 
### Unexpected Dimensional Drift

Copyright 2019 Burkely Hermann

Published by Burkely Hermann at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents

Introduction

Cast of Characters

Chapter 1: Jack and the Crimson Waste

Chapter 2: A Light of Disappointment

Chapter 3: The Library of the Whispering Woods

Chapter 4: Jack and the Magical Portal

Chapter 5: The Crystal Gems Warp to Bright Moon

Chapter 6: The Tranquility of Mystacor

Chapter 7: Pearl's Mystery, Light Hope, and Adora's New Friend

Chapter 8: Mysteries of Salineas and Hordak's Folly

Chapter 9: For the Honor of Etheria?: Adora's Choice and Jack's Bold Move

Keyword Intensity Index

Sources and inspiration

About Burkely

Connect with Burkely
Introduction

After some rough times on social media, I decided to turn to writing. This culminated with the publishing of various magical fantasy crossover fan fictions on Archive of Our Own (AO3), thousands of words flowing from my fingertips. This nonprofit and noncommercial website, which hosts fanworks through their inventive "open-source archiving software," as they define it, was a perfect place to start my dive into fiction writing. While I've written two non-fiction works, _Stories of the Maryland 400_ and _Tales of the Maryland Extra Regiment_ , both published on Smashwords, writing the nine short stories (the nine chapters of this novella), or works less than 7,500 words, to use the definition outlined by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, was a blast. It started with my first series titled "Dimensional Drift: Samurai Jack in Etheria" which I promoted on social media like Twitter and Reddit. My second series followed it, with much longer stories, titled "The Unexpected Adventures of the Crystal Gems: Stranded in Etheria." All but chapter 8, which is for mature adults, are for general audiences. These stories touch on various elements: dimensional travel, time travel, relationships, magic, swords and sorcery, storytelling, technology, the power of emotions, social awkwardness, librarians, computers, family relationships, mystery, surveillance, and much more! Settings like deserts, libraries, archives, and oceans for various chapters are meant to situate the characters accurately. There are other themes and elements readers can find, so I encourage them to read these chapters with an open mind and come to their own conclusions!

I am excited for this to be my first novella, which is 17,500 words at minimum but less than 40,000, to use a definition outlined by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. The title, "Unexpected Dimensional Drift," was an attempt to combine the names of my two previous series, before lumping them together into _An Unlikely Alliance Against Evildoers_. The cover of this book is wholly my creation, originally drawn by hand and then painstakingly coloring using Microsoft Paint, based on online images of Samurai Jack's katana, She-Ra/Adora's Sword of Protection, and Bow's tracker pad, along with a website which showed you how to draw a desert, and another one about classical columns.

My first chapter brings together Samurai Jack, Glimmer, Adora, and Bow on an adventure in Etheria, to fight evil and bring the world into balance. The second chapter continues where chapter 1 leaves off, focusing on Jack's quest to the Crystal Castle with Bow, Glimmer, and Adora. The third chapter, which has a place in my heart because I'm completing my Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), is an ode to libraries everywhere, with necessary diversity. The fourth chapter serves as a way to wrap up these stories, as Jack makes a bold move to go back in time and defeat Aku. It also serves as a conduit to the next chapter.

The next part of this novella begins with chapter five. The Crystal Gems are unknowingly caught up in an adventure, warped to a new, unfamiliar world where they meet magical princesses and their compatriots. The adventure of the Crystal Gems and their must-needed quest for rest and relaxation even in a place that seems strange and weird, continued in chapter 6, with the Gems helped by their new friends, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. In the process, not only do new fusions come into existence, but secrets are revealed, raising the question of whether they were warped to Etheria on purpose rather than by "accident" as they thought. In the next chapter, chapter 7, the Crystal Gems join Adora, Bow, and Glimmer on a trek to the Crystal Castle to discover the truth behind Pearl's appearance there thousands of years ago. While not everything goes as planned, they continue to have wonderful adventures, and Adora declares her admiration for a new friend. Following is chapter 8, where the Gems and their newfound friends continue to journey across Etheria, trying to recruit Mermista for a final battle with the Horde. But, their adventures in Salineas are filled with mystery and intrigue, leading to unexpected discoveries which threaten to pull them apart.

In the final chapter of this novella, Chapter 9, the Gems and princesses work together in a joint offensive to defeat the Horde once and for all. Inadvertently they allow Samurai Jack, now mind controlled by the Diamonds, to make a bold move. In the aftermath of the Horde's demise, Adora is faced with a choice for her future, whether she will stay with her new friends or remain on Etheria. It also sets the stage for a sequel novella, which is in the works, I am happy to say.

I want to thank everyone, again, for their reading of my past stories. As such, I am eternally grateful to saint357 and RaineLionheart for their comments on chapters 5 ("The Crystal Gems Warp to Bright Moon") and 6 ("The Tranquility of Mystacor") on Archive of our Own, along with that unhelpful comment on chapter 5. The comment by RaineLionheart that more dialogue would help, that the story read more like an outline than an actual story and felt rushed was good advice for improving chapter 5, while also helping improve my writing in other later chapters. Saint357's comment, that I tried to pack in too much into the chapter, perhaps too many details about the fusion of Lapis and Stevonnie, and their powers, which could be demonstrated in situations rather than through description was a good point. I am glad they praised my research, which is described in a later part of this novella. I also appreciated their comments about the interaction between Pearl and Adora, which they rightly described as "military strategists with a fondness for swordplay" who would get along "famously." They also make a good point that Adora is more like Rose "in the strong rebellious leader type" and that Pearl likes giant women.

I hope everyone who reads this book finds this story enjoyable and I plan for this to be the beginning of a series of novellas, as part one of the _Unlikely Alliance Against Evildoers_. Despite some rough times on Reddit, including many of these short stories downvoted into oblivion, including on the Steven Universe subreddit, I still found a community of supportive members who were glad to read and promote my stories. Images within the Cast of Characters section and at the beginning of every chapter are helpful visual aids meant to assist the reader. All were created using GIMP 2.10.12, also known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, an open sourced and free software similar to Photoshop or Paint.NET, and using Microsoft Paint. The ones for chapter 1 was an adaption of the book's cover, while the ones for chapter 2, 4, 5, 7, and 9 I drew using Paint and GIMP. Others were distortions, often blurring, of previous images of the Hornbake Library of University of Maryland (Chapter 3), orangish clouds in College Park (Chapter 6) to look like rolling clouds, and "The Point" in St. Mary's City (Chapter 8). Enjoy!

Happy Reading!

