The Right Thing

Chapter 1

Captain Catra... the name meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

To First Mate Scorpia, Catra was her best friend who had escaped from the Fright Zone with her, giving her a new life and a much greater purpose than anything the horrid witch and ex-lord of the Horde had promised.

For Pilot Entrapta, Catra was a shield against a world that had never really understood her nor tolerated her. She was also the only person to ever successfully steal some of the most advanced technology in all Etheria, a Horde ship, and she was content to let Entrapta play with all of it.

For the princesses and their kingdoms, the feline was a dangerous bandit and a terrible nuisance. Salineas had had to abandon its sea trade due to her regular and vicious attacks, making it a significantly less powerful kingdom than it used to be.

However, for Adora, Princess of Brightmoon, the name of Captain Catra bore no importance at all. In fact, the first time she heard the name was when she was relating all that had happened that fateful morning when she had foolishly accepted her sister's bet to go into the Whispering Woods and break into a notoriously haunted ruin. Her mother, Queen Angella, turned increasingly white as the story continued:

"So, um... I managed to get down to the lower levels. You know, the bits that are so dark that no one's ever bothered to, well, explore...? Anyway, I was just wandering around when I guess I... stepped on something? It was really weird. There was a blinding light and a lady was speaking to me. She was... purple. And pixelated. I think she must've been a hologram. Anyway, she just kept repeating something about a failsafe and somebody named She-Ra, and that's when I felt myself burning. Seriously, it was crazy! I suddenly felt like everything was on fire and it was so hot I couldn't even scream! Anyway, I passed out and woke up outside the ruin." Glimmer quickly interrupted her sister:

"That's when I found her, Mom. I swear I didn't think she'd actually be dumb enough to really go in there!" Angella groaned in exasperation:

"Glimmer, do you seriously not know how Adora's mind works? After all these years? Of course, she was going to go in there! You challenged her to! And Adora-" The queen's rebuke was stopped by something suddenly glowing under Adora's robe, which had been covering her shirt. Adora smiled awkwardly:

"Yeah, um... I've now got some kind of... holographic tattoo?" Angella rose from her seat and rushed over to Adora. She gently lifted Adora's robe to see exactly that: a holographic tattoo. One written in such an ancient language that even she could not decipher it. The queen collapsed into the chair beside her daughter's.

"This is... terrible. You've been branded by this planet. I... I don't know what to do." Bow, the bodyguard assigned to the princesses, finally spoke up:

"If I may, your Majesty, wouldn't it make sense to mount an expedition to the Fright Zone? It's the oldest place on this planet and we're certain to find answers there." The queen almost hissed:

"Are you crazy?! What about Hordak and his witch? They're merciless, terrifying monsters! Do you know how long I've fought, how much I've fought, to protect us from them? You are not going there!" Glimmer grabbed her mother's hand desperately:

"But, Mom, we have no idea what could happen to Adora now she has come in contact with the stuff inside this planet! We need to get her help! We'll only be able to do that in the Fright Zone."

"No" Angella groaned, "You'll only be able to do that if you can find Entrapta." Bow gasped:

"The mad princess?" Glimmer nodded:

"They say she did what Adora did, only worse. The planet spoke to her for so long that she could only hear it and nothing else. She became obsessed with learning its secrets, to the point that she destroyed her own kingdom in the search for answers..."