reality is back to normal.” Bow gently put Glimmer down.

“Speaking of which, I guess I should go find my mom. Maybe she’ll be so happy to see me that she’ll forget about grounding me.”

Adora slowly walked over to Glimmer, head lowered, and silent.

“Adora, what is it?” Glimmer asked in confusion.

Adora transformed out of her She-Ra form and embraced her in a somber hug. Glimmer knew then what she was telling her.

Adora started to cry. “Angella, she…she stayed behind. She…she saved us.”

Tears pooled in Glimmer’s eyes. Frosta and the others gathered around, comforting Glimmer and Adora.

  Season 4

Glimmer, Adora, and Bow followed Castaspella down the hall. Castaspella explained the process of Glimmer’s coronation.

“So the ceremony begins with the Ritual Quest, followed by your first speech as queen. And most importantly, the whole thing ends with a Grand Ball!”

Adora gasped. “Oh, there’s a quest! We’re great at quests.”

Castaspella continued, “The Quest of Queens, in which Glimmer will forge her connection to the Moonstone. The Moonstone’s power has been balanced between you and your mother since you’ve been born, but now, with her…her absent…”

“So, about that quest!” Bow cut in. “We’re great at quests, right?”

Castaspella cast a spell, a blue circle design in the air, which a scroll appeared. She tossed it over to Bow.

“Yes, it’s in the scrolls. Secret ritual, witnesses, light, etcetera, etcetera. Oh, and you’ll need this.”

She threw an elegant lantern into Bow’s arms, the interior glowing with a white flower against light blue.

A shirtless man with wild white hair arrived with a large bouquet of red and pink roses, nettled in green.

“Are those the flower arrangements?” Castaspella asked in amazement. “Glimmer, what do you think?”

Glimmer mumbled awkwardly raising an eyebrow. “Oh uh, they’re, uh, fine?”

“You’re right, they’re awful!” said Castaspella. She turned to the man. “Burn them at once. Also, you’re fired.”

The man sobbed into the bouquet and ran off.

“Aunt Casta, you…” Glimmer began.

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” said Castaspella, touching Glimmer’s nose. “In addition to being a powerful sorceress, I am also a legendary party-planner. This will be a coronation for the ages! Glimmer, take us to the terrace!”

Glimmer merely sighed and walked on.

“Oh, we’re…we’re walking, are we? Great. We can use the exercise.”

  Glimmer, Bow, and Adora stood outside in the castle grounds, Frosta across from them. Frosta had made something for Glimmer’s coronation as the new queen of Bright Moon.

“What do you think?” Frosta asked Glimmer. She presented a grotesque ice sculpture of Glimmer and Frosta with strong muscles, looking angry.

“I wanted to do something special for you,” she explained.

Glimmer lowered her head. “This is going to be awful.”

But oblivious Frosta wasn’t paying attention. “Awful inspiring, right? I can make more!”

Glimmer held up her hands and gently placed hers on Frosta’s. “I appreciate the idea. But I need someone for a very important job to, uh, greet the guests.”

Frosta jumped into the air in excitement. “Oh! You need a bouncer?”

Frosta smashed her newly created ice fists together.

“I’m on it! Bouncer!”

She happily ran off.

“Wait, I didn’t say bouncer,” Glimmer began, but the ice princess had left.

“Glimmer!” called her aunt. “I need your opinion on color schemes.”

“Uh…blue?”

There was an awkward silence.

“What about purple?”

“Excellent choice,” said her aunt. “Isn’t this fun? Soon you will have to make many decisions just like your mother…”

Adora and Bow rapidly shook their heads.

“That is, uh…chop, chop, everyone! Adora, move the ice sculpture to the side!”

Adora walked off, grunting with moving the heavy blocks of ice.

“We still need flower arrangements!” called Castaspella. “Where’s that florist?”

“You fired him,” said Glimmer.

“Oh, right. Perhaps you’d like to do the flowers, Glimmer?”

Glimmer looked toward Mermista, who let out a long drawn out yawn.

“You know, I bet Mermista would love to do the flowers! Right Mermista?”

Mermista spoke with sarcasm. “Wow, how did you know? Flower arranging is my passion.”

“Ah, wonderful!” said Castaspella. “Now let’s talk stem length.”

Perfuma cried out loud, “What? No! Why?” Her giant dark pink flowers wilted as she sank to her knees, upset of her position being taken.

Swift Wind turned to Glimmer. “Is now a good time to talk about my song for the coronation? I will require a stage and oats for the backup horses.”

Frosta created a thick wall of ice between them and the horse flew off.

“Stop bothering Glimmer! Bouncer!”

“Hey!” said Adora, sliding over. “I think it’s all really coming together, don’t you?”

Adora led her over to Bow.

“Yep, it’s gonna be perfect! What else do we need to do, Bow?”

Bow held a long scroll on his hands.

“Still don’t know what the lantern is for! This is so official and confusing. It says Glimmer needs to wear some ceremonial robe. I don’t know where to get all that!”

“Maybe if we all looked together…” Glimmer suggested before Adora cut in.

“Don’t worry! We’ll find it!”

“But…”

Castaspella interrupted. “Glimmer, you’re needed in the Dining Room to choose the napkin folding technique! I’m thinking swans. What do you think?”

“Uh…”

“You’re right, it’s a terrible idea. I should just fire myself.”

“Aunt Casta, no…”

A gush of water then soaked both of them.

Glimmer pulled a starfish off of her and Castaspella threw away a vine of seaweed.

“Mermista! Vases!” Castaspella yelled.

Mermista stood in a large puddle of water and seaweed. “Don’t stifle my creativity!”

“Ugh. Please.”

“It’s okay. We will handle everything,” said Adora, transforming her sword into a mop. “You go have fun!”

Bow scooted away.

Glimmer sighed. “Fun. Right.”

  After Adora arrived from inside the castle later on, Frosta walked over to her.

“Adora, I’ve been freezing anyone trying to sneak in, but I’m running out of space to put them.”

She mentioned to Sea Hawk frozen in mid-run.

“Unfreeze him right now!” Adora demanded.

Frosta nodded and ran off.

Perfuma snuck over to where Mermista was busy putting things together.

“Mermista, um. Flowers are sort of my thing.”

Mermista had put coral, starfish, shells, and seaweed onto a large rock.

“Uh, it’s art and it’s what Glimmer wants. New queen, new era.”

Frosta then noticed Perfuma and Mermista fighting over Mermista’s sculpture and pushed the two girls apart by their faces.

“Stop fighting! You’re ruining Glimmer’s big day! Bouncer!”

Bow walked over. “Okay, has anyone seen a sacred lantern?”

“Yeah, there,” said Mermista, pointing to Swift Wind, Adora’s self-centered and valiant steed. The horse had the lantern hanging from his horn.

Bow sighed and walked over.

“Oh!” said Adora. “We’ve been looking all over for it! Thanks, Swifty.”

Swift Wind held it out of arms reach, attached to his horn.

“And I’ll present it to Queen Glimmer. Then she’ll be all, “Swift Wind, why don’t you sing the coronation song you made up?”

Swift Wind then sang obnoxiously. “Queen Glimmer, it’s your day. We’re all excited for you.” Bow and Adora wrestled with the winged stallion. Frosta went to check on Sea Hawk, and he was still frozen.

Mermista and Perfuma stood close to Glimmer.

“Glimmer, can you please tell Perfuma to stop questioning your wise judgement?”

“What? I’m not…”

Frosta interrupted Glimmer, grabbing hold of her face.

“Where do you keep the blankets? Sea Hawk is whining about being frozen.”

“Why did…”

Glimmer,” said her aunt, cutting in. “The quest is due to begin. Where’s the latern?”

“I have it!” called Swift Wind. “And now, my song!”

Perfuma argued with Mermista. “Everyone knows Glimmer would be happier with me on flowers!”

“Glimmer disagrees,” Mermista deadpanned.

“Glimmer, your guests are waiting,” Castaspella reminded her.

As Perfuma and Mermista argued, Frosta yelled, “Everyone, stop bothering Glimmer! She has a ton on her plate.”

Swift Wind belted out more off-key words, “Till the end, until I die, of course.”

 The commotions, the noise, the pressure, the loss of her beloved mother…

 It was all too much for Glimmer.

 “Everyone, just stop!”

Glimmer’s yell was so loud, that the ice Glimmer head broke off and rolled to her feet. Everyone gasped.

Castaspella put a comforting hand on her niece’s shoulder. “Glimmer, we will fix all of this.”

Glimmer walked over to Bow and held out her hands. Bow handed her the lantern.

“Let’s just get this over with,” said Glimmer, before walking away.

 Glimmer made her way over to her room and sat sadly on a round lavender cushion. She stared at her hands, and watched a few sparkles appear around her hands. Glimmer remembered how she recently looked at the shimmering MoonStone high above on the golden stand. Her body has glowed and sparkled pink, like the stone was calling to her.

But to take all the power for herself, and her mother not being here…

Glimmer had been fine with the shared power she possessed for all her life. The sudden changes were hard, shocking…heartbreaking. For Glimmer, receiving her mother’s power felt overwhelming. Could she be prepared to be Queen of Bright

Moon, even with Angella not around to guide her?

 Her thoughts were interrupted when Bow, Adora, and Castaspella entered the room.

“Well, it took some searching, but we finally found the Royal Coronation Robe!” said Bow.

 Adora held a white sheet in her hands. She walked over and draped it over Glimmer. Glimmer glared at the heavy thing on her.

“Wow, Glimmer…” she began. “You look…um…”

Adora held a thumbs up, staring at the way too big robe.

Glimmer gave a nervous smile, then looked downcast.

Concerned Castaspella made her way to her niece.

“Oh, my little Glimmer. I’m so proud of you.”

She tenderly touched her cheek.

“I know you’re going to make such a wonderful queen.”

In an attempt to cheer her up, Castaspella continued, “Almost time for your quest! Give me a tick and this robe will fit like a dream!”

“Of course,” sighed Glimmer, sitting down on the cushion. “The quest we still don’t know anything about. But it’ll be fine. Castaspella will fix the robe, Bow has the lantern, and I’ll have you guys by my side the whole way.”

   Later on, a nervous, sad, but determined Glimmer walked between the woodland man creatures, across the white bridge and over to Bow, Adora, and her aunt. A banner with a golden symbol of the MoonStone stood proudly over to the left. Her ceremonial robe now fit her perfectly. It was white with a golden symbol of a crescent moon pointed upwards on the back. The waterfall curtain behind them fell with barely any noise; the water reflecting sunset colors of light orange, pink, and blue from the top to the bottom.

 Glimmer held the lantern in both shaking hands. She walked over with determination and then turned to face the crowd.

Castaspella opened up her scroll and read aloud.

“We are gathered here today to witness the crowning of Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon as she completes the Quest of Queens and begins her reign as our new leader. She will be accompanied by two witnesses, Master Archer Bow, and Adora, She-Ra, princess of Power.”

Mermista closed her eyes and opened the curtain of water with her powers. Perfuma, Sea Hawk, and Frosta stood with her to watch in their fancy Princess Prom gowns.

Castaspella continued. “Let the light guide you and go forth in peace and safety to emerge as Queen of Bright Moon.”

Glimmer, Bow, and Adora stepped in, and the watery curtain closed behind them.

   Later on, the sky had turned dark. When Glimmer emerged from the Chamber of Queens, triumphant in her quest, the hall was all set up for the party. Frosta had made two new ice statues of Glimmer and Queen Angella holding hands. Perfuma had created vines of green with flowers in them that hung from the top of blue and purple banners on either side. Glimmer cried tears of joy.

“This place looks amazing!” Glimmer exclaimed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Perfuma, Mermista, and Frosta arrived in the same gowns they wore to the previous Princess Prom.

“We wanted it to be perfect for you,” said Frosta.

“So we worked together to finish,” added Perfuma.

“That was my idea,” said Mermista.

“Glimmer,” said Castaspella. “It’s time.”

She mentioned to the golden throne high up. Smiling, Glimmer walked up the floating golden round steps and up to the throne.

She took a deep breath, having planned what her speech would be.

“I am here today because Queen Angella, my mother, sacrificed herself to save Etheria. We can’t let her bravery be in vain. But there’s so much we still need to do. Hordak is still in power, and we know there’s an even larger Horde army out there somewhere. We can’t let them win. It’s time for us to take back our home. Together, we will push out the Horde, once and for all!”

The crowd cheered and stood up in an ovation, fists and hands in the air. Frosta and Perfuma hugged each other as they cheered. “Yeah!” cheered Bow and he and She-Ra hugged.

 Glimmer smiled at the ice statue of Angella, the ice face smiling and eyes closed…at peace. Seeing her sweet angelic face, Glimmer knew her mother would be proud.

  “Mer-Mysteries”

 Known books:

“Mer-Mystery: The Pearl Who Knew Too Much”

“Mer-Mystery: Secret of the Abalone”

“Mer-Mystery: Serpent of the Sea”

“Mer-Mystery: The Maltese Otter”

“Mer-Mystery: Salt-er Ego”

 Potential titles:

“Mer-Mystery: Rip Current Events”

“Mer-Mystery: Seaweed Scandal”

“Mer-Mystery: The Missing Mermaid”

“Mer-Mystery: Lost at Sea”

“Mer-Mystery: Cat-Fished”

“Mer-Mystery: The Case of the Great White”

“Mer-Mystery: Hidden in the Coral Reef”

“Mer-Mystery: Devious as a Clam”

“Mer-Mystery: Brainwash in the Deep Blue”

“Mer-Mystery: Murder at Salineas Shore”

“Mer-Mystery: The Stolen Trident”

Mer-Mystery: Atlantis Apocalypse”

“Mer-Mystery: Sea Shell Standoff”

     One stormy night, the princesses sat together in one of the chambers of Bright Moon castle. Frosta had a bored look on her face, arms crossed, next to Perfuma who stared off into space. Other sin the room included Mermista, Sea Hawk, Perfuma, Flutterina, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. Glimmer stood facing the fire in the fireplace. Mermista sat on the couch next to Sea Hawk who was lying down, tired.

Glimmer turned around. “I called you all here to discuss what happened today. The mission to retake Dryl was a complete disaster. We barely made it out. I wanna know why.”

Bow spoke up. “The Horde knew we were coming. They were ready. How do they keep doing this? We thought they were tracking Adora, but she wasn’t even there today.”

Mermista then slammed her hands down on the table. “Isn’t it obvious? There’s a Horde spy somewhere in Bright Moon.”

Outside, the sky lit up white as thunder rumbled.

“And no one is going anywhere until we figure out who it is.”

Thunder crashed again.

Mermista,” said Glimmer, “It’s very unlikely that there’s a spy…”

“We need to investigate,” Mermista cut in, pacing back and forth. “I’ll be the lead detective since I’ve read every single Mer-Mystery book.”

“Mer-what?” asked Adora.

Mermista moved over behind the couch dramatically. “Mer-Mystery. It’s only the best undersea mystery novel series ever. There’s 18 of them. It taught me everything about solving mysteries.”

She leaned in, and said louder, “Murder mysteries.” Sea Hawk fell down on the couch in shock.

Perfuma raised her hand. “Um, but no one’s been murdered.”

“Yet!” added Mermista, moving between Frosta and Perfuma, making Perfuma flinch. “First, we need to question the suspects.”

“Who are the suspects?” asked Frosta.

“Everyone is a suspect,” stated Mermista.

“Everyone?” asked Bow. “Is anyone else sweating? I’m sweating.”

Glimmer sighed. “This is a waste of time. We know that the Horde is pulling their troops back for something big. That’s what we should be investigating.”

“No, Mermista’s right,” said Adora. “And it can’t be me the Horde’s tracking, since, once again, you used me as a distraction today. A spy is really the only thing that makes sense.”

Glimmer crossed her arms. “Maybe they didn’t fall for the distraction because you’re a bad actress. And who would the spy even be, anyway?”

“Heh,” said Adora. “How about the Horde officer who’s living at…I’m sorry, being held prisoner at Bright Moon? Shadow Weaver has actual spies. We met them.”

“Shadow Weaver does seem like the obvious suspect,” said Mermista. “Which means it definitely isn’t her. It’s never the obvious one. Like in Mer-Mystery: The Pearl Who Knew Too Much. You think it’s the pearl, but it’s not.”

“Spoilers!” cried Perfuma, flinching again.

Mermista pointed off in the distance. “It’s time to interrogate the castle.”

Lightning and thunder crashed once again.

“How are you doing that?” Frosta asked.

“I practice at home!” Mermista answered dramatically as thunder boomed again. Glimmer facepalmed and groaned.

 As lightning flashed across the sky, Flutterina hummed a happy tune as they went inside a tent on the Rebellion campsite. Checking that the coast was clear, they transformed into Double Trouble. The chameleon flopped onto a cushion and took out a tracker pad, pressing a button. Catra’s angry face appeared on screen. “Move. Now. We don’t have all night, Kyle.”

“Meow. You all right there, kitten?” they asked.

Catra stared straight ahead. “About time you checked in. Are the princesses still moping around about Dryl?”

“No,” they said with a scoff. “Watching them mope was my favorite. Now they’re playing detective, searching for the elusive Horde spy who foiled their plans.”

“Wait. Spy? Is your cover blown?”

“Please,” they said. “Who would suspect a goody-two-shoes like Flutterina? Besides, if they get suspicious, I’ll do a quick wardrobe change and throw the blame onto someone else.”

They transformed into a guard.

“They better not,” Catra demanded. “Keep them in Bright Moon. If they catch on before the plan is complete, before our bug mission is done, I…”

They transformed back. “Darling, darling, don’t worry. I’ll just tire them out a bit.”

 A dark brown skinned guard sat on the couch in front of Mermista and Perfuma. Mermista slapped her hands on the table. “Where were you when the murders happened?”

“The what?” asked the guard.

Mermista slapped her hands again, Perfuma winced and shook her hand.

“Don’t think you can get away with it,” added Perfuma. She turned to Mermista. “Although, there still aren’t any murders, Mermista.”

“Yet.” Mermista planted her foot on the table.

“I sincerely do not have time for this,” stated the guard.

“According to a bunch of other people…”

“Witnesses!” yelled Perfuma. “…you weren’t where you were supposed to be at the battle for Dryl.”

“I followed the plan exactly,” said the guard.

Perfuma planted her foot on the table causing the flower shaped head lamp to shake. “A likely…sorry, a likely story!”

“Admit it,” said Mermista. “You were slipping away to warn the Horde of our plan. Just like in Mer-Mystery: Secret of the Abalone. That one’s really good. You should read it.”

Perfuma took notes on her scroll of paper in fancy cursive: “Maintain scowl,” “Hit the table,” “Secret of the Abalone.”

The guard moved the spotlight away. “Look, this is what happened. “On approach to Dryl, Glimmer filled me in. She-Ra would lure away the Horde. Team A, Frosta, Bow, and Flutterina, would scout ahead. Team B, Sea Hawk and Mermista, would guard the exits. Team A indicated the coast was clear, and we converged on their signal. That’s when Frosta ran into us and said, “We haven’t finished scouting.”

Team A sent the all clear. If you wanna know what went wrong, ask Bow.”

“Okay, I confess, it was me” he cried.

Frosta stared back at him in her chair. “We’re not even interrogating you.”

“I mean, if I am the spy, it’s an accident. I think. Can you be an accidental spy? Do I have an evil alter-ego? Or was I brainwashed and I’m just realizing it now?”

A shirtless man with a flower necklace sat next to Bow. “So, like, are you guys still questioning me or…”

Bow took the spotlight and held it up to his face. “It all goes back to what happened in Dryl. Everyone was in position, and I was using my new tech to look for remaining Horde soldiers. But then, my goggles glitched and I don’t know what happened. I started to see double. That’s when the other team came in way too early. I tried to signal everyone to fall back, but my tracker pad was missing.”

“Whoa,” breathed the shirtless guy.

“Don’t you see what this means?” Bow asked. “Either I lost my tracker pad at Dryl, and that gave the Horde vital information, or I did it on purpose because I am the spy, and I gave the signal and I didn’t even know.”

Bow grabbed the guy’s flower wreath. The shirtless guy stared into Bow’s eyes. “You’re blowing my mind.”

“Bow!” called Frosta. “You aren’t the spy!”

Bow’s voice rose up in panic. “You don’t know that! It all makes sense. Who else could it be?”

 Meanwhile in Shadow Weaver’s dark garden…

Adora paced back and forth. “So you’re telling me, you really didn’t know about the plan to retake Dryl? Really?”

Shadow Weaver held a dark rose in her hands. “Not a bit. I’ve been busy with my garden. She’s always been paranoid like this, you know.”

Glimmer giggled under her breath. “I’m not being paranoid,” Adora argued. “You were spotted around the castle without your guards this morning, and I wanna know why.”

“Actually, Adora, that’s…” started Glimmer.

“I was engaging in a ritual,” Shadow Weaver explained. She recounted the time when she stood by her magic basin, naming ingredients and adding them in.

“Essence of Echinacea. A dash of Gingerroot. Ah. My daily morning ritual.”

She held a cup of tea in content.

Adora burst out laughing. “Okay, you expect us to believe you were just having tea? She’s the spy. You’re the spy. Who else could it be?”

“I am not the villain of this story,” stated the sorceress. “As to your question, Glimmer saw fit to grant me free rein of the castle. My guards have been dismissed.”

“No guards? Seriously?” Adora glared at Glimmer.

“Yes, seriously,” she shot back. “What has she done other than to help us?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Girls,” warned Shadow Weaver, “Every moment you waste here, the Horde gets that much further ahead. In order to catch a rat, you need to spring a trap.”

“Well in order to catch the spy, we need you to admit that you’re the spy,” blasted Adora.

“Let it go, Adora,” said Glimmer. “There’s lots of other people it could be.”

“Like who?”

 “Ah,” Sea Hawk sighed happily, propping his feet on the table back in the chamber. “I love recounting the epic tales of my exploits. My heroic exploits.”

Mermista groaned out loud, Perfuma sitting next to her on the couch. “It definitely isn’t Sea Hawk. Why did you even bring him in?”

“You said everyone was a suspect,” mentioned Perfuma.

“Exploits for the ages,” Sea Hawk began. “Narration. I was supposed to be guarding the door. But Perfuma relieved me of duty so I could join the fight. I advanced through the courtyard, avoiding the booby traps, risking my very life, just like in Mer-Mystery: Serpent of the Sea.”

“Wait, is that were my book went?” asked Mermista. “Sea Hawk, I’ve been looking for it.”

Sea Hawk continued his story. “That’s when the clouds parted, and the moonlight illuminated my dearest Mermista in the distance.”

“Moonlight?” Mermista sighed. “The battle happened this morning.”

“I made my way over to her when…we were ambushed! My sole aim was to protect Mermista from the Horde. Thinking quick, I took on the 40 or 50 Horde soldiers surrounding us, and saved Dryl.”

“We lost Dryl, and you punched, like, one guy before Glimmer got us out,” Glimmer said with a laugh.

“Exactly 100 guys!” he countered.

Both woman facepalmed. “Wait, wait,” said Perfuma, “I was with the General the whole time.” She leaned in and glared at Mermista, crossing her arms. “And why weren’t you with Sea Hawk, Mermista?”

“Because Frosta waved me over, but disappeared before I could reach her.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. She was with Bow, and then Glimmer, and the others were…”

“Who wants to watch me do some squats?” Sea Hawk asked, beginning his exercise.

Mermista then proceeded to shove him out of the room.

“I bet Adora and Glimmer don’t shove suspects out the door.”

 Flutterina sat innocently on a chair, while Adora and Glimmer stood apart, turned away from each other.

“Okay, Flutterina,” asked Glimmer, “Where were you at the start of the battle?”

“With Bow and Frosta, of course. Like we planned. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine,” said Glimmer. “Now…”

Flutterina spoke up, “It’s just that, everyone’s so on edge after what happened in Dryl. Have you tried interviewing Shadow Weaver about it? She seems kind of untrustworthy.”

“Oh no,” said Adora with sarcasm. “According to Glimmer, she’s totally trustworthy, and it’s fine to just let her walk around the castle whenever she wants.”

“Can we please not start this up again?” Glimmer asked.

“I’m just saying, it would’ve been nice if you told me.”

“I don’t have to tell you about every decision I make.”

Adora panted in anger. “But you tell Shadow Weaver?”

“Maybe it’s because Shadow Weaver actually listened when you and Bow kept leaving without me!” Glimmer fired back.

Flutterina smiled. “You two seem like you have a lot to talk about. Maybe I’ll just come back later.”

Glimmer added, “I don’t know why I’m going along with this. The Horde is obviously planning something. We should be out there, looking for them, not stuck here, playing around.”

Double Trouble grinned deviously through their disguise as Adora and Glimmer continued their argument.

“No one’s playing around, Glimmer. There is a reason we’ve been losing.”

“And we’re going to keep losing soon if we don’t act.”

Mermista opened the door, the other princesses behind her, startling Flutterina. “There you are. Why are you just standing around? This isn’t Mer-Mystery: The Case of People Who Just Stood Around, the sequel I wrote right now about all of you.”

“Who is even left to question?” asked Glimmer.

Later on that night, several other people were questioned.

“I think I saw Mermista with Bow’s tracker pad,” said an elfish man standing with Entrapta’s baker and servant.

“Wait, you guys have been here the entire time?” asked Bow. Perfuma and Mermista stood with him.

“Tiny scone?” asked the baker, holding up a small desert.

During another interrogation, Mermista, Frosta, and Sea Hawk talked with one of the guards. “I can’t believe you read those too,” said the guard. “Mer-Mystery: The Maltese Otter is my favorite.”

“Ugh, that one’s so predictable,” groaned Mermista. “I saw that twist coming a mile away.”

Swift Wind was next and he did a pose on the table along with a neigh.

Mermista, Perfuma and Adora rolled their eyes.

“Swift Wind, you weren’t even there,” stated Adora.

“I told you how I took out 100…no 150 guys right?” asked Sea Hawk.

Mermista groaned again, frustrated.

Bow them walked over to the front, tears in his eyes and held out his hands. “You have to arrest me for everyone’s safety. Otherwise, my evil alter-ego might do it again.”

“Bow, knock it off,” Glimmer demanded.

Swift Wind posed again with a mace in his mouth.

“Still no,” said Adora. “And put that back.”

Mermista took a look at the other people coming in for the interrogations.

A group of people, one with three eyes…

“It’s not them,” said Mermista.

A bunch of fauns and a dark skinned lady with bull horns…

“No,” said Perfuma.

Netossa and Spinerella in fancy clothing, holding a bouquet of flowers. Two butlers standing awkwardly to the side.

“No,” stated Glimmer.

The shirtless guy came forward. “Okay, dude, I think, like, maybe She-Ra did it.”

“Hey, we already questioned you,” Frosta reminded him.

“Oh yeah, I came back for the tiny scones.”

“I made a fresh batch,” said the smiling baker as the guy popped one into his mouth.

“Fizzy beverage?” asked another server.

“If you just lent me the book, then I’ll show you who done it,” said Mermista to Sea Hawk.

“We should interrogate him again,” argued Perfuma.

“Happened in Pearl in the Window,” Mermista mentioned.

 Glimmer stood in her darkened bedroom, watching the lightning flash outside. She conjured her staff in her hand, getting ready to handle the issue herself.

“Glimmer? Where are you going?” Adora asked as she walked behind her.

“This isn’t working. Nothing we do is working. The Horde is always ahead, and I just can’t wait for the next bad thing to happen.”

Adora walked over. “So what? You’re gonna teleport into the Fright Zone and try to solve this by yourself?”

“Someone’s gotta do something.”

“Glimmer, please,” begged Adora. “You can’t leave in the middle of the night without backup.”

Glimmer shook her head. “The less people involved, the better. We don’t know who to trust.”

“And what about me? Were you gonna tell me? Or Bow?”

“Adora, I…”

“Stay. Please. I know we can figure this out if we work together. No more secrets and doing things without us.” Adora placed her hands on Glimmer’s shoulders.

“We need you here. I need you here,” she said softly.

Glimmer’s staff vanished and she put her hand on Adora’s. “Okay. I’m here.”

“Adora! Glimmer!” called Bow.

Frosta opened the doors to Glimmer’s darkened bedroom, spotting Adora and Glimmer. “Where have you guys been?”

“The communication panel in the war room has been severed,” said Perfuma with concern.

All the princesses made their way to the room and sure enough, the holographic map had a hole in it.

“When did this happen?” Adora asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Mermista. “We were passing by the room when we saw it.”

“Wait, we saw you run out of here two minutes ago,” Frosta accused.

“Uh, what are you talking about?” the mer-woman asked. “I was with Perfuma.

“Could the storm have done something to cause this?” Perfuma suggested.

Glimmer then glanced down at a broke tracker pad on the floor in a puddle of water. “This wasn’t an accident. It was sabotage.”

  As it began to rain outside, all the members met once again in the chamber sized living room. Everyone remained seated in the same positions as before, but with Glimmer standing by the fire again.

 “The General is working on restoring communications. In the meantime, there’s a backup device in the dining room, should we need it.”

Mermista closed the doors. “All of us knew we were trying to unmask the spy. And we were the ones who made the plan to take back Dryl. We’ve ruled out all other suspects. Which means the only person the spy could be is one of us.”

Perfuma gasped.

Frosta stood up on her chair. “Perfuma let the Horde take the doors.”

“I wasn’t there,” she argued. “Wait, your team was the one who told us to come in, and you led Mermista way.”

“I did not,” Frosta snapped.

“Trying to throw the blame on someone else, huh, Frosta?”

Frosta pointed at Mermista. “If Mermista knows so much about mysteries, she’d probably know how to plan the perfect crime.”

“And there was water by the tracker pad,” Perfuma mentioned, glaring at Mermista.

“Water that could’ve been melted ice,” Mermista replied, pointing at Frosta.

Bow cried again. “It’s probably me.”

“It’s not you, Bow!” Frosta shouted.

Mermista countered, “Or maybe it is, like in Mer-Mystery: Salt-er Ego.”

“It couldn’t be me. I was busy fighting at least 200 soldiers,” Sea Hawk bragged.

“This is a waste of time, Glimmer,” said Adora. “Shouldn’t we be…”

“Stop. Stop questioning my choices, stop whining about being a decoy, just stop. Okay?”

“I’m not whining,” said Adora. Sea Hawk did squats on the table.

“All you do is question me, question my authority. It’s exhausting.”

Sea Hawk shouted and buried his head in his hands. “Okay, I lied. I didn’t fight 300 soldiers. Mermista, will you ever forgive me?”

“Sea Hawk, we all knew that,” Mermista deadpanned.

“I don’t know who to believe anymore,” said Bow. “I can’t trust my own eyes. Who am I?”

“Look at what she’s doing to you,” Adora argued. “Shadow Weaver wants power and you are listening to her.”

“Oh what? Are you jealous because you aren’t Shadow Weaver’s favorite anymore? Or are you just mad that I’m queen and in charge and you’re not?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Adora said.

Glimmer wasn’t done. “You just run around playing the perfect hero. You have no idea how hard it’s been for me.”

“Because you stopped including me in your decisions. We used to be a team. And now? I don’t know what we are.”

 Flutterina had disappeared and quietly opened the door to the darkened dining room. Flutterina crouched down.