- Burkely
Cast of Characters

 **ADORA/SHE-RA** : protagonist, former Force Captain of Horde

 **GLIMMER** : friend of Adora, Princess of Bright Moon

 **BOW** : friend of Adora and Glimmer, archer, tech whizz

 **SPINNERELLA** : In a relationship with Netossa

 **NETOSSA** : In a relationship with Spinnerella

 **MERMISTA** : Princess of Salineas

 **FROSTA** : Princess of Snows

 **SEA HAWK** : Sea captain and former lover of Mermista

 **PERFUMA** : Princess of Plumeria

 **SWIFT WIND** : Trusty steed of Adora

 **ANGELLA** : mother of Glimmer, Queen of Bright Moon

 **CASTASPELLA** : Sorceress, aunt of Glimmer, sister-in-law of Angella

 **MICAH** : deceased husband of Angella, father of Glimmer, King of Bright Moon

 **GEORGE** : father of Bow, operates family library with Lance

 **LANCE** : father of Bow, operates family library with George

 **STEVEN UNIVERSE** : Gem-human hybrid, de facto Diamond Authority member, friend of Connie, Lapis, and Peridot

 **AMETHYST** : Gem, guardian of Steven

 **PEARL** : Gem, guardian of Steven, friend of Adora, former partner of Rose/Pink

 **GARNET** : Gem fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, guardian of Steven, de facto leader of Crystal Gems

 **LAPIS LAZULI** : Gem, friend of Steven and Connie, former bunkmate of Peridot

 **PERIDOT** : Tech-savvy Gem, friend of Steven and Connie, former bunkmate of Lapis, has crush on Lapis

 **CONNIE MAHESWARAN** : Human, friend of Steven, Lapis, and Peridot

 **STEVONNIE** : Gem fusion of Steven and Connie, de facto member of Crystal Gems

 **STEVOLINNIE** : Temporary Gem fusion of Steven, Connie, and Lapis, de facto member of Crystal Gems

 **AMAZONITE** : Gem fusion of Lapis and Peridot, de facto member of Crystal Gems

 **BISMUTH** : Gem, friend of Steven, Pearl, and Garnet. Note: _She is not pictured above but is an important member of the Crystal Gems._

 **ROSE QUARTZ/PINK DIAMOND** : Mother of Steven, gave up her physical form so Steven could be born, former Crystal Gem, former Diamond overlord, former romantic partner of Greg and Pearl

 **GREG UNIVERSE** : Father of Steven, runs a car washing business, Steven's only living immediate family member, romantic partner of Rose/Pink

 **LION** : Mammal healed by Steven's mother, can engage in inter-dimensional travel, Steven's pet and friend

 **DOUG MAHESWARAN** : Father of Connie, private security guard

 **PRIYANKA MAHESWARAN** : Mother of Connie, doctor at a local hospital

 **ENTRAPTA** : tech-savvy princess, working with Hordak

 **HORDAK** : leader and commander of Horde, spars with Catra

 **CATRA** : Former friend of Adora, Force Captain, second-in-command of Horde

 **SCORPIA** : Friend of Catra

 **LONNIE** : Former member of Adora's training team, friend of Kyle and Rogelio

 **KYLE** : Former member of Adora's training team, friend of Lonnie and Rogelio

 **ROGELIO** : Former member of Adora's training team, friend of Kyle and Lonnie

 **MALEVOLENT** : Half-brother of Hordak, commander of Horde fleet

 **YELLOW DIAMOND** : Homeworld Gem leader, friend of Blue Diamond

 **BLUE DIAMOND** : Homeworld Gem leader, friend of Steven and Yellow Diamond

 **WHITE DIAMOND** : Homeworld Gem leader, head of Diamond Authority

 **YELLOW PEARL** : Servant of Yellow Diamond

 **BLUE PEARL** : Servant of Blue Diamond

 **EMERALD** : Homeworld society aristocrat, subordinate of Yellow Diamond

 **PERIDOTS** , **AMETHYSTS** , **CARNELIANS** , **JASPERS** , **CITRINES** : Homeworld Gems who command or staff ships of Great Diamond Armanda. Note: _They are not pictured above but are an important part of the Diamond Authority_.

 **JACK** : Stranded samurai warrior, later commands Great Diamond Armada

 **LIGHT HOPE** : Holographic teacher of Adora
Chapter One: Jack and the Crimson Waste

As wind whipped across lifeless desert's dunes, a no man's land, one man stood strong. Standing at a little under 6 feet, his long black hair, tied up in a chonmage, blew with the wind. He was wearing white and gray gi, worn in the style of a kimono, with a white obi tied around his waist, and a pair of wooden shoes, called geta, clacking as he walked. This man was Jack, also known as Samurai Jack or The Samurai by others he had fought with and befriended in the past. He had no idea where he was. Last he remembered, he had jumped into a portal, to go back in time and destroy Aku, the master of darkness, the essence of evil, a shapeshifter who had imprisoned his world, with his magic samurai sword, a katana. This weapon was formed by the divinities of his world and once wielded by his father.

As the wind began dying down, he shouted. "Hello! Anyone out there!"

Not a soul responded to him. It almost seemed as if the world had abandoned him, since he was, after all, in a desolate place, one of the worst he had ever encountered. The thought crossed his mind that he stood in a parallel dimension, that the time portal had been distorted somehow, creating a wormhole through spacetime, but he quickly dismissed this as happenstance. However, another thought occurred to him: since Aku had tricked him and transported him through time, perhaps another one of his tactics. He shivered at the thought that he had been deceived again, denying this as a possibility.

On the other side of the desert, three figures walked together. The first was Bow, a man of a tan brown complexion, with dark brown kinky hair, and almost black eyes. He wore a white sleeveless mid-drift, covered by armor with a breastplate embellished with a heart, a back piece, a metal sleeve on his shoulder, and a forearm guard. He carried a quiver of arrows over his right shoulder, and a bow in his right hand, while wearing jeans with a brown belt and nearly knee-high boots. Accompanying him was Princess Glimmer, a stocky and short woman, with thick and bushy hair, of two shades (pastel pink on top and sparkling purple on the bottom), sporting curled bangs, her thick eyebrows and sideburns. She had olive skin, eyes of a mixed color of brown and pink, and long eyelashes. She wore a sleeveless dark purple leotard, stopping at her mid-thigh, sitting underneath a light purple tunic, and purple boots that matched the rest of her outfit. Light blue fingerless gloves covered her hands, while her blue cape, sparkling in the sunlight, covered her back, and an armored circular plate sat on her left shoulder.

There was one final figure: Adora, the group's second female. She had dark blonde hair, brown eyebrows, and bluebell eyes. She wore, on this occasion, a white short-sleeved shirt, underneath a red jacket with sleeves of a quarter-length, with a beige popped collar. She also wore gray pants and a brown belt, fastened with a golden wing buckle, symbolizing her allegiance to the Rebellion, accompanied by red-and-white boots. She carried the Sword of Protection with her, allowing her to turn into a princess of power named She-Ra.

Frustrated with the fact that they were still journeying across this barren wasteland, with the hot summer heat beating down upon their necks and arms, Glimmer huffed and complained.

" _I knew this would be a disaster! Bow's dads were right! We should have stayed away. I can see why no one comes back alive!"_

Adora, countered this negative sentiment, directly and sternly addressing Glimmer.

" _We need to figure this out, otherwise we will never know what those constellations mean!"_

Hearing their perspectives, Bow hugged them and exclaimed, "best friend squad...EVER!"

They continued to walk across the desert dunes as the wind whistled around them.

