On your own (Catradora)

Playing fair

Bright moon was beginning to settle down after the trials and the astonishing two and a half months of nonstop partying. Going from never knowing what a party was, to having a celebration every day made some wish to never attend another party ever again. Sure it was fun but everywhere Adora went there would be music, dancing and sweets a plenty with food to spare and share. These people had so much to offer but Adora would politely decline. All she had with her was her pocket knife and the Rune stone she had taken out of the handle of the sword. Bow and Glimmer had borrowed it briefly but returned it to Adora as a gift using the Rune stone as a pendant to make a necklace. Both items were kept on her person at all times. As Adora tried to find a quiet place to relax, Three small Children ran in front of her. The Three little ones were dressed up as the best friend squad, one had a mini bow with fake arrows, Adora assumed that that was suppose to be bow. Then she saw another little one who had glitter all over her clothing and left a trail of little sparkles everywhere she went, smiling Adora recognized that one to be playing Glimmer. Finally She saw a bright flash run past her, this one, using yellow colored yarns to create the "She-Ra" hair had a stick sword with a small painted rock tied to it to resemble the rune stone on the mystical sword of power. That one was without question She-Ra. "For the Honor of Gray skull!Princesses unite!" The little She-Ra shouted as she raised her sword. Two more little ones came to the small group of three. These two were dressed as Perfuma and Mermista. The little Perfuma had paper flowers all over her dress with a flower crown and a basket full of flower petals while the Mini Mermista had a shell necklace and a bucket of water balloons. "The princesses are here to fight along side She-Ra!!" The little Perfuma smiled tossing a handful of petals in the air.
Laughing to herself Adora decided to sit in the grass under a shaded tree and watch the children play for a bit. It was cute watching the group of five run around and play in their little imaginary world. They reminded her of herself and the other horde children who ran the halls with her. She remembered getting into a lot of mischief with her partner in crime but those days were far behind her and yet it felt like just yesterday she was an innocent child. Not knowing the harsh reality of the world she was raised in. As she sat there, Adora noticed something in the tree line. "Is that?.." squinting her eyes to try and see the shadow figure more clearly. She could've sworn she saw a familiar silhouette with large ears and a slim tail pop up briefly from behind a bush. Suddenly her blue eyes widened as she leaned forward. "Catra?.." she mutters in shock. The children seemed to have heard the rustling of the leaves and glanced over at the tree line. Adora scrambled to her feet as the children began going towards the tree line. "W-wait! Don't!—" The blonde began before she noticed the shadow figure spear again. This time it made a move then pounced out of the bush and into the open. "AAHHH!!" The little bow and Perfuma screamed. Adora had reached for her pocket knife and ran up to the children but stopped upon seeing the figure up close. It was a little girl with messy dark hair who wore paper cat ears and a mask made from cardboard that had been painted red but she could see afew specks of glitter from when the children were making their costumes together. "Kneel down before the Horde! Rawr!!" The little Catra grinned, her scarf "tail" flowing in the wind behind her. The little She-Ra stepped forward infront of her friends and pointed the sword at the other. "The princess alliance will never kneel! Now face our furry evil horde scum!" Then to Adora's surprise the group of makeshift princesses began to attack the lone Catra with flower petals and glitter. Little Catras eyes widened at the attack before putting her hands up infront of her face to try and block the glitter from getting in her eyes then suddenly water balloons were thrown at her and a twig arrow was shot at her landing behind her and tripping the cat girl as she blindly backed away and fell to the ground. Adora's eyes were wide as she watched them attack the poor girl. "H-hey. Stop! That's not fair! I had enough! S-stop it!!" The little Catra cried out but the others continued to toss water balloons, petals and glitter at her. Adora could see the tears forming in the little catras eyes as she approached them. Then the little She-Ra approached the little Catra with her sword held high as she prepaired to deliver the final blow "Wait. Stop!" Adora spoke up, stepping in between the group of children and the little Catra sitting on the ground still shielding her eyes, coughing and sneezing at the flowers and glitter that tickled her nose. "Wow it's Her! It's really her!" The little Bow smiled with an excited squeal. Adora sighed before smiling meekly and slipping her knife away in her back pocket. "Haha.. yeah it's me. Look. I was watching you all play and you're all so brave and you're costumes are amazing. You're all so talented but the thing is.. it's not fair to gang up on anyone.. even if you're just playing" the children all looked up at Adora as she spoke and seemed to not quite understand her words. Just then the little one playing She-Ra raised her hand. Seeming to need permission to speak like they're tough in school. Laughing alittle Adora pointed to the little hand raised signaling for the girl to speak "But. Catra is evil. Doesn't She deserve it. She did a lot of mean things. She took the last of the red paint and the real Catra is a meanie. So She's a big meanie too. Unforgivable!" the little She-Ra glanced around Adora's legs then stuck her tongue out at the little Catra who had tears in her eyes. The little one regretted her costume choice and using the last of the red paint as she stood up and took her mask off. "I-I'm not a meanie! Y-you are! I wanted to be in the alliance too!" The little Catra spat back. Adora's eyes widened at the display of hatred between the children. They sure are taking this seriously.. "Hey. Hey! Enough of that! You guys are friends. You shouldn't be fighting over a game, or sides or paint.." the blonde spoke up putting her hands on the children's shoulders. Both glaring daggers at each other. Closing her eyes Adora took a breath as she thought of what she could possibly do to diffuse this situation 'wonder where I've seen this before' Adora thought to herself with a small chuckle before looking down at the children. Clearing her throat and Squatting down to the children's level Adora gave her best sympathetic smile as she looks between the two. "Game or not you're friends. And shouldn't fight like this. And even if it's a game, you should play fairly. Ganging up five against one isn't fair." Adora explains. The little Catra sniffles and whipped her eyes as she looks to the little She-Ra. "Look at her. She's not evil. But she is all wet and covered in dirt, glitter and flower petals" looking at her messy friend, little She-Ra seemed to look down at her shoes in shame while playing with her hands. Her friends doing the same, rubbing their neck and kicking a small pile of dirt as shame washed over them. "Gee.. I'm sorry Blakey .." little She-Ra finally spoke up addressing her friend. Then the others apologized in a little group of "sorry's" the little Catra looked at her friends then to the little girl with yellow yarn hair. "I-I forgive you.. even you Rosy.. and I'm sorry for taking the last of the paint.." she says. Every one seemed to smile. Happy with their apologies but then little Catra sneezed sending a puff of glitter out of her nose which caused the group of children to giggle and laugh. "Look. She can do glitter powers too!" Little Perfuma spike up with a bright smile. The other children giggled and "ooo'd" at the sparkly sneeze. Little Catra looks to her friends then to little She-Ra and smiled widely as they both stepped towards each other and hugged. "Here's a towel Blakey. I'm sorry I splashed you with my awesome water powers" mini Mermista said as she offered a pink towel to the little Catra. Little She-Ra took the towel and put it around the others shoulder. "Thank you" little Catra smiled as she enjoyed the warmth of the towel which had been hanging in the sun from a clothing line. Watching them make up like that caused a warm feeling to grow in Adora's chest, a smile even formed on her features as she stood up. Looking up at the blonde with wide smiles, little Catra and little She-Ra took each others hands. "Thanks Adora. We're gonna go play now!" With that said the group of children ran off to continue their game but this time playing more fairly. Instead of attacking all at once they instead decided to go one at a time. They played Rock Paper Scissors to first determine who would win in their one on one battle. Who ever won got to "attack" using their characters powers and the loser would join the winners team. In the end they all found a way to play fairly. Satisfied with the outcome, Adora slipped her hands into her pocket and began walking back to the castle where hopefully it would be alittle quieter.