“Come on, backup communicator, where are you?”

The lights turned on and Flutterina gasped.

“Hey, Flutterina,” said Glimmer. “Looking for something?” Glimmer and Adora stood, triumphant.

“Glimmer? Heh. Adora. Hi, hi. Uh, just looking for the bathroom.”

Flutterina ran into Bow who stood with Frosta, Perfuma, and Mermista, all grinning.

Flutterina backed up on the floor. “Okay. Okay. This looks bad, but it isn’t what it looks like. So let’s all just…”

Flutterina kicked Adora in the foot and ran off. Adora grabbed onto it in pain and fell down. The spy grinned and ran toward the door…only to be blocked by a force of magic. The spy stood trapped, standing on a glowing light blue circle.

“Oh,” they said with a laugh, touching the force field around them. “I see.”

Glimmer stepped forward, having cast the spell. “Give it up, Flutterina. If that’s really who you are.”

“Magic. How very clever,” remarked the trickster.

“Isn’t it? Shadow Weaver helped,” said Adora.

“You see…” Glimmer began, but both girls were shoved aside by an excited Mermista. “The reveal of how they caught the murderer is my favorite part.”

Glimmer sighed.

“In order to catch a rat, you need to spring a trap,” recounted Adora. “So we set up one of our own.”

“Classic murder mystery move,” added Mermista.

Perfuma spoke, “There’s no murder…never mind.”

Glimmer began, “We knew a backup communication device would be irresistible to whoever destroyed the original.”

Adora added, “We wanted the spy to feel safe enough to make a move, so we created a diversion.”

“Adora managed to be a really good actress for once,” said Glimmer.

“It was really hard. Do not ask me to do that again,” she said.

“So that brings us back to you,” stated Glimmer, walking over. “Who are you really, Flutterina?”

The shapeshifter transformed into Glimmer, causing the queen to yelp and step back. They then transformed into Bow, Frosta, Perfuma, Mermista, and Adora.

“Please…” they said as they transformed into their true form. “Call me Double Trouble.”

“You’re a shape-shifter?” asked Adora in shock.

Bow gasped. “It wasn’t my goggles glitching. It was you pretending to be Frosta at Dryl!”

“And Perfuma said Double Trouble. “Don’t shortchange my credits, darling.”

They gave a bow and moved their tongue over their eyelid, making everyone gasp in disgust.

They continued. “May I say, as one actor to another, that was truly a masterful performance. I really bought that you two were furious at each other. If you would indulge me, were you inspired from any real emotion or experience?”

Glimmer glared. “Enough. It’s over, Double Trouble. Now tell us what the Horde is planning.”

Double Trouble laughed. “Over? Oh, love, it’s just beginning. The Horde has been planning a massive attack for some time now. I let Catra know that you were going to Dryl. After that, all I had to do was plant seeds of doubt. Sowing chaos where I could.”

Double Trouble has disguised themselves as Frosta, Perfuma, and Mermista, luring the group away. They also smashed the holographic map with a hunk of metal and broke the tracker pad when no one was looking.

“It wasn’t hard. I just had to keep you isolated and at each other’s throats until the plan was underway. Salineas. If the Horde controls the seas, they control Etheria.”

Mermista looked downcast and twiddled her dark blue braid.

“That will never happen. We won’t let it,” Glimmer claimed. “Now that we know their plan, we can stop it.”

Double Trouble laughed again. “No. Stop it? Oh, this was a ruse, darling. A distraction. The Battle of Salineas is over. It happened earlier this very evening. It’s too late. Salineas is gone.”

“No,” breathed Mermista.

“No!” cried Glimmer. “No, it’s not too late. It can’t be.”

In desperation, Glimmer teleported her friends over to Salineas. Glimmer raced up the hill, spotting a bright red Horde flag waving in the wind, the black symbol on it. To everyone’s horror, the magical gate was broken and filled with gaping red holes like wounds. Horde flags stood guard at every corner. Black smoke rose up into the blood red sky. A lone doll was floating in the water.

Mermista sunk down to her knees and sobbed.

“We can fix this,” Adora assured. “We have to be able to fix this, right?”

“This won’t happen again,” said Glimmer, tears in her eyes. “I won’t let it. We won’t give up. We will take back Salineas. Take back all of Etheria. No matter what it costs. No matter what the Horde throws at us next.”

Hordak and Catra smiled at their victory, while out in space, Horde Prime grinned sinisterly.

              Frosta watched the simulation of the planet blowing up in boredom, sitting at the holographic map table.

“So how do we stop it?” Frosta asked.

Frosta yawned. She closed her eyes and accidentally banged her head on the table startling herself awake.

“Maybe we should continue this in the morning? Not that I’m up past my bedtime. I don’t have a bedtime. I can go to bed whenever I want.”

Frosta rubbed her eyes when she saw Scorpia sitting on Emily.

“Horde soldier!” yelled Frosta as all the princesses got ready to attack.

Frosta jumped into the air. “You ruined Princess Prom!” she shouted, landing on the ground with an ice fist, where Scorpia had been standing a moment earlier.

Frosta sent out a sheet of ice, causing Emily and Scorpia to slip and fall to the outside.

 Scorpia was tied up and she told her story.

Frosta led Scorpia to a comfortable spare room with her ice spear.

“Hang on. I get to stay here?” Scorpia asked.

“This is the only other spare room we have. But don’t go thinking it’s a sleepover. We’re guarding you.”

 Frosta later asked, “How strong are your pincers? Can you crush things or just cut?”

“Oh you know, they’re good for general pinching. And cutting through basically everything.”

“Really?” Frosta asked, excited. “I gotta try that.” She created ice claws from her hands.

“Oh, are you…are you crying? Is it because I made ice pincers? I’m sorry. That’s your thing. I get it.”

“No it’s not that,” said a sad Scorpia. “The Horde always told me I was different, that I wouldn’t fit in with you all. But you’re making me feel like the opposite of not belonging, which I guess is belonging?”

“I used to feel that way too,” Frosta explained. “And then I met Glimmer and the others and I realized that none of us fit in. We’re all different, but that’s okay.”

“That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” said Scorpia.

“Well don’t get used to it,” Frosta said, serious again. “You’re still our prisoner.”

She created her ice spear and walked off, but then stopped.

“But I’ve got first watch, so I’ll be up if you wanna talk more.”

Scorpia smiled.

  Later, Bow and Adora snuck out of the castle.

Frosta opened the doors.

“What’s happening?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Uh…you’re asleep,” said Bow. “Yeah, you’re asleep. This is a dream. A dream.”

“Yes, the flying unicorn dream,” said Swift Wind. “Classic.”

“I know what you’re doing,” said Frosta. “And you better hurry.”

“You’re…you’re not gonna stop us?” asked Adora.

“I didn’t join the Princess Alliance just to fight. I joined to save people. And the Horde, even after everything they did…they’re people, just like us. I’ll cover for you, but you have to go now. Everyone will be up soon.”

Bow and Adora nodded in thanks, jumped onto Swift Wind and flew off.

Frosta looked on, hoping they would be alright.

   Frosta became superpowered and fought with Perfuma against the Horde bots. Perfuma glowed green, Frosta glowed blue, each shooting out plants and ice respectively.

Frosta, Perfuma, and Scorpia yelled in pain as their powers were used. They huddled together until the pain was over. Frosta was last seen with Perfuma, looking at the sky, now filled with stars.

              Season 5

Episode 1: Horde Prime

 Horde Prime’s spear shaped ships hovered around Etheria. One of their massive vertical white ships landed on the ground, crushing trees underneath. The double doors opened and an army of white robots with laser guns marched down the walkway and through the grass. White small drones flew overhead. They scanned the forest, emitting beams of green light.

Two Etherians huddled together; a young white skinned boy with curly brown-red hair and a winged dark skinned woman with yellow clothing and short green hair. They saw the ships and started to run, only to be surrounded by several more. Green light shone onto them.

“For Etheria!”

Adora jumped into the air and smashed a drone with her long stick. She smashed the drone with her stick before it could fly away. The Etherians smiled before gasping again. Another oncoming drone was shot by Bow’s arrow.

Bow smiled and stepped on the fallen drone.

“Two down!”

Swift Wind kicked another drone with his hooves, sending it crashing to the ground.

“And a whole Galactic Horde to go!” Swift Wind called.

Perfuma trapped another drone with thick green plant vines. Frosta hit the drone with her ice fists.

“I’ll get the next one, I guess,” Mermista mentioned.

Swift Wind landed.

“It’s okay, you can come out now,” Adora called.

More Etherians emerged from the woods. Bow and Perfuma helped them across a log bridge while Frosta stood guard with her ice fists at the ready.

 Frosta’s advisors and loved ones had warned her to be careful during the battle. Some didn’t even want Frosta to go out and risk endangering herself. But Frosta had to help her friends.

Adora smiled at an Etherian before gazing up at the looming spire space ship.

 A random green laser shot through the air.

“Run!” Adora shouted.

Three white robots burst through a tree which exploded. Perfuma retracted the vine bridge.

Mermista grinned and got into position. “My turn.”

She summoned a large wave and knocked the robots down.

Bow called out to them, “Come on, let’s go before they…”

Adora shouted and dashed forward.

“Adora!” Bow yelled. Frosta stood with her ice fists. What was going on with her?

Adora leapt and kicked a white bot in the chest. Her staff and the robot’s arm sword clashed. The robot pointed its gun at her and narrowly missed. The robot soon fizzled and exploded after Adora moved out of the way.

But more robots and drones were coming.

Adora grinned and raised her staff. “For the honor of…uh…”

She stared in shock as she couldn’t transform into She-Ra.

A robot shot a blast that missed, then clutched her staff with both arms, throwing her hard into a tree.

Bow shot another drone before looking over.

“Adora!”

“I’m okay, I’m okay. Ow.” She winced as the bot walked closer.

Mermista blasted the robot away with water. She rushed over to her.

“Adora, chill. You’re not She-Ra anymore, remember?”

Adora spotted another bot, stood up and left. “I’m on it!”

“Ugh! I just said…” Mermista groaned.

 “Gotcha.” Adora slid on the ground, using her legs to trip another robot. She yelled and broke the robot’s visor.

 The Rebellion headed back to camp, which was protected with magic overhead in white and pink bands.

 Bow and Entrapta were discussing plans at a table. Both were typing into hand held devices. Entrapta had on her bug shaped purple mask.

 “Adora, did you get any sleep?” Bow asked.

Entrapta lifted her mask.

Ignoring the question Adora asked, “Have you finished the updates to Mara’s ship yet? How soon can we take off to rescue Glimmer?”

Bow spoke, “It’s a little more complicated since…”

“Space!” Entrapta exclaimed dlightfully. She took Bow’s device with her light purple hair. She twirled around and tapped the screen with her hair tendrils. She used her hair as a chair. “Sorry, I’m just so excited. In order to achieve maximum velocity for lift-off, the repairs and upgrades to the shields, the engines, and the life support should take us approximately…oh. A very long time.”

“We don’t have time,” Adora stated. “Glimmer’s up there, somewhere, waiting for us. We just have to figure out where.”

Bow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find her. I know we will.”

Entrapta popped up. “This isn’t just a little update. Space has a lot more dangers and variables, crushing pressure, freezing temperatures, vaporization.” She moved sideways, shivered and waved her hair in dramatization for each one. “All it takes is one little hull breach and then, whoosh! That’s it.”

The purple screen icon showed hovering figures with xs for eyes.

Entrapta continued. “Besides, there’s no telling where Glimmer could be. Space is always expanding, always getting bigger and bigger.”

She let out a laugh, which unnerved Bow and Adora.  

 Entrapta stood up. “But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll determine her precise location soon.”

Adora sat on the bench and pinched her nose in frustration before going inside another tent. Shadow Weaver, Frosta, Micah, Perfuma, Mermista, and a guard were there. A map of the land showed red icons for Horde Prime’s territories.

 “Are you kidding me?” Frosta asked in disbelief.

“The sorcerer’s spells will keep us hidden only for so long,” said Shadow Weaver. “Then what? This is the only way. Your daughter understood well enough.”

She jabbed at Micah who shoved her hand aside. “You don’t talk to me about my daughter.”

“She would never have us abandon Bright Moon,” said Shadow Weaver.

“We couldn’t hold Bright Moon with the Galactic Horde attacking us form overhead. We need cover,” stated Micah.

“Which is precisely why we should use the Heart of Etheria,” Shadow Weaver stated.

Everybody groaned.

“Come on!” Frosta yelled.

“I can’t. I just can’t,” said Perfuma.

Mermista looked at her, annoyed. “Okay, so we’re not doing that, because A, without Glimmer and, most importantly, without She-Ra, the Heart of Etheria won’t work. And B when it did “work,” it nearly destroyed everyone. So, no thanks.”

Frosta crossed her arms. “Oh and also, C, we don’t like you and we don’t want your help.”

“Also, D, are you still our prisoner?” Perfuma asked. “Could we get a rundown of who is and who is not our prisoner anymore?”

Adora walked up front. “Arguing is not going to help us. We need information on Horde Prime to find Glimmer. And we won’t get any of that sitting around here.”

“Adora’s right,” said Micah. “The best thing we can do now is focus on evacuations, scouting missions, and keeping everyone safe until we can learn more of Horde Prime’s plans. Our scouts report that another one of his spires has been spotted near Thaymor.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Didn’t we just save Thaymor?” Mermista asked.

“No, you’re thinking Elberon,” said Frosta.

Mermista flopped back into a sofa. “Ugh. Can everywhere stop getting invaded for like, five seconds?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll bring them back here,” Adora called.

“Alone?” Perfuma asked, placing her hand son her shoulders. “Adora, you really ought to bring backup. You’re not you know who anymore.”

“Fine. I’ll take a team,” said Adora.

The group began to leave.

“I still believe in you, Adora,” said Micah. “You saved me and I know you’re gonna save my little girl.”

“I promise I’ll find Glimmer, Your Majesty. Wherever she is, we’ll get her back.”

Adora sighed and followed everyone out.

 Swift Wind flew overhead and scouted the area. More woodland creatures with human appearances walked down the path.

Swift Wind landed by Scorpia.

“No bots in sight. I don’t wanna jinx it or anything, but this is a pretty great first mission together.”

Scorpia smiled. “I am so happy you said that, ‘cause I feel the same way. We’re kind of a great team. Between your hooves…”

“And your pinchers…” he added.

“And our positive attitude, nothing can get in our way.”

Swift Wind laughed. “Oh, uh, just so you know, I have been known to sing from time to time.”

Scorpia’s eyes lit up. “What? I love singing. Catra always said it was annoying. Man you guys are the best.”

“That’s the last of them. No bots, no drones, we’re all clear,” said Bow.

A young dark faun dropped a She-Ra doll.

“Wait!” called Adora. She picked it up and handed it to her. “Here you go.” The girl’s eyes shone in thanks.

Bow’s device suddenly beeped.

“Uh oh,” said Swift Wind. “Beeps and that look are never a good combination.”

Bow put on goggles and looked ahead. He spotted three clones. “We’ve got trouble.”

Bow, Scorpia and Swift Wind ducked behind a rock.

Swift Wind whispered, “Is that Hordak? Three Hordaks?”

“That’s not Hordak,” said Bow.

Scorpia put the goggles on and gasped. “Clones.”

“We need to get out of here,” said Bow.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Adora as she shouted and charged at them.

“Wait! Adora!” shouted Bow.

Scorpia raced after her and stung her in the back. Then the group ran as fast as they could.

Adora hung upside down then opened her eyes.

“No!” she gasped.

Swift Wind laughed. “You’re awake! Hello, Adora.”

“What happened?” she groaned.

She fell to the ground. “Where are those clones? Did we get them?”

“Okay, um, don’t get mad, but I may have had to sting you,” said Scorpia. “Just a little.”

“What?”

“You were refusing to retreat, and we really, really needed to run away.”

“Space clones!” exclaimed Swift Wind.

“You stung me?”

“I’m sorry, so sorry,” Scorpia said. “But I don’t regret it, and will do it again if needed. Mm. Sorry again.”

“Adora, you can’t run into battle like that,” scolded Bow. “Not anymore. You have to stop acting like your invincible. You aren’t…”

“You don’t need to say it,” Adora muttered. “I know. I made that choice, I’m living with the consequences.”

“What were you trying to do?”

“Maybe I could get those clones to tell us where Glimmer is being held. Then at least I’d be one step closer to saving her.”

“That’s…not a bad idea,” Bow remarked.

“Wait, what?”

“Trying to fight a group of clones by yourself is reckless. Catching and questioning one clone is also reckless, but this time we do it together.”

  After they interrogated the clone, a pink moon of magic appeared in the air.

“That’s from Micah! They’re in trouble!” said Bow. The group rushed off to camp sliding down a steep rocky hill.

Back at camp, Mermista and Frosta were busy fighting off Horde Prime’s forces. Mermista summoned water from barrels and Frosta slide on an ice wall. She froze some bots then stabbed other bots with icicles in midair. Perfuma smashed more bots with a large vine. Behind her, Micah, Shadow Weaver and some guards were running off.

Entrapta bent down to pick up scraps of metal.

“This is amazing! Alien tech from a distant world.”

Micah used a sphere of purple magic in a sigil shape to make an overhead bot explode. He conjured a shield to protect Entrapta as smoke clouded the area. A robot raised a spear arm.

“Micah!” gasped Shadow Weaver. She threw a grenade at the robot, which exploded and fell.

Miah scoffed in thought before he and Entrapta left.

“You’re welcome,” Shadow Weaver said in frustration.

More bots closed in.

Scorpia blasted them down with red electricity from her claw.

“This way. Excuse me, pardon me,” she said as she ran forward. “Hi. Hello. How are you? Watch out there.” Micah picked up Entrapta before she could look at more scraps.

“Come on,” said Bow. “Adora, wait!”

“I can do this,” she said as she rushed forward.

 The rebels were struggling as more bots arrived.

Scorpia rescued Adora as she struck down more bots surrounding Adora.

“Adora, are you okay?” Bow asked.

“No. You were right, Bow. I can’t fight them all. I’m not strong enough, I’m not She-Ra. I’m not a hero anymore, I’m just me. And I can’t do this alone.”

“But Adora, you aren’t alone. You’ve never been. We’ve got this. Together.”

“Together,” Adora said. They clasped hands then ran into the battle.

Mermista send up pillars of water while Scorpia punched a bot to the ground. Frosta punched a bot with her ice fists while Perfuma summoned her plants.

“Scorpia! Coming at you,” Adora called as she swiped a bot with her staff. Scorpia shocked the bot with a blast.

“Bow! The drone!” Adora called.

“Got it,” said Bow as he notched an arrow and fired.

Mermista swept several bots aside with water.

Frosta shot ice at bots and three inched closer.

“Frosta, ice catapult,” Adora ran with her staff out. Frosta ran to her, launched herself off the stick and rammed into the bots.

 “We can’t stay here. It isn’t safe anymore,” said Adora.

“We’re kind of running out of places to hide,” said Bow, with a look of worry.

Adora gasped as visions of the Whispering Woods entered her mind. “I think I know where we can go.”

More bots and drones rushed forward.

“And we better hurry. Come on.”

 Adora led the way into the woods.

“Adora, were are we going?” Bow asked. Bow was followed by Mermista, Frosta, Perfuma, Micah.

“It’s around here somewhere. A place where we’ll be safe. Madame Razz brought me there, and I saw it again in my dreams. I just have to hope it lets us in.”

Adora spotted a light between two trunks.

“There.” She pulled it and the trees parted.

The nine members breathed in awe.

 The area was surrounded by sparks and spirals of magic. The sparks danced through the air like fireflies as crystals stood out in random places.

“Whoa,” Adora breathed as she ran to the center.

“Wow,” said Scorpia as the others admired the area. A few three-eyed teal colored deer peered out to see the visitors.

 Frosta admired the scene as well, her hair short and blue. She wished her parents could see a beautiful place like this. She knew that they would be proud of her, how fast she was growing up…not that she had much of a choice in the matter. The battles were constant, always filling her up with adrenaline and energy. She fought tough and acted tough in order to be taken seriously.

 Frosta imagined a future where everyone was older. She would be ruling her kingdom as a teenager, winning every boxing match in her spare time. Entrapta would make inventions with Hordak and they would fly to distant worlds. Mermista and Sea Hawk would be up to their sailing adventures and hopefully not setting more boats on fire. Adora and Catra would laugh and spend time together. Glimmer and Bow would be together as well, perhaps getting ready for Scorpia’s ball at BrightMoon.

 Adora and Catra…

Bow and Glimmer…

Netossa and Spinnerella…

Scorpia and Perfuma…

Mermista and Sea Hawk…

Entrapta and Hordak…

 Frosta felt like she was the only one would won’t get into some kind of relationship in the future. But at least she would have Glimmer and all her friends around.

 “Where are we?” Micah asked.

Adora smiled. “The deepest part of the Whispering Woods. Horde Prime won’t find us here. We’re safe. Now we just need to set up camp and…”

Adora grunted and clutched her head, sinking to her knees. “Adora!” cried Bow. “Adora!”

The visions of She-Ra flashed in her head: her sword shattering after stopping Light Hope, the Fright Zone, Etheria in space, She-Ra in her golden form…just out of Adora’s reach…

 Episode 2: Launch

 Frosta and the others listened to Horde prime’s message.

  Frosta came into the room and saw Adora lying down.

“Is he dead?” Frosta asked in shock.

“What? No,” said Bow.

“Okay, good, ‘cause Adora does the planning, and we’re wondering if there’s a plan…”

Bow held up his hands. “Look, the upgrades to Mara’s ship are done, but we can’t go anywhere until Adora’s back on her feet.”

He turned back to Adora. “So go to sleep and everyone will…”

Swift Wind cut a hole in the tent with his horn. “Did someone say “Swift Wind?!”

Bow covered the horse’s mouth just as Micah came in.

“Is Adora feeling better? Did you tell her Horde Prime’s message? Does she know he’s looking for her?”

“What?” Adora sat up.

“Okay, that’s enough,” said Bow. “Adora, rest! Swift Wind, head!”

Swift Wind pushed Adora back down gently.

“Everyone, shh!” said Bow.

“She will be fine soon, right?” Frosta asked.

“Yes. She just needs sleep,” Bow mentioned.

Frosta, Micah and Swift Wind left.

 Entrapta appeared in the tent.

“Adora sick log, day three.” She spoke into her recorder.

“Nope!” said Bow and pushed her out.

Entrapta wailed. “Wait! But it’s for science!”

Mermista, Perfuma, Frosta, Scorpia and Emily sat by a fire outside.

“Look we have to do something,” said Mermista. “We don’t know when Adora is gonna get better, and even when she does, we have no plan for how to get Glimmer back. We know she’s on Horde Prime’s ship, but we don’t know where that is, like, in space.”

Perfuma spoke, “Well, then it’s up to us to make a plan to find Glimmer. With these.”

She held figures of Bow and Adora in her hand.

Frosta stood on a log. “We don’t need dolls. We just need these!” She made ice fists.

“What are you gonna do with those?” Mermista asked.

“Punch Horde Prime,” Frosta grinned.

Perfuma cleared her throat. “Perhaps if we meditate we can access our princess connection to find Glimmer’s spirit out in space.”

Entrapta walked over. “Hello. Oh hi. Were you guys talking about space?”

The group looked down and were silent.

Perfuma spoke. “Yes. We were talking about how to get Glimmer back from spa…”

Entrapta leaned in. “I’d do anything to go to space. An infinite universe of information at our fingertips, full of countless planets and stars and civilizations…”

Mermista covered Entrapta’s mouth.

“This isn’t like a fun field trip for you to run more of your messed up experiments. Our friend’s out there, remember?”

Entrapta smiled.

“Glimmer?” Mermista prodded.

Entrapta stared blankly.

Mermista groaned in frustration. “The sparkly one?”

“You’ve met her multiple times,” Frosta added.

“Oh, right,” Entrapta said, as Mermista facepalmed.

Scorpia had an idea. “Wow…hey Entrapta. Look over there! Is that a robot?”

“A robot? Where?” She ran off with a crash.

Scorpia spoke, “Look, I know that she can be kind of, “Whoa, science!”” She mimicked explosions and laughed. “But I promise, Entrapta has a good heart.”

Mermista crossed her arms. “She’s betrayed us before. For all we know, as soon as she sees Horde Prime’s ship up close, she’ll ditch us to join his army.”

“She did use her inventions to attack us a lot,” Perfuma added, in worry.

“I’m just saying,” said Scorpia, “none of us know how to track a spaceship, but Entrapta might. If you just give her a chance.”

Entrapta was on the top of a tent. After looking at Scorpia’s pleading look, Mermista sighed. “Fine.” They walked over to her.

“Okay, Geek Princess,” said Mermista, “are you gonna help us or not?”

Entrapta stared.

Mermista groaned. “If you help us find Glimmer, you can go to space.”

“Great!” she cried, sliding next to Mermista.

 The five princesses huddled behind a bush, Frosta holding two green leaves for cover. Entrapta held a device and a metal U shaped antenna connected by a wire. The sky was full of stars. The tall spire was surrounded by flying drones and guards.

“The message from Horde Prime was transmitted through that spire,” stated Entrapta. “Which means it’s got a wavelength connecting it to his main base of operation, one that we can track.”

“Great. So track it,” Mermista deadpanned.

“Well, hypothetically we can track it. Horde Prime’s astral communication network is incredibly complex, and I’ve only been able to intercept parts. I’d need to gain as much proximity as possible to the receptor before I can triangulate their origin.”

The others were confused.

“I need to get close to the spire to track the signal.”

Everyone said “Got it.”

“If we follow that signal, we’ll find a ship of impossibly sophisticated design, the center of a super technologically advanced empire…”

“I think mostly we’re just hoping to find our kidnapped friend,” Perfuma replied.

“That spire is crawling with surveillance bots,” said Mermista.”We need to find a way to sneak past them, so we can get Geek Princess close enough to track the signal.”

“So what’s the plan?” Scorpia asked.

“Uh…that’s the whole plan. We sneak past the surveillance bots.” She groaned. “I don’t know. Adora usually handles the being in charge stuff.”

Persuma spoke next. “Okay, we sneak past the bots, and then if any of them see us, we…”

“Punch the bots!” Frosta made ice fists.  

“Sure, sounds like enough of a plan for me,” Mermista said. “And someone needs to keep an eye on…”

Entrapta hummed as she walked. Mermista turned back in anger.

“What? Did she seriously just immediately run off?” The group followed.

 The group waited behind a boulder as a drone sped past. They followed Mermista after she raised a hand. Mermista, Frosta, Scorpia, Perfuma and Entrapta. Entrapta was dragged by Perfuma’s vine. The group ran to another rock.

 “Well, no signal here. We need to get closer,” said Entrapta.

Mermista groaned. “I hate the desert.”

She looked toward the spire. “All clear. Let’s go.”

The group ran off but Entrapta skidded to a stop. “Wait, I think I’m getting something.” She tapped her device with her hair. Perfuma turned back to her as the others ran ahead.

“Entrapta, we really need to get out of the open,” Perfuma urged.

Entrapta dragged Perfuma along as she climbed onto a rock. “Hang on, I’ve almost got it. I need to get up higher.”

Entrapta climbed. “So close, almost got it.”

She reached the top of the rock, her hair wrapped around the top point and checked her device.

Her device buzzed.

“Nope. False alarm. We need to get closer.”

A whirring sound grew closer as a drone passed by.

Perfuma flung Entrapta off the rock where she landed on the ground with a thud. She grabbed her and both pressed their backs against the rock wall. Perfuma held a hand over Entrapta’s mouth as the drone scanned the area. The drone beeped and flew off.

Perfuma whispered, “What do we do?”

Mermista, Scorpia and Frosta stood near several rocks.

Mermista held out her arm and with her other hand, made a walking motion with her fingers. She then moved both her arms, her hand sin fists in a running motion.

“I should run?” Perfuma asked.

Frosta sighed, head lowered. Mermista made full body jogging movements.

“Don’t run? Do run?”

Mermista circles her palms in the air.

“What?”

Mermista pointed and whispered, “Entrapta.”

Perfuma looked at her vine, which was empty at the end. She gasped in shock and looked around.

Entrapta was wandering around, looking at her device in thought.

Worst of all, she was walking right into the green scanner beams.

Mernista and Frosta ducked as Scorpia shot electricity that broke off a top part of a rock with an explosion. The drone flew off in distraction.

The group sighed in relief before Scorpia let out a scream.

Entrapta bumped into a tall white robot and fell down backwards.

Entrapta smirked as the robot scanned her. “Oh hello,” she said suggestively. “You’re very technologically advanced.”

The robot pointed its gun at her. Entrapta screamed. “Bad robot!”

Frosta froze the robot in ice and it fell down backwards with a clank.

Frosta pulled her along. “Come on!”

The robot beeped inside the ice. The spire glowed with red dots as more drones flew out from it. Scorpia peered from behind a rock.

“What do we do?” she asked.

Mermista had her head in her hands. “I don’t know. This plan was obviously doomed from the start. I’m not Adora. Why did I think I could be the leader?”

Entrapta moved the antenna close. “Well, still nothing. This transmission pattern is fascinating. We should get closer.”

“We can’t,” said Mermista, shoving the metal antenna away and sending it clattering to the ground. “Thanks to you, this place is about to be swarming with bots. We have to retreat.” She groaned. “I should’ve known better than to trust you.”

A pang of hurt came over Entrapta as Mermista continued.

“You don’t care about Glimmer or any of us. You only care about tech.”

“Are you all mad at me?” she asked.

Mermista seethed. “You’re seriously just realizing that? Yeah, we’re mad.”

“You don’t consider how your actions affect other people,” Perfuma added. “People who are supposed to be your friends.”

“Like us,” Frosta chimed in. “The ones who were getting beat up by your dumb bots. And whose kingdoms you almost destroyed!” Frosta had tears in her eyes.

Entrapta lowered her head. “I’m not good at people, but I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up, too.”

Entrapta ran off.

“Entrapta, no!” yelled Mermista as she ran after her.

Mermista grabbed her purple hair which made Entrapta scream in pain.

“I said we have to leave! Can’t you listen for once in your life?”

“I’m sorry I’m bad at listening!” Entrapta yelled. “I’m sorry I mess everything up!” She held up her device and antenna. “But you need this signal and I’m gonna get it for you.”

Mermista let go. “You’re still trying to get the signal?”

“Of course,” Entrapta said, this time tears in her magenta eyes. “Glimmer needs us.”

They both looked up as more drones approached. White robots marched outside.

“Okay Geek Princess, get that signal. We’ll cover you.”

Entrapta smiled and ran ahead.

Mermista turned to her friends. “Frosta, Scorpia, on Entrapta! Perfuma, with me! Now!”

Perfuma followed Mermista and Scorpia and Frosta raced ahead.

Scorpia and Frosta grinned before Scorpia lifted Frosta into the air. She did several flips and shot ice from her hands, destroying four drones at the same time.

Entrapta launched herself forward and was soon right in front of the spire.

She stared in awe at the technological wonder.

“Oh…what’s inside you?”

She slapped herself with her hair. “Focus, Entrapta. Glimmer needs you.”

She rapidly typed into her device and held the antenna into the air.