With the wind dying down, Bow looked at his tracker pad, often used to track down technology of the First Ones on Etheria. He announced that he was "detecting a disturbance of some kind on here. It looks like someone came out of a portal about one click from here, in this very desert!" As Glimmer exuded a sigh of frustration, Adora augmented Bow, declaring, "let's go check it out" and led the group forward. They heard, in the distance, the voice of an unfamiliar man. He shouted, from what they can hear.

" _Hello! Anyone out there!"_

Rather than responding, as that would lead to a useless shouting game, they ran in the direction of the voice, following the location of Bow's tracker. They had stumbled upon the legendary and skilled warrior of Earth named Samurai Jack.

Coming closer, they all smiled. Adora took the lead in this situation, introducing herself, and asked an inquisitive question of their visitor.

" _Who are you and how'd you get here?"_

Jack, skeptical of them and confused by where he was, identified himself.

" _I'm Jack. Some people call me Samurai Jack. I went through a portal to go back and rid the world of the evil of Aku. But somehow I arrived here."_

He paused and asked, seeing Adora's sword and Bow's quiver, "so, fellow warriors, where might I be?"

Bow responded in kind. "You are in the desolate crimson wasteland of Etheria."

Jack shook his head in dismay.

" _I must have been transported across dimensions. I need to get back to my own time and place to fight Aku, to defeat him once and for all."_

He paused, adding he could defeat Aku "by using this magic sword," pointing to his samurai sword. He then described the sword itself.

" _This sword for the righteous and skilled warrior who wishes to banish evil from the world and bring it into balance."_

Adora laughed. "Magic sword? Skilled warrior? You have clearly never heard of She-Ra. If you are such a skilled warrior, then prove it!"

She then shouted, "For the Honor of Grayskull!," turning into an (almost) eight-foot-tall warrior named She-Ra. Different from her usual appearance, she had long and wavy blonde hair, light blue eyes, a golden tiara, gold arm cuffs, a white dress with a six-pointed-flower on the chest, golden pauldrons on her sleeves, and a v-shaped belt at her waist. She also wore white skin-tight shorts covered by white ruffles, white knee-high boots with gold trimming, and a knee-length red cape. Jack looked at her utterly terrified. His internal monologue betrayed him: 'what have I gotten myself into? This is one of the toughest challenges I have faced yet!'

The swords of Jack and She-Ra clashed while Glimmer and Bow watched with astonishment, telling She-Ra to stop the fight because it wasn't worth it. Each sword had a magical origin, meaning that the swords had equal power. Despite Jack's developed fighting skills, his kimono was damaged. Like in past fights, he tore off the top half of his kimono, and continued to fight, yelling "AGHHHHH!" as he went in for the attack. Even so, this skilled warrior was no match for the superhuman strength and agility of She-Ra, who had the ability to project a rainbow energy blast and transform animals into flying creatures. As Jack was being overpowered, Glimmer stepped in and teleported him away from the fighting, while Bow used one of his arrows to fire a net around She-Ra, stopping her from fighting.

As the dust cleared and the fighting stopped, She-Ra turned back into Adora, putting her sword into its sheath on her back, and Jack, in turn, putting his sword away into a sheath hanging by his left leg, anchored by rope which went around his waist.

He bowed, telling Adora, "I know a great warrior when I see one. You are as strong as the warriors from where I come from."

Pausing he added, with great confidence, "it would be an honor to serve alongside you."

Continuing his pleasantries, he effusively commented: "now that I know this great warrior," pointing to Adora, who blushed and radiated happiness at his reverent praise, he turned to Bow and Glimmer, questioning them: "what are your names? Tell me about yourselves."

Bow described himself as a master archer and tech whizz, while Glimmer noted her role as a princess who can teleport from one place to another and teleport her staff to herself remotely. She noted that her power over light allowed her to create pink spheres, which could serve as a light source, and fire light blasts at her opponents, temporarily blinding them.

Astonished at these magical powers and looking at all three of them, he asked, "so what brings you to this desolate landscape?"

Bow, thinking about it, responded, "well, we were trying to figure out what this constellation means," pulling out his tracker pad.

Exuding good will, Bow insisted to Jack, "perhaps you can join us on our quest. We can bring you to our home in Bright Moon, where you may find answers for how to get back to your own time."

Glimmer, impatient with all the standing around, pleaded, "fine, let's get going already!"

And with that, all four were off on a quest to figure out what the constellation meant, something that could have profound importance in their fight to preserve Etheria.

On the way, Jack walked beside Adora and inquired, "where did you learn to be such a brave and powerful warrior? I haven't seen skills like that for years."

Surprised by the adoration, Adora smiled, telling him of her years training as a Horde soldier, with various courses, leading a team of fellow cadets. She confessed that when she left the Horde and joined the Rebellion, she left her team behind. But as she excitedly bubbled, "I have two great friends right here!" immediately hugging Bow and Glimmer. "What else could I ask for?" Their quest went onward.

It seemed they would never discover what the constellation of a mystical First One, Serenia, meant, its connection to Maura, the previous She-Ra 1,000 years earlier, and how it related to a portal, they stumbled upon a decaying building. It was a temple in the wasteland, partially engulfed by a sand dune. Doing what she did best, Adora used her ability to read First One's writing to get them inside the temple, the entrance unimpeded. With some exploring through the facility, they discovered a screen. It looked to be broadcasting the message with the constellations shown on their tracker pad to a place outside Etheria itself! Was it, Bow thought, an indication that some of the First Ones were still alive? Maybe they were living on another world. It was a thought neither Bow, Adora, nor Glimmer had ever considered. Still, they had to consider this clear and distinct possibility, and take it seriously.

Bow began messing around with the keypad. Just out of curiosity, he typed in SHE-RA. Nothing came up. He also received no results when he typed in GLIMMER and BRIGHT MOON. As a last-ditch effort, he typed in ADORA. A message appeared on the screen, shocking them all. The video that played showed a young baby girl with blonde hair held by a woman with a flowing dress embroidered with flowers, bluebell eyes, and flowing blonde hair. The male figure, nearby, had short-cut black hair, piercing brown eyes, and wore an army uniform.

The video showed a woman shouting "The Horde is attacking! Whoever gets this message, please come and help us! The facility is being overrun" while the man fired his laser beam rifle at the approaching Horde tanks. "This will be," the man lamented, "Our last message. Please help, we can't stop them..." and the video cut off.

The message shocked Glimmer and Bow were shocked, puzzled Jack puzzled, made Adora aghast. These must have been, she conjectured, her parents, and in the video, she was being held by her mom, the woman with the bluebell eyes and blond hair.

Before she could process all of this, the system, realizing that an "administrator" was not accessing it, declared, in a robotic voice: "unauthorized access detected. System shutting down."

This wasn't the same from what they had experienced at the Crystal Castle, but still terrified them because they could be trapped in the facility! Adora demanded Glimmer teleport them out. All four of them were teleported outside the temple, to a nearby ridge, watching as the system shut down. There was little they could do but change their course. After all, with shutting down of this temple, there were no accessible records that could give them further information about the mysterious message. However, Bow had already downloaded all the information from the temple onto his tracker pad, in case something funky happened.