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Back at Bright moon castle servants were taking down the various party streamers from the last party and cleaning up all the confetti that littered the floor. "I swear I'm gonna be picking confetti out of my hair for a month!" the familiar voice of Glimmer echoed from inside of her room as Adora walked closer to the door that was left ajar. Needless to say the last party got alittle out of hand when the real Perfuma's flower arrangement was shredded and shoved into an ice cannon by the youngest of the princess alliance princess Frosta. "Adora is that you? Come help me get this stuff out of my hair please~" The young Queen whined. As Adora entered the room she saw that the real Bow was also there doing his best to assist the young queen. He had been plucking confetti from Glimmers hair for a while now and even found enough to fill a small basket. "What happened to no weapons at parties? Frosta could've killed someone!" Glimmer fumed as she sat there grumpily. "Well. Technically that only applies for princess prom. Unless you make it a rule for all parties to ban weapons. Which you could do now that you're queen. Funny. You use to collect weapons and now you want them banned. Haha. Oh the irony" Bow laughed as he continued his plucking. Adora sat there quietly listening to the two bicker while she picked out the small pieces of confetti from her friends hair. Friends fighting seemed to be an on going occurrence. She found that there were different kinds of fighting like children fighting over paint and playing fair, or friends bickering in a teasing way as they seemed to alway do. That was their bond. Adora bit her lip as she suddenly thought about how she and Catra had at one point done both of those different types of bickering in their youth. And now?.. they were fighting as enemies. Their fight couldn't be solved easily by apologizing like when the children argued and it wasn't considered friendly banter. They were far past that. Maybe too far. But then again it seemed that In the short time Glimmer and Catra were trapped together they managed to resolve their differences and work together to defeat Horde prime. "Hey Glimmer.." Adora's voice almost startled the two bickering friends as they both turned their attention to their blonde friend. "What is it Adora?" Glimmer asked suddenly forgetting about her confetti hair crisis to instead give her friend a somewhat concerned look. Adora's eyes were cast down to the pieces of flower petals in her hand. She looked almost sad as she lifted her head to look at her purple haired friend. "Could you tell me the story again?... how you and.. Catra defeated Horde Prime.." Glimmer was shocked but tried not to show it. She knew that Adora had been down lately. Even with the excessive partying it seemed that nothing could cheer the blonde up. The only thing that seemed to get her attention would be whenever Glimmer would regale people of her tales aboard the Massive space ship. Glimmer knew that the action of the story wasn't what caught Adora's attention. It was the part where Glimmer talked about Catra. Who at first seemed ready to Die but when it seemed that Glimmers life was in danger, Catra jumped in to save her. That selfless act that came from the felines actions was what caught Adora's attention. The blonde wondered if Catra had changed. Was Catra good? Would she be willing to join the alliance? Would these people be able to forgive her as easily as the children had forgiven each other? She had so many impossible questions that might never be answered. When Catra took off in the ship Bow was able to track it for a while but no one could catch up with it. Not even swift wind. But one day the signal Glitched and Catra was suddenly gone. Taking his basket of flower petals bow excused himself leaving Glimmer and Adora alone. Glimmer reaches for Adora's hand and held it gently. Looking at her friend with a soft smile. "Of course... I'll tell it to you as many times as you want Adora. I'll even write it down for you if you'd like. It's a really good story" Glimmer gave a soft smile to her friend upon seeing the corners of Adora's lips rise into a small smile of her own. "Well. It all started when we were in the fright zone.."