Mermista used her trident to battle a robot. A blast narrowly missed them. Mermista’s trident and the robot’s sword arm clashed. Her trident caught the arm and forced it to the ground. But the robot pointed its gun…

Perfuma’s plant vine lifted the gun away from Mermista. The plant vine wrapped around the robot before Mermista struck the bot in its metal head with her trident.

 More bots stood in a doorway.

“Perfuma, cut off that spire.”

Perfuma yelled and plant vines rapidly grew in the doorway, blocking off the robots.

“Nice job,” said Mermista.

“Thanks,” Perfuma said. “I wish there was water here for you though.”

Mermista ducked in shock as a drone sped nearby. She looked down at the ground. “But there is.”

Old thick pipes ran along the ground.

“If there’s one thing I know in the Fright Zone, it’s the sewer system.”

She held out her arms and yelled. The pipes soon broke and sludge flowed out and blasted drones away. Scorpia and Frosta huddled for cover on the ground.

Scorpia made a face. “Oh, wow, that smells…” she gagged.

Frosta cheered. “That was so gross!”

The group ran over to Entrapta.

“Almost. Got it! Okay, good news and bad news. The good news, I’ve successfully triangulated Horde Prime’s flagship.”

“Hooray!” cheered Scorpia.

“Bad news, I intercepted the last message he sent. He’s sending reinforcement ships to Etheria. They’ll be here any minute.”

 Scorpia lowered her arm. “I take back my “horray.”

 The group rushed toward Mara’s ship.

“We’re exposed here,” Micah said. “We need to make these goodbyes quick.”

 “We’ll be back as soon as we can” said Adora to Mermista. She gave her a hug. “The Rebellion is in good hands.”

“Yeah, as it turns out, I’m an awesome leader, so we’re gonna be fine,” Mermista said with a blush. And Entrapta helped.” She pulled her in, and whispered to her, “You’re still a weirdo, but you did good today. We’ve got your back any time.”

Perfuma, Frosta, and Scorpia nodded with smiles. Entrapta smiled as tears came from her eyes. The group sobbed and embraced in a large group hug.

Swift Wind pulled Adora to the side, grabbing her collar with his mouth. They stood facing each other. “Adora, I...I’m not going to…Oh! I don’t know how to say this.”

“You’re staying here,” said Adora.

“I don’t belong on a ship,” Swift Wind agreed. “I belong on Etheria, protecting it. And with you gone, someone’s gotta bring the gorgeous flowing hair. “He laughed then broke into sobs. “I hope you’re not disappointed in me.”

Adora held his nose and chin with her hands. “Are you kidding? I’m proud. You’re exactly where you need to be. I’m not She-Ra anymore.”

“But I’ll always be your loyal steed.”

  Whirring sounds buzzed from ahead, as the drones approached.

“Surveillance bots. If they see the ship, they’ll alert the armada and stop us,” Frosta warned.

“What are we gonna do?” Scorpia asked. “Are we gonna stay here?”

“No,” said Micah. “We’re getting this ship off Etheria no matter what. I’ve got an idea.”

 The row of bots fired their laser guns. She Ra and Swift Wind did a pose, then blasted the bots to the ground with a blast of magic.

“You want She-Ra? Come and get her!” Frosta slammed her fists to the ground, ice spreading along the ground. The bots were frozen in an ice wall.

 More bots appeared, weapons raised.

“What do you think, Micah?” Mermista asked. “Have we wasted enough of their time?”

Micha removed his facial disguise. “Get my good side.”

Micah shot a circle of magic that blasted several bots away. Perfuma and Mermista lifted other bots in a wave of water and vines. Scorpia and Frosta punched the robots at every moment.

An engine roared and the group looked up to see the ship blasting off safely.

Everyone cheered and raised their arms.

“Whoo!”

“Yes! Yes!” cheered Frosta. “Go get our girl! Go, Adora! Go go go! Go save my best friend!”

“Hooray!” said Scorpia. “I reinstate my hooray!”

“You okay?” Swift Wind asked Micah when he transformed back into his regular outfit. “I know you wanted to go.”

“But If I hadn’t stayed, they wouldn’t have been able to take off at all. I trust my daughter’s friends. They saved me. Now they’ll save her.”

Micah looked up hopefully at a pink sky. “See you soon, baby girl.”

   Episode 6: Taking Control

 Frosta thinks that Micah sees her as a little kid and doesn’t like it. Micah tries to relate to her. Frosta saves the group by forming an ice shield when they’re attacked by brainwashed Etherians.

 Episode 9: An Ill Wind

Frosta happily reunites with Glimmer, and they hug. Frosta punches Catra before Adora says she’s on their side.

 Episode 11: Failsafe

Netossa tells Frosta’s weakness is fire.

 Episode 12 and 13: The Heart

Frosta helps the team defeat the Horde bots and free the others. Frosta rides n Scorpia’s back as she celebrates their victory. Perfuma, Adora, Scorpia and Frosta embrace in a princess hug and laugh.

[absolute-shitposting]

Before anything I’m terrible with names, this is why my OCs don’t tend to have it for years, so if you think you have a better name for any of them please tell me.

So this is the vessels I’m going to use for my AU, that don’t have a  name, shocker I know -_-” , where Pale King is forced by White Lady to take care of their children, if you want to see already made two images for it part 1 and part 2.

More details for each vessel: (warning is quite long)

Taka is the Hollow Knight, but if WL hears PK calling any of their children that she would make his life hell, they are the most loyal of the kids and try their best to make their father proud. They are one of the best with the nail.

Anish is always tired because their body grow to fast and they don’t have the energy to keep up with their own growth, but when they are awake they are seen reading books, mostly history books but when their father isn’t looking romance novels.

Rox was born without an arm, this causes to PK to not even want to acknowledge them most of the time, so to try to take some attention of their father they started to do experiments with machinery and they tend to steal the void from inside Wingmoulds to study, only Rei know about that and they try their best to talk their sibling out of it.

Sol still a baby they just to have fun with their siblings, but when no one is looking they tend to put themselves in danger, their parents never leave them alone thanks to that.

Koa is like the baby boy from White Lady where she goes they are behind, they love plants and flowers and most of their time they spend in the royal garden, even that they are quite small they are one of the middle kids.

Kim is the only that can fight against Taka and have a 50% of winning when their horns don’t get in the way, they are quite intelligent and prefer to study strange things than fighting, PK forces them to focus more on their fighting skills.

Doran just want to travel the world and fight strong enemies, but all the vessels are forbidden to walk outside of the White Palace so they tend to make their escapes stealthy as possible receiving the nickname of Ghost, they hate being small and is the same age as the bigger vessels what make them madder, their dream is to defeat Taka, but this one said to Doran that they only going to fight if they defeated Kim first, Kim still extremely mad with this agreement because now they have Doran every day challenging them to a fight.

Echo really hate loud noises, when the noises are too much they blast an Abyss Shiek what makes everyone stay quietly pretty quickly, their siblings tend to leave them alone for the most part, they are pretty bad with the nail and can only use spells to defend themselves. Is quite a mystery what they to do to have fun they most of the time are seen staring at a balcony for long hours, Koa tend to ask them to be with them in the gardens, most of the time they accept and stay there sitting on a bench looking at Koa taking care of the plants.

Shun is the fastest vessel, which is quite bad for them because this made Ram and Toro make a game to see who can catch their sibling first Shun wouldn’t care much of the "game” if their siblings didn’t use their horns to tackle them. When they aren’t being chased they can be seen in the library talking to Anish.

Ram and Toro are quite similar in their ways, they always want to see who is the best in the category they made that day, they only go after their stronger siblings to have their fun, some days they can be quite a pain to Taka being the stronger of them all so they try to defeat Taka in any way possible. Even that don’t tend to use their nails or spells in a fight they are quite good at them, they don’t use because see them as taking away the fun of the battle, they prefer to use their brute strength and tend to fight together. But they are quite careful with their younger and weaker siblings, they are the first to become babysitter of their siblings and only the two of them their parents trust with Sol.

Rei or as know by the servants Small King, this one is always seen next to Pale King and tries their best to understand how ruling and running a kingdom works, they are always taking notes in the royal meetings they are permitted entrance and after them question Pale King on the decisions of the meeting, PK quite proud of that, but is always questioning what Rei wants with this information, some of his loyal servants say that maybe they are trying to usurp his power in a moment of weakness. Rei is just trying to make their father proud on their own way being one the weaker sibling, but this doesn’t stop PK and some of his servants be quite wary around with the information they give to them.

Badur is always seen with one of their siblings is quite hard to see them alone at any time, they love music and is trying to learn to play instruments by themselves.

Eevi is a trickster and tends to make pranks on their siblings and some days they are feeling bold tries to prank their father most times it goes as the plan, but when it doesn’t they need to run faster to their mom or else PK going to beat them.

Goto is the easiest target from Eevi pranks because they trust everyone too much to their own good, they love to stay in the kitchen proving the dishes to the cookers sorrow because they can’t ask Goto to leave for being the child of the king, they tend to leave some special dishes for them so they don’t destroy their elaborate dishes.

Radiance? Radiance who? Is just a plushie that can move on its own :V

[uncensored-and-psychotic]

Vengeance: Part 3

Crying uncontrollably she pulls into The Joker harder, trying to escape the reality of what she had just done. Sure he was an abusive ass but did he really deserve to die? Did she really have to kill him? Wrapping his arms around [y/n]’s shuttering shoulders he coos.

“It’s ok baby girl, it’s ok Daddy’s here. Daddy’s got you.”

Resting his head atop her’s he couldn’t help be impressed by her ability to defend herself. Sure she was breaking down now but he’d been told it was a normal reaction for people after killing for the first time. Pulling out his phone while keeping her close to him he shoots off a quick text to Frost giving him a few more errands to run so he could have some alone time with [y/n] and not have to worry about being interrupted by ‘big brother’.

Smirking when he gets his usual ‘You got it boss.’ text in response he sends off another message to one of his lower level goons to ‘Wake their asses up and clean the filth out my damn kitchen in the next hour in a half or so help him god.’ before tucking the small device away before getting to his feet, pulling [y/n] up into his arms as he does. Leaving the bloody mess for his men to find he carries [y/n] down the hall to his room. Gently placing her on the granite counter top he moves to start the shower.

“How do you like it baby doll? Cold or hot?”

Shakily choking out hot he smiles turning up the heat before returning to her side.

“C’mer let me help you with those nasty stained clothes.”

Nodding [y/n] allows him to strip her bloody clothes leaving her standing there naked and exposed. Feeling slightly self conscious she tries to use her arms to cover up, eliciting a frown form J. Stepping closer he lifts her chin with one finger, capturing her [e/c] eyes.

“Now now now Kitten. Why would you wanna go and do something like covering up that gorgeous body of your? You are beautiful and you should be proud of that.”

Slowly dropping her arms as her cheeks glow red she tries to walk to the shower only to have her shaky knees give out from underneath her. Catching her once again he chuckles.

“Looks like it wouldn’t be such a great idea leaving you alone in there now would it? Wouldn’t want you cracking open that pretty little head now would we?”

Shaking her head no she doesn’t protest as J places her back on the counter like a child.

“Alright then, it’s settled. I’ll stay and keep you safe.”

Grinning his Cheshire cat grin he begins shedding his own clothes causing [y/n] to avert her eyes as the heat returns to her face. Catching sight of her bright pink skin he chuckles.

“What’s the matter doll? Never seen such a magnificent specimen such as myself?”

Turning to face her he splays his arms out as if he were presenting himself to her. Finally getting her to giggle he leads the way into the large steaming shower. Lifting her face into the near scalding water she sighs as some of the stress begins to melt away. The feeling of his touch slipping down her shoulders nearly caused her to jump before she melted into his firm grip.

“That’s right baby girl, you just relax and let Daddy get you all cleaned up.”

Purring, he slides his hands over her supple skin, lathering the soap up as it grips onto the crimson droplets that littered her [s/c] skin. A small moan drifts from her lips, nearly drown out by the noise of the rushing water. His movements pause for a moment as the sound of it hits his ears, looking down on her he admires the beauty of her bare, supple skin. The way her [h/c] hair seemed to cascade like a waterfall over her shoulders down the gentle curve of her back.

Dropping one of his hands he wraps it around his member that was now standing at full attention, twitching and throbbing against his own chest. Absentmindedly stroking his length he continues to wash [y/n]’s skin, letting loose a moan himself as her scent and the scent of blood fills his nostrils. As his eyes wander her body he notices her legs were still caked in blood. Grinning to himself he slides to his knees turning [y/n] to face him as he begins rubbing firm patterns in her skin, shaking the crusted substance loose.

Another moan leaves her lips as his hands confidently travel up her thighs, never moving his gaze from her [e/c] hues he growls.

“Would you like Daddy to treat you like a Queen, Princess?”

His silvery teeth shine up at her as she bites hard against her bottom lip, afraid of the sounds that may come out if she were to open her mouth. Nodding, her head falls back as his thumb finds her clit, firmly pressing against it as her body quivers against his touch. Another primal growl leaves him as he presses her back against the shower wall, lifting her legs onto his shoulders and exposing her warm, wet core.

“That’s right baby you just relax, and let Daddy take care of the rest.”

[y/n]’s back arches into him as his tongue delves deep into her folds, greedily lapping at the sweet strings that flowed from her. Her hands wrap themselves into his shining green locks, instinctively pulling his head further into her as she comes closer to her finish. Growling as she pulls at his roots he allows his tongue to flicker faster against her clit. No longer able to hold back her gasps she screams as the sensation of his fingers against her walls sends electricity coursing through her body.

“Oh God, please!”

Smiling he pulls back for a second reveling in the desperation that filled her eyes.

“Please what baby doll?”

Panting she looks pleadingly into his blue eyes.

“Please, Daddy, take me.”

Without any a moments hesitation he drags her off his shoulders, flipping her around and pressing her chest into the shower wall. Leaning over her back he presses his body into hers, hesitating at her entrance as he whispers in her ear.

“Are you sure Kitten?”

Panting breathlessly she nods, screaming out his name as his thickness fills her hollow center. [y/n]’s hands scratch against the slick tile was in a hopeless attempt to get traction. His movements are steady and strong as they pound into her, his pace never faltering. Attaching his lips to her shoulder he begins to leave trails of hicks down her spine. Feeling her body tense around him he turns her around once more, sliding her up the wall as her legs wrap around his hims. 

Burring his face into the nape of her neck he resumes a slightly less controlled pace as the pair of them approach their climax. He completes one, two, three more deep thrusts as her body tightens around him, the pressure against his member had him mind spinning as the bliss of release hits him like a freight train. Panting the pair smile into each other’s skin, feeling her legs slip from around him The Joker pulls them into his arm, using his other to support the small of her back as she curls into his chest.

Smiling down at his new princess The Joker strides from the shower to his four post bed. Gingerly tucking [y/n] into his satin sheets coos.

“Good night Baby Doll, no need to worry. You’re Daddy’s little girl now.”

Silently slipping from the room he doesn’t bother to dress as he heads to the now spotless kitchen to grab something cold to drink. Coming to a stop The King of Crime scratches the back of his head as he peruses the contents of his fridge. Pulling the gallon of milk that rested just to the side he disposes of it’s lid before he proceeds to drink straight from the carton. Lowering the jug and turning to the door as he hears footsteps approaching he grins as his favorite henchmen walks in.

“OH GOD BOSS! Where the fuck are your pants!!!”

Boisterous laughter fills the room as The Joker approaches Frost, patting him on the cheek.

“Oh come now Jonny boy. It ain’t like it’s something you haven’t seen before. Besides -” he pauses, brow furrowing just a bit “- it’s MY house.”

Rolling his eyes Frost catches sight of the many angry pink marks his boss had painting the skin of his pale back.

“You uh have a guest over boss? Anything I need to take care of?”

He asks, cheeks turning a bit red at the thought of cleaning up yet another of The Joker’s used up toys.

“No, no, not this time Jonny. I rather think I will keep this one.”

Something about the twinkle in his bosses eyes had his mind racing. Suddenly hitting him like a ton of bricks he asks the question he really didn’t know if he wanted to know the answer to.

“Boss... Where is [y/n]...”

Looking back as he returns the milk to its place he grins a devilish grin.

“Why in bed of course.”

Frost didn’t notice when his hands balled themselves into fists or recognize when he seemed to start holding his breath in an attempt not to explode. Ignoring his obvious anger The Joker waves dismissively at him.

“Putting her to sleep is the least I could do for the poor thing after finding her here standing over the body of that Derek guy. It would seem your little sister has some fight in her Jonny. Did quite a thorough job of making sure he wouldn’t be bothering her anymore.”

Staring into Johnny’s now shocked brown eyes he leans against the kitchen counter pulling out a spoon to start on a pudding cup he managed to dig up. Staring past The Joker Frost growls.

“Is she ok?”

Dragging the spoon across his tongue to clean every drop of the first bite off he nods.

“She’s a tough girl Jonny you should be proud.”

The room falls silent as the two man stand there. After finishing his pudding cup The Joker stretches and begins to head towards the hall, stopping by Frost’s side as he rests a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry Frosty boy, I swear to you I will not hurt your sister.”

Holding a steady gaze Frost lets go of the breath he seemed to be keeping for ages.

“Sure boss. Sure.”

And with that the men go their separate ways. The Joker retiring once more to his bedroom, falling asleep with [y/n] tucked securely into his arms. And Frost taking his place in the living-room determined to drink the thought of his boss fucking his sister permanently out of his head.

[renaroo]

The Dark Half (1/20)

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird and are owned by Viacom. Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, Psychological horror, Character death Rating: T   Summary: For years Leonardo has vowed to protect his family, but how is one supposed to protect their family from something that no one can see? And how can you tell whether or not the worst danger to your family is yourself? [TMNT 2k3]

A/N:  Of my surviving earliest fics, there was probably nothing that carried the amount of ambition with it that The Dark Half did purely because here I was, some thirteen year old who read way too many Stephen King novels, deciding I was going to completely go against all genre conventions I’d worked with before and make a horror story. And I’m honestly still proud of a lot of the ideas that came out of that. Though, it’s a little embarrassing looking at the past. 

Which is why I wanted the chance to finally go back and revise this old story that honestly did a lot of things for my growth as a person. 

And I’ll also be making fun of mid-2000s A/N’s along the way because hot damn are these hilarious

[[Original Author’s Notes circa 2005] Turtlefreak121: Alrighty, I've been plotting this one for quite some time, so if you would please, this is The Dark Half and I'm not sure how good this story will eventually end up, but I know I have quite the tendency to use cliffhangers (evil snicker)]

Bragging about cliffhangers and using the term ‘evil snicker’. Oh boy. This is going to be a trip haha

Chapter One: Murder in the Big City

Waiting for the night brought Leonardo to the surface at dusk.

Dusk. He always found that word to have a dry, unappealing sound to it that caught in the back of one’s throat. Nothing like the actual atmosphere it portrayed, this beautiful calm better suited by twilight, nightfall, sundown. And dusk certainly didn’t speak to the pleasure and ease that the time brought to Leonardo in particular.

For him, it was the start of his true day, the beginning of the nighttime freedom only granted to him and his family in darkness.

Being the oldest brother, being the chosen leader of their family clan, Leonardo had pressed himself to perform the part of the oldest brother, to be the fastest, the strongest, the most graceful. He had to push himself as the best in every possible way because he honestly didn’t know how else he could be a leader to his equally — or perhaps even more — gifted brothers.

At fifteen, Leonardo’s shoulders were tense and heavy with an unseen weight. He had to seek perfection in the almost futile attempt to earn respect from a gaggle of less self-important, less serious teenagers.

But if he didn’t have his brothers’ respect, if he didn’t lead them correctly, he couldn’t protect his family.

The price of failure was death for them. Leonardo found that unacceptable. Especially in a world where they were absolutely unaccepted.

Even with exceptions — friends who were as close as family, like April and Casey, or allies who they had earned respectful silence from — Leonardo was constantly aware that their enemies and those who did not and would not understand them far outnumbered them. That night alone, Leonardo as leader needed to maneuver his brothers’ surface exercises around the ever changing movements of the rival Foot ninja clan, the Purple Dragon street gangs which had splintered and expanded, and the generally unexpected that they always seemed to fall into.

As Leonardo looked over the peaks of rundown buildings and billow of occasional smoke, he could hear the soft patter of his three brothers landing not far behind him. He could almost anticipate that Raphael would be the one to step up next.

“What’s your call, fearless one?” Raphael joked, joining Leonardo in watching the distant cityscape. “You already rethinking topside training?”

“No,” Leo answered without even looking to the others. “I want us to take about a three block round of shadow tag. No weapons — palms only.”

He could all but feel the eyes rolling behind him.

“Oh pah-leese,” Michelangelo snickered.

“Even Master Splinter would let us use weapons,” Donatello pointed out with a sigh.

“Yeah, extreme rules or no rules,” Raphael sneered. He pulled his sai from their holster and quickly began spinning them while looking at Leonardo challengingly.

“We don’t need them out here. We need to work on speed, not weapon finesse. It’ll make keeping to the shadows less of an option—“ Leonardo began to list off his reasoning before his shoulder was whipped by the broadside of Raph’s sai. “Raph!”

“Guess who’s it,” Raphael chuckled before trust falling backward into the alley below.

Michelangelo and Donatello quickly followed, laughing among each other.

With a deep breath, Leonardo resisted rubbing at his temples before joining his brothers in the game of shadow tag.

Three blocks was nothing for them. Child’s play for ninja of their caliber.

Even though Leonardo was the only one to stick to the no weapons rule, there was little to no maliciousness involved between the four of them. A rarity for teenage brothers.

They danced through the shadows, around one another, each faltering in the slightest of steps and leaving an opening. It was constructive, a way of safely identifying weaknesses in their forms and guard. They all needed it, needed the challenge from one another.

Once he was free of it status, Leonardo knew his best plan was to pull ahead and put as much distance between himself and the others as he could. He twisted himself in a leap over Donatello, landing his palms on Don’s shoulders before pushing off and blasting forward. He could hear his brother’s groan of frustration.

His plan was working, Leonardo pulled far ahead from his brothers and reached the designated corner with feet between them. He enjoyed the bit of competitive edge, the rush, the feeling that he could still pull ahead.

Catching his breath, Leo began to turn to face his brothers as they slowed in approach, but raised voices put him on guard.

Ducking back deeper into the shadows, Leonardo watched steadily over the edge of the building where the voices were coming from. He waved to his brothers, almost instantly silencing them.

They followed his lead, falling into line into the shadows.

“Trouble?” Donatello asked in barely a whisper.

“Don’t know,” Leo said, trying to make sense of the distant, but loud, words. He was unsettled, though he couldn’t imagine why. These sorts of issues were not exactly uncommon on their night runs. But there was something about this, it didn’t sit well deep in his guts, where he was beginning to feel hollowed out and strange.

“Uh, Leo?” Mikey stage whispered, a little too loud for Leo’s liking. “You alright, dude? You look… pale.”

“What?” Leo answered defensively raising his shoulders. “No. No, I’m fine. Just… Trying to read the situation.”

Without a second to breathe, the air was interrupted with an ear piercing noise — the firing of a gun.

Raphael spun his sai a last time before holding them ready. “Looks like time’s up for that, fearless.”

Leonardo felt the same sickly, gut wrenching feeling that had suddenly overcome him from before. There was something not right about the situation.

His thoughts didn’t carry for long, however, as a second shot was already filling the air.

“Go!” Leonardo ordered, though all of them were already in motion, and his stomach was completely cold with a dread he couldn’t place.

Big Tony was, admittedly, not the most original monicker.

Perhaps it was all he had earned from one of the least original ways to direct the small block of Queens that had been left over after the fall of the ninja clan and its vice grip on all underground activities. Ruthless, but not particularly ambitious. And so long as he and his crew maintained the hold that they had, he was going to be as ruthless as possible inside of his territory. It was a doomed strategy, especially among mobs and especially in New York, but there wasn’t a soul left in Tony’s operation who would oppose him on it.

That left the bloated, greased up man to smile with veneers to cover his rottenness, and his many stolen rings and medallions to flash to the public at large. He looked like a Dick Tracey villain in his dark purple pinstripe suite, and yet he terrified those underneath the heel of his snakeskin boots into silence.

Dressed as he was, Big Tony looked out of place in a darkened alleyway. But it was his most secure path for himself and his closest working confidante, Weasel — a man who more than fit his own monicker in appearance — to reach the dubious looking former pharmacy that acted as the most recent office for their empire.  

Still, it was a bad time of night, especially when a failed cover up involving a journalist had come to bite them in the ass so recently.

At least that event had taught Tony to no longer leave loose ends. Which was his intention that night before he ended up being on the receiving end of a surprise.

On the other end of the alley, in the shadows by the thick plated door that served as Tony and Weasel’s preferred entrance, stood the pudgy man of the hour.

“The hell,” Weasel muttered, hand already by his secured arm.

“You told him about our door?” Tony snarled, already feeling heat rising to his face.

“No way, Boss,” Weasel answered. “But, you know this guy. He never does anything right. Guess he forgot how to use a front door in between missing his payments.”

A growl rolled its way between Tony’s gnashed teeth, but he was not a man known for his restraint after all. So with bluster and confidence, remembering the sniveling pencil pusher he was dealing with in the first place, Tony began to push his way to the strange man in the bowler hat. “Erlinger! First you have the nerve to demand a meeting with me, and now you’re trying to show your disrespect by not even coming by my terms? The hell’s the matter with you? Do you need reminding of where your place is? Who’s the man that you keep the damn books for? Do you?”

Weasel snickered from behind and lessened the tension that had been built.

They knew this nobody of an accountant, after all.

“Disrespect?” Erlinger answered with a strange lack of stammering. He didn’t so much as flinch, obscured by the overcast shadows. “No, sir. Of course not, sir. A lack of respect for superiors is not one of my vices.”

Taken aback by the words and the sultry confidence Erlinger had in presenting them, Tony stopped mid stride and looked back to Weasel. Weasel seemed as confused by the scene as Tony was.

“The  hell are you talking about?” Tony said flagrantly instead. “You on something? You call this so that we can straighten you out? Because with the heat on me like it is, Erlinger, you better believe that I’ll lay you out as I do it. I don’t need any whack job fucking up my books while I’m still lucky to be on bail, you worm!”

Rather than coil back in fear and regret as most would under the duress of being in Tony’s direct line of sight, Erlinger stood his ground, clicking his tongue. “Wrath. Avarice. Vanity. I see them all so clearly now. How was I ever so blind to the sin that ooze through that gluttonous body. Everything is so much… clearer now. So much… better now that I have been granted his sight.”

“What?” Tony balked, so off guard there was almost nothing else he could have said.

“Hey! You can’t talk to the boss like that!” Weasel cried out indignantly, pressing up ahead of Tony. He was pulling out his gun, face already covered in pure disgust.

From the darkness of the shadows, a simple smile seemed to almost glow. “And there is envy. What sins we wear right on our sleeves.”

“Boss,” Weasel muttered out of the corner of his mouth, “he completely lost it.” Training his firearm on Erlinger. “The only thing I’m seeing on your sleeves, Erlinger, is that same ugly as hell blue suit you’ve had for as long as we’ve known you.”

“What did you want all this for?” Tony snapped. “You called this meeting for a reason. What is it? Stocks down? Pigs banging on your doors already? What brought you here?”

“Land acquisition,” the man responded simply. “An expansion of territory, if we’re going by your rudimentary terms.”

“Hey, Tony’s business is his own business, you pen pushing cockroach! Keep your noses in the books!” Weasel ordered harshly.

“I don’t have any investment in your crude criminal dealings anymore,” Erlinger clarified coldly. “I’m speaking of my own territory.”

That actually made Tony laugh. The man had surely reached some sort of psychotic break. “You ain’t got no territory, stooge. I own you, remember?” He chuckled and looked to his loyal lieutenant. “The nards on this guy, am I right? Who’s got envy and greed now?”

Weasel placated Tony with an immediate laughter, true if not bolstered for emphasis a bit.

“You laugh at my sins,” Erlinger said almost somberly, “but I wouldn’t. There isn’t any shame in sin. Those of us involved with the more nefarious side of life should know that. Accept that. What we should allow ourselves to do is bathe in it. To accept it and live by it. I hear that calling now. I know it to be something that will last beyond any mortal, beyond any means. It’ll have the most lasting impacts, the greatest legacies.”

“What a whack job,” Weasel muttered in astonishment.

“Putting it lightly, Weasel,” Tony responded, brows reaching for his hairline.

“I’m speaking of greed, gentlemen,” Erlinger elaborated more. “Greed, something the three of us are no small strangers too, of course. Greed… and its stupendous possibilities once we’ve given ourselves over to it. Over to him.”

“Him? The hell you talking about?” Tony tried again.

“You see, he understands greed, is avarice. And I say that with no small amount of exaggeration. And, because of that, because of that need to grow and to be taken care of so that the empire may continue to grow, I must provide to him territory. Land acquisition, after all, was the first greed of all. The one that built his empire to begin with. That’s why he calls me. And he calls me to do this.”

Before the bizarre rant could even sink in, there was an earsplitting pop, and Tony felt a numbing cold in his chest. He began to sink just as a second bang echoed and it could truly set in that he was shot. Weasel was shot.

And he laid on the floor of a dark alley in the small bit of the Queens he had loved to rule aggressively so much. And he did so until darkness consumed everything around him.

When they landed in the alley there was nothing. Wisps of gun smoke were still in the air, two fresh bodies on the ground — but there was no life. Leonardo somehow sensed that the instant his feet touched the ground.

Somehow, impossibly, the shooter was not there in an instant after shooting two victims.

Raphael passed them all in order to be closer to the two fresh bodies, watching the blood pool between them. “Hey, I know these lowlives — they’re those mob doofuses from a while back. We saved that kid’s mom, the reporter, from them.” He sneered at the men. “Couldn’t have been to two nicer guys—“

Judgment.

“Raph,” Leo said in a warning voice.

“What do you think? This one’s got a gun by him, think they shot each other?” Mikey asked. “Case closed?”

“No, case definitely not closed,” Donatello corrected, squatting down to his haunches to examine the scene better. “They are both l saying on their backs and facing the direction of their entrance wounds. Which means they were both shot from the same direction…” He looked over his shoulder toward the end of the alley where Leonardo was currently standing. “The shooter would have to have been right there.”

Leo squinted and looked around him for a hiding spot, high in alert with his twin swords readied in each hand. There was no dumpster, no pile of debris — nothing for someone to hide behind. Just a large, metal door. He walked toward it and tested the knob. It was locked up tight.

“There’s nowhere for the shooter to have gone,” Leo confirmed out loud.

“Oh, sweet! Are we about to play detective on this? I totally call being Batman,” Michelangelo said exuberantly. “Donnie, you’re Robin. Raph, you’re Alfred. Leo’s Commissioner Gordon.”

“Knock it off already, will ya?” Raphael snapped.

“Okay, Batman,” Don humored, “if the shooter was where Leo is now, and isn’t there by the time we jumped down here, who did it?”

“Don’t play along, that’s only going to encourage him,” Raphael admonished Donatello. “Leo, wrangle everybody up like you usually do. Y’know. Do your Leo stuff.”