With that, they walked back to Bright Moon, to rest, and help Jack get a portal back to his time. Glimmer, warming up to Jack a bit, beamed.

"Before you talk to my mother about this portal, it's probably best that you...," looking at his ripped kimono, "get some new clothes." Using her magical powers, she teleported them into her room, and pulled out a ruffled shirt, declaring, "this should do!"

Jack looked skeptically at the piece of clothing, but resigned himself to it: "this will do...although I would like to get a new white and gray gi to replace my old one," thinking of its importance to his heritage and his family history.

Glimmer chirped with a smile, "Sure, that can be arranged! How hard can it be to make a gi for you?" she told him, although she had no idea what a gi was. She only used the word in order to maintain her composure before someone older than herself. Little did she know, every time his kimono had been ripped, he had repaired it on his own, without the assistance of others.

Before he met Glimmer's mother, Queen Angella, Bow, puzzled, quizzed him.

" _You talked about Aku when we first met in the wasteland. Tell us more about that."_

He, Adora, and Glimmer sat patiently on the ground, in a semi-circle, ready to listen to Jack's story, like they were listening to a tale told by an elder. "Very well," Jack told them, "I'll do my best to recount the evils of Aku." He cleared his throat, and began a story:

" _In my universe, many eons ago, an evil force radiated from the universe. It was beaten back by a team of mystical warriors with magical powers, but one part of it was not destroyed. It crash-landed on my home world, Earth, creating a huge crater, and began to grow. For years, people did little or nothing to stop its growth. But eventually, my people sent a legion of some of the most brave and noble warriors to defeat this menace. All were killed off, except the one who led this effort: my father. In an attempt to destroy it, he inadvertently released a manifestation of this evil, Aku, from his prison, unleashing him upon the world. After wreaking havoc on the nearby village, where I grew up, and tying up my father, the mystical beings of the universe released him. A magical sword, coming from the righteousness within him, forged by these beings, was formed with the express purpose of killing Aku. My father did not defeat Aku, but banished him underground, where he stayed for years."_

With Bow, Glimmer, and Adora entranced, he continued:

" _Once I had the appropriate training, I went to confront Aku, ignoring the warning of my father that I was not ready, fighting him with my magic sword. While Aku had been gravely injured, and I readied myself to strike the final blow, he opened a portal in time, sending me forward thousands of years to a time when he dominated the world. Therefore, it is my quest is to return to the past and kill Aku, ridding the world of such evil."_

Having finished, Adora told him that his story reminded her of the Horde, on a path of destruction to destroy all that is good and decent in their world, to bring darkness to Etheria. In their case, all that stood in the way of those armies was the Kingdom of Bright Moon, the Whispering Woods, and the newly constituted Princess Alliance. It would be, she gushed, a wonderful honor to fight alongside him. He grinned.

" _I am dedicated to fighting any evil, whether it be Aku, or some other being or force, in order to restore balance."_

Not long after, he met Angella, who had purple skin, long pinkish hair, a gem at center of her forehead which functioned as sort-of-crown, and a pair of see-through, shimmery wings. She was also wearing a pink leotard, light purple leggings, purple boots, a long blue cape, matching necklace and earrings, and long white gloves, reaching to her elbows. She was anxious to meet him after learning about his cunning nature and strong fighting skills, as a master in the martial arts, melee, and swords, with peak abilities in agility, endurance, senses, speed, and strength. If she had known his hunting, survival, archery, marksmanship, and dedicated willpower, it would have strengthened her view of him as a dedicated warrior. As a good mother, Angella, wanted to know who Glimmer kept as friends these days after her secretness surrounding Adora when she first arrived in Bright Moon a few months before.

Shaking his hand in the throne room, she thanked Jack for coming to meet her, although she internally laughed at Jack's ruffled shirt, which did not match with the lower part of his kimono.

" _There is so much for us to talk about. I have never seen anyone like you in these parts before. I hear you are a great warrior. Will you help us in our quest to rid this world of evil?"_

Pondering it, Jack, who already knew the answer, enthusiastically answered, "yes!"

He did say, however, "with all the magical powers in a place like this, including those held by your daughter, and Adora, have you constructed a time portal of some kind? I would very much like to get back to my time and place to defeat Aku, the manifestation of evil incarnate."

She hesitated, describing how all of their resources were being used to defend from attacks by the Horde, including the powers manifested in the 10-member Princess Alliance, and that they couldn't afford, to use their resources, at the time, to build an inter-dimensional time portal.

Furthermore, she lamented, "Entrapta would be the perfect person to help you with constructing such a device, but...," she sighed, "she is now working with the Horde, bringing her technology genius and inventor abilities to the side of evil."

On a more positive note, for Jack, she told him: "our spies inside the Horde have indicated that the Supreme Leader of the Horde, Lord Hordak, is building a portal, likely with the help of Entrapta. Perhaps it is a time portal."

Despite this peaking Jack's interest, she cast doubt on any possible effort to get to the portal, noting that the princesses were playing a fundamentally defensive role and were not on the offensive. She also reminded him that the princesses barely escaped alive when they attempted a mission to rescue her daughter who had been kidnapped by the Horde.

Accepting this reality, Jack fretted, "even with this opportunity closed to me, I will still help you defeat evil in your land," while he optimistically told her, "perhaps, when the war with the Horde is over, then such a portal can be built through the use of powers wielded by all that are all good and righteous, even if a tech genius is on the side of evil."
Chapter Two: A Light of Disappointment

Adora laughed like a howling hyena. She then chuckled a little more.

"You look ridiculous in such a mis-matched outfit. Take these instead," throwing Jack a cloak like the one Glimmer had given her to wear when she first came to Bright Moon.

"It's a shock that Glimmer's mom even took you seriously!" and continued laughing to herself. Jack responded defensively.

" _It's not that bad! I've worn worse, like the time I went into a rave to stop Aku from corrupting the minds of children. I sure looked silly then!"_

While no one else knew what in the world he was talking about, they did not want to embarrass themselves in front of their new friend, so they stayed silent.

They only partially understood the message on Bow's tracker pad. Adora hoped a purplish-blue holographic persona, Light Hope, created by the First Ones to be the facilitator of Etheria, who seemed to be family-oriented and peaceful, could help them solve this conundrum. It was a long shot because Light Hope had chastised Adora for not following her orders. She had also angered Adora by saying that she should be dedicated to restoring balance to Etheria, and heal the planet, rather than trying to help her friends, arguing that her emotional attachments were dangerous and would pull her down. In some ways, Light Hope resembled Shadow Weaver. Both tried to manipulate her, although by this time, she was wise to such manipulation and would not accept it. Even so, she reassured herself that their quest intertwined with the duty of She-Ra, which she could embody when her friends were in danger or needed help.