“Huh, would Leo stuff include shooting gangsters in an alleyway? Because that’d make this case way easier to solve,” Mike joked with a shrug.

Immediately, every muscle in Leo’s body tensed up. He turned and looked in offense toward his brother. “Why would you say that? I didn’t do anything. Why would you even joke about that?”

The panic built and built through his body, Leonardo could feel it choking him, clawing at his every nerve. The mere thought of being suspected, the coiling distrust, the hateful injustice. And then beneath it all, most hauntingly, a slight tinge of guilt. From nowhere, from nothing. Leo felt it all the way down to his own bones.

“Whoa, bro, I’m only kidding, calm down!” Mike laughed awkwardly, holding up his hands defensively.

“Leo’s right, we should be treating this situation with more respect,” Don huffed, standing back up.

Raphael was staring at Leo in confusion and suspicion. “We were with you the whole time, Leo, calm your tail.”

“I know that,” Leo snapped.

The defensiveness in Leo was only building and his brothers were beginning to look at him in more concern. After all, this wasn’t the first crime scene they had come across. Which was also why, when they heard the sirens nearing, they knew to leave.

“Quick! To the sew…er…” Leo ordered, pausing as he glanced to the nearby manhole.

His brothers caught on rather fast.

“I’m popping it open, you guys be ready to duck if someone’s sitting down there with a revolver, alright?” Raph volunteered, readying his sai as he came to the manhole then swiftly slipping the blade between the cracks and cracking it open.

Leo, with the rest of his brothers, were at the ready.

But, nothing happened. Raphael opened the rest of the manhole and even stuck his head in before giving the all clear.

“I don’t get it,” Mikey said, hopping down into the sewers in line with the others.

Leo hung back to close the cover behind them. His whole body still felt unsettled. “You don’t get what, Mikey?” he pressed.

“Where’d the killer go?” Michelangelo asked, scratching at his cheek in thought.

“Not our problem anymore,” Raph shrugged off in disregard.

“The police will figure it out,” Donatello answered confidently.

“Maybe,” Leo said lowly from the back. It didn’t feel like it wasn’t their business, Leo couldn’t shake it for some reason.

Especially the admittedly comedic suggestion that it was somehow Leonardo himself responsible.

The others mostly overlooked Leo’s comment and overall dour change in disposition.

“Man, I’d at least like to know why, that’s the question that always is the most interesting on Forensic Files and stuff,” Michelangelo continued to push.

“They were mobsters, dude,” Raph snapped. “What’d’ya think was the cause?”

“Simple,” Leo said, getting his brothers’ attention unintentionally. He blinked as he caught all of their looks, and then cleared his throat to clarify. “It was probably greed.”

Raph rolled his eyes and Don nodded slightly before looking forward. Mikey took a breath and sighed but none of them really reflected on the sentiment.

But Leonardo did. Because it felt so unnatural on his own tongue.

Like the guilt that had been building strangely within him managed to evaporate in an instant as he was overcome with a sense of rightness to that blame, a questioning of ethics that poured out from between his own teeth.

It didn’t necessarily feel bad.

[mrslittletall]

Title: Off Balance (Chapter 9) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Ze'mer, Isma, Hegemol Word Count: 6.197 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/61136203 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/620638813711187968/title-off-balance-chapter-8-fandom-hollow

Summary: The Pale King talks to Ze'mer about the infection. Hollow has a few things to say to the Pale King. The both of them visit the City of Tears again.

(Author's note: Arghl, I felt like I wanted to have this chapter earlier, but I am still busy with finishing up some WIPs for other fandoms, that are my top priority. Still, because I don't have to work right now, I managed to finish that chapter rather quickly. I hope you enjoy!)

“As you know, your highness.”, Ze'mer started. “We knights have been send to different corners of the kingdom to help out with the infection. Che' hast met up with our allies, the Mantis.”

“Please continue.”, the Pale King said as Ze'mer was interrupting herself, she seemed to be at a loss of words. She slowly started to speak again.

“It should be to your knowledge that the three Mantis Lords also have a brother. Because of the matriarchic nature of the Mantis Tribe, he decided to start a family. His daughter... became a very very close friend to che'.”

“I don't think that the Mantis Tribe approved of your relationship.”, the White Lady said. “They tend to stay to themselves. That is why they are merely allies and not a part of the kingdom of Hallownest.”

“Our lady speaks words of truth.”, the Pale King said. “The Mantis Tribe is very proud. The only way to get their respect is defeating them in battle and even that doesn't mean that they would approve of close friendships with bugs from outside their clan.”

“Sadly, it is true.”, Ze'mer said. “The Mantis Tribe isn't approving of the close bond che' shares with her, but that is an issue for another time. The important thing is...” Ze'mer took a deep breath. “The father of che' friend shows early signs of the infection. He talks about things he has seen in his dreams, about power that he never could have if he stayed with the tribe and it sounds like he wants to embrace the infection willingly. Che's... afraid. What if he would hurt meled'l... meled'precious friend? Che' couldst not bare anything happening to hear. Che' wouldst do anything to protect her!”

The Pale King glanced to the White Lady and they shared a moment of wordless understanding. Ze'mer had corrected herself in the last moment, but she wanted to say “meled'love”, which was the same as “my love” in her dialect. If her relationship with the mantis girl was on the romantic side, the Mantis Tribe surely would approve even less of it.

“That's why... why che' can understand your actions, your majesty.”, Ze'mer said. “Che' can't say that che' approves of them, but knowing what che' wouldst do to protect those dear to che', che' don't feel like che' can judge. Che' might have acted the same in your position.”

The Pale King stood up from his throne and walked a few steps towards Ze'mer, his hands folded behind his back. “Ze'mer, we thank you for telling us the truth.”, he said. “In return, you deserve to know the truth about the infection.” He took a deep breath and glanced to his Root who just gave him a nod.

“The truth is, the infection comes from another Higher Being.”, he said. Ze'mer antennas twitched in surprise, but she put her composure back on quickly. “When we came to Hallownest as a young wyrm, we were unaware that it already had been claimed by another Higher Being.”, the Pale King continued. “We tried to negotiate with them, but they didn't want to listen. Their method of ruling had been to enthrall ever single bug into their hive mind while our method of ruling was to give bugs their own mind and let them decide for themselves.”

The Pale King slowly walked over to a window and looked outside at the courtxyard. Some Royal Retainers were scurrying around and some Kingsmoulds were patrolling.

“We were unable to win a fight of strength against them, so we took the fight into who was able to gain more followers. We won that fight, but unknown to even ourselves, even their most loyal followers turned away from them, stripping them of their power as a Higher Being.”

The Pale King sighed as he continued: “We thought that they had left. That they wouldn't be able to get their power back, but they found a way to break out. They try to use their light to force their hive mind again, however it is lacking any control. This is what we call the infection.”

The Pale King turned around and faced Ze'mer, who had quietly listened so far, knowing that she shouldn't speak when her king was talking. “That is where Hollow came into place. A vessel born of god and void, its only purpose to seal the infection.” He noticed that he started shivering. “We now know, how wrong we have been...”

As Ze'mer still didn't said anything, the Pale King sat back down on his throne and said: “You may speak now, Ze'mer of the five great knights.”

“So, in other words, the other Higher Being is a sore loser.”, Ze'mer said and the Pale King noticed how his Root was chuckling next to him.

“That isn't funny, Root.”, he said.

“Oh, I am sorry, Wyrm, the mental image was just too delightful.”, she said.

“Can che' do anything to help?”, Ze'mer asked. “Che' wouldst like to help to stop the source of the infection.”

“I am afraid that you can't do much.”, the Pale King said. Even he himself had barely an idea how to handle the Radiance outside of the vessel plan. “Of course you can feel free to research on your own.”

“Their followers... the most loyal ones who have turned away, who hast they been?”, Ze'mer asked.

“The moth clan...”, the Pale King said. “We are pretty sure that there aren't any moths alive anymore however.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”, Ze'mer said. “Che' wouldst like to go and talk to the other great knights. They just need to get over their first shock. Che' will help them understand. ”

“You are dismissed.”, the Pale King said and Ze'mer deeply bowed to him and his Root and then left.

“What do you plan on doing now, Wyrm?”, the White Lady asked.

“Going into my workshop.”, the Pale King said. “I don't have the feeling that anyone wants to see me right now.”

“You don't want to check on Hollow?”, his Root asked.

“They are probably the least person who want to see me right now.”, he sighed and stood up from his throne, slowly walking to the door and making his way to the workshop.

Once he was there, he tried to concentrate on the spells he experimented with to seal the infection, but he couldn't concentrate. Hollow's tearful face and them asking if they had been the reason for the fight was still in his mind, as well as how angry Ogrim had been with him. However, the worst thing was, he had let his child down. He didn't want to make them cry ever again and it happened over and over and over.

A knock on his door interrupted him. “No disturbance.”, he said, annoying that someone event ried to get in. He had told the Royal Retainers to not get him, no matter what. He expected that whoever wanted his attention would just go away, but instead the door opened. The Pale King turned around, ready to put whoever ignored his orders back into place, but any words died in his throat when it was Hollow who carefully came teetering into his workshop. They didn't stop until they were at the board and then wrote four single words.

“I don't hate you.”

“...Why?”, the Pale King asked. The question was out before he could even think about. For all he had done, for all he still was doing to them, they should loathe him. He couldn't understand. Why did they love him? He wasn't deserving of their love.

The sound of chalk squeaking at the board got his attention and he laid his eyes on words that he hadn't expected and somehow expected at the same time: “I wanted to be the Pure Vessel.”

“Hollow, please...”, the Pale King sighed. “We have been over this. It was me who forced you into that role, you didn't even had a single say in it. This whole plan has turned into the biggest regret of my life.”

More squeaking. The Pale King looked anxiously at the board as the words appeared: “No. It's not like that. I wanted to be the Pure Vessel. To protect. You and mother. The five great knights. The royal retainers. The kingdom you never visited, but always spoke fondly about. I knew that I had the power to make everything right. So it pains me. That I can't fulfil the role I had devoted myself to. I have disappointed everybody already, so I don't want to make others upset over me anymore...”

“Hollow, is that true?”, the Pale King asked, even though he knew they barely were capable of lying to him. He would have noticed. What they had written on this board was hundred percent the truth. They still felt the need to give him a nod, not aware that his question had been a rhetorical one.

“Since when have you felt this way?”, the Pale King asked. “Since when did you realize that you weren't empty?”

Hollow looked at him for a good while and then laid the chalk down in favour of signing: “Since the Path of Pain.” They fidgeted with their hands a bit and then signed: “No, earlier even.”

“How could I have been so blind to overlook?”, the Pale King said, sitting down in a chair. “You have been very convincing in making me believe that you were void of thoughts and emotions, Hollow.”

“It was hard.”, Hollow signed. “Every day was a struggle.”

“And that is why I can hardly believe that you don't hate me.”, the Pale King said. “Hollow, I am so sorry about what happened today with the great five knights. I didn't want to make you cry. I shouldn't have taken you in there with me.”

“I am not mad.”, Hollow signed. “Isma and Quirrel stayed with me until I calmed down. Dryya too.”

The five great knights... the Pale King had to deal with them sooner or later. With the four of them that hadn't been very understanding. Ze'mer had went to talk to them, but when he thought about Ogrim's reaction... he had the feeling he should maybe keep his distance until a rational conversation was possible.

“What are you planning to do now, Hollow?”, the Pale King asked. It was more to distract himself, because he had barely been able to do anything, his “confession” and the bad reaction to it still to prevalent in his mind.

“Father.”, they signed. “Can we go see the rain?”

“The rain...?”, the Pale King was a bit confused, they didn't had anything like weather down here, but then it hit him. “Oh, you want to visit the City of Tears.”

Hollow shyly nodded, as if they had asked something far more embarrassing than just going out. The Pale King considered their proposal. They surely both could use some distraction and in the city there wasn't a lot of danger to run into any of the knights. Besides, it was a good opportunity to fix Hollow's robe.

“Alright, let's go.”, he said and got up. “You need to get a new robe anyway.”

Gladly on the way out of the palace, the two of them didn't cross paths with any of the five great knights. The Pale King informed one of his royal retainers about his absence and that he wanted his wife to be informed, only to learn that she had went into her garden with Dryya. Apparently they would have liked to tell him earlier, but his orders had been clear, to not disturb him under any circumstances. The Pale King hoped that his Root managed to talk with Dryya about the conference in the morning. Dryya was as loyal to his Root as Hollow was to him, so he had the feeling, that his Root would be able to make her understand. Dryya always had been one of the more level headed knights.

The trip to the City of Tears was equally uneventful. Hollow was able to walk better, but climbing up the vertical shaft was still difficult for them, so the Pale King helped them out several times, especially when they tried to start teleporting up, until they managed to reach the city. As Hollow had said, they wanted to see the rain and so the Pale King was standing next to them as they marvelled over the sight. He had the feeling they would never get tired of it and he would never get tired of seeing how much joy his child got out of something so simple.

The Pale King noticed that every bug that crossed them, bowed down and actually didn't move any further. This went so far until a small crowd had gathered and he sighed and gave them the permission to move on. They probably were wondering. It was the second time in only a few weeks, that the Pale King visited the city, when he would normally stay in the palace for months. Also, Hollow was with him again. They would start to wonder just who they were, just like the knights. Though, thinking about the negative reaction of his knights, he was hesitating introducing Hollow as his heir to the public. Even though they didn't knew about the vessel plan, only that he had some plan to combat the infection, it felt awkward and some of the scholars would probably question why the Pale King would keep his child a secret for so long and not having introduced them right after hatching.

After the Pale King had to break up a crowd around him and Hollow for the third time, he nudged at them and said: “Hollow, let's move on. It's time for you to get your robes fixed.”

Hollow nodded and stared longingly at the rain for one last second. There were places in the city that weren't covered. Maybe the Pale King should bring them to one later, so that they could feel the rain. They were so utterly fascinated by it, it was adorable. Of course the rain wouldn't be there always, the menderbugs would fix the roof again and again, but it would break again and again. If one day they would put down their work, the rain in the City of Tears would never stop.

Asides from the bugs that bowed, but moved one once he passed them, thanks for his thrall not being able to influence them when he moved out of their way, the way to the tailor was rather uneventful. Once the Pale King and Hollow stepped in, the tailor turned around with a smile, saying: “Welco... oh, your majesty.” She then, like everyone else, bowed deeply.

“Please rise.”, the Pale King said. “We require your services.”

The tailor obeyed and once her eyes fell on Hollow, she said: “Oh, I see what he problem is. The robe has been busted. I will fix it up right away.”

“Please prepare a second robe too.”, the Pale King said. “Hollow, take off your robes and hand it to her.”

Hollow slipped out of the robe, wrapping their wings around them for modesty and handed it to the tailor, who took it and bowed again, then her eyes seemed to glisten as he saw just with what the robe had been fixed. “Weaver's silk?! That is a material that you never see around this parts!”

“The robe has been destroyed in Deepnest.”, the Pale King said, not providing any more context.

“Your majesty, would you allow me to keep this silk?”, the tailor asked. “I won't charge anything, the silk is easily worth my services. More even.”

“Feel free to keep the silk.”, the Pale King said. “We don't have any use for it.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”, the tailor said and she looked so happy. “This will take a while, so please take a seat.” She pointed at a table where tea and snacks were prepared. The Pale King walked over to it, hearing that Hollow followed him, but once he sat down, he noticed that they had stopped midway and stared at something on a mannequin. It was a dress.

“Hollow... are you interested in trying on that dress?”, the Pale King asked. Hollow cocked their head and looked at him, then back at the dress. Then they nodded.

“Every dress on display is for sale.”, the tailor said. “Feel free to try them all on, dear.” That had been directed to Hollow.

“Well then.”, the Pale King said. “Let's see how you look in this dress.”

“Oh, just one moment.”, the tailor said. “Let me get my sister to assist you while I am busy working.” She shuffled in the backroom and not much later a bug appeared that looked almost identically to her, save for another outfit and shorter antennas, which fell into the usual bow once she spotted the Pale King.

“Rise.“, the Pale King said, feeling tired. As much as he wanted to escape the palace, that he never could walk through the city without everyone bowing to him got on his nerves.

“Our ch.. companion would like to try on this dress.”, that had been close, he almost had said child. “Could you please help them out? They never have worn a dress before.”

“Of course, of course.”, the tailor's sister said and eyed Hollow. “My, aren't you a dashing one, with that size at your age and those horns. Can you even walk straight?”

Hollow actually shook their head at his question, making the tailor's sister chuckle. “Oh, don't worry, we will take care that you won't fall over. Let me get that dress for you.”

The dress turned out to be elegantly tailored and was from a deep black colour, being from a mid length, not going over Hollow's knees. However, the problem was, that it pretty much melted into the natural colour of their body.

“This won't do.”, the tailor's sister said, “It looks like it is invisible. I have never seen a bug with such pure black as a colour. It seems like even light gets devoured by it.”

Oh, how close she was to the truth, the Pale King thought to himself. Their body was void after all.

“Try a dress with more vibrant colours.”, the Pale King encouraged Hollow and the tailor's sister gasped as she scurried away and came away shortly, having several dresses draped over her arm.

“All of these must look marvellous on you.”, she said and presented one dress after the other to Hollow. Soon, they had tried on several ones, all with different colours and cuts. In the span of several minutes, Hollow had been put into a frilly white dress, in a puffy yellow one, in a blue one that could only be described as a gown and then in a loosely cut pink one. The tailor's sister was currently brooding over it while Hollow was busy looking at themselves in the mirror, the way they moved implied that they were happy with how they looked.

“It fits well, but something is missing...”, the tailor's sister said and then shot up. “Oh, I know!”, she ran into a corner of the shop and rummaged through a cupboard, coming back with two ribbons which she bound around Hollow's horns. “There.”, she said. “That is perfect.”

Hollow twirled around and looked at the Pale King, the way they cocked their head and wrung their fingers implying that they wanted to know his opinion.

“You look stunning, Hollow.”, he said. “Just wait till your mother sees you like that.”

It had been out before he had thought about that they weren't alone, because as soon as the words were out, he heard a big gasp and the tailor's sister just stared at the both of them with an open mouth. “They are your child, your majesty?!”, she asked, her voice was half disbelief and half excitement.

“N.. no, that was not what we wanted to, uh, say.”, the Pale King stammered, just how should he get out of this. “They... they are a candidate for the position of knight and they have stayed in the palace with their mother...”

“They are still a child. I doubt a child would be permitted to be a knight.”, the tailor's sister said. Oh, if only she knew what the Pale King had expected from Hollow from a far younger age. She looked at him with an expression that seemed to scream at him, wanting to know just why he kept his own child secret.

“Don't tell anybody about it.”, he said. “Not even your sister. There is a good reason for why we kept their existence hidden, that is all we can say about that matter.”

“I won't say anything. I mean, it is not like I have a choice.”, the tailor's sister said. “You surely have more than enough methods to keep me silent. I won't question it any further, just allow me to say one thing, your majesty. The population of Hallownest surely would welcome to know that an heir to its king has been born.”

She then proceeded to clean up all the dresses and put them back on the mannequins, chirping to herself. Hollow came back to the Pale King and sat down. He pushed a cup of tea in their direction and they took a few sips, then put it back down and signed: “Why keep me a secret?”

The Pale King signed back, not wanting that the tailor's sister listened into their conversation. “You know why.”

“Because I am... was... the Vessel.”, Hollow signed back, looking down at the table. Then, they raised her head again and signed another thing: “Father, I can really keep the dress?”

“Yes, you deserve it.”, the Pale King signed back. “After all I put you through, you surely deserve it.”

The tailor's sister finished cleaning up the dresses and was in the process of sweeping the room, the Pale King had the feeling she was glancing at Hollow now and then, when the tailor entered the room again, two robes over her arms. As she saw Hollow, she chirped in delight.

“Oh, look at you, isn't that adorable? And those ribbons in your horns, they set just the right accent to the outfit.” She laid both robes on the table and the Pale King couldn't even tell which one was the fixed and which one the new one, they looked identical. “Like I said, I won't charge anything, the weaver's silk is more than enough payment.”

“Thank you very much.”, the Pale King said. “What do we owe you for the dress?”

“Nothing. The weaver's silk is more than enough for it too. Just take it with you. Actually...”, she eyed Hollow. “I think I have some ideas for an even better dress. That should be enough to reach the silk's worth. If you allow me, your majesty, I would like to sew it.”

“What do you say, Hollow?”, the Pale King asked, but from the excitement in their signing he knew that they were delighted. “We will allow it.”, the Pale King said. “Send a messenger once it is done.”

“Surely.”, the tailor said. “It has been a pleasure working with you and your child, your majesty.” The Pale King felt like his heart would stop and he heard himself say: “What have you just said?!”

“That it was a pleasure working with you and the child.”, the tailor repeated. Ah, he had misheard her and here he thought, it had become obvious that Hollow was his child.

As they left the shop, Hollow bowed and then waved, stepping out on light feet. They seemed happy. “Hollow, before we head back, there is a place I want to show you.”, he said. Hollow cocked their head and then followed him, without questioning of course. Soon they had arrived at a huge empty square, where the rain poured down unhindered. The square kind of always had bothered the Pale King, it felt like something should be there, like a statue or a fountain, but he hadn't found the right idea just what to put there. Yet.

Hollow looked at him, seemingly unsure what to do. “It's the rain, Hollow.”, the Pale King said. “I wanted to give you the possibility to feel it.”

Hollow turned their head around and stared at the rain for must have been a full minute, before they took a slow shaky step from under the roof and extended their hands. As soon as the rain touched it, they retreated. “Wet.”, they signed. “Like water.”

“That is what the rain is.”, the Pale King said. “It's water, pouring down from above.”

Hollow looked at the rain again and the next time they moved, it wasn't only their hands, but their whole body moved into the rain. They extended their arms and looked up and if they would have been able to emote, the Pale King was sure that they would smile. They simply stood in the rain, it ran down their shell and their void body and the Pale King thought that they felt at ease.

After a few minutes he called them back however, not that they would get sick. Could they even get sick? Better not take any chances. Unfortunately during their time in the rain, their new dress also had got soaked, the Pale King should have let them take it off first, so he spend a good while drying it and them with his magic. Once they were done, Hollow suddenly hugged him.

“Hollow.. not in such a public place.”, the Pale King said and carefully removed them. Gladly, because of the pouring rain, not many bugs were present, but he still hoped that nobody had seen it. The two of them probably already were the case of rumours. It wouldn't take long for the population to pick up on what the great knights already had.

“Let's go back.”, the Pale King said and Hollow nodded so hard that they fell over. “Ah well, was the first time today.”, the Pale King said, helping them up and dusting off their dress. He then decided to subtlety take their hand, the more excited they were, the worse their balance problems.

On their way back, Hollow stared at the same sweet stand they had passed the last time and it wasn't exactly subtlety, so the Pale King went to get them some sweets, everyone in the line leaving him through again. When he returned to Hollow, he noticed that their attention had shifted to a small crowd. The crowd happened to have gathered around a butterfly girl who was singing a song.

“Do you want to listen, Hollow?”, the Pale King asked and handed them the sweets. It was a snack coated in honey and the Pale King already planned to get more honey from the hive, Hollow seemed to enjoy it.

At his question, Hollow nodded and the Pale King stood next to them as they watched the singer, slowly nibbling at their sweets. The butterfly girl had a beautiful voice and the Pale King considered if he should summon her into the Palace to sing there, it surely would lift the mood of the great knights and the royal retainers. After a good while of them watching, Hollow nudged the Pale King and once they got his attention, they signed: “What is she doing?”

“She is singing.”, the Pale King replied, heart sinking into his chest, about that he never bothered to teach Hollow about the joys of life such as music. They never would have needed to know what it is, they never would have been able to enjoy it, being a creature void of emotions. That is why he only ever had them taught how to fight and to be the Vessel. The Pale King had the feeling he needed to explain it more closely. “Singing is when someone uses their voice to form a melody.”, he said. “They sing along lyrics and wrap their voice around it to make it sound more enjoyable as if someone would just be talking. It is called music and singing is a form of it.”

“I see.”, Hollow signed and then didn't say anything anymore. In fact, they nudged the Pale King again and implied that they wanted to go now. The Pale King didn't had any troubles with their desire, he just was a bit confused. It seemed like they had enjoyed listening to the singing of the butterfly, he didn't knew what suddenly had changed.

On their way back, Hollow seemed to fall behind and it wasn't because of balance, when the Pale King looked back, they seemed to have their gaze on the ground, but didn't struggle a lot and when, they managed to catch themselves. However, they dragged their feet and the Pale King could practically feel a gloomy aura around them.

“What's wrong, Hollow?”, he asked.

They stopped and raised both hands, thinking a bit and then signed: “I can never do that.”

“What can you never do?”, the Pale King asked, confused. He knew that he would give them the chance to do anything they wanted, as long as if they didn't want to be the Vessel again.

“S I N G I N G.”, Hollow signed out every letter of the word, clearly not knowing the sign language for it yet.

The Pale King stared at Hollow for a while. So far, they never had complained about not having a voice. So far, the Pale King had been under the impression that their missing voice didn't bother them. They had learned how to articulate themselves with a different method, so why should they be upset about it, when everyone could understand what they wanted to say? That the simple act of not being able to sing bothered them so much, surprised the Pale King as well as let a pang in his chest appear, because he was the reason for them to not have a voice. It was even worse when he saw tears welling up at their eyeholes again and right when he had sworn to him to not make them cry anymore.

“Oh, Hollow, please don't cry.”, the Pale King crossed the short distance between them and hugged his child. “Singing is just one form of music. You may not be able to do it, but there exist many instruments that can be played with your hands. Would you maybe like to try it out?”

The Pale King slowly released Hollow from his hugs, holding them at their shoulders still and looked into their eyeholes. Slowly, very slowly, Hollow nodded. They raised their hand and wiped the tears away, then signed: “I want to try.”

“I am sure we will find an instrument that will suit you.”, the Pale King said and took their hand again. “There are many different kinds, like the piano, the violin or the harp...” On their way back, the Pale King taught Hollow all about what he knew about instruments, but had to admit that he didn't knew too much. He always had been the logical type, not the creative type. Did he know someone that played an instrument? Lurien probably. When he remembered correctly, the watcher would sometimes play the violin. It wouldn't hurt to bring Hollow there, he had the feeling the once dreamers should meet them anyway.

Hollow listened intently to everything he had to said. Apparently, the concept of music and instruments seemed to fascinate them. It was a good sign for the Pale King, anything that would help them getting their mind of being the Vessel, would be a good thing.

Back at the palace, the Pale King saw Isma and Hegemol standing and his heart sank again. He had hoped to avoid this conversation, even though he knew it had to happen.

“Look at you, Hollow, you are adorable.”, Isma said as she spotted them in their new dress. “I am glad that you feel better now.”

“The ribbons are perfect.”, Hegemol added. “They make your horns look even more stunning.”

Hollow bowed to the both of them in thanks and then Isma turned to the Pale King. “You know why we are here, but we refuse talking about it in front of Hollow.”

“Hollow, go inside.”, the Pale King said. “See if your mother is back.”

Hollow nodded and then went away. As soon as they were out of sight, Isma sighed and said: “Ze'mer talked to us.”

“She was saying that much this morning.”, the Pale King said, waiting for what Isma had to say further.

“Your majesty, you have to know, that we don't condone your actions regarding Hollow. They have been wrong and I barely can grasp that you have been willing to sacrifice your own child.”

Hegemol nodded along to Isma's words as the Pale King's heart sunk even further down. He agreed with them. There was nothing he could do to defend himself, because every word they said was true.

“However, Ze'mer made us see your decision in a new light.”, Isma said. “First, you did it because you tried to save thousands of innocent bugs from the infection.”

“Second.”, Hegemol said. “You were under the impression that Hollow was void of emotion, nothing but a construct.”

“That is correct...”, the Pale King said. “We have been wrong about Hollow being void of emotion. They have tried so hard to appear as if they really were, that they even deceived us. We deeply regret that we haven't picked up on it sooner.”

“Which brings us to our next point.”, Isma said. “We don't condone your actions, but we can understand what has you driven to them. The most important part is, that you stopped. That you strife to do better. The hurt inflicted on Hollow can never be reversed, but they truly love you and view you as their father. Your majesty, I don't speak as your knight when I say this, but as a potential mother, never ever hurt Hollow like this again.” She looked at Hegemol. “Hegemol has the same opinion as me.”

Hegemol added and said: “We have told Hollow that they can come to us whenever it would become too much for them. Like Isma said, we can't condone your actions, but we can understand why you felt the need to act them out. We... will need some time to come to terms with everything, but we would like to stay in your service and help as best as we can to combat the infection.”

The Pale King almost felt himself tear up, a thing that couldn't happen in front of his knights. Isma, Hegemol, your words mean a lot to us.”, he said. “Thank you.” In the back of his head, the thought of what would happen when the knights knew just how many dead children he had in the abyss lingered, but he didn't want to think about this right now. A lot of the children would have been born dead even outside the influence of the void. The mortality rate of them was too high.

“What about Ogrim?”, the Pale King asked, having the impression that the White Defender would personally kill him if he knew about the abyss.

“...He didn't want to listen.”, Isma said. “I will try and talk to him, but I am under the impression he needs more time. He can't understand your actions at all and was rather disgusted by them.”

“He's not the only one.”, the Pale King whispered, with a voice as quiet as him, there was no way that his knights would be able to hear him. He was disgusted by himself, by the fact that he had sacrificed so many of his own children and expected the only living one to become a living prison for the Radiance. It was time to end the infection, once and for all.

“We will leave Ogrim time.”, he said. “For now, return to your posts. We need to get back to our workshop.”

“Very well.”, Isma and Hegemol said in unsion, bowed to him and then went off. With a heart as heavy as stone, the Pale King walked into the direction of his workshop. The conversation with Ogrim, if it would ever happen, would be a tough one. For now, he finally needed to tackle the infection.

Especially before Hollow would one day decide to be the Vessel without him having a say in it. (Author's note: I did my best with Ze'mer's dialect. Give me a break, Hollow Knight, english isn't even my first language and then you let Ze'mer speak like that?! I have the feeling, this chapter feels a bit like filler. I want to get the plot going finally and hope I can start with it in the next chapter. I have a lot of things planned still. Anyway, please write me your opinions in the comments. Thank you very much.) Chapter 10

[mrslittletall]

Title: Off Balance (Chapter 8) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Herrah, Quirrel, The Five Great Knights Word Count: 7.756 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/59596573 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/618553918352441344/title-off-balance-chapter-7-fandom-hollow

Summary: After returning from Deepnest the Pale King gets confronted by his knights about Hollow.

(Author's note: This chapters are getting longer and longer, and while this one doesn't match the length of chapter 7, it still is pretty huge. I just have so much to tell! One of the scenes in here I actually had planned far earlier, but only now felt like the right time to include it.

By the way, I can't believe that you all like Homewrecker Herrah as much as me and I even got some fanart, drawn by @ninvic-0. Thank you very much!)

“Nobody.”, Hollow signed, the way they sorted out their shaky fingers the Pale King had to assume they weren't exactly truthful.

“Hollow, are you lying to me?”, he asked.

Hollow flinched and then shook their head, also raising their hands to sign out the word no.