They continued their journey deep into the Whispering Woods. Since they strangely encountered no hostile demons and creatures, they were soon upon the site of a mysterious structure, built by the First Ones. It had a glimmering beacon on top, shining on those below. The decrepit looking structure, the Crystal Castle, was clearly more than it seemed from a first glance, serving as a headquarters, of sorts, for She-Ra, although Adora didn't like going there often. It also served as a dimensional crossing, although only certain beings could go through dimensions. Adora led the way, opening the passageway into the castle itself. She shouted, "For the Honor of Grayskull!" transforming into She-Ra. Not long after, she met Light Hope, who had been awaiting her arrival since her last visit. In preparation, Bow handed her his tracker pad with the constellation, while everyone else stood patiently while she quizzed Light Hope.

" _What does this message mean? Me and my friends have been trying to figure it out, even going to the temple in the Crimson Waste, to no avail."_

In a halting, computer-like tone, Light Hope told her:

" _That constellation was named by the First Ones, who came from another world. They used it to guide their ships while peopling this world and it marks a dramatic event. This happened before Maura stranded the Etheria and its moons in the dimension of Despondos."_

With delight, she responded by arguing that a dramatic event was now. Still, the question lingered about the specifics of a "dramatic event." Did the event have positive or negative consequences or a mix of both? As would be expected, Light Hope did not give any further information but only wanted Adora to continue her training and stay there. She continued to pressure Adora even when she asked if any of the First Ones were still alive. Not wanting to do this, she readied herself to leave and transform into her usual form as Adora, she had one more question, reminding herself of Jack's predicament.

" _Is there an inter-dimensional time travel portal on Etheria?"_

Once again, in a robotic way, Light Hope responded.

" _No current portals exist at this present time, but one is being built on the land of Etheria and is shrouded by evil."_

This intrigued Adora. She continued with deep interest.

" _Shrouded by evil? What do you mean?"_

Light Hope explained. While her vision inside the Fright Zone was clouded, she could see Entrapta's thoughts, she constant thinking about how to improve a portal built with Hordak's help, using this to hammer home her point that emotional attachments removed her from her role as She-Ra. Adora ignored the latter and took away one bit of information: the Horde wanted to get its hands on First One technology for their nefarious purposes.

These revelations disturbed everyone. A portal? Entrapta working with Hordak? Why was Entrapta working to turn the lightness of the world into darkness? Did she have no conscience of her own? From what Bow and Glimmer had told her earlier, that she seemed happy in the Fright Zone, having lots of resources, advanced technology, and everything else, so what Light Hope told her confirmed her worst fears. With this answer, Adora turned around and walked out of the castle, with everyone else following, dismayed at what she had learned.

They had more questions than answers, especially when it came to the portal and the reason the First Ones had disappeared. Clearly, they had powerful technology that allowed them to send holographic images into outer space. This made it a possible that a previous technology killed off them off, although they had a unique language only a few could read, making it effectively dead. However, the First Ones could have, as easily, decided to colonize another nearby world, leaving Etheria in the dust. This meant their trip had not been worth it as much as they had hoped. It was lucky no one else has tried to speak to Light Hope, since it would have set off alarms and triggered a self-defense mechanism of the castle itself, which had left Adora fighting for her life on at least two occasions in the past. They didn't need that to happen again.

As they journeyed onward, Jack thanked Adora, for asking about the dimensional portal. He lamented the trip had not been more fruitful, not giving them the details everyone else had hoped and longed for. Still, he was pleased to get a second confirmation that such a portal existed and wanted to go into the Fright Zone himself and use it. Bow, Glimmer, and Adora warned him to not do this. Instead they convinced him to go to the private library of Bow's dads, Lance and George. They would look at the library's collections on Serenia, while they would try and figure out what the message meant. Jack could, Bow suggested, ask about dimensional portals, something that library probably had information on, since they had vast collections.

Of course, visiting the library would not help Bow, Glimmer, and Adora fully comprehend the message, but it served as the best opportunity for them to figure out what it meant on short notice. Even though Etheria had multiple kingdoms, such as Bright Moon, Plumeria, Salineas, Dryl, Kingdom of Snows, and Mystacor, and various villages and towns like Elberon, Thaymor, and Alwyn, along with the Fright Zone, the main base of the Horde and its armies, no all-encompassing archives or repository of knowledge existed. An archives needed to be built, without a question, but the time for that to happen would be after the demise and defeat of the Horde, since a showdown between the Rebellion and the Horde was inevitable. In the meantime, the world's knowledge had been scattered, making it extremely hard for anyone to access.

After the disappointing time at the Crystal Castle, Adora internally questioned herself. It was part of the emotional strain she faced daily especially as the "guardian" or "hope" of the Rebellion. She did not see herself worthy to hold the Sword of Protection and become She-Ra. After all, not only had Bow and Glimmer been captured in the past, but Entrapta had been left behind, when they thought she died in a fiery explosion, and defected to the Horde. She also thought of Catra, who felt Adora had betrayed her by leaving the Fright Zone and joining the Rebellion, ultimately leading her to be part of the evil they were fighting. Light Hope seemed less of a form of hope but rather a light of disappointment. Adora knew that the human protocol of Light Hope was outdated, not running at full-capacity, and that a less-than-inspirational protocol existed. But this didn't help. In frustration, she threw down the sword and fell to the ground, crying, muttering about how she had failed all of them, most of all, herself. While Glimmer was often short-tempered, stubborn, and impulsive, this outburst disturbed her. It unrivaled anything she had ever seen, even worse than what had happened before the Battle of Bright Moon. If it kept up, she worried that She-Ra would not be able to help fight off the Horde and the Princess Alliance would shatter apart, something she had worked so hard to build. While their new friend, Jack, clearly held the mantle of a determined warrior, he wasn't She-Ra. As such, Adora's inability to fight would be a huge loss for the Rebellion.

Glimmer smiled.

" _Adora, it isn't your fault we don't know everything about the message. We will keep trying and questing to figure out what it means."_

Further comforting her, she cheerfully pointed something out.

" _Light Hope did answer your questions, even the one on time travel. While her answers were inadequate, they are still a starting point!"_

Bow jumped in.

" _No matter what Light Hope told you, be strong and persevere. We can't stop now, not when our quest is just beginning. Not when..."_

He paused.

" _We have so many battles left to fight! Best friend squad to the rescue!"_

Even Jack came in and tried to comfort her, as he had with other beings during his travels across Earth, trying to escape the clutches of Aku. While often stoic, he was no stranger to emotion or comforting lost souls.

With all this encouragement, Adora wiped the tears off her face and quickly stood up.

" _What Light Hope said still concerns me, as does the video we saw in the Crimson Waste, but it won't stop me in my quest to learn the truth about this message and She-Ra."_

"It is," she shouted, "my DESTINY!"

To comfort herself, she looked at Jack, whose ruffled shirt waved in the wind, since his cloak had been carried away by the wind, and let out a hearty laugh. Bow and Glimmer joined her, joking about Jack's silly shirt.

"You know," she smiled, "I could sew part of a kimono for you, using my magic powers, since our play fight ripped it."

This puzzled Jack. She continued.