While the Pale King had some doubts, there wasn't exactly any reason for Hollow to lie to him. Maybe nobody had taught this word to them and they simply had overheard it somewhere. He was even a bit proud that they stood up to him, if they were truthful or not, it was a big step on their way to becoming their own person.

“Fine, I believe you. You have no reason to lie to me.”, the Pale King said. “I just want to say, you can't toss this word around like that. The relationship between Herrah and me was political and not-”

The Pale King stopped talking when Herrah entered the room and said: “What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing.”, the Pale King said without hesitation and he saw Hollow cock their head in a way that felt like they were judging him. He just didn't want to explain to Herrah that Hollow had called her a homewrecker, he would never hear the end of it.

“Say, Hollow, did you have fun today?”, Herrah said and Hollow nodded enthusiastically, the Pale King extended one arm and pulled them back into place by tugging at their robe when they threatened to fall over.

“It seems like there is some hope for you, Wyrm.”, Herrah said.

Hollow signed a few words and Herrah glanced to the Pale King for a translation. “They want to know if they can say goodbye to their sister.”, he said.

“Sure, why not.”, Herrah said. “She seems to like Hollow already. However, she is sleeping at the moment and I don't want to lay her down again, so they have to be as quiet as possible.”

“I was trained to be quiet.”, Hollow signed and stood up, walking over to Herrah with an upbeat step.

“What have they said?”, Herrah asked and the Pale King felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead.

“Uh, that they will be sure not to wake Hornet up.”, he said.

“Then come.”, Herrah said and took Hollow's arm. The Pale King followed them in some distance, doubting that Herrah would let him into the baby's room, his light was too bright.

Indeed, Herrah stopped him at the doorway and gestured only for Hollow to go insight. “She is sleeping in the crib.”, she said. The Pale King narrowed his eyes and tried to see in the dark, seeing a red bundle sleeping soundly in the aforementioned crib. The floor of the room was littered with toys, which made the Pale King wonder if he should get Hollow any toys. Technically, their body was too old to be considered playing with grub toys, but they never had been allowed to be a little grub. He wondered what kind of toys Hollow would like.

Hollow went over to the crib and proofed their skills to be quiet, by barely making any sound. They looked down at Hornet for a minute or two and then tucked the baby in, not unlike the Pale King used to tuck them in whenever he brought them to bed. The baby cooed and grabbed on the blankets. Hollow stood there a few seconds longer, probably enraptured before they went back to the door.

After all three of them were back in the visitor area, Hollow signed: “Can sister come visit us?”

“They want to know if Hornet can come visit us in the palace.”, the Pale King translated, fearing that the answer would be negative.

“I consider it.”, Herrah said, to the Pale King's surprise. “Hornet seems to like you and the thought of the wyrm dragging you through Deepnest again makes my exoskeleton crawl.”

The Pale King flinched under her words, while Hollow clapped their hands together in excitement. The Pale King had to admit, he was rather glad about Herrah maybe allowing Hornet to come visit him, as with Hollow, he had tried to stay distant, but he rather cared for the the little spiderling that was also his daughter. Besides, he had the feeling his Root would like to see the little energetic bundle too.

“You have our thanks for your hospitality, Herrah.”, the Pale King said and gave her a bow, if she liked or not.

“Yeah, yeah, cut all that court stuff.”, Herrah said, “Before you leave, make sure that your child is fine and that all of their needs are met. And please, consider to not leading them through Deepnest to the tram again. Take the stag station instead.”

“Speaking of the tram, what is holding up the construction of the station near your den, Herrah?”, the Pale King asked.

“Oh, my citizens simply told them that they don't like the idea.”, Herrah said and her voice betrayed a smirk under her mask. The Pale King froze, that meant that there probably were heavy attacks against the workers. He made a mental note to break off the works, at least until the relationship with Deepnest had stabilized. He had enough victims on his hands already.

After making sure that Hollow was ready to go, they said their goodbyes to Herrah and left the den. The Pale King took the few steps that would lead them to the stag station and then had to stop, anxiety rising in his chest at the though of having to alight at the busy station near the White Palace as well as some nausea rising up in him. “Ugh, I don't think I can do this...”, he said, Hollow staring at him with eyeholes that seemed to display concern.

After the Pale King had calmed down, Hollow had been a great help, buy sitting him down and holding his claw in their hand, they signed: “Father. We can leave with tram. I can do it.”

“Thank you, Hollow.”, the Pale King said, getting up. “This time I won't lose you, I promise.”

As they once again crossed Deepnest, making a break at the bench near the hot spring, Hollow signed: “Father, why do you not like stag station?”

“Different reasons.”, the Pale King replied. “Mostly too many bugs. They make me nervous. I prefer worship from far away, not up close. Then, the stags themselves. They don't like the trams. I feel judged by them.”

Hollow signed: “That is all?”

“...you got me.”, the Pale King said. “The first time I rode on the stags after establishing them, I got really really sick. It wasn't... one of my most elegant moments.”

Hollow put their hand over the part of their mask where there mouth would be and made a movement that could be considered a chuckle, one that wasn't heard of course.

“I am just glad my Root was with me to shield me from any curious views.”, the Pale King said, trailing along one of his prongs. “Come, Hollow, let's continue.”

A walk later the both of them were back in the tram and Hollow had pretty much instantly fallen asleep, leaning against the form of the Pale King, clinging to his arm. It was kind of adorable and so the Pale King didn't dare to move, to not wake them while the tram approached their destination. It had been a long day for them and they must have been very exhausted. Besides, he didn't want to wake them, they looked so peaceful sleeping leaned against him, he still could hardly fathom how they could put so much trust in him.

Though, with nobody to talk to, the Pale King lapsed into thoughts, especially all the things that Herrah had said to him. She had been right with every single sentence, it had felt like he was stabbed by several nails at once, but he knew that she was right. How much his distance had hurt Hollow, how dumb he had been to believe that he could create an empty being, in short, what an awful father he had been to them. He looked down at their sleeping form and softly caressed one of their horns. He wanted to make it up to them, but he had the feeling that he could never make up the emotional (and physical, when he thought about the path of pain) abuse he had put them through.

He still planned to do his very best to at least be a good father to them now and to not making them cry again. Which... had happened just today when he had lost them at Deepnest and they had been so shaken and scared and then he had collapsed in front of them and they had to take care of him. The already tight feeling in the Pale King's chest only got tighter and he had to take a deep breath to avoid falling into a full blown panic.

The rest of the ride the Pale King studied Hollow's sleeping body, they couldn't close the eyes in their shell, but he could see the regular heaving of their chest, indicating that they indeed were fast asleep and not dead. He had seen enough dead vessels already and he didn't want to be Hollow one of them and he seriously needed to stop thinking about the bodies in the abyss. He blamed the shape that looked like a vessel he had seen in Nosk's lair.

The tram came to a stop and the doors slid open. As much as it pained the Pale King, he had to wake up Hollow so that they could walk back to him with the palace, but they were dead out, not reacting to him gently nudging them at all. Instead of trying further to wake them, the Pale King lifted them up to carry them on his back. They seemed to sense the shift in posture, because he could feel their arms wrapping around him, laying their head on his shoulder.

“Don't worry, Hollow, it is only a short walk and then we can get you to bed.”, the Pale King said in a soft voice, not that his voice ever had been loud, but it was barely above a whisper.

The Pale King hadn't even covered half the distance to the palace when Hollow on his back stirred, raised their head and then pretty much shot up, losing their balance and making the Pale King trip, having a rather painful impact with the ground because his hands had been busy holding Hollow and he didn't exactly had thought about his extra hands hidden under the robe. He briefly wondered if that was how Hollow felt all the time.

As he turned around, he saw Hollow signing “Sorry sorry sorry” over and over again, like back in Deepnest.

“Stop this.”, he said and they stopped in an instant. “Are you hurt, Hollow?”

They slowly shook their head and then raised a shaky hand to point at him or more precisely, at his forehead. As the Pale King raised his own hand to check it out, he noticed a bit of his white blood on his claws. “That won't be any trouble.”, the Pale King said and focused his soul to heal the minor injury in mere seconds. “See, nothing bad happened. Can you walk?”

Hollow slowly nodded and then got up, coming closer to him, but not moving any further, pretty much standing there as still as a statue.

“...Do you want to take my hand?”, the Pale King said and offered it to his child. Said child finally started to move and took it into its own one. As the Pale King continued walking, with Hollow in tow, he wondered why they just hadn't asked to hold his hand, but of course, it was because they weren't used to voice their own desires. He had to tell them that they never had to feel bad for wanting physical contact with their parents. He was sure that his Root would wholeheartedly agree.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. In front of the palace some of the royal retainers bowed to the both of them and then hurried to carry out their duties. Not deep into the palace the Pale King could spot the White Lady.

“How has your trip been, you two?”, the White Lady asked and then frowned as she noticed the state of both of their robes, clearly being stitched with spider silk. “Did something happen?”

“I'll tell you later, Root.”, the Pale King said. “For now, I need to take care of Hollow. Let some tea and snacks be delivered by the retainers, we meet on the balcony.”

The White Lady nodded and looked after the both of them until they were out of sight. While the Pale King had preferred to get Hollow into bed right away, there was another thing he needed to do first, so he led them to his workshop.

As they entered and Hollow cocked their head in that questioning way, he sat them down on his chair. “Your foot.”, he said. “I need to take care of it. Don't move.”

After he had said that, he went to search through the mess of paper and tablets he had scattered in his work shop, trying to repurpose the sealing spell, until he finally found a bottle with some void. As he returned to Hollow, they sat there as stiff as a statue, literally not moving.

“You can relax, Hollow.”, the Pale King said. “I just wanted for you to not leave the chair.”

Hollow's posture relaxed at once and it felt like they released a breath they had been holding, making the Pale King frown. They had tried so hard to be the Vessel, that they even tortured themselves.

“Show me your foot.”, the Pale King said and they lifted the injured foot. The Pale King had noticed that they had limped with that foot since they had left the tram, the soul bandage could only prevent the injury from leaking, but not heal it. The Pale King dispelled the soul bandage and coated the foot in void.

Their body went to work right away and absorbed the void into it, filling the cut and only leaving smoothness behind. “There.”, the Pale King said. “Soul can't heal void, but void can. Now, let's get you to bed.”

Hollow, who had looked at their foot and seemed to be fascinated, touching and testing the healed area, nodded and slid off the chair, almost falling over in the process.

“Easy there.”, the Pale King said, laying a hand on their shoulder and gently guiding them out of the room. “You need some sleep.”

Arrived at their room, Hollow slipped out of their robes, carefully hanging it over the nearest chair before walking to their bed and slipping under the blankets. The Pale King followed them, glancing at the robe, they surely needed a replacement, and sat down at the edge of their bed.

“Good night, Hollow.”, the Pale King said, stroking their horn. Hollow didn't even react anymore, they had fallen asleep instantly, indicating just how exhausted they must have been. The Pale King tucked them in and watched them for a few more minutes, his tail swinging around as he recalled the events of the days and how scared he had been at losing them. He only stopped the nervous swinging when his tail got caught at something under the bed. The Pale King carefully got up and lowered himself to his knees to look under the bed. His natural light revealed several books.

With his curiosity piqued, the Pale King grabbed one of the books, maybe that has been how Hollow had taught themselves to read and write, but the book he was pulling out from under the bed wasn't an educational book. Instead, it was a cheesy romance story.

The Pale King opened the book to read the summary which only confirmed that it was a romance story full of cliches and when he went to investigate the other books, they all turned out to be equally cheesy romance novels.

“Huh, so that is where they learned the word...”, the Pale King said and put the books back under the bed. He didn't had a clue while Hollow was hiding them, they weren't from the “adult sort”, in fact, he was a bit glad that they did something without him knowing, but he didn't want to let them get the impression he wouldn't approve of their lecture, even though he had the feeling he should introduce them to a bit more... better books.

The Pale King got up and gave Hollow's horn a last stroke before he left the room, intending to meet up with his Root. As he was on his way to his own quarters first, to put on a not torn robe, he was approached by two of his great knights, Ogrim and Isma.

“Oh, you are back.”, he said. “Can you give us our reports tomorrow? Our queen is waiting for us.”

“It isn't about the report.”, Ogrim said. “We already gave it to the queen, she can inform you, your highness. We wanted to ask about the Hollow Knight.”

The Pale King flinched, physically flinched and hoped that it hadn't been too obvious.

“What about them?”, he asked.

“...We know that they couldn't continue their training with us because of their balance problems.”, Isma said. “But their balance problems are a lot better and we believe we could teach them to keep their balance while fighting better, however...”

Isma glanced to Ogrim who continued: “You have started to treat the Hollow Knight differently. It started with them taking in their meals with you and the queen and they have this lessons with Lady Monomon's assistant and right now we have seen you entering their room while guiding them...”

“Your majesty.”, Isma said, her voice firm and steady. “We have talked with the Royal Retainers in our absence and they told us that you were treating the Hollow Knight more like an heir than a weapon. We would like to know that the meaning of this is.”

The Pale King flinched a tiny little bit before regaining his composure, he couldn't falter in front of his knights. He knew that it would have come to this, his knights would liked to have some answers, while the supposed weapon against the infection wasn't treated as such anymore.

“We believe that you deserve an answer.”, the Pale King said. “All of the five knights. Come see us tomorrow one hour after breakfast. We will tell you everything.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”, Isma said and bowed. Ogrim joined her bow and added: “We will inform Hegemol, Ze'mer and Dryya of your summoning.”

“You are dismissed.”, the Pale King murmured, heart feeling heavy in his chest. That would feel awkward having to explain to the knights what he had almost done to his own child.

Not long after this conversation, the Pale King had put on some fresh robes and joined his Root on their favourite balcony, where she was waiting with tea and pastry, the smell truly wonderful in comparison with Herrah's indefinable Deepnest cookies.

He sat down next to the White Lady, who poured him a cup of tea and smiled at him: “There you are, my Wyrm.”

“Thank you, my Root.”, he said, taking a sip from the still steaming hot tea, calming down a bit. “You surely want to hear about our trip.”

“Mostly I want to know why your robes have been all torn.”, the White Lady said, picking up some pastry to nibble on while her other branch rested on his shoulder.

“...I lost Hollow to Deepnest.”, the Pale King said, staring in his tea cup which he held with both of his hands. He could feel how his Root's touch hardened. “It wasn't on purpose, of course!”, he quickly said. “However, when I was searching for them, I managed to cross paths with a predator that used their face to lure me into their lair, an infected one on top... I... shouldn't have had trouble to take them down, but because they were using Hollow's face, I was frozen and couldn't fight back...” The Pale King put his tea cup down and buried his face in his hands. “It was Hollow who came to my rescue. It was them who took the predator down. I think they didn't even knew how they did it...”

The Pale King noticed that he had started to shiver and he had slung his tail around his legs several times. The White Lady gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“So that is why your robes were torn.”, she said and then led her branch under the Pale King's robe, investigating the area where the cuts have been. “At least I don't detect any injuries, so you were able to heal yourself.”, she stated.

“Actually...”, the Pale King said, “I was out of soul after the fight, my last reserves were used to bandage up Hollow. They brought me to a hot spring where I could heal up.”

“How was Hollow taking the whole experience?”, the White Lady asked, retracting her branches and giving her husband a hug instead.

“They were scared, but they put their fear away in favour of me and bravely fought the predator. We can truly be proud of their abilities, they are a natural with the nail and with soul, they just lack experience. In a sense, the fight probably was good to hone their abilities, but I feel awful for having lost them in the first place... That.. shouldn't have been their first real fight.”

“The important thing is that both of you are safe.”, the White Lady said and pulled the Pale King a bit closer before picking up a pastry and handing it to him. “Here, my Wyrm, you need to try these, they are surely divine.”

“If a Higher Being says that, I am bound to believe that.”, the Pale King said and tried the pastry, which really had the right amount of sweetness and crispness. He had the feeling that Hollow would love them.

“So, how are Herrah and Hornet?”, the White Lady asked. “I hope Herrah hasn't teased you too much.”

Upon hearing his wife's words, the current bite got stuck in the Pale King's throat and he quickly drank some more tea to avoid choking. The White Lady chuckled at his side, with one of her branches in front of her mouth. “Judging by your reaction, Herrah hasn't minced her words.”

“Not one bit.”, the Pale King confirmed. “At least she was very kind to Hollow. Hollow seemed to enjoy being in her presence and playing with their sister. They even wanted to say goodbye to her. If not for them falling over so much, I could imagine them taking care of Hornet once in a while. The little grub has quite grown since I last saw her... and... she is so warm. I forgot how warm little grubs used to be...”

“Oh, Herrah has let you hold her?”, the White Lady asked.

“It was more that she prompted me to hold her. After all, I am her father... even though she was conceived for a political alliance...”

“Little Hornet reminds me a lot of you, actually.”, the White Lady said. “I hope that Herrah will be fine with her visiting the palace once she is older.”

“She might be.”, the Pale King said. “She hinted that Hornet surely would like to play with Hollow again.”

“I see that your trip was a success then.”, the White Lady smiled.

“It had some bumps, but yes, I assume..”, the Pale King said, taking another sip of the tea. “By the way, Root, have you observed that Hollow became more independent lately?”

“Other than that we don't have to tell them to sit down anymore when we eat together, not much.”, the White Lady said. “It only has been a week, they surely need some more time.”

“I think they already might have broken their dependency on me a bit.”, the Pale King said. “When Herrah took Hornet to lay her down to sleep, they wanted to know the details about how Hornet is related to them and when I explained it to them, they asked me if Herrah is a homewrecker.”

The White Lady stared at him and then broke into a cheerful laugh: “Oh, that is too wonderful, I wonder how Herrah will react when I tell her.”

“Please don't!”, the Pale King put both of his hands into the air in a pleading gesture. “Anyway, I surely haven't taught them this word and you surely haven't taught it to them either.” The White Lady shook her head, confirming it wasn't her.

“Maybe it was their teacher, Quirrel.”, she assumed.

“I thought about asking him too and berating him for teaching our child inappropriate words, but in fact, I found all these cheesy romance novels under her bed.” As the White Lady frowned, he added: “None of the juicy ones, don't worry.”

“So they have secretly read this novels and that is where they have learned the word.”, the White Lady said. “While I don't exactly approve with their choice of literature, that they were choosing it themselves and didn't even told us, is something a child their age usually does. I think we can consider this a breakthrough.”

“I know and I am so glad about it.”, the Pale King sighed and leaned back to cuddle against his Root. “I want them to be happy. It's the least I can do, after I have been such a bad father to them... Especially because they are our last living offspring...” As he felt his Root flinch, he added: “I am sorry, Root, I know you were never fine with the plan, I shouldn't have forced you...”

“Wyrm, what are you talking about?”, the White Lady asked. “You never forced me to have a part in the plan. That I agreed to it was my own conscious decision.”

The Pale King rose from his position and stared at his Root: “It was?”

“...I never told you this, but... our children had a high mortality rate anyway, because they would be hybrids, no matter what we did. I... thought, that it wouldn't be too bad to experiment with them, when half of them died anyway and there would only one of them picked to be the Vessel. I assumed that there would be enough children left for us to love, so that we can forget about the awful sacrifices. I never had anticipated that only one of them would survive...”

“Root.”, the Pale King said, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. “And here I thought all the time that you resented the part of me that went through with the plan...”

“It must have been evem harder for you.”, the White Lady embraced the Pale King and wiped his tears with her sleeve. “You were in the middle of all the experiments, I only sowed my spores and then detached myself.”

The Pale King nestled in his Root's embrace, but his tears didn't stop to fall: “I have let them fall, Root... I did nothing to save them...”

The White Lady replied simply buy pulling him tighter into the hug: “You did what you thought you had to do, my Wyrm...”

“...Compassion would have tainted them.”, he mumbled, feeling how his Root's branches stroked over his back and gently touched his wings, not saying anything anymore, just embracing him, waiting for him to calm down.

After what felt like an eternity had passed, the sobbing of the Pale King ceased and he raised his head, wiping the tears off his face with his sleeve. “When is the last time you cried in my arms?”, the White Lady asked, getting out a handkerchief which she handed to him. The Pale King gratefully accepted it and mumbled: “When I asked you to marry me and you said yes.”

“Are you feeling better now?”, the White Lady asked, which actually gave the Pale King some food for thought. He was still feeling awful for what happened to the Vessel, he was still feeling awful for how he treated Hollow, he still had Herrah's voice ringing in his ears, calling him out on his failings, but for some reason, he felt lighter.

“Yes. In a way.”, he replied and gave his Root her handkerchief back after he had dried his face.

“...Maybe sometimes it is better to cry it out.”, his Root said, breaking the embrace. “Bottling it all up... can't be healthy. For the both of us.”

“You are sounding like Monomon.”, the Pale King said with a chuckle.

“I may have spend some time with her assistant lately.”, the White Lady said. “It surely won't hurt you to see Monomon and talk to her. Oh, and take Hollow with you.”

The Pale King cocked his head as he stared at his wife. “You already have figured this all out, haven't you?”, he said before falling silent again, leaning his head against his Root as he remembered his earlier conversation with the knights. “Root, there is something else...”, he murmured.

“Yes?”, the White Lady asked, her gaze directed on him, worry shining in her blue eyes.

“The knights have caught on that we treat Hollow differently.”, he sighed. “I promised them to tell them the truth the next day.”

“Do you want me to be present?”, his Root asked without hesitation.

“You wouldn't mind?”, the Pale King asked and the White Lady traced one of his prongs.

“Of course. That is a matter that concerns the three of us.”, she said. “Besides, Dryya usually won't leave my side when I am in the palace. She is even guarding the door right now.”

“True.”, the Pale King said, smiling as he thought about Dryya's protectiveness. Dryya would follow his Root at the end of the world and back, so loyal was she and still, she managed to be an individual, with her own feelings, not afraid of speaking her mind, acting as a leader to any troupes she had been assigned to. Secretly the Pale King wished that Hollow could pick up some mannerisms of her, though, that would only made them a copy of Dryya and surely not their own person. Why did parenthood had to be so complicated?

“You had a long day today, so I would like to see you in bed on time.”, the White Lady said as she poured him another cup of tea.

“I was planning to.”, the Pale King said, taking a sip from the tea, already feeling drowsy. Had she used her sleeping spores again? “I can't concentrate on battling the infection today anyway. I heard the knights have given you their reports, how about you tell me about them while we finish this tea?”

After a good night's sleep (definitely sleeping spores, he didn't even had nightmares this time), the Pale King met up with Hollow and informed them of the meeting with the knights, because he wanted them to be present for it. The White Lady also had suggested to get Quirrel in, so that he could easily translate their sign language, which the pill bug gladly agreed to. After they had their breakfast, the Pale King went through what he wanted to say and repeatedly told Hollow to only speak when he prompted them to, as if they wouldn't do it anyway. The hour until the meeting with the knights passed more quickly than the Pale King was comfortable with and he might have had a cup of coffee too much, because on the way to the throne room he was positively jittery.

“I should think twice to let you have coffee before an important meeting.”, the White Lady said. “It makes me wonder if I have two children.”

It had been an attempt at an light hearted joke, but as soon as the words were out, she realized her mistake and her, the Pale King and Hollow looked at the ground rather awkwardly, walking the rest of the way in silence. Only once they entered the throne room, the White Lady spoke again. “Anyway.”, she said, taking her seat next to the Pale King. “Let's give our best that everything will go well.”

“I hope that it will...”, the Pale King said, sitting down on his throne and realizing that once again his tail had curled around his feet. That became a daily occurrence lately. As he still was busy to physically untangle his tail from his legs, he noticed that Hollow had taken their place at his side, standing there as stiff as a statue.

“Um, you can relax, Hollow.”, the Pale King said and then was met with stares of both his child and his wife, noticing that he still had his tail in his hands.

“You are one to talk, dear.”, the White Lady chuckled.

The Pale King quickly let go of his tail which tangled around his legs again and accepted his fate. “Let's get this over with.”, he whispered to himself, looking at Hollow, who still stood stiff next to him and to his Root, who sat on her own throne looking beautiful and regal.

Soon after they all had taken their spots, there was a knock on the door, but it weren't the knights, instead, it was Quirrel, which made the Pale King breath out in relief of having a little more time. Quirrel came in and then stood a little away from Hollow, near enough to see their signing, but far enough to not intrude in their personal space or make him seem associated with the royal family. The Pale King could see him sign a few words to Hollow which he couldn't make out in the moment, Hollow signed something back and then their posture seemed to relax just a tiny bit.

Not even two minutes later a second knock was heard and this time it were the five great knights, Ogrim was the first to enter, followed by Isma and then Dryya. Then Ze'mer entered and the last one to come into was Hegemol. They all lined themselves up and then sank down to their knees. The Pale King rose from his throne and said: “Please rise.”

After all five of them had risen up, the Pale King folded his hands on his back and spoke: “We have asked for your presence at this place at this hour, because both Ogrim and Isma have spoken of some concern to us, regarding the Hollow Knight.” The Pale King gestured to Hollow, which was back to standing as stiff and straight as possible. He noticed that their robes still had the fixed arm of spider silk, there hadn't been enough time to organize them a new one.

“That is correct.”, Ogrim spoke. “Your majesty, from what you have told us, the Hollow Knight is a weapon against the infection, so we have been rather confused as how you have interacted with it lately.”

Isma nodded along to his words and Hegemol and Dryya were whispering to each other while Ze'mer's gaze was entirely locked on Hollow.

“These words have been true, once.”, the Pale King said. “The Hollow Knight had been intended to be our weapon against the infection, more precisely, to contain the infection, sealed away so that it would never be able to threaten our kingdom ever again. However...”, the Pale King took a deep breath before continuing. “We had to realize that the being we thought had been empty had been tainted by our feelings for it... it had started to develop a mind of its own, it had started to feel. After all, we couldn't deny anymore that Hollow is our child.”

There, it was out. He had said it. His Root had been rather positive, but when the Pale King looked at his knights all he could see what shock, across five faces, with the one who was dumbfounded the most being Ogrim.

“...Your majesty.”, Ogrim spoke. “Have you just told us that the weapon against the infection is your own child?”

“Correct.”, the Pale King said, trying to sound as detached as possible, not letting the whirlwind of emotions inside of him showing through. “It was necessary for the Vessel to be a being that was born of a god and void.”

“That is not the point.”, Ogrim spoke and his face darkened, the normally so jolly warrior looked legitimately furious. “The point is, that you planned to sacrifice your own child.”

“Your majesty, is Ogrim correct with his observations?”, Isma asked. “Have you planned to use your own child to fight the infection?” Isma's voice had been calm, but the Pale King couldn't miss how much weight she had given to the word child.

“Yes, unfortunately.”, the Pale King said. “That had been the plan. Though, we don't hold onto this plan anymore. It was bound to fail anyway.”

“So.”, Hegemol spoke from the background, his voice gentle as ever, but a certain shakiness in them. “You are telling us that you experimented on your own child to create the so called Hollow Knight.”

“Yes.”, the Pale King said once again, looking downwards, having trouble to keep eye contact with his knights before raising his head and locking his gaze on all five of them again. “We exposed Hollow to the void, altering their body, however, the void wasn't able to alter their mind. We realized the errors of our ways, Hollow will not be send to contain the infection.”

“Like I already said, that isn't the point.”, Ogrim spoke again, this time his voice was shaking. “The point is. Your majesty, how could you do something that cruel to your own child?!”

The question hit the Pale King as hard as had someone hurled a brick at him. How had he done it? By being sure that the plan would work. By trying to detach himself. By telling himself that no cost would be too great. By trying to convince himself that the impure ones were disposable. In truth, all the dead children from the abyss haunted him in his nightmares, in truth, he had feared so much that he would taint the one pure vessel that had ascended, in truth, he hated what he had done, what he was about to do, but he had to save his kingdom.

“No cost should have been too great so save our kingdom.”, he mumble, reciting that mantra that he had recited to himself over and over again, knowing that there indeed was a cost to great, to his knights.

He could see how Ze'mer, who yet had to talk glanced at Isma and Hegemol laid a hand on Ogrim's shoulder who now was shaking with rage. Instead of him, it was Dryya who spoke first. “Mylady.”, she addressed the queen. “Why did you let this happen? Have you been...” Dryya didn't finish the sentence, but the Pale King knew that she wanted to ask if he had forced his wife into participating. He himself had even thought it had been true a day prior.

“I assure you, my fierce Dryya, that my involvement in the creation of the Pure Vessel was my own conscious decision. It was my husband who proposed the plan to me, but he never forced me to partake. I believed that the plan could save our kingdom.”

“You can't be serious!”, Ogrim hissed out. “Both of you! How could you ever had thought you did the right thing?!”

The Pale King flinched at his words, but straightened himself up right away. He had to stay regal in front of his knights, as justified as Ogrim's anger was, he couldn't let him talk down to him like that. He narrowed his eyes and spoke: “Watch your tongue, Ogrim of the five great knights. We understand your outrage, but we can't let you speak to us and especially our wife in such a tone.”

Ogrim opened his mouth, but before he could say another word, Isma spoke. “Wait, we haven't heard what the child has to say about this matter.” She made a few steps close to Hollow and said in a gentle voice. “Can you tell us how you feel about the actions of your parents?”

Hollow looked to the Pale King. They still stood there pretty stiff and the Pale King noticed that Quirrel next to them had taken in a rather awkward stance. The Pale King knew that Hollow was waiting for his permission, so he nodded to them.

“I will translate directly what you have to say.”, Quirrel said. They nodded to him and then started to sign.

“I am not mad at father and mother. My whole life I thought I should be the Hollow Knight.” Quirrel interrupted himself and then continued translating with a rather shaky voice: “No.. thinking is bad.. my whole life I was trained to be the Hollow Knight, but I turned out to be impure. It was me who failed, it is my own fault, my fault alone. Because I couldn't stop thinking.”

As Quirrel finished talking, all the eyes were on Hollows and Quirrel said in a low voice: “Um, Hollow, do you want to talk later...?”

“Your majesty!”, Ogrim said in a booming voice, cutting through the eerie silence. “This child thinks they are to blame. This child thinks they are at fault because you have told them that they are not even a living being. There is no way that you can excuse your actions. You... abused your own child!”

“We don't deny that we have treated the Hollow purely at first.”, the Pale King had to admit. “However, we realized that our actions were wrong. We are aware that we have hurt Hollow greatly and we aspire to never stoop so low again. Both us and our Root have accepted them as our child, we won't let any harm come into their way anymore.”

“That still is not the point.”, Ogrim growled. “That you have stopped doesn't mean that you can ask for forgiveness that easily. I... don't even get why that child can call you father so easily, they should hold nothing but disdain for you!”

Yes, that was what the Pale King also thought he deserved. How Hollow didn't hate him, but instead loved him, was over his head. He didn't had an answer for Ogrim and turned his head to the side when he heard Quirrel mutter: “Oh dear... I... shall I really translate that...”

“They deserve to have a voice after we have taken that from them.” the Pale King muttered.

“Alright.”, Quirrel took a deep breath and then said: “They ask if you are fighting because of them and they, uh, seem to be rather upset about it...”

As soon as Quirrel's words were out, any noises died in the throne room and the Pale King looked at Hollow, seeing that they were shaking and that thick void tears were running down their face, their nail clutched tightly in their hands.

It was Isma who broke the silence, walked over to them, tapped with her foot and then hissed out: “You should all be ashamed!” She then bowed down to Hollow, whispered a few words to them and then led them out of the room, with Hollow looking back at the Pale King, fresh void tears appearing in their eyeholes.

“Um... I better look after them too...”, Quirrel mumbled and practically rushed out of the throne room.

Dryya looked at the White Lady, who nodded to her. Dryya gave a bow and then went to join Isma, leaving only Ogrim, Hegemol and Ze'mer in the room.

“This hasn't been the end of that discussion.”, Ogrim hissed and rushed out of the room. Hegemol cleared his throat and then said: “I better go after him, to calm him down.”

As Hegemol had left the room, the White Lady said: “Well, that went less than optimal.”

“Less than optimal?”, the Pale King said and then raised his voice, which meant that it for once wasn't barely above a whisper. “Root, that was a disaster!”

The Pale King buried his face in his hands, murmuring to himself: “There is no way that I can atone for my sins...” before slumping down in his throne, only raising when he heard a voice.

“Um..”, Ze'mer said, who still had been in the room and had seen his pathetic behaviour. He hadn't even noticed that she hadn't left.

“Your majesty, please allow che a question.”, she said.

“...What is it, Ze'mer?”, the Pale King said, straightening himself up on his throne.

“The true nature of the infection... What is it? You know more than you told, right? Please, che need to know...”

“Ze'mer, aren't you mad?”, the White Lady asked after the Pale King failed to answer her right away.

“Whilst che does not approve of your actions, che can understand what has driven you.”, Ze'mer said. “The infection is threatening those close to che, so che need to know how to help. Che can understand, because che also would do everything to protect che's loved ones. Ai.”

The Pale King looked to his Root which simply nodded to him.

“Very well.”, he said, his heart feeling light that at least one of his knights showed some understanding. “We will tell you what you desire to know, but first you have to tell us your side of the story.” (Author's note: I like the thought that Hollow adores super bad cheesy romance novel and yes, that is where they learned the word homewrecker, because that novels overuse the love triangle trope to hell. The scene with White Lady was an important to add, because it seems to be believed that she was forced to partake into the plan, which isn't true. It turned out exactly like I wanted, so I am very satisfied with. The scene with the five great knights was difficult to write and as you can see, they aren't too happy about what they hear, minus Ze'mer. Even though I have already hinted at her reasonings, I will get into more detail in the next chapter. As always, I hope you enjoyed and I thank you so much for the comments and the fanart.) Chapter 9 

[mrslittletall]

Title: Off Balance (Chapter 1) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Dryya, Ogrim Word Count: 4.606 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/52032784

Summary: After the Pure Vessel has transformed from their child stage into an adolescent stage, something seems to be wrong with them. Not only this but the Pale King has to face his feelings regarding the Pure Vessel.

(Author's note: Hooray, it's my first fic for the Hollow Knight fandom!

In a small Hollow Knight Discord I run someone drew a fanart of a teenage Pure Vessel and then was like: “Look at this horns, how do they keep their balance?”, which sparked the idea to this fic.

I wanted to write a redemption fic for the Pale King anyway and this was just perfect for a start. I hope you enjoy.)

It had become his morning routine to visit the Hollow Knight in their chrysalis.

And like usual, the chrysalis was still untouched. It just stood there with its blackish silk colour, the Pure Vessel growing inside, waiting for the moment to hatch from it.

They had pupated shortly after they had finished the Path of Pain. And the Pale King had been so proud. It was the moment he knew that he had chosen the right vessel. It was the moment that brought him a step closer to acquiring their goal and get rid of the infection once and for all.

...But it also was the moment for him to get doubts.

Just as proud as he had been about the success of the Hollow Knight, a name the knights hard started to give the Pure Vessel, mainly because of their inability to emote and speak, they had looked back at him and even though he knew better, it looked like they were happy.

This of course couldn't have been the case. The vessel was pure and therefore not able to feel anything. He surely only had projected his own feelings on them. After all, he had convinced himself that no cost would be too great. After countless experiments which made his wife retreat shedding silent tears, he finally had managed to find the one who would safe them all. And all time they spend together only served for them to get stronger.

The Pale King had just turned around and intended to leave, having made sure that the chrysalis was untouched and they wouldn't hatch today either, when he heard the distinct sound of silky threads made of void being torn.

As he turned around, there was a certain feeling of excitement. After all, that was the first time he would see a vessel grown up from their child form. He walked closer to the chrysalis and waited.

It took the Pure Vessel a good while to hatch out of the chrysalis, all the while the Pale King watched, ready to interfere should he spot any troubles. Gladly, the Pure Vessel managed to break out of the chrysalis on their own, their hollow eyes focusing on the Pale King before them.

The Pale King let his gaze wander over them. They had managed to grow a good bunch while being in the chrysalis (granted, the size of it had already hinted at it) and were now around the same size as the Pale King. Their cloak like wings enveloped their body made of void, shaped to arms and legs, being kept in shape by the mask they were wearing. Out of the mask came two rather large horns. They were almost half the size of their entire body and the Pale King wondered briefly why they hadn't poked out of the chrysalis when the Pure Vessel walked their first step after having hatched...

...and promptly stumbled and fell.

Before he knew it, the Pale King had been at their size and caught them. He... actually didn't knew why he had done that. He knew how strong the Pure Vessel was. He knew they would be able to get up easily after having fallen down. So why...

He quickly let go of them and they fell to their knees, seeming to struggle to get up. It had to be the aftermath of spending all these weeks in the chrysalis. Even a being mainly made of void needed some sustenance and so he should get them something to eat. Perfect that he had intended to get his breakfast anyway, like every day after he had checked on the chrysalis.

“Come.”, he said. “Eat something. Then resume your training.”

He could see how the Pure Vessel shivered a bit, their head was lowered towards the ground. They managed to pull themselves up and walked a few shaky steps before they fell again.

The Pale King frowned. Their time in the chrysalis must have been more taxing than he thought. He walked over to them and helped them up, feeling the cold sensation of the void on his exoskeleton. Once they had a steady grip, he supported them with his own weight and started walking to his chambers without saying another word. The Hollow Knight just let it happen, their feet getting more and more secure with each supported step.

As he reached his chambers, the servant for this day already was present and said: “Your majesty, your breakfast has prepared like usual. Please let us know if you need anything more.” At the sight of the Hollow Knight their eyes grew wider. “I see that our Pure Vessel has joined us once again. I will get a second serving right ahead.”

The Pale King nodded to them and led the Pure Vessel inside his chambers, sitting them down on a chair before taking in his own place. He stared at the food in front of him. Technically, there was nothing that would prevent him from eating besides... besides the Pure Vessel staring at him. Or his food?

“Are you in need of sustenance that badly...?”, the Pale King asked, looking from his plate to the Pure Vessel and his plate again.

Even though they would get food soon, the Pale King had the feeling that he was the one who could wait a bit more. He hadn't spent the last month in a chrysalis. He remembered how taxing a transformation could be. Softly sighing, he took his plate and offered it to the Vessel, who stared at him with wide eyes.

The Pale King sat back down and observed the Vessel, who examined the food in front of them before gazing at him, as if wanting to get confirmation. After the Pale King nodded, they began to eagerly eat.

The Pale King often asked himself how they even ate, it wasn't like the Hollow Knight had a mouth or mandibles, with their faze mostly frozen in the same expression. He assumed it was the void that had to be fed directly. They just figured out a way to eat that looked “normal” for the other palace residents.

Strange... the Hollow Knight shouldn't possess a mind. It shouldn't be possible to figure something like that out.

The Pale King shook off the thought and turned his attention to the door when he heard a knock. He raised from his chair and walked over to it, opening it himself, seeing the servant with the second serving.

“Thank you, you are dismissed.”, the Pale King said and took the serving right out of the hands of the astounded servant, closed the door and brought it back to his table, where he sat down to enjoy his own breakfast.

In the meantime, the Hollow Knight had finished their meal and their gaze wandered through the room, along with frantic movements of their head, it looked like they were searching for something. They stopped this behaviour however when they fell off the stool.

The Pale King had to frown a second time this morning. Now they had gotten some sustenance into their body. They shouldn't be that weak anymore... Ah well, their hatching hadn't even been an hour ago. He should give them some time.

The Pale King continued to indulge in his food watching as the Pure Vessel climbed back onto their chair, this time staying still. As if they feared they would fall a second time.

“Take your time.”, the Pale King said once he had swallowed his current bite. “You just hatched. You may need a while.”

From the Hollow Knight came another movement, a tiny nod towards the Pale King. It was a tiny gesture but for him it felt like his food got stuck into this throat.

He had made sure that the Vessel was a tool, the perfect soldier, the perfect empty being to contain the infection. He wasn't supposed to feel anything towards them!

He averted his gaze from them and finished his meal without looking into their direction one more time.

Once he was finished, he stood up and gestured for the Pure Vessel to follow him. Now that they were out of the chrysalis they needed to resume their training as soon as possible. The Pure Vessel carefully stood up from their chair, swayed a bit before they got a hold of themselves. They, however, only managed to walk a few steps before they fell again.

Had something gone wrong during their time in the chrysalis? Just why was it so hard for the Pure Vessel to walk? The Pale King had planned anyway to visit his Root, but maybe she also would be able to shine some light on the issue. For now, the Pale King walked over to the Pure Vessel, who was struggling to get up and offered his arm to them. They stared at him with their big eyes before taking the offered arm and letting themselves help up to walk with him.

A short while later they were in front of the White Lady's room, her faithful knight Dryya standing guard, raising her nail but lowering it once she recognized the ones approaching her.

“Your majesty.”, she said, bowing and once the Pale King gave her the permission to move, she noticed the Hollow Knight and added: “And I see our little Hollow Knight is blessing us with their presence once again. Though they have grown.”

As Dryya turned around to inform his Root about the Pale King's arrival, he noticed that the Pure Vessel's gaze followed Dryya. Maybe they were eager to resume their training? No, it couldn't be. The Pure Vessel didn't had any feelings. They weren't possessing a mind. He was probably just seeing things.

Dryya returned shortly after, stepping aside the door so that the Pale King could enter. He could feel how the Pure Vessel stumbled behind him, it felt like they were still focused on Dryya.

Once the Pale King had entered the room, he could see his Root in all her glory, letting go of the Hollow Knight to walk closer to her and embrace her. “My Root, it is wonderful to see that you are well this morning too.”

“My Wyrm.”, the White Lady said in response, lifting him up into the air to return the embrace, closing her eyes as her branches closed around him. “The pleasure is all mine. I trust that you had a good night's rest.”

“I can not only assure you that, but I have truly fantastic news.”, the Pale King said and the White Lady opened her eyes, gasping as she saw the second being in the room.

“I had the feeling that another being had been present.”, she said, lowering the Pale King back to the ground. As she looked at the Pure Vessel, taking in their new form, her light glowing even brighter, the Pale King couldn't miss a certain sadness in her eyes.

“As you can see, our Pure Vessel has hatched from their chrysalis and they have quite grown.”, the Pale King said. “Unfortunately, not all news I have today are as fantastic as this one, because something seems to be wrong.”

The Pale King gestured for the Pure Vessel to come closer and like earlier in his chambers, they could only walk a few swaying steps before they fell.

“Ever since they hatched they weren't able to walk properly.”, he explained.

His Root observed the Pure Vessel as they struggled to get up, managed and fell down only a few steps later again. Then, she started to chuckle, one of her branches covering her mouth. The Pale King only stared at her dumbfounded. He clearly didn't get what was so funny about this.

“Oh my Wyrm, cannot you see what is troubling the Pure Vessel?”, she asked. “Haven't you told me of a similar problem of yours once you had transformed into your current form?”

The Pale King looked from the White Lady to the Pure Vessel and to the White Lady again but it took his Root lowering a branch to his crown like horns to make him understand.

“It's the horns.”, he blurted out. “They are off balance because of them.”

It had been a thing the Pale King hadn't noticed at first. At their child form, the horns of the pure Vessel hadn't stood out particular. All the Vessels did have horns in some sort of size and shape. But now that they had hatched and transformed into an adolescent form, their horns had grown a good deal. In fact, they had gotten so long, that they had to add a good portion of weight onto their head.

And like his Root had mentioned, once he had given up his godly body of the wyrm to transform into one that would make it easier for him to interact with the bugs of Hallow's Nest, now walking on two feet instead of flying through the air and slithering along the ground, his crown like horns had caused him quite some trouble, leaving him a few days stumbling and falling around until he had learned to balance his body with the added weight on his head.

“I must have been blind to not spot this.”, he said, a robed arm wiping over his forehead. “Once again you are the wisdom I clearly need, my Root.”

“As someone who faced the same struggles, shouldn't it be the most wise that you are the one who helps them regaining their balance, my Wyrm?”, the White Lady said as she retracted her branch from his crown.

Something in the Pale King froze at this suggestion. He knew she was right. He knew she just acted out of a feeling of general kindness, but... the Pale King had already spent the whole morning pretty close to the Vessel. He knew their fate. He knew what they had been created for. He couldn't... he didn't want to get attached like this. That is why he mainly had let the five great knights letting handle their training, mostly watching their improvements from afar.

He had the feeling that it would be the best not to change anything about it. He would deliver the Pure Vessel at their training, explain their current problem with the balance and then could attend to his duties as the king of Hallow's Nest.

“I dearly thank you for your insights, my Root.”, the Pale King said, giving her stem another embrace. “For now, we have to retreat. We will see each other later.”

And with that, he took the Pure Vessel by the arm, pretty much yanking them out of the room, not looking back at the reaction his Root could have to this behaviour.

Once they were out of the room, the Pale King saw Dryya bow to him once again and noticed that the Hollow Knight's gaze was on her again. Or more precisely, on her nail. Where they asking themselves where their nail was? Of course they hadn't took the weapon with them in the chrysalis and the Pale King had left it to the five great knights to store it until they would hatch.

Though with them barely able to walk straight it felt like a waste to give them back their weapon, the Pale King had the feeling he wanted to at least offer them some comfort in this new situation and led them to the weapon storage.

Before they even had arrived, the Pale king knew that it was Ogrim hanging around there this morning, simply because of the overwhelming stench, stemming from his nature as a dung beetle and his... less common fighting methods. The Pale King had the impression that the Pure Vessel also tensed, still having his arm around their back to support them with walking. Apparently they very much possessed a sense of smell.

As the Pale King came closer, Ogrim noticed him and his companion and gave him a bow: “Good morning, your majesty.” Once he had risen again he added: “And I see our little one has decided to join us once again! Though we shouldn't call them little anymore, they have quite grown.” He finished his sentence with his signature jovial laughter. “But!”, he said “Is something wrong with our Hollow Knight? It appears that they need your support, your Highness.”

“They aren't used to their new horns yet.”, the Pale King explained. “And they fall down every few steps when not supported.”

“Then may I allow myself the question why you decided to bring them here? Shouldn't they learn to walk properly first again before they resume their training with us?”

At this words the Pure Vessel tensed again, making the Pale King question just which training Ogrim had unleashed on them. Thinking about his nature as a dung beetle, the Pale King could only assume it was something rather... smelly. He normally hadn't watched when they trained with Ogrim, because of said smell. Some people even had given him the nickname Dung Defender instead of the official White Defender.

“I know, but for some reason, they want to have their nail.”, the Pale King said. “So I decided to get it for them.”

“Oh, if this is all.”, Ogrim said and entered the weapon storage, coming back out a short while later handing the Pure Vessel their nail: “Here you go, little one.”

Once they had their nail back, the Pure Vessel walked a few steps forwards, releasing themselves from the support of the Pale King who watched with narrowed eyes. They only would fall again. What he didn't expect though was that the Pure Vessel started to do a few practice swings with the nail, kneeling down as if going for a dash but before they could act on their plan falling down again, their horns clanging hard on the ground.

It looked rather adorable and Ogrim apparently couldn't help but express his joy at this sight with a hearty laugh. It even infected the Pale King, who had to raises his robed arm to suppress his chuckle, all while the Hollow Knight only looked confused from Ogrim to the Pale King and then at their nail. Stared at it, as if they had some disdain with it.

“I think the nail is too small for you now.”, Ogrim said once his laughing fit was over. “Not even to mention that you surely can't fight when you are off balance like this. Shall we work on them being able to walk straight again, your majesty?”

“No.”, the Pale King said, to his own surprise. “I'll do it myself.”

Ogrim had the same surprise on his face that the Pale King was feeling at his own words. “Of course, your majesty.”, he said. “Just tell us once our Hollow Knight can join our training sessions again.”

The Pale King nodded and helped the Pure Vessel up. This would be some work. But, he had the feeling that he would be the one who could teach the Pure Vessel how to regain their balance the quickest. After all, his Root was right. He had been in quite a similar situation once and knew what to do.

The next few days a good part of the Pale King's day was always dedicated to help the Pure Vessel with their new growth and more precisely, managing to regain their balance because of the increased size of their horns. The first day consisted mostly of him showing the Pure Vessel how to stand straight, not letting the weight of their horns get them down, but more than once their head fell forwards again which would make them inevitable fall down. It was a good thing the Pure Vessel possessed the gift of healing their shell with soul power, because some of the falls looked rather painful and even cracked their shell a bit and the Pale King didn't want to unleash the being that was restrained by the mask on his kingdom.

Three days later the Pure Vessel had to learn how to walk quite a few steps without falling down, but they still swayed now and then, needing a moment to regaining their balance. The Pale King asked himself if they already were ready to resume their training with the knights.

He had noticed a concern during this time. He enjoyed being in the presence of the Pure Vessel.

That was a thing that wasn't supposed to happen. He had made them hollow. He had made them pure. There was no room for feelings in that being that was born of god and void. They had a task and this was their only purpose.

So why was he feeling concern whenever he saw them fall down? Why did he feel proud whenever he saw that they picked themselves up without his help? Why was he feeling warmth whenever the Pure Vessel looked at him as if they were expecting something and when he told them they had made great progress and they looked so happy despite having an expressionless face?

It made the Pale King question what he even was doing. How often had he told himself that he did the right thing, that he would save the kingdom of the infection? How often had he tried to himself to convince that the Pure Vessel was merely a tool and not his own flesh and blood?

No, he couldn't give this all up. Not after the atrocities he had done that always made his Root look so sad. He should test if the Pure Vessel was fit enough for a fight and then give them back into the care of the five great knights, it was the best he would forget that this days had ever happened.

He rustled his wings and flew up, landing on a construction a bit higher up, only giving a small warning to the Pure Vessel: “If you are able to dodge this, then you are ready to resume your training with the others.”

The Pure Vessel braced themselves. It was rare for the Pale King to fight himself, but that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of putting up a fight. He was a Wyrm after all. The only distaste he had about his fighting style was how similar it was to that of the accursed Radiance, mostly consisting of projectiles he could conjure at will and throw at his opponents.

Granted, he had given up a lot of his original power as he had transformed into a regular bug and used his powers to give the bugs of Hallow's Nest a mind of their own, but that didn't mean that he was an easy foe.

The Pale King chose a rather easy to dodge pattern at first and watched as the Hollow Knight didn't had trouble avoiding all the projectiles, not even coming close to fall over. His lessons about regaining their balance had worked after all.

The Pale King smiled and conjured a new row of projectiles, which encircled the Hollow Knight so that they had to react quick to find the opening. They also managed to overcome this challenge, though as they jumped out of the way this time they didn't land on their feet. They quickly scrambled up and awaited the next attack.

The Pale King's gaze darkened as he noticed how easy he had been on them. He wasn't supposed to getting attached. He was supposed to raise a Vessel that was able to stand up against the Radiance, to stand up against the infection. The Radiance would never go easy on them.

With these thoughts in mind, with him trying to convince himself that he was simply raising the perfect weapon and the thoughts of his mortal enemy in his mind, the Pale King unleashed his strongest attack, with the projectiles raining down on the Pure Vessel in a truly unpredictable way.

They still managed to avoid a good deal of them but when the inevitable happened and they fell again, not being able to get up before the next projectile would hit, they curled themselves in clearly awaiting the hit. And they... looked so scared.

In an instance the Pale King had cancelled the attack and was down on the ground at her side. That wasn't a weapon down there. That was his child.

“I am sorry.”, he said, embracing them. “I shouldn't have done that... All of this...”

The Pure Vessel raised their head and stared at him with these eyes filled with void. They looked like they had a thousand questions for him, but the Pale King knew they couldn't ask, because he made them without having a voice.

All of a sudden the Pure Vessel wriggled out of the Pale King's embrace, he felt a sting in his chest, but what did he expect, after what he had done...

Though instead of walking away, they just staggered the few steps to the wall where they had placed their nail. The nail that was far too small for them, but that they still had hold on. That he hadn't taken it from them, wasn't that the proof that the Pale King had taken them into his heart?

They walked back to him and put the nail on the ground. It looked like they wanted to write something. They quickly grew frustrated about the stone floor of the White Palace not being able to depict any words and threw the nail onto the ground, then, tensing, picking it back up in an instant, staying straight, as if nothing ever had happened.

“I made a mistake.”, the Pale King said. “I wanted a being that was pure, that was hollow. A being that would be able to contain the infection. I should have known better... that a being like that can't be. And you...”, he gently took the Hollow Knight's mask in his hands and looked into their eyes, “you tried so hard. To be what I wanted.”

A small nod came from the Pure Vessel. How could the Pale King have been so blind? He had wanted to sacrifice his child. He almost had gone through with it. He almost had put endless pain and suffering on the shoulders of his own child.

“You must have a thousand questions...”, the Pale King said. “Let's get back to my chambers. So that you can ask.”

Back in his chambers the Pale King waited as the Pure Vessel wrote something on a scroll. He didn't knew who had taught them to write. He wouldn't have been surprised when they had taught themselves. It looked rather clumsy and they seemed to take quite some time to get the words right.

When they finished writing, they pushed the scroll to the Pale King who picked it up to read. The first word already hit him as hard as one of Ogrim's dung bombs.

“Father...”, they had wrote. “I am sorry, I couldn't be pure. I am glad you still accept me. But what about the infection?”

He had underestimated his Vessel. Underestimated them so much. They knew. They understood everything. They perfectly had known what was their purpose. And they also knew that they had been the latest plan.

The Pale King walked around the table and laid a hand on his child's shoulder, rubbing a soothing circle in their back: “I don't know...”, he said truthfully, “...but we will find a way.” Next chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/190159993574/title-off-balance-chapter-2-fandom-hollow

[kathyprior4200]

Princess Frosta fanfiction (Seasons 1, 2, and 3)

 Season 1

  A young girl, eight years old, stood at attention as the crowd watched. She had short dark blue hair and wore a dark blue dress with white fur covering her shoulders and her wrists. The front of her dress was decorated with seven short icicles carved into diamond shapes. Her round dark eyes met a dozen other eyes in front of her.

“Today,” announced Frigid, a blonde general of the guards, “is a day of both celebration, and mourning. His Majesty King Freeze led several of our strongest men into battle against the Horde on the edge of the Kingdom of Snows. Their leader, Hordak had attempted to invade our kingdom and steal our wealth and resources. King Freeze held Hordark off…but gravely, didn’t make it.”

The crowd muttered in low voices and several younger individuals gasped.

A tear threatened to fall from Frosta’s eyes, but she held it in. She couldn’t afford to be seen as a weak child during her coronation.

As an only child, Frosta had always known that she would become a ruler someday. Both her parents had taught her etiquette and rules early on. After observing weekly meetings with the king and the council, she could recite the anthem and the names of the other kingdoms with her eyes closed.

Despite all the formalities, Frosta still had time to closely bond with her parents in the late evening. She remembered the warm smile behind her father’s dark beard as he watched her practice her ice magic in her bedroom. When she had accidently froze a butler against the wall who had arrived to her room, her father showed her how to melt the ice surrounding him.

“Frosty, you must always be careful,” explained her father. Frosta rolled her eyes at her silly nickname, but smiled all the same.

Frosta remembered the subtle reassurances from Queen Iceis, her mother.

“Follow me,” she had said to her daughter. The two royals entered a hidden passage that led to a dark cave. They both stopped at a ledge.

A young Frosta pointed at something glowing from above. “What’s that?”

“The Fractal Flake,” the queen explained, the light briefly illuminating her long black hair. A large snowflake-shaped crystal hummed with power and stayed in place. She could feel the pulse from the gem similar to how she felt her heart beat.

“This gem has powered our kingdom for hundreds of years,” said the queen. “Its power has been used by kings and queens of the past to protect our land, as well as replenish their power. There will come a time, when it will be your turn to assume the throne. When you do, the crystal’s power will be transferred over to you, amplifying your power.”

Frosta’s eyes filled with both wonder and concern. “I know I’ll be able to do it…but what if I cannot?”

“You will,” said her mother. “There is a reason why we have taught you how to stand your ground so early. It is to best prepare you in case the inevitable comes.”

Frosta tried to pronounce “inevitable” and asked what she meant.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” said the queen. “Now, let’s be off to dinner. The food-tasters should tell us reports on the food when we arrive.” Frosta wrapped her arms around her mother in a hug. Shortly after, she returned the embrace.  

 Frosta didn’t know how fast time could fly by, until now. How could her mother’s clear ice blue eyes sparkle with happiness at her, only for them to roll back into her head, days later. Iceis’ pale white skin became sheer white as her body struggled to fight off a mysterious poison that had entered her veins. Medics and healers rushed into the queen’s chambers, doing all they could to heal her. All the meanwhile, Frosta looked on in fear from the distance, feeling ever so small and vulnerable.

“Definitely poison, alright,” stated a food taster, lifting his nose up to the silver wine chalice the queen had drunk out of. “The Horde must have slipped some in when they arrived with barrels of wine and fish for us.”

“We gave away our weapons to them for nothing,” spat a guard. “But surely, they would want us on their side. It must have been a mistake.”

But the queen’s pained gasps and coughs suggested otherwise. No longer able to stay in one place, Frosta rushed over to her sick mother. Her mother’s hand was ice cold, yet the young princess did not let go.

“My time is almost done, Frosta…” she stuttered. “Remember all the things I have taught you…”

“Mother, please…I’m not ready…”

“You are ready…you must be ready,” said her mother. “Make sure that all your subjects are well cared for. Enforce the rules when necessary. Be strong as a glacier, sharp as ice…but remember to be soft as snow at times.”

“I…I will make you proud, mother,” mumbled Frosta, her eyes turning red.

Iceis squeezed her hand tighter. “Oh, Frosty…you already have…”

Her head turned to the side and her hand went slack in Frosta’s.

“No! No! Mother!” cried Frosta. One of the guards tried to pull her to the side, but she screamed and sobbed loudly. It was the only time when she did not care when she acted like a child. It was even harder to get back into her responsibilities the next day. That was the day when the calls of war were heard.

It was the last time she would ever see her father’s face.

 Frosta’s thoughts were interrupted when she felt something hard being put on her head. It was a small ice crown.

Who would have imagined Frosta being crowned on her birthday…and her feeling like the world was already weighing down on her.

Another man with brown hair stood by her side and spoke. “By the power vested in me, I hereby crown you, Frosta, Princess of Snows.”

The crowd clapped politely, while a few other people looked at her with pity and disbelief in their eyes. Frosta stared at them icily, daring them to challenge her.

‘Don’t underestimate me because of my age,’ she thought. ‘You have no idea what I can accomplish.’

“Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!” called several teenagers as Frosta climbed down the stairs and walked toward the snack bar. For the rest of the day, she was bombarded with gifts from other kingdoms and endless requests of joining the Rebellion.

“Bright Moon needs you, Your Majesty,” said a messenger of Queen Angella who had been sent to her kingdom. He wore armor and the white garb of Bright Moon. A small insignia, a crescent moon, was pinned to his chest over his heart. “The Horde have almost destroyed the Whispering Woods and the Meadowlands. They could be up to something else!”

Frosta ignored him and popped a frost covered fish egg into her mouth. “Not interested. Being involved with the rest of Etheria has only caused problems for our kingdom. It would be beneficial if the Rebellion and the Horde could solve their problems like real adults. I suggest you do the same.”

The messenger looked aghast. “But the princesses…”

“Nope.”

Frosta walked away, leaving a bewildered messenger behind.

A strong burly man walked over to her later on while she was chewing a ball of dark chocolate candy. “The Horde and I have the best technology in the land. With our people and your kingdom ruling together, all of Etheria could be ours!”

“Not today,” Frosta replied with a wave of her hand. “Have a nice evening.”

Desperate to get away from the crowds and noise, Frosta headed back toward the council room.

“Scribe Chiller,” she ordered. The black haired writer looked up from her seat. “Yes, Your Majesty?” she asked.

“I want you to create a new law for this kingdom. Call it the Neutrality Treaty. We will not be involved with the Horde nor the Princess Alliance anymore.”

“Yes, Princess,” she nodded, not daring to question Frosta’s orders.

For months afterward, Frosta felt safer and more secure in her icy palace. The rules and regulations that had formerly confused her, now served as a good way for her to escape her troubling thoughts.

 Soon enough, the hidden pain of the loss of her parents and the ever increasing stress of her job made her perfectionistic.

 The rules had to be followed by the book: no cracks were to be evident in the ice walls and floor. All the beds had to be carefully made and smooth. The food had to be meticulously decorated and prepared. And for Snows sake, nothing on the plate could be touching each other!

Some people may have been put off by Frosta’s perfectionism and her antisocial ways. The more traditional nobles and several jokesters called her derogatory things like “youngster,” “ADHD Autistic Anarchist” and “Lost Frost.” But she didn’t care much anymore. How could she? Sharp comments weren’t going to penetrate her stone cold stance. There was no point in pretending like everything was fine and dandy when she still felt that hollow loneliness each and every day like a gaping hole.

Frosta lived by the rules and her role, day by day, only letting her emotions flow freely in her bedroom when she cried herself to sleep. In the back of her mind, she hoped to have her father and mother appear by her side once more. She imagined them saying that there hadn’t been a war. That they had made peace with the Horde and that they would live safely in Snows for the rest of their lives. Certainly, she could enjoy herself and become queen at 16, the traditional age where she would be shown proper respect.

But just as quickly as they came, her hopeful thoughts faded away in a cold blast.

 It wasn’t long before Frosta was almost twelve years old. Her kingdom had kept to itself for a long time. They had more than enough resources to keep busy and stable.

 The day came when Princess Frosta put together a rule list for the Princess Prom event. The sooner she got this event over with, the better. Already, the scribe was working on dozens of other copies to send out across the land.

“All Princess Ball: Winter Wonderland.” Was written in elaborate script at the top of the scroll. The rules were listed below.

“Rules:

No weapons allowed in the palace. Castle guards are the only ones permitted to carry weapons.

No use of magic powers for harm or fist fighting. Any form of violence will not be permitted.

For the chefs: All food must be prepared properly (fish and meat frozen with the right amount of ice power).

All guests must wear formal attire: (dresses, suits, ties, etc.)

Any princess may bring a plus one individual with them to the event

Princess Frosta is eleven and ¾ years old. No one is allowed to mock her or make any comment on her age or experience.