" _My sword can turn into other objects, like a pitcher, lasso, flute, cup, chain mace, and shield. Some are more useful than others."_

She then delivered the final punch line, like the end of a good joke.

" _So why can't I turn it into a magic sewing needle?"_

Humbled, Jack described how he, after rough fights, would find the appropriate materials, and repair his kimono to its normal, un-ripped, unaltered state.

" _That's no matter. I could still put it together with magic or...at least I'll try."_

Bow warned her of what had happened when she tried to heal Glimmer, arguing the same could happen again, leading to another failure.

Considering Bow's plea, Adora posed a compromise. She would turn her sword into a magic sewing needle, but Jack would sew his own kimono, been made of silk and satin. Like an apparition, a set of silkworms, who could secret a strong, fibrous, and elastic material, as did a set of spiders, appeared on nearby trees, spinning a filamentous and silky material. Seeing the opportunity to prove herself useful once again, Adora shouted, "For the Honor of Grayskull!" turning her sword into a magical sewing needle, which exuded good will and positivity. Jack would use the surrounding silk to reconstruct the top half of his kimono. He knew that silk was the most desired product for such a garment, although others used hemp, linen, satin, or even cotton. It didn't seem to be worth mentioning this fact because it would confuse his newfound friends more, since none of those plants existed on this world.

Since She-Ra's powers only lasted briefly when she was not holding her sword or a weapon transformed from the sword, Jack had to act quickly. In no time at all, he sewed the whole upper part of the kimono. Bowing to her, he handed her the magical needle, which she transformed back into a sword, and quickly put the sword in a sheath on her back, after she turned into original form of Adora. Bow and Glimmer looked at Jack's new and improved kimono, like his old one, with the same style. They were in awe, realizing he emanated the energy of a great warrior, just like Adora did when she was She-Ra.

Unlike Glimmer, Bow, and Adora, Jack's clothes gave him relative mobility and ability to change depending on the circumstances. In the past, he had changed his clothes to blend into the light, turned his kimono into a sail to carry him upwards, and created clothes for a desert environment. While his choice of a kimono made his clothing much more traditional in his dress than anyone else, it did not mean they respected him less, or vice versa.

With that, Bow proposed following through on what they had discussed earlier: journeying to the private library of his dads. They could look at what the library had on Serenia, Mara, and inter-dimensional travel. While Glimmer grumbled, they all agreed to continue the quest to the wonderful place of learning and self-discovery willingly. After all, the library would probably have the right information that fulfilled their needs, like other libraries in that dimension, and others, a major part of effectively serving their users. This time, the excursion would not be clouded through deceit by Bow to his friends and his parents. It would be, in some ways, an adventure. Taking inspiration from his favorite sea captain, Sea Hawk, Bow exclaimed "Onward to Knowledge!" while Glimmer rolled her eyes.
Chapter Three: The Library of the Whispering Woods

They soon approached the library, relatively hidden in the Whispering Woods, awed by its imposing presence. In fact, if you hadn't visited it before, you likely wouldn't find it, creating a sort of catch-22. It was surrounded by blueish trees and blue vines which covered part of the front façade. The stone structure was a mix of dark to light purple, accompanied by ornate architecture. Its designs could have been derived from the First Ones, Bow's dads, or part of his extended family. Approaching the front entrance, a grand tower dominated, looking like ivory, making clear it represented the pinnacle of knowledge. They had come to this library because of its collection of artifacts and writings of the First Ones, the largest in Etheria, making it an essential resource. Miraculously, the library had never been found, even when the Horde's armies went across the Whispering Woods unimpeded, when it froze over after Entrapta had "hacked" the Black Garnet runestone and tinkered with the planet's delicate balance. Perhaps, like Mystacor, it had been shielded from outside view, but that seemed unlikely.

Bow, with Glimmer, Adora, and Jack beside him, knocked on the door. Lance, Bow's dad, enthusiastically answered, telling them to "please come in!" He had a darker skin-complexion than his son, Bow, a shade of milk chocolate brown skin, and mid-length black dreadlocks. He wore glasses, a white robe, a mauve purple blouse, a burgundy sash, and white socks inside his sandals. His partner, George, who had short closely cropped black hair (which was greying) and a well-groomed mustache, sat by the hearth. He also wore a tunic with a heart motif and apparently had tattoo saying "lunch" in the writing of the First Ones on his left arm. He was, apart from being Bow's other dad, shorter than Lance and had a slightly lighter skin-complexion, a skin shade of browned caramel. This family library, with two levels, had couches to sit on, showing its hospitality to visitors and researchers. The first floor had exhibit pieces, some books, artifacts, and other items, with lights hanging down from the ceiling. The second floor, which could be accessed by climbing either of the curved stairs from the first floor, held most of the materials, even ancient weapons, which were kept for historical purposes. The library, damaged by the elemental monster released during their last visit, when Adora whispered the password (Eternia), still seemed to be in a state of repair.

As they entered, George welcomed them. He offered them drinks and food. Everyone but Jack declined his offer. Like had in the past, he asked for some hot water, so he could have a soup of sorts, using a mix he had inside his kimono. Lance then re-entered, asking them to leave their weapons outside the library's main hall, and then inquired why they had come. Bow carefully talked about how they had gone to a temple built by the First Ones in the Crimson Waste, finding out more about the message on his tracker pad. While Lance grimaced, reminding them that they shouldn't have ventured there, he was glad they were alright. Bow explained that he had downloaded information from the temple's computer system, including a message showing a baby girl looking like Adora, before she had been taken by the Horde, and featured those who looked to be her parents. Fascinated, Lance retrieved a video projector. Near the fire, where George heated up water in a pot, he asked Jack about himself, interested to meet Bow's friends. Jack told him about his arrival in Etheria through a portal of sorts by accident. He wanted to go back in time but was transported through dimensions instead! Intrigued, he asked Jack where he was from, and how he ended up with Bow, Glimmer, and Adora. He recounted his encounter with them in the Crimson Waste and the short play fight with Adora (as She-Ra), after wish he joined them in their quest to rid Etheria of evil, to turn darkness into light.

Taking a break from talking to Jack, George unveiled the library's catalog. He cheerfully told them how the library once had a paper catalog but now used a digital system which could be accessed on a computer. With new items being acquired and added to the library's collections again and again, it necessitated a different system of organization. With a digital system, it was easier to find relevant items, rather than relying on their own memories, which were fallible. During the last visit by Glimmer, Adora, and Bow, Lance and George had been able to tell them where the materials on Serenia had been located. They could only do this because, as some of the most prominent scholars of the First Ones in all Etheria, they had studied the subject of Serenia extensively. As two gay historians who lived in this giant, beautiful library, they were not alone in this endeavor. Bow's 12 other siblings were also historians. Since the library's collections were easily searchable, those like Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, all relatively familiar with such technology, could easily access the records, even though they came from different walks of life. Even Jack could use the catalog, despite a learning curve for him when it came to technology.

Lance explained the reason why he and George wanted Bow to take over the library when they retired. He chuckled.