 The day of the prom arrived. A guard stood by a table, confiscating weapons from the guests. Adora was very reluctant to let go of her sword. Snow and icicles wrapped around the columns in the hallway. On and above the double doors were stain glass snowflake designs. The ballroom was shining with rows of icicles arranged in rows. People from all walks of life were dancing under colored strobe lights and pop music. A chandelier of long icicles hung from the high ceiling. A small band of beautiful women were playing string instruments on top of some stairs in a corner. An array of fruits and exotic food were positioned on ice covered shelves, made to be preserved throughout the night. There were small sandwiches, wrapped hotdogs, cookies, and cupcakes with wintery designs and colors. A large jelly-like sculpture was positioned at the edge of one table.

A line of guests walked up the steps to Frosta, who was sitting on her blue and white throne. The people bowed and greeted her, and they were then escorted back down the stairs by guards. Frosta didn’t particularly enjoy the moment; for her it was just another chore, albeit a necessary part of the ancient traditions. It was then that Adora and princess Glimmer arrived to the front. Adora bowed and Glimmer curtsied.

“That’s Frosta?” Adora whispered to Glimmer. “But she’s like…ten!”

A collective gasp came from the crowd as they heard Frosta’s age mentioned out loud by Adora.

“I’m eleven and three quarters,” said Frosta coldly. If she could, Frosta would have told her to shut the hell up.

“Revered hostess,” said Glimmer. “We come under the ancient rules of hospitality, bringing greetings from Bright Moon.”

“And She-Ra” added Adora.

“You are welcome under the rules of hospitality,” Frosta stated. “Leave conflict at the door. Enjoy the ball.”

Glimmer tried to remediate the situation and Adora started to say something about the Rebellion but Frosta had enough. The two princesses were moved along by Frosta’s guards down the steps.

Later on, during the party, Frosta went over by the snack bar, wanting to be left alone. She observed the light orange jelly and the fruit on the table. However, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, Adora walking over to her from her right.

Chatting with this disrespectful blonde stranger was the last thing on Frosta’s mind.

“Revered hostess,” said Adora with a bow. “I’ve come to apologize. I was so rude.”

“Yes, you were,” Frosta replied bluntly.

Then she turned back to Adora. “But you’re only an honorary princess. You can’t be expected to know better.”

Changing the subject, Adora looked around at the magnificent walls of ice and the vast architecture of the place.

“Your kingdom is beautiful. I’m honored to be here.”

“Thank you,” said Frosta, not looking at Adora.

Frosta sighed in annoyance, knowing why Adora had decided to speak with her. “And now I expect you’re gonna ask me to join your Rebellion?”

“You know about that?” asked Adora.

“Of course I do,” Frosta replied. “Princesses talk, you know.”

Just then, one of Frosta’s guards came over with a tray of food. He offered some to the princesses.

Frosta looked at the tray with disapproval. “The snow peas and the cookies are touching. Do it right.”

The guard left.

“Princess Frosta, the Rebellion needs you,” Adora pleaded. “Your kingdom is powerful. Your alliance could defeat the Horde.”

“The Horde hasn’t threatened us here,” stated Frosta. Despite several mishaps, the Horde had kept to themselves thanks to the Neutrality Treaty. Not even the Horde soldiers could get into the kingdom back when she lost her parents.

“Because the Kingdom of Snows is so out of the way,” Adora added. “Joining the Rebellion is your best bet.”

At this point, the ice princess was getting frustrated at the sight of a stranger telling her what her best choices were.

She had heard comments like that quite often in the castle, especially after the death of her parents.

“Are you sure you know what’s best for you?”

“You’re too little to run a kingdom! Do you even know what you are doing?”

“Maybe she’s too scared to associate herself with the outside world. Not doing what is best.”

The truth was, no one knew what was best for her…except herself. She certainly wasn’t going to let another person test her like that.

Frosta spoke. “The Kingdom of Snows has defended itself well for thousands of years. We do not need your help or your rebellion.”

She turned to Adora. “Please continue to enjoy the ball.” She left with her guards by her side.

Frosta was sitting back on her throne, doing her usual routine of meeting and greeting her guests. She was about to go into another state of boredom when she saw two guests that stood out from the crowd: Catra and Scorpia from the Horde. Catra was wearing a fancy maroon suit, while Scorpia was wearing an elegant black dress and red gem earrings.

“Revered hostess!” called Adora in concern.

‘Not this again,’ thought Frosta.

“They’re from the Horde!” Adora yelled, pointing at the two villains.

‘So what?’

“Hostess,” said Catra. “Princess Scorpia was invited per the rules of this ball. Rules which I personally have utmost respect for.”

“You do not!” shouted Adora to Catra.

“Princess Adora!” said Frosta sternly. “The rules state clearly that all princesses are welcome.”

“They’re up to something. I can feel it!”

“That’s enough!” Frosta reprimanded. “You look at me and see a child, but I have worked too hard to gain respect, only to throw away because you feel they’re up to something.”

It was quite clear that Adora had no evidence to back up her statement.

“The All-Princess Ball is neutral. I will not dishonor that legacy,” finished Frosta. “Scorpia is a princess. Princesses get plus ones. They. Stay.”

Adora grumbled in defeat and deviance.

After the guests left, pushing Adora and Glimmer below the stairs, Frosta grumbled, “Teenagers.”

The guests were all scattered around the ballroom now, eating food, and chatting with their friends. With no more people to greet and the time drawing near, Frosta stood up and announced, “It is my solemn duty as hostess to announce, it is time for the first dance of the ball.”

The crowd flooded toward the dance floor, laughing and pairing up in couples. Frosta watched and saw Adora and Catra dancing…and arguing at the same time. The dancing remained uninterrupted…until Adora suddenly pushed Catra into an ice structure, breaking it. The music stopped and the crowd gasped.

‘I knew Adora was trouble,’ thought Frosta.

Frosta stomped over and with a raise of her hands, entrapped Adora in a cage of ice.

Frosta glared at Adora. “The Princess Ball is a ceremony of unity. Violence is strictly forbidden.”

“You don’t understand…” started Adora.

“I understand perfectly,” spat Frosta. “In accordance with the rules set down over the centuries, I hereby revoke your invitation. You are to leave my kingdom and never, ever…”

A sudden loud explosion interrupted Frosta’s reprimand. Then a series of crystal bombs went off one after the other. Guests screamed and ran away in a panic. The food and plates crashed to the ground and crack appeared in the walls.

“Remain calm! Stop!” ordered Frosta to the crowd. Frosta knew what she had to do next. There was no time to stop the mysterious intruders. She had to keep her kingdom safe. She ran off, flanked by two of her guards.

Frista raced down the hall toward the secret passageway.

“Help get everyone out of here. If you see the intruders, freeze and restrain them.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the guards.

Frosta opened the ice covered door, which blended in well with the rest of the ice wall from a distance. Heart pounding, Frosta ran in the dark, searching for the beacon of light. Finally she found it: the Fractal Flake. She stopped, took a deep breath and raised both of her hands.

In several seconds, the falling debris that had threatened to fall on the guests froze in mid fall. Slowly, the castle started to amend itself. The roof closed back together, a light fixture flew back up into place and the large star structure outside the palace was fitting itself back together. Frosta strained herself and grunted with effort. If she was going to risk collapsing or even death protecting her kingdom, then that’s what she would do.

Once the palace was fully repaired, Frosta gasped for breath and fell to her knees on the cold ground.

How did all of this happen? Here was an event that only happened once a decade, which was supposed to be harmonious and secure. Seeing the two sides in harmony would have strengthened Frosta’s confidence of her rule.

Now, everything had fallen apart.

Frosta had lost her parents. She had lost her sense of security and safety.

And now…though she was reluctant to admit it, she had lost her trust in the Horde.

She wiped away some tears that had fallen down her face.

‘I have failed you, mother, father,’ she stuttered through her sobs. ‘I almost failed my kingdom. What am I supposed to do now?’

She clenched her fists and stood up. “I…I must go back outside. Tend to those who may be wounded. Reassure the public.” She remembered some advice from her father: “Professional in public, playful in private.”

Maybe…perhaps maybe…this Adora person was right after all.

But would joining the Rebellion really be her best bet? Even if it meant going against her centuries long tradition of neutrality? Her Neutrality Law was, in fact, nothing new. Her parents made a similar law, as did her grandparents and the ones before them. It was expected of a ruler to be partial and logical…never to fight unless the enemy invaded first.

Which of course, they had.

With one last surge of energy, Frosta stood up and raised her hands once more. This time, huge towers of ice rose up from the outside and encased the palace like a triangular shield. Now her kingdom was more isolated and insulated than ever.

She now felt safe…but never had she felt more alone.

She made her way out of the chamber and was met with one of her messengers, a young man named Frigid. “Your Majesty, no one appears to be hurt after the bombs went off. There were reports of two men in blue coats taking away Princess Adora’s comrades.”

Another messenger came over, this time a woman with dark hair, Glace.

“We think that Bow and Glimmer have been taken away by spies. They disguised themselves as our guard!”

“And the Horde must have set off the bombs. That scorpion princess was suspiciously nowhere to be seen…”

“Alright, I understand,” said Frosta holding up her hands.

She cleared her throat. “Strengthen the defenses. Search the castle for any other intruders. See to it that all weapons are observed and stored away.

“Yes Princess,” said Glace. The two messengers wandered off to their duties.

 Days and weeks passed. Frosta sat in with the council, going over document after document. She wore her usual blue coat, tan pants, and blue boots. She was about to sign a Treaty from the Horde when she felt a strange uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

It wasn’t from hunger nor was it cramps. It was the everlasting feeling of fear and dread. Even her hands had begun to shake of their own accord.

“Excuse me for a moment,” she said. Frosta walked fast out of the room, leaving the council members in confusion.

When Frosta felt the Fractal Flakes power diminish, she knew that something was not right.

It felt like another, much darker power was trying to corrupt it. Although it felt far away, she knew that the force could grow increasingly closer. It was a feeling of dread that she couldn’t seem to let go of.

Her fears were further confirmed when she saw a pale blue light shine up into the dark sky. She knew what it was: a distress beacon from BrightMoon!

Perhaps it was the time for her to do something different.

Perhaps it was the time for her to take action and go outside her comfort zone.

Making her way into her office, she came across the Neutrality Treaty that she had meticulously put together…and threw it out of a nearby open window.

The wind blew away the documents and Frosta felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Her previous life of rules and solitude had blown away.

If the Rebellion truly needed her help, than that is what she would have to do.

“Princess?” asked one of two guards, who were standing outside her door. “Are you alright?”

“Go back to your positions. Don’t let anyone know I’m gone. If I don’t come back…”

“You’re leaving?” asked one of the guards.

“To help save the Rebellion. I sense that something bad is happening.”

“But the Neutrality Treaty…”

“Is henceforth disregarded!” she declared. Frosta never believed that those words would ever leave her lips.

Her guards stood in frozen shock. They wondered if Frosta had lost her mind.

Which, due to the events, she most likely had.

“If I don’t make it, tell the people that I left this world with honor,” she finished, managing to make her face emotionless.

“Princess, wait!” the guards called with concern.

But Frosta jumped out the window and shot long sheets of ice from her hands as she fell.

The ice rose from the ground and created an icy path that Frosta slid down and across. She moved gracefully as if she were wearing ice skates instead of her blue boots.

Red lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the world in a blood red glow. The sight made Frosta’s hair stand on end.

‘No time to back away now. I must do what is right for my kingdom.’

She slipped over the Whispering Woods…or what was left of them. The majority of the ground was frozen below. As she came up to the palace of BrightMoon, she saw quite a sight.

Horde tanks were firing green blasts at the castle. One of the blasts fired by Catra made impact with the large stand that held the Moonstone upright. It stared to crack in half and threatened to fall, bringing the Moonstone to its doom under the lake. With a quick flick of her wrist, the stand holding the gem was encased in ice.

She proceeded to blast more Horde soldiers away with her powers.

Adora and the other princesses looked happy to see her.

Frosta flipped through the air and landed in front of She-Ra. “I hope I’m not too late,” she stated.

“No, you’re right on time,” said Adora.

For the first time in a long time, Frosta smiled. Then feeling impatient with Glimmer teleporting again and the group reuniting, she said, “Let’s do this already,” holding her staff in front of her.

Feeling a new energy within her, Frosta fought alongside the other princesses, forcing the Horde to retreat. She shot blasts of ice from a long staff she carried in her left hand.

Soon, the Moonstone brightened up the world, healed Glimmer and made things right again. When Frosta joined the other group of princesses who gave She-Ra extra power in rainbow waves, Frosta had never felt such happiness before. She glowed in a blue aura, with Perfuma and Glimmer on either side of her.

With victory for the Rebellion, Glimmer shook Frosta hard with glee, which she did not expect nor appreciate. Later, Frosta found herself cheering with Perfuma after the rainbow of power had been unleashed. “We did it!” both of them cheered. “We defeated them together! Isn’t this wonderful?” She happily hugged Perfuma and she hugged her back.

‘So this is what friendship is like,’ Frosta thought. For the first time in a while, Frosta truly felt like a kid again.

‘Mother and Father would be proud of me. If only they could see me now!’

As Frosta said her goodbyes and skated back to her kingdom, she did not know what the future would hold for her. In the back of her mind, she knew that the Horde was still out there. They would stop at nothing to conquer the land of Etheria along with the whole world. Now, she realized that her kingdom would be included on their list.

Her visit back was met with celebration and some apprehension. There were still people who could not accept a mere child ruling their kingdom but they were few and far between. The castle was now fully cleaned, repaired, and routines were set back in order. It was the same as it usually was.

Only this time, Frosta made plans to interact and travel with the Princess Alliance and help out in any way possible. Even though at times, she still had high expectations of other people.

No matter what the future would bring, Frosta would meet it head on like an unyielding glacier. To herself, she had the audacity to thank the Horde for what they had done. For without their involvement, Frosta would not have grown stronger and more resilient. Their attack at the Princess Prom made her want to defeat them more than ever before. It was a peculiar surge of adrenaline that she formerly, was not allowed to feel.

Being with her friends was…freeing. Weird, no doubt, but also freeing.

Frosta smiled as she hugged Perfuma.

“Yeah! We did things together! Isn’t this wonderful?”

 Deep down inside herself, Frosta knew she had made the right decision. She would not just honor tradition…she would expand upon it, alter it to better her kingdom for the good of her people. It was a daunting task for such a young girl who was so used to routine…but then again, she was one not to be underestimated.

One thing was certain…her memories of her new friends would stay frozen in her mind for a long time.

  Season 2

 Time had passed since the Rebellion had been victorious at the battle for Bright Moon. Frosta had grown more light-hearted and friendly with the other princesses. She was more than happy to accompany them on their journey. She liked to imagine herself in large ice armor smashing through the Horde's robots and creating ice weapons from her hands. After being secluded in her ice palace and having to learn her responsibilities for four years as a ruler, she felt a new thrill of freedom with the others. She felt like she had made friends at last. In contrast to her previous cold and distant attitude, she has been shown to be reckless and wants to prove her strength in order to impress the others. She had learned how to be professional back at the castle, but around the other princesses, a different side of her appears...one that is enthusiastic, though socially awkward. Due to her traumatic situation at a young age, and being the youngest princess, she did not have a normal childhood. However, Adora and the others show her that it's never too late to make friends and step out of one's comfort zone once in a while.

   Frosta smiled as she pounded her ice covered fists against one of the Horde bots that had been swarming the frozen forest. Frosta knocked one robot aside and gasped as another one flew at her.

“Got it,” said Mermista, stopping the robot with a wave of water and tossing it to the side. Bow lodged an arrow in the robot, causing it to explode.

Perfuma arrived on the scene, vines trailing in her wake. “Sorry, Frosta,” she said, feeling bad that she had accidentally flung the robots high into the air before.

“Wow, flower princesses can’t aim,” said Mermista with a playful grin.

“I-I’m working on it!” Perfuma stuttered.

 “Look out!” cried Frosta as another robot appeared.

“Got it!” called Glimmer. The pink and purple haired girl teleported herself and the bot up into the pink sky. She kicked the robot down to the ground, where it exploded in a stream of smoke.

“Thanks for dropping in,” said Glimmer with a grin.

Frosta appeared by Glimmer’s right side and let lot a loud laugh.

“Dropping in, because you dropped him from the sky. Good one.”

Frosta slapped Glimmer playfully on the back, resulting in a glare from her. She rubbed her arm in pain, since Frosta’s ice hands had hurt. Glimmer wondered off in search of another bot, Frosta eager to follow.

 Glimmer noticed another wondering bot and summoned a thin purple staff from purple light in her left hand.

“How’d you do that?”

Glimmer noticed Frosta and shouted in surprise.

Frosta showered her with questions. “Can you teleport anything you want? Like a cannon? I can make ice cannonballs.”

“What? No. Just the staff. It was my dad’s…Ugh. Actually, I was sort of in the middle of something here. Do you mind?”

A purple beam emerged from Glimmer’s staff but with a shout, Frosta had impaled the bot with a large ice spike.

“It’s more effective if you hit their core processing unit,” Frosta explained.

“Ugh. I know,” said a frustrated Glimmer. “I was about to…”

“Hey. There’s another one. Let’s get it,” interrupted Frosta. Glimmer groaned as Frosta hurried off.

Eventually, all the bots had been defeated.

Adora, Bow, and Glimmer walked down the hall at Bright Moon castle, Glimmer’s home. The other princesses had also arrived to the Rebellion’s base and were waiting inside the council room with Queen Angelina.

 “You should have seen it,” Glimmer exclaimed. “With the Moonstone super-charged, I’ve been so much more powerful. I took out, like, at least five bots,” she bragged.

Bow rolled his eyes from behind her. “Just like the day before, and the day before that.”

Glimmer turned around and looked at him. “So? What are we supposed to do? Not fight? We have to protect the woods. The Horde is going to keep taking ground until it regrows.”

“I know,” said Bow. “But how long can we keep this up?” He faced Adora.

“Did you learn anything from Light Hope?”

“Uh…” Adora smiled nervously and pointed at her sword in her other hand. “Getting way better at transforming my sword. Look.”

The sword morphed into a golden water pitcher.

“A pitcher,” said Bow with a nervous chuckle as Adora gave a small thumbs up. “That’s so useful.”

“We can picnic once the woods regrow,” said Glimmer.

“We should turn it into a dagger,” said Frosta eagerly from behind her. Glimmer screamed.

Frosta continued.  “See me take out that bot with daggers?”

“Where did you come from?” asked Glimmer.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” she stated.

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Frosta. “Well, we have to go. We have an important meeting.”

“The war council?” Frosta asked. “I’m heading there, too.” She winked and whispered, “Better, hurry, you’re gonna be late.” She hurried down the hall, went into the room and took her seat.

Glimmer’s eyebrow twitched as Bow said playfully, “Do we have a new addition to the Best Friend Squad?”

“Shut up,” she replied with a sigh.

  The council meeting was about to go underway.

Perfuma went up to Mermista. “Sorry, heh, I think that’s my chair.”

“Yeah, don’t you find it helpful to shift perspectives, sometimes?” Mermista asked, clearly not giving up her seat.

Perfuma’s eye twitched and she hummed, sitting down on her knees with her hands together, trying to calm herself. Glimmer, Bow, and Adora entered through the doors.

“Aunt Casta! You made it,” said Glimmer.

The woman beside Angelina smiled, her hair in black braids. “I wouldn’t miss it, dearest. The first war room of the new alliance. How exciting.”

Angelina glanced at her sister. “Shame you couldn’t be there where the alliance was formed.”

“I knew you’d bring that up…”

“We have a great deal to discuss,” said Angelina cutting Castaspella off. “Please take your seats.”

Frosta took her spot next to Glimmer and smiled. Glimmer grunted in response.

 Frosta listened as Swift Wind and Glimmer reported on territories taken by the Rebellion or the Horde. Bow came up with a plan to capture one of the Horde bots for the possibility of using it against them. After a while, the queen rose from her chair. “Glimmer, take your patrol out and capture a bot for Bow to study and carry out his plan,” ordered Angelina.

Frosta stood in front of Glimmer, making her flinch. “Commander, I have ideas to improve. First we should all have code names. I’d like to be Frostbite. And you can be Sparklebomb. Second…”

Glimmer cut her off. “Oh uh, Frosta. I need you to stay back and help Spinnerella and Netossa guard the castle. Great, thanks.”

She vanished before Frosta could get any words out.

With the council dismissed and the mission in place, Frosta decided that she was going to help Glimmer and the others. There was no way she’d stay back and miss all the good fighting. As quietly as she could, Frosta followed the other princesses out the door and toward the frozen forest.

 “Okay,” said Glimmer, pacing back and forth as the others stood in a line. “We’ll split up to cover the most ground. “Adora, Bow and I will go east. Mermista and Perfuma, you go west. Swift Wind, cover the sky and tell s when there’s a bot nearby.”

“And remember, we want an intact bot,” Bow added.

“What if it’s just like, a little waterlogged?” asked Mermista.

Perfuma chimed in, “And also covered in ferns that secrete corrosive poison?”

Frosta jumped out from behind the white Pegasus. “Or what if it’s totally smashed by my ice hammer?” She formed an ice hammer from her hand.

“Frosta!” gasped Glimmer. She sighed and walked fast toward her.

“You’re supposed to be defending the castle with Netossa and Spinnerella.”

Frosta crossed her arms, already tired of being told what to do.

“I know I ignored orders, but, no offence, those orders were wrong. You need me here.”

Glimmer put her hand son her hips. “You can’t just go running off whenever.”

“But I did,” said Frosta. “And I’m here now. And I’m not going back.”

“Fine. You can be in Mermista and Perfuma’s patrol.”

“I’m going with you.”

Glimmer leaned in, angrily. “Don’t push your luck.” She stomped off, Frosta glaring behind her.

 Frosta wondered off with Mermista and Perfuma and, using her soft padded boots, snuck out of sight. She soon noticed Adora, Bow, and Glimmer fighting off a larger robot that looked more advanced than the previous ones.

It wasn’t long before the group was surrounded by four of the new robots. Now was her chance.

Frosta jumped with her ice fists ready and landed on top of one of the robots.

She hit the top part of the robot that held the purple lit camera.

“Frosta!” yelled Glimmer. “Do you even listen when people tell you things?”

“What?” asked Frosta, still attacking the bot.

Glimmer waved her staff. “Get away from that bot!”

“It’s the bot you should be worried about!” Frosta replied. A metal claw picked up Frosta by her jacket and flung her over a cliff.

“Frosta!” Glimmer cried as the ice princess screamed and fell. Teleporting, Glimmer grabbed hold of Frosta in midair and teleported them to another area before they both hit the ground hard.

“There you are. We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” said Perfuma, arriving on a vine.

“Yeah. Everywhere,” Mermista deadpanned.

Frosta stood up and rubbed her nose, while Glimmer rubbed her head.

“That was incredibly stupid!” Glimmer scolded. “You could’ve gotten hurt, or gotten one of us hurt!”

“I was just trying to help,” said Frosta.

“This is serious, not a game,” said Glimmer. “You need to stop getting in our way.”

Frosta stared at Glimmer, stunned. Tears fell from her eyes as she ran off.

“Frosta, wait,” pleaded Glimmer, but she had already left. Frosta climbed up a rock overlooking the land and sat down. So apparently, her friends thought of her as nothing more than a burden. She had wanted to make friends and not feel as lonely as she had for countless years.

Frosta could hear Glimmer’s feet from behind her. Frosta turned her head. “Come to yell at me more? I just wanted to be your friend.”

“By ignoring us and throwing yourself into danger?” Glimmer asked.

“Sorry, I don’t know how to act.” The next words she said were painful for her to hear. “I’ve never had any friends before.” She turned away, head in her arms.

Glimmer teleported next to her and sat down. Frosta looked up at Glimmer, with a sad look on her face.

“I was eight when I took over the throne. Kind of hard to make friends when everyone is your sworn subject.”

“I know how you feel,” said Glimmer, empathetically. “I didn’t have any friends before Bow and Adora.”

“You?” Frosta asked, surprised. “Figured everyone would wanna be your friend.”

Glimmer chuckled half-heartedly. “Yeah, definitely not everyone.”

Then glimmer added, “And I’m still learning how to be a good friend, too.”

They both went silent for a moment, staring at the ground. Gathering her courage Glimmer turned back to Frosta. “I’m sorry I yelled. It’s just…I guess you remind me of…me.”

Frosta was not expecting to hear that. Being more of an introvert and not having the same carefree personality as Glimmer, comparing herself to the Brightmoon princess would be the last thing she would consider.

Glimmer continued, “And I can do really dangerous stuff sometimes.”

“I remind you of you?” asked Frosta, her eyes big and shining.

Glimmer nodded. Then disgust crept into her voice. “Ugh. And I even sounded like my mom when I yelled at you. Please don’t make me to that again.”

“Deal,” said Frosta with a small smile. Frosta held out her hand. Glimmer was about to shake it, but Frosta briefly held it back. “Does that mean we’re friends?”

“Yes,” Glimmer answered. “And we…I could really use your help.”

Relief filled Frosta and she stood up. “You want me to come back? I knew we’d make a great team. So should I do ice hammers or daggers? Your right, one of each.” An ice hammer formed in her left hand and an ice spike from her right.

Glimmer laughed nervously and rolled her eyes, deciding to go along with it. The two of them climbed down and hurried after the others.

 Frosta noticed the robots crawling toward the crystal tower and shot some ice underneath their metal legs, causing them to skid.

“Ice of you to drop in,” she said with a laugh.

Glimmer teleported her to safety to avoid an incoming laser. Both girls barreled into the bot and Frsota banged a large dent in it with her ice fist. “Showed you, bot face.”

 Catra charged at the last remaining robot, landing a punch, which sent it back. Glimmer blasted it back with her magic.

“You ready, ice princess?” asked Mermista.

“Yeah,” Frosta replied.

Mermista shot water at the bot, pushing it back against a cliff.

Yes!” Frosta said as she froze the water.

Perfuma held the bot in place with vines.

Bow held a piece of tech in victory and the princesses cheered.

The princesses watched in amazement as auras outlined their bodies and the forest magically grew back to normal. Frosta’s aura was dark blue.

“Whoa. Did we do that?” asked Frosta, looking around.

The answer was a clear yes.

Frosta laughed and hugged Glimmer.

 Later, the girls were back at Bright Moon castle. Frosta relaxed as Glimmer brushed her short blue hair.

“So, we’re okay now the woods are growing back, right?” Frosta asked.

“Light Hope says there’s still a lot to fix, but at least it won’t be as easy for the Horde to attack us.”

Frosta looked at Glimmer. “Thanks again for saving me, you know, after that bot threw me off the cliff.”

“Friends stick together. No princess left behind,” replied Glimmer. Adora held Frsota’s hand and the three of them laughed.

 During another day, Frosta and Mermista met with the others during a battle plan.

“Mermista said you were playing. We wanna join,” said Frosta.

“Ugh. We’re in the middle of a very serious planning session,” sighed Adora.

“We have lots of ideas for plans,” Perfuma added.

“Aren’t you on watch right now?” Glimmer asked.

Adroa groaned. “But only if you’re serious…”

“I’m sitting next to Glimmer!” Frosta said joyfully as she sat down.

“I have ideas,” Frosta said. “Staring with we punch them!”

One by one, all the members fantasized battle plans, each with their unique twists. In Bow’s fantasy, Catra turned into a purple mountain lion.

“Wait, she can do that?” Frosta asked.

“No,” said Bow. “But I ran out of figures and only have this left, so she can now.”

Perfuma then began talking about using a plant golem to take down the tower.

Then Mermista fantasized about having She-Ra’s powers, holding a trident and calling herself “Sea-Ra.”

 Frosta interrupted Perfuma. “The Winter’s Bane needs no help from a plant.”

Frosta imagined herself in full body ice armor similar to a transformer. The enemies were frozen in her ice. Frosta spoke in a dramatic voice.

“My enemies know me as Frostbite Winter’s Bane. My friends call me Bane. That is, if I had any. But no one comes close to the Winter’s Bane! She’s got a board sword that enhances strength plus three. Her finishing move is the Snow Strike.”

She pointed to a sketch of her character.

“What’s that pink blob?” asked Mermista.

“Her sidekick, Glimmer.”

The group continued talking, with Frosta adding her own ideas. “Frostbite uses Snowstrike to encase the tower in ice, then crack it, kapow!”

 “Frostbite smashes the wall!” Frosta exclaims.

“The ice armor cracks as you hit stone,” Adora says.

 The group then began talking about Catra.

Frosta disagreed with Perfuma and said, “No, no, no, she’s more like ‘I love ruining parties.’”  She imagined a drunk Catra holding a glass of wine, with sunglasses.

Adora soon began worrying that the Horde would defeat them and was about to give up. Her friends gave her words of encouragement.

“The Winter’s Bane stands with you. Also, me, Frosta stands with you. I can’t tell if we’re still in character.”

  The princesses soon launched their improvised attack on the tower, Perfuma staring with her plant golem. Frosta encased the cannons in ice.

“Yay, Frosta!” cheered Perfuma.

Frosta’s arms, hands, and chest were covered in ice armor. “This is colder than I thought, but not a problem.”

She charged through the line of Horde robots, knocking them over the wall with her ice fists. “Snow Strike!” She knocked two robots down and then a third.

“Huh?”

One of her hands was free from the ice, but water splashed on it, making ice appear again.

“Thanks, Mermista!” Frosta called.

“You mean Sea-Ra, Princess of the Oceans!” She conjured up a wave that splashed throughout the tower.

Adora, Mermista, Perfuma and Frosta yelled their battle cries.

“Charge!”

“I am Sea-Ra!”

“Plant magic!”

“The Winter’s Bane!”

The princesses were soon glowing and knocked off Scorpia and the other Horde soldiers. The Rebellion swiped down the red Horde flag and cheered.

  Season 3

Perfuma, Mermista, and Queen Angella analyzed the holographic map on the round table in front of them. Over toward the back of the chamber, Frosta stood by a map, sticking another smaller map into place with an icicle. Netossa and Spinerella watched intently. They were all trying to come up with another way to defeat the Horde.

 Mermista gasped and fell backwards out of her chair, when an exhausted Glimmer and Bow appeared with Huntara.

“You’re already here. Perfect,” said Glimmer nervously.

Mermista picked herself up. “Yeah, where have you been?”

She glanced over at the lavender skinned warrior. “Is this some new She-Ra form?”

“No. This is Huntara,” Glimmer explained. “She’s the leader of the Crimson Waste. Or was.”

Huntara observed the map with fascination and swiped at the image with her hand, a child-like expression on her face. Swift Wind arrived and pushed her out of the way.

Glimmer continued. “Uh, we don’t have time to get into it. We need to get to the Fright Zone.”

“The world doesn’t stop just because you aren’t here,” Angella warned. “We have been planning our attack on the Horde.”

“That’s a relief,” added Bow. “Because Catra kidnapped Adora.”

Everyone gasped, including Frosta, Netossa, and Spinerella, who turned around.  

“The Horde has Adora?” Angella asked.

“Which also means they can open a portal because they have her sword,” Glimmer explained.

“What? I don’t understand…”

“There’s no time.”

“Glimmer, slow down…”

“We need to get to the Fright Zone now,” Glimmer spoke in urgency.

“We?” asked Angella. “You are not going anywhere until you explain.” She stood up and unfurled her white transparent wings. “Glimmer, outside. Now.”