" _You young people have a better knack for technology than old geezers like us!"_

He explained his thinking. He surmised that Bow would know how to use technology better than them. While noting that they both took a neutral stance in the ongoing conflict, he acknowledged they both still accepted Bow's choice of fighting for the rebellion as supportive parents and were making other arrangements for the library's future. Smiling, he remarked that Bow could work on the library's system while there. Pausing yet again, he asked himself what he had been doing. George reminded him he was getting a projector to show the video watched by these weary travelers when they were in the Crimson Waste temple.

Turning on the projector, and connecting it to the tracker pad, he began watching the video on a huge screen. He immediately noticed something. It wasn't the resemblance of the baby to Adora, having the same eyes and hair, the dress design of the woman who held the baby, or the man holding the laser rifle. Instead it was a message on the screen behind the woman. Zooming in, he could see the following message:

SUBJECT: ADORA EROS

AGE: 12 DAYS

BIRTHPLACE: ETERNIA

Lance dated the video to November 15th, noting it was 17 or 18 years old, from his knowledge of Etheria's history. He already knew the word "Adora" meant someone who was adored, beloved, or a gift, and the word "Eros" meant strong in some languages. In conjunction, this meant she would be a strong and beloved person, clearly well-named by her parents.

Considering Lance's finding, this would mean Adora's parents were not First Ones. They would have come, with her, from outside the world, settling in Etheria, maybe even crash-landing on the planet by accident. This shocked Adora, even though she had the realization she knew all this, somehow, already. For her, the connection to Light Hope and the visions she had after touching the Sword of Protection, made more sense now, than ever, although it did raise the question of how she could even wield the sword if she wasn't a First One.

This video, on its own, did not help them decode the message on Bow's tracker pad. However, the library had many resources available they could use to get further information. In this library, nothing was excluded regardless of the background, origin, or beliefs leading to the item's creation. Lance smiled. He clicked a few buttons and cross-referenced the people in the video with items in the library's video archives. He found a match, not for Adora or her parents, but rather for the flower patterns on the dress worn by the woman in the video. They were the same ones found painted on the sides of the ships piloted by the First Ones which had been recovered after their crash onto Etheria. Could this mean there was a relation between Adora's parents and the First Ones, a sort of ancestral link? It seemed to be an inevitable and made clear previously unknown history of Etheria: waves of settlement from other planets not just by the First Ones but by others, which could be called the Second Ones, Third Ones, and so on.

This wasn't an unexpected revelation. Lance, like George, knew the First Ones had settled Etheria over 1,000 years before, coming on spaceships from another planet. There were many historical gaps from then to the present. While many records had been destroyed during the awful, bloody war between Etherians and the Horde, the evidence of colonization by the First Ones was clear. The library's materials included writings from the First Ones, those fighting the Horde, and Horde soldiers themselves. Like any good library, it had information which presented all points of view and cooperated with all peoples who resisted restrictions on free expression and access to ideas. But this also meant any creature would be allowed to use the library, no matter their background, age, views, or other characteristics. As such, exhibits and other rooms were available to all equitably, regardless of the affiliations or beliefs of those who wanted to use them. This was the real reason the library had not been destroyed by the Horde. As much as they wanted to crush the Rebellion, the knowledge within the library was helpful to them as well, which they used for their own evil and nefarious uses. As a result, the library was, in some senses, neutral ground. But, of course, no institution can be truly neutral. The fact Bow fought for the Rebellion made his dads think of scrapping neutrality altogether.

Deep into the topic, Lance then turned to Adora.

" _What do you think of all of this?"_

She didn't know how to respond, as it was a lot to take in. On the other hand, she wanted to know more about her past, something Shadow Weaver had previously told and convinced her had no importance, emphasizing her upbringing in the Fright Zone and nothing else.

"While I still have to process this more," Adora sheepishly remarked, "I want to learn more, about where I come from. Otherwise, I'm nothing better than a former Horde soldier with a magic sword!"

Her shouts echoed across the library's rooms. While she came to this realization, Jack remembered his past, the evils of Aku, who had burned his hometown, and his loving parents who he would never see again. He shed a tear, touched by Adora's desire to learn about her past, even though he had traveled much further on his quest to defeat Aku.

Glimmer, who had been patient this whole time, was getting restless.

" _Ugh, not more learning. We came here to get answers! I still have a lot of questions!"_

George, who had been talking with Jack up to this point, came in and comforted her.

" _I know you have a lot of questions, but with the information we have inside the walls of this great library, you can have them answered."_

As a corollary, he smiled and added, "we are both here not to answer your questions but to help you find the answers to them, to continue the quest for knowledge."

The organization and access to the library materials proved him right. Some materials, in their diverse and inclusive collections, that certain people on Etheria would have considered objectionable, were included, allowing for all sides of a query, allowing specific information needs to be fulfilled. Every year, or whenever necessary, the library's collections were reviewed, with obsolete and decaying materials disposed of in a way befitting archival institutions, if they had existed in Etheria. However, when material was acquired, added to the library's collections, it was not altered in any way, shape or form. Furthermore, the materials were organized by subject, although such organization did not imply endorsement of the contents within. Unlike other locations, there were no meeting rooms, but rather there were spaces for further contemplation and study, both of which were freely and openly available.

Open exchange of knowledge was a primary goal of Bow's dads. They were not only historians but librarians, specifically for this special library, with features which would, in another universe, apply to an archives. Their open public access catalog and other technology continued to be improved but adequately ensured the accessibility of the library's collections to current and future users. George and Lance were big champions of access to information and materials in an equitable manner, although the community they served was relatively insular: it mostly consisted of their immediate family. Still, the library's collections were relatively diverse in terms of language and culture, while the difficult and oppressive histories of the materials preserved and collected were fully recognized. They were not as aware of differences between themselves and those their library was serving, since Bow's 12 brothers were all historians. Even so, they reflected on their choices and decisions daily, building upon previous family relationships in order to ensure the library was meeting their needs. While they were invested emotionally in their work, they didn't always have a smile on their faces, as they were, at times, frustrated. Like anyone else, they could, at times, be burned out and become tired, not always enjoying their work all the time.

Lance was especially interested in doing an oral history interview with Adora. He saw it as a perfect chance to not only learn about the First Ones but the powers of She-Ra. As a self-taught historian, like his partner, he had become skilled in conducting oral histories, interviewing peoples of Etheria in the past. Turning to Adora and filled with delight, he encouraged her to answer a few questions. Unsure of his goals, his argument convinced her: her story would help those in the future who wanted to know about She-Ra. As she began to follow Lance to a side room on the library's first floor for the interview, she ran to the table where the Sword of Protection was sitting, grabbed it, and then rejoined him. All the contents of the interview would stay in confidence, only revealed upon her death. In the meantime, Bow, Glimmer, and Jack gathered around the fireplace with George, who lamented their search at the library may have not been as fruitful or productive as it should have been. However, he added, they could all form the "best research squad" and look through the library's holdings for answers! Clearly, this library was, in its own way, a magical space with never-ending potential and promise. It made the visit there seem like a quest, even though it wasn't as dangerous, unlike the rest of the Whispering Woods. Instead it was a repository of knowledge which could help them all find answers.