Frosta continued observing her maps, as Glimmer and Angella walked outside, the doors closing behind them.

 When their conversation was over, Frosta and the others rushed from their hiding spot behind the doors. Several of the princesses whistled innocently, like they had not been eavesdropping.

 Later on that night, Perfuma, Frosta and Mermista used their powers to hoist themselves onto the raised platform. Perfuma got up using vines, Mermista via a rising wave of water, and Frosta, via ice.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mermista asked.

Glimmer summoned her staff into her hand. “Don’t try to stop us. This is the only way to save Adora.”

“We’re not trying to stop you. We wanna come with you,” Perfuma said.

Mermista smirked. “We could do the whole “you can’t come with us, it’s too risky” thing…”

Frosta stepped up. “Or you could just accept that we are coming. Because we are.”

Shadow Weaver spoke from behind. “A larger group will be a disadvantage. I won’t…”

Mermista interrupted her, pointing at her. “We’re calling the shots. You’re gonna have to make that thing bigger, weird, scary lady.”

Reluctantly, Shadow Weaver complied.

“Quickly now,” she urged.

She spread out tendrils of dark purple magic from her hands and down below, the complex circle of symbols and shapes lit up.  Shadow Weaver made another symbol in the air, identical to the symbol on the ground. She extended her hand through the small hole, beckoning Glimmer to take it.

After a brief hesitation and a deep breath, Glimmer’s hand grasped hers.

The moment their hands touched, dark purple power swirled around the area, the energies of the Black Garnet and the Moonstone converging. It wasn’t long before all the group members were transported into the heart of the Fright Zone.

 “We did it. I did it. Oh that was amazing,” Glimmer exclaimed, jumping for joy.

“Hmm,” said Bow in thought. “Kind of figured Hordak’s sanctum would be way scarier and not so empty.”

“Yeah no,” Mermista added. “Decorating is not their strongest suit.”

“We aimed for Hordak’s sanctum, but obviously, we missed,” said Shadow Weaver. “We’re not far. Stay behind me. And try to be quiet.”

The door opened to reveal a blue skinner reptile humanoid, holding a blue cup in his hands. All the princesses and Bow turned around. The Horde cadet dropped his cup in shock, spilling the rocky and sloppy contents on the ground.

“We have to go,” called Shadow Weaver, pushing a button and opening a metal door.

“I’ll hold her off,” said Perfuma, before Mermista, Bow, Glimmer, and Frosta hurried after the sorceress.

As the group ran, the door ahead opened up, revealing Lonnie and Rogelio. Glimmer stood, conjuring balls of glittery light in her hands. Frsota already had formed ice fists around her hands.

Lonnie pulled a lever, sounding the alarm before pulling out a stun weapon. Rogelio roared and charged.

Mermista walked forward, pulling water from beneath a sewer grate to the right. “My turn. I didn’t almost drown in these sewers for nothing.”

Frosta strode forward. “I want in.”

She waved her hand and Mermista’s water turned into shards of ice. Mermista fired them at Rogelio and Lonnie, catching their hands and legs in ice.

“We’ll keep them busy. Go,” Mermista called. Mermista and Frosta stayed behind to fight off incoming soldiers while Glimmer, Bow, and shadow Weaver disappeared down another corridor.

  She-Ra walked through the portal. In one strike of her sword, she broke it and the machine collapsed.

“Adora!” shouted Glimmer and Bow, both running over and embracing her in a hug. All of their eyes shone with tears.

“See? We told you, you could do it,” mentioned Glimmer.

“Who hoo!” Frosta cheered. “Yes, we did it. We did it.”

Frosta ran over and hugged Adora as Perfuma and Mermista also joined in.

“Touching as this is, we need to go,” Shadow Weaver cut in. “Now.”

She held out her hand. Glimmer stepped forward and took it. The others let go of Adora and took their positions. The black power swirled around them, transporting them back to the raised platform where the Moonstone resided.

Everyone laughed and shouted with joy; Perfuma even hugging a stiff unamused Shadow Weaver.

“We did it,” said Bow, lifting Glimmer up and carrying her around.

“Did we do it?”

“We did it,” Glimmer assured. “I’m probably going to be grounded for the rest of my life, but reality is back to normal.” Bow gently put Glimmer down.

“Speaking of which, I guess I should go find my mom. Maybe she’ll be so happy to see me that she’ll forget about grounding me.”

Adora slowly walked over to Glimmer, head lowered, and silent.

“Adora, what is it?” Glimmer asked in confusion.

Adora transformed out of her She-Ra form and embraced her in a somber hug. Glimmer knew then what she was telling her.

Adora started to cry. “Angella, she…she stayed behind. She…she saved us.”

Tears pooled in Glimmer’s eyes. Frosta and the others gathered around, comforting Glimmer and Adora.

  Season 4

Glimmer, Adora, and Bow followed Castaspella down the hall. Castaspella explained the process of Glimmer’s coronation.

“So the ceremony begins with the Ritual Quest, followed by your first speech as queen. And most importantly, the whole thing ends with a Grand Ball!”

Adora gasped. “Oh, there’s a quest! We’re great at quests.”

Castaspella continued, “The Quest of Queens, in which Glimmer will forge her connection to the Moonstone. The Moonstone’s power has been balanced between you and your mother since you’ve been born, but now, with her…her absent…”

“So, about that quest!” Bow cut in. “We’re great at quests, right?”

Castaspella cast a spell, a blue circle design in the air, which a scroll appeared. She tossed it over to Bow.

“Yes, it’s in the scrolls. Secret ritual, witnesses, light, etcetera, etcetera. Oh, and you’ll need this.”

She threw an elegant lantern into Bow’s arms, the interior glowing with a white flower against light blue.

A shirtless man with wild white hair arrived with a large bouquet of red and pink roses, nettled in green.

“Are those the flower arrangements?” Castaspella asked in amazement. “Glimmer, what do you think?”

Glimmer mumbled awkwardly raising an eyebrow. “Oh uh, they’re, uh, fine?”

“You’re right, they’re awful!” said Castaspella. She turned to the man. “Burn them at once. Also, you’re fired.”

The man sobbed into the bouquet and ran off.

“Aunt Casta, you…” Glimmer began.

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” said Castaspella, touching Glimmer’s nose. “In addition to being a powerful sorceress, I am also a legendary party-planner. This will be a coronation for the ages! Glimmer, take us to the terrace!”

Glimmer merely sighed and walked on.

“Oh, we’re…we’re walking, are we? Great. We can use the exercise.”

  Glimmer, Bow, and Adora stood outside in the castle grounds, Frosta across from them. Frosta had made something for Glimmer’s coronation as the new queen of Bright Moon.

“What do you think?” Frosta asked Glimmer. She presented a grotesque ice sculpture of Glimmer and Frosta with strong muscles, looking angry.

“I wanted to do something special for you,” she explained.

Glimmer lowered her head. “This is going to be awful.”

But oblivious Frosta wasn’t paying attention. “Awful inspiring, right? I can make more!”

Glimmer held up her hands and gently placed hers on Frosta’s. “I appreciate the idea. But I need someone for a very important job to, uh, greet the guests.”

Frosta jumped into the air in excitement. “Oh! You need a bouncer?”

Frosta smashed her newly created ice fists together.

“I’m on it! Bouncer!”

She happily ran off.

“Wait, I didn’t say bouncer,” Glimmer began, but the ice princess had left.

“Glimmer!” called her aunt. “I need your opinion on color schemes.”

“Uh…blue?”

There was an awkward silence.

“What about purple?”

“Excellent choice,” said her aunt. “Isn’t this fun? Soon you will have to make many decisions just like your mother…”

Adora and Bow rapidly shook their heads.

“That is, uh…chop, chop, everyone! Adora, move the ice sculpture to the side!”

Adora walked off, grunting with moving the heavy blocks of ice.

“We still need flower arrangements!” called Castaspella. “Where’s that florist?”

“You fired him,” said Glimmer.

“Oh, right. Perhaps you’d like to do the flowers, Glimmer?”

Glimmer looked toward Mermista, who let out a long drawn out yawn.

“You know, I bet Mermista would love to do the flowers! Right Mermista?”

Mermista spoke with sarcasm. “Wow, how did you know? Flower arranging is my passion.”

“Ah, wonderful!” said Castaspella. “Now let’s talk stem length.”

Perfuma cried out loud, “What? No! Why?” Her giant dark pink flowers wilted as she sank to her knees, upset of her position being taken.

Swift Wind turned to Glimmer. “Is now a good time to talk about my song for the coronation? I will require a stage and oats for the backup horses.”

Frosta created a thick wall of ice between them and the horse flew off.

“Stop bothering Glimmer! Bouncer!”

“Hey!” said Adora, sliding over. “I think it’s all really coming together, don’t you?”

Adora led her over to Bow.

“Yep, it’s gonna be perfect! What else do we need to do, Bow?”

Bow held a long scroll on his hands.

“Still don’t know what the lantern is for! This is so official and confusing. It says Glimmer needs to wear some ceremonial robe. I don’t know where to get all that!”

“Maybe if we all looked together…” Glimmer suggested before Adora cut in.

“Don’t worry! We’ll find it!”

“But…”

Castaspella interrupted. “Glimmer, you’re needed in the Dining Room to choose the napkin folding technique! I’m thinking swans. What do you think?”

“Uh…”

“You’re right, it’s a terrible idea. I should just fire myself.”

“Aunt Casta, no…”

A gush of water then soaked both of them.

Glimmer pulled a starfish off of her and Castaspella threw away a vine of seaweed.

“Mermista! Vases!” Castaspella yelled.

Mermista stood in a large puddle of water and seaweed. “Don’t stifle my creativity!”

“Ugh. Please.”

“It’s okay. We will handle everything,” said Adora, transforming her sword into a mop. “You go have fun!”

Bow scooted away.

Glimmer sighed. “Fun. Right.”

  After Adora arrived from inside the castle later on, Frosta walked over to her.

“Adora, I’ve been freezing anyone trying to sneak in, but I’m running out of space to put them.”

She mentioned to Sea Hawk frozen in mid-run.

“Unfreeze him right now!” Adora demanded.

Frosta nodded and ran off.

Perfuma snuck over to where Mermista was busy putting things together.

“Mermista, um. Flowers are sort of my thing.”

Mermista had put coral, starfish, shells, and seaweed onto a large rock.

“Uh, it’s art and it’s what Glimmer wants. New queen, new era.”

Frosta then noticed Perfuma and Mermista fighting over Mermista’s sculpture and pushed the two girls apart by their faces.

“Stop fighting! You’re ruining Glimmer’s big day! Bouncer!”

Bow walked over. “Okay, has anyone seen a sacred lantern?”

“Yeah, there,” said Mermista, pointing to Swift Wind, Adora’s self-centered and valiant steed. The horse had the lantern hanging from his horn.

Bow sighed and walked over.

“Oh!” said Adora. “We’ve been looking all over for it! Thanks, Swifty.”

Swift Wind held it out of arms reach, attached to his horn.

“And I’ll present it to Queen Glimmer. Then she’ll be all, “Swift Wind, why don’t you sing the coronation song you made up?”

Swift Wind then sang obnoxiously. “Queen Glimmer, it’s your day. We’re all excited for you.” Bow and Adora wrestled with the winged stallion. Frosta went to check on Sea Hawk, and he was still frozen.

Mermista and Perfuma stood close to Glimmer.

“Glimmer, can you please tell Perfuma to stop questioning your wise judgement?”

“What? I’m not…”

Frosta interrupted Glimmer, grabbing hold of her face.

“Where do you keep the blankets? Sea Hawk is whining about being frozen.”

“Why did…”

Glimmer,” said her aunt, cutting in. “The quest is due to begin. Where’s the latern?”

“I have it!” called Swift Wind. “And now, my song!”

Perfuma argued with Mermista. “Everyone knows Glimmer would be happier with me on flowers!”

“Glimmer disagrees,” Mermista deadpanned.

“Glimmer, your guests are waiting,” Castaspella reminded her.

As Perfuma and Mermista argued, Frosta yelled, “Everyone, stop bothering Glimmer! She has a ton on her plate.”

Swift Wind belted out more off-key words, “Till the end, until I die, of course.”

 The commotions, the noise, the pressure, the loss of her beloved mother…

 It was all too much for Glimmer.

 “Everyone, just stop!”

Glimmer’s yell was so loud, that the ice Glimmer head broke off and rolled to her feet. Everyone gasped.

Castaspella put a comforting hand on her niece’s shoulder. “Glimmer, we will fix all of this.”

Glimmer walked over to Bow and held out her hands. Bow handed her the lantern.

“Let’s just get this over with,” said Glimmer, before walking away.

 Glimmer made her way over to her room and sat sadly on a round lavender cushion. She stared at her hands, and watched a few sparkles appear around her hands. Glimmer remembered how she recently looked at the shimmering MoonStone high above on the golden stand. Her body has glowed and sparkled pink, like the stone was calling to her.

But to take all the power for herself, and her mother not being here…

Glimmer had been fine with the shared power she possessed for all her life. The sudden changes were hard, shocking…heartbreaking. For Glimmer, receiving her mother’s power felt overwhelming. Could she be prepared to be Queen of Bright

Moon, even with Angella not around to guide her?

 Her thoughts were interrupted when Bow, Adora, and Castaspella entered the room.

“Well, it took some searching, but we finally found the Royal Coronation Robe!” said Bow.

 Adora held a white sheet in her hands. She walked over and draped it over Glimmer. Glimmer glared at the heavy thing on her.

“Wow, Glimmer…” she began. “You look…um…”

Adora held a thumbs up, staring at the way too big robe.

Glimmer gave a nervous smile, then looked downcast.

Concerned Castaspella made her way to her niece.

“Oh, my little Glimmer. I’m so proud of you.”

She tenderly touched her cheek.

“I know you’re going to make such a wonderful queen.”

In an attempt to cheer her up, Castaspella continued, “Almost time for your quest! Give me a tick and this robe will fit like a dream!”

“Of course,” sighed Glimmer, sitting down on the cushion. “The quest we still don’t know anything about. But it’ll be fine. Castaspella will fix the robe, Bow has the lantern, and I’ll have you guys by my side the whole way.”

   Later on, a nervous, sad, but determined Glimmer walked between the woodland man creatures, across the white bridge and over to Bow, Adora, and her aunt. A banner with a golden symbol of the MoonStone stood proudly over to the left. Her ceremonial robe now fit her perfectly. It was white with a golden symbol of a crescent moon pointed upwards on the back. The waterfall curtain behind them fell with barely any noise; the water reflecting sunset colors of light orange, pink, and blue from the top to the bottom.

 Glimmer held the lantern in both shaking hands. She walked over with determination and then turned to face the crowd.

Castaspella opened up her scroll and read aloud.

“We are gathered here today to witness the crowning of Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon as she completes the Quest of Queens and begins her reign as our new leader. She will be accompanied by two witnesses, Master Archer Bow, and Adora, She-Ra, princess of Power.”

Mermista closed her eyes and opened the curtain of water with her powers. Perfuma, Sea Hawk, and Frosta stood with her to watch in their fancy Princess Prom gowns.

Castaspella continued. “Let the light guide you and go forth in peace and safety to emerge as Queen of Bright Moon.”

Glimmer, Bow, and Adora stepped in, and the watery curtain closed behind them.

   Later on, the sky had turned dark. When Glimmer emerged from the Chamber of Queens, triumphant in her quest, the hall was all set up for the party. Frosta had made two new ice statues of Glimmer and Queen Angella holding hands. Perfuma had created vines of green with flowers in them that hung from the top of blue and purple banners on either side. Glimmer cried tears of joy.

“This place looks amazing!” Glimmer exclaimed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Perfuma, Mermista, and Frosta arrived in the same gowns they wore to the previous Princess Prom.

“We wanted it to be perfect for you,” said Frosta.

“So we worked together to finish,” added Perfuma.

“That was my idea,” said Mermista.

“Glimmer,” said Castaspella. “It’s time.”

She mentioned to the golden throne high up. Smiling, Glimmer walked up the floating golden round steps and up to the throne.

She took a deep breath, having planned what her speech would be.

“I am here today because Queen Angella, my mother, sacrificed herself to save Etheria. We can’t let her bravery be in vain. But there’s so much we still need to do. Hordak is still in power, and we know there’s an even larger Horde army out there somewhere. We can’t let them win. It’s time for us to take back our home. Together, we will push out the Horde, once and for all!”

The crowd cheered and stood up in an ovation, fists and hands in the air. Frosta and Perfuma hugged each other as they cheered. “Yeah!” cheered Bow and he and She-Ra hugged.

 Glimmer smiled at the ice statue of Angella, the ice face smiling and eyes closed…at peace. Seeing her sweet angelic face, Glimmer knew her mother would be proud.

One stormy night, Frosta sat with the other princesses in one of the chambers of Bright Moon castle. She had a bored look on her face, arms crossed, next to Perfuma who stared off into space. Other sin the room included Mermista, Sea Hawk, Perfuma, Flutterina, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. Glimmer stood facing the fire in the fireplace. Mermista sat on the couch next to Sea Hawk who was lying down, tired.

Glimmer turned around. “I called you all here to discuss what happened today. The mission to retake Dryl was a complete disaster. We barely made it out. I wanna know why.”

Bow spoke up. “The Horde knew we were coming. They were ready. How do they keep doing this? We thought they were tracking Adora, but she wasn’t even there today.”

Mermista then slammed her hands down on the table. “Isn’t it obvious? There’s a Horde spy somewhere in Bright Moon.”

Outside, the sky lit up white as thunder rumbled.

“And no one is going anywhere until we figure out who it is.”

Thunder crashed again.

Mermista,” said Glimmer, “It’s very unlikely that there’s a spy…”

“We need to investigate,” Mermista cut in, pacing back and forth. “I’ll be the lead detective since I’ve read every single Mer-Mystery book.”

“Mer-what?” asked Adora.

Mermista moved over behind the couch dramatically. “Mer-Mystery. It’s only the best undersea mystery novel series ever. There’s 18 of them. It taught me everything about solving mysteries.”

She leaned in, and said louder, “Murder mysteries.” Sea Hawk fell down on the couch in shock.

Perfuma raised her hand. “Um, but no one’s been murdered.”

“Yet!” added Mermista, moving between Frosta and Perfuma, making Perfuma flinch. “First, we need to question the suspects.”

“Who are the suspects?” asked Frosta.

“Everyone is a suspect,” stated Mermista.

“Everyone?” asked Bow. “Is anyone else sweating? I’m sweating.”

Glimmer sighed. “This is a waste of time. We know that the Horde is pulling their troops back for something big. That’s what we should be investigating.”

“No, Mermista’s right,” said Adora. “And it can’t be me the Horde’s tracking, since, once again, you used me as a distraction today. A spy is really the only thing that makes sense.”

Glimmer crossed her arms. “Maybe they didn’t fall for the distraction because you’re a bad actress. And who would the spy even be, anyway?”

“Heh,” said Adora. “How about the Horde officer who’s living at…I’m sorry, being held prisoner at Bright Moon? Shadow Weaver has actual spies. We met them.”

“Shadow Weaver does seem like the obvious suspect,” said Mermista. “Which means it definitely isn’t her. It’s never the obvious one. Like in Mer-Mystery: The Pearl Who Knew Too Much. You think it’s the pearl, but it’s not.”

“Spoilers!” cried Perfuma, flinching again.

Mermista pointed off in the distance. “It’s time to interrogate the castle.”

Lightning and thunder crashed once again.

“How are you doing that?” Frosta asked.

“I practice at home!” Mermista answered dramatically as thunder boomed again. Glimmer facepalmed and groaned.

A black skinned guard sat on the couch in front of Mermista and Perfuma. Mermista slapped her hands on the table. “Where were you when the murders happened?”

“The what?” asked the guard.

Mermista slapped her hands again, Perfuma winced and shook her hand.

“Don’t think you can get away with it,” added Perfuma. She turned to Mermista. “Although, there still aren’t any murders, Mermista.”

“Yet.” Mermista planted her foot on the table.

“I sincerely do not have time for this,” stated the guard.

“According to a bunch of other people…”

“Witnesses!” yelled Perfuma. “…you weren’t where you were supposed to be at the battle for Dryl.”

“I followed the plan exactly,” said the guard.

Perfuma planted her foot on the table causing the flower shaped head lamp to shake. “A likely…sorry, a likely story!”

“Admit it,” said Mermista. “You were slipping away to warn the Horde of our plan. Just like in Mer-Mystery: Secret of the Abalone. That one’s really good. You should read it.”

Perfuma took notes on her scroll of paper: “Maintain scowl,” “Hit the table,” “Secret of the Abalone.”

The guard moved the spotlight away. “Look, this is what happened. “On approach to Dryl, Glimmer filled me in. She-Ra would lure away the Horde. Team A, Frosta, Bow, and Flutterina, would scout ahead. Team B, Sea Hawk and Mermista, would guard the exits. Team A indicated the coast was clear, and we converged on their signal. That’s when Frosta ran into us and said, “We haven’t finished scouting.”

Team A sent the all clear. If you wanna know what went wrong, ask Bow.”

“Okay, I confess, it was me” he cried.

Frosta stared back at him in her chair. “We’re not even interrogating you.”

“I mean, if I am the spy, it’s an accident. I think. Can you be an accidental spy? Do I have an evil alter-ego? Or was I brainwashed and I’m just realizing it now?”

A shirtless man sat next to Bow. “So, like, are you guys still questioning me or…”

Bow took the spotlight and held it up to his face. “It all goes back to what happened in Dryl. Everyone was in position, and I was using my new tech to look for remaining Horde soldiers. But then, my goggles glitched and I don’t know what happened. I started to see double. That’s when the other team came in way too early. I tried to signal everyone to fall back, but my tracker pad was missing.”

“Whoa,” breathed the shirtless guy.

“Don’t you see what this means?” Bow asked. “Either I lost my tracker pad at Dryl, and that gave the Horde vital information, or I did it on purpose because I am the spy, and I gave the signal and I didn’t even know.”

The shirtless guy stared into Bow’s eyes. “You’re blowing my mind.”

“Bow!” called Frosta. “You aren’t the spy!”

Bow’s voice rose up in panic. “You don’t know that! It all makes sense. Who else could it be?”

 “Ah,” Sea Hawk sighed happily, propping his feet on the table. “I love recounting the epic tales of my exploits. My heroic exploits.”

Mermista groaned out loud, Perfuma sitting next to her on the couch. “It definitely isn’t Sea Hawk. Why did you even bring him in?”

“You said everyone was a suspect,” mentioned Perfuma.

“Exploits for the ages,” Sea Hawk began. “Narration. I was supposed to be guarding the door. But Perfuma relieved me of duty so I could join the fight. I advanced through the courtyard, avoiding the booby traps, risking my very life, just like in Mer-Mystery: Serpent of the Sea.”

“Wait, is that were my book went?” asked Mermista. “Sea Hawk, I’ve been looking for it.”

Sea Hawk continued his story. “That’s when the clouds parted, and the moonlight illuminated my dearest Mermista in the distance.”

“Moonlight?” Mermista sighed. “The battle happened this morning.”

“I made my way over to her when…we were ambushed! My sole aim was to protect Mermista from the Horde. Thinking quick, I took on the 40 or 50 Horde soldiers surrounding us, and saved Dryl.”

“We lost Dryl, and you punched, like, one guy before Glimmer got us out,” Glimmer said with a laugh.

“Exactly 100 guys!” he countered.

Both woman facepalmed. “Wait, wait,” said Perfuma, “I was with the General the whole time.” She leaned in and glared at Mermista, crossing her arms. “And why weren’t you with Sea Hawk, Mermista?”

“Because Frosta waved me over, but disappeared before I could reach her.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. She was with Bow, and then Glimmer, and the others were…”

“Who wants to watch me do some squats?” Sea Hawk asked, beginning his exercise.

Mermista then proceeded to shove him out of the room.

“I bet Adora and Glimmer don’t shove suspects out the door.”

 Mermista opened the door, the other princesses behind her. “There you are. Why are you just standing around? This isn’t Mer-Mystery: The Case of People Who Just Stood Around, the sequel I wrote right now about all of you.”

“Who is even left to question?” asked Glimmer.

Later on that night, several other people were questioned.

“I think I saw Mermista with Bow’s tracker pad,” said an elfish man standing with Entrapta’s baker and servant.

“Wait, you guys have been here the entire time?” asked Bow. Perfuma and Mermista stood with him.

“Tiny scone?” asked the baker, holding up a small desert.

During another interrogation, Mermista, Frosta, and Sea Hawk talked with one of the guards. “I can’t believe you read those too,” said the guard. “Mer-Mystery: The Maltese Otter is my favorite.”

“Ugh, that one’s so predictable,” groaned Mermista. “I saw that twist coming a mile away.”

Swift Wind was next and he did a pose on the table along with a neigh.

Mermista, Perfuma and Adora rolled their eyes.

“Swift Wind, you weren’t even there,” stated Adora.

“I told you how I took out 100…no 150 guys right?” asked Sea Hawk.

Mermista groaned again, frustrated.

Bow them walked over to the front, tears in his eyes and held out his hands. “You have to arrest me for everyone’s safety. Otherwise, my evil alter-ego might do it again.”

“Bow, knock it off,” Glimmer demanded.

Swift Wind posed again with a mace in his mouth.

“Still no,” said Adora. “And put that back.”

Mermista took a look at the other people coming in for the interrogations.

A group of people, one with three eyes…

“It’s not them,’ said Mermista.

A bunch of fauns and a dark skinned lady with bull horns…

“No,” said Perfuma.

Netossa and Spinerella in fancy clothing, holding a bouquet of flowers. Two butlers standing awkwardly to the side.

“No,” stated Glimmer.

The shirtless guy came forward. “Okay, dude, I think, like, maybe She-Ra did it.”

“Hey, we already questioned you,” Frosta reminded him.

“Oh yeah, I came back for the tiny scones.”

“I made a fresh batch,” said the smiling baker as the guy popped one into his mouth.

“Fizzy beverage?” asked another server.

“If you just lent me the book, then I’ll show you who done it,” said Mermista to Sea Hawk.

“We should interrogate him again,” argued Perfuma.

“Happened in Pearl in the Window,” Mermista mentioned.

   “Adora! Glimmer!” called Bow.

Frosta opened the doors to Glimmer’s darkened bedroom, spotting Adora and Glimmer. “Where have you guys been?”

“The communication panel in the war room has been severed,” said Perfuma with concern.

All the princesses made their way to the room and sure enough, the holographic map had a hole in it.

“When did this happen?” Adora asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Mermista. “We were passing by the room when we saw it.”

“Wait, we saw you run out of here two minutes ago,” Frosta accused.

“Uh, what are you talking about?” the mer-woman asked. “I was with Perfuma.

“Could the storm have done something to cause this?” Perfuma suggested.

Glimmer then glanced down at a broke tracker pad on the floor in a puddle of water. “This wasn’t an accident. It was sabotage.”

  As it began to rain outside, all the members met once again in the chamber sized living room. Everyone remained seated in the same positions as before, but with Glimmer standing by the fire again.

 “The General is working on restoring communications. In the meantime, there’s a backup device in the dining room, should we need it.”

Mermista closed the doors. “All of us knew we were trying to unmask the spy. And we were the ones who made the plan to take back Dryl. We’ve ruled out all other suspects. Which means the only person the spy could be is one of us.”

Perfuma gasped.

Frosta stood up on her chair. “Perfuma let the Horde take the doors.”

“I wasn’t there,” she argued. “Wait, your team was the one who told us to come in, and you led Mermista way.”

“I did not,” Frosta snapped.

“Trying to throw the blame on someone else, huh, Frosta?”

Frosta pointed at Mermista. “If Mermista knows so much about mysteries, she’d probably know how to plan the perfect crime.”

“And there was water by the tracker pad,” Perfuma mentioned, glaring at Mermista.

“Water that could’ve been melted ice,” Mermista replied, pointing at Frosta.

Bow cried again. “It’s probably me.”

“It’s not you, Bow!” Frosta shouted.

Mermista countered, “Or maybe it is, like in Mer-Mystery: Salt-er Ego.”

“It couldn’t be me. I was busy fighting at least 200 soldiers,” Sea Hawk bragged.

 Frosta later witnessed Double Trouble revealing their true intentions.

 Frosta watched the simulation of the planet blowing up in boredom, sitting at the holographic map table.

“So how do we stop it?” Frosta asked.

Frosta yawned. She closed her eyes and accidentally banged her head on the table startling herself awake.

“Maybe we should continue this in the morning? Not that I’m up past my bedtime. I don’t have a bedtime. I can go to bed whenever I want.”

Frosta rubbed her eyes when she saw Scorpia sitting on Emily.

“Horde soldier!” yelled Frosta as all the princesses got ready to attack.

Frosta jumped into the air. “You ruined Princess Prom!” she shouted, landing on the ground with an ice fist, where Scorpia had been standing a moment earlier.

Frosta sent out a sheet of ice, causing Emily and Scorpia to slip and fall to the outside.

 Scorpia was tied up and she told her story.

Frosta led Scorpia to a comfortable spare room with her ice spear.

“Hang on. I get to stay here?” Scorpia asked.

“This is the only other spare room we have. But don’t go thinking it’s a sleepover. We’re guarding you.”

 Frosta later asked, “How strong are your pincers? Can you crush things or just cut?”

“Oh you know, they’re good for general pinching. And cutting through basically everything.”

“Really?” Frosta asked, excited. “I gotta try that.” She created ice claws from her hands.

“Oh, are you…are you crying? Is it because I made ice pincers? I’m sorry. That’s your thing. I get it.”

“No it’s not that,” said a sad Scorpia. “The Horde always told me I was different, that I wouldn’t fit in with you all. But you’re making me feel like the opposite of not belonging, which I guess is belonging?”

“I used to feel that way too,” Frosta explained. “And then I met Glimmer and the others and I realized that none of us fit in. We’re all different, but that’s okay.”

“That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” said Scorpia.

“Well don’t get used to it,” Frosta said, serious again. “You’re still our prisoner.”

She created her ice spear and walked off, but then stopped.

“But I’ve got first watch, so I’ll be up if you wanna talk more.”

Scorpia smiled.

  Later, Bow and Adora snuck out of the castle.

Frosta opened the doors.

“What’s happening?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Uh…you’re asleep,” said Bow. “Yeah, you’re asleep. This is a dream. A dream.”

“Yes, the flying unicorn dream,” said Swift Wind. “Classic.”

“I know what you’re doing,” said Frosta. “And you better hurry.”

“You’re…you’re not gonna stop us?” asked Adora.

“I didn’t join the Princess Alliance just to fight. I joined to save people. And the Horde, even after everything they did…they’re people, just like us. I’ll cover for you, but you have to go now. Everyone will be up soon.”

Bow and Adora nodded in thanks, jumped onto Swift Wind and flew off.

Frosta looked on, hoping they would be alright.

   Frosta became superpowered and fought with Perfuma against the Horde bots. Perfuma glowed green, Frosta glowed blue, each shooting out plants and ice respectively.

Frosta, Perfuma, and Scorpia yelled in pain as their powers were used. They huddled together until the pain was over. Frosta was last seen with Perfuma, looking at the sky, now filled with stars.