Using the catalog, George brought together all the items on "Mara," "Serenia," and "constellations," and put them on the nearby table. While some claimed Adora was the sole person who could read First Ones writing, this supposition didn't ring true. George and Lance could read them too, although not as well. To them, the language of the First Ones wasn't dead but alive and well, although this wasn't the case across Etheria. Jack wasn't sure how this would help him. He just wanted a portal so he could go back to his time and place so he could defeat Aku, something he had been striving for years upon years. Antsy, he wanted to run off to the Fright Zone to use the portal Light Hope had talked about. Just as when he wanted to leave, while Bow and Glimmer went through the materials George had brought before them, frustrated they couldn't put the message together, a book was put down on the table in front of him, titled _Dimensional Travel for the Weary_. George cackled.

" _This is one of my favorite books. I forgot to bring it out earlier. Hopefully it had information which you can use to return to your own time and place."_

Jack learned some poignant truths about dimensional travel. He read about how the previous She-Ra had, without telling anyone, stranded Etheria and its surrounding moons in a desolate dimension of Desparado, almost destroying the planet in the process. The authors wrote about how no one knew why she engaged in this reckless act, but speculated she wanted to desperately save the planet from the Horde, although this strategy wasn't successful. As a result of this action, Light Hope separated She-Ra from the Sword of Protection and sentenced her to spend the rest of her life as an ordinary Etherian, named Maura, never allowing her to hold the sword ever again. Even though Jack enjoyed learning this backstory, he really wanted to know about how someone could go between different dimensions. He turned to a chapter titled "The basics of dimensional travel." It explained that while you could time travel within one dimension, with the proper technology, dimensional travel was trickier, as it required going across various universes, which may have different conditions. As a result, such travel had never been attempted since the First Ones, Etheria's first settlers, had come to the planet many years ago.

Meanwhile, George, Glimmer, and Bow continued to search through the library's items. While Glimmer and Bow couldn't read First Ones writings, they organized the similar-looking items together, the least they could do, with George translating what he could. This whole exercised annoyed Bow since he was a fighter, a warrior, and an inventor, not a scholar. Glimmer felt similarly and grew more impatient. Both felt uneasy when they heard Adora shouting, "For the Honor of Greyskull!" through the walls.

George, through his patient and understanding demeanor, kept them on track. He then had an a-ha moment. He found a scroll which explained partly what Serenia meant: it was the name of a First One who built the planet's supercomputer, naming it M.A.R.A. Right nearby was a scroll which named this acronym: Memory Adapter & Realtime Array, from what he could make out. While it was a clunky name, several questions were answered: the message the tracker pad had intercepted could be a transmission from the remaining parts of this computer. Bow and Glimmer realized the Crimson Waste temple and Crystal Castle housed parts of this computer!

Even though they were not making this connection, the holographic persona of Light Hope, tasked to be the facilitator of Etheria, was clearly only one manifestation of the computer's programming. Little did they know, but Entrapta had more knowledge on the subject than them! Even before she had joined the Horde, her research of the First One's technology made it clear the computer had been horribly damaged in the past, even though she was not aware that the actions of Maura, the previous She-Ra, caused it to happen. Therefore, she was aware of further deposits of the First One's technology across the planet. Hordak, on the other hand, cared little about this history, but rather saw Entrapta as a way to acquire this ancient technology, improve their weapons, and conquer the Rebellion once and for all, ensuring the planet was under control of the Horde, without anyone else getting in the way. After all, he hailed from another planet and came to Etheria many years ago from a planet known as Horde Prime. But he had been stranded on Etheria when the previous She-Ra had moved the planet through the dimensions, moving it away from his home world. He hoped to return to Horde Prime, with the inter-dimensional portal, bring in reinforcements, and crush the Rebellion in a decisive blow. Due to his disappointment with Catra's failures in the past, he kept this plan secret from her. Rather, he would lead the strengthened force against the Rebellion himself.

Adora re-entered the main room of the library, laughing as Lance stood beside her. She was dressed in her usual garb, although she held the Sword of Protection in her right hand, which had been transformed into a gold cup with a runestone, drinking what seemed to be a sensual herbal tea. Like Adora, he also held a mug, full of the same type of tea, in his hand. Bow and Glimmer were surprised by the camaraderie between them, but continued organizing the materials in front of them, even though they had no idea what she and Lance talked about in private. Lance asked George what they had found out. Excitedly, George told him about the M.A.R.A. computer, the person who built it, and the origin of the message itself. This brought up the obvious question: where was the mainframe of this computer and where had the message, which they received, been transmitted from? Adora jumped in, explaining how they had gone to an abandoned outpost in the Whispering Woods, broadcasting holographic greetings from the First Ones, and that the message appeared on Bow's pad afterwards. But she couldn't think of anything more, so the message continued to be shrouded in mystery.

As the sun began setting, Bow and Glimmer stood up, ready to go, tired of categorizing items, a hapless task as they saw it. For them, the library had given them enough of an answer to move on to the next part of their quest. While George and Lance were dismayed, they reminded Bow and Glimmer that weary souls such as themselves would be welcomed at the library with open arms in the future. Adora smiled, promising she would return in order to learn more about She-Ra. Having nowhere else to go, Jack decided to join them. Being gracious, he left the book about dimensional travel on the table where George had originally put it.

Bow, Glimmer, Adora, and Jack said their goodbyes. They would quest onward, although they were not sure where they would go next. Their task was to use the information they learned to help the people of Etheria defeat the evil Horde from conquering the planet. While it was time to rest and relax in a place apart from this special family library, the spookiness of the Whispering Woods and future dilemmas awaited them...
Chapter Four: Jack and the Magical Portal

As Jack, Bow, Glimmer, and Adora walked through the spooky Whispering Woods, they hoped what they had learned at the library run by Bow's dads could help Etheria. Unfortunately, it was nighttime so they had little hope they could help anyone, anywhere at that time. While they wanted to rest and relax, it seemed unlikely with the trials and tribulations ahead of them.

Suddenly, a tremor shook the ground and cracks started forming. They all ran in terror, quickly out of the Whispering Woods. Jack, unlike the others, had a sense that these tremors came from the opening of the portal. He ran in the direction that his sense, his inner compass directed him: the Fright Zone, where tremors were the strongest. This place, which existed in a barren wasteland, full of pollution and broken-down machines, comprised mainly of technology, looking unnatural compared to the rest of the planet. Bow, Glimmer, and Adora shrieked as they saw him running this direction. They warned him to slow down, but he would not stop. They could not stop him in his quest to return to Earth and defeat Aku once and for all.

When they finally caught up with him, they couldn't find him anywhere, meaning that he had gone deep into the Fright Zone itself. This concerned Adora, who knew the Fright Zone the best, as she had grown up there.

_"Where did Jack go? It's not safe for him here! If they capture him, its game over! They could manipulate him and turn him against us. It would be an utter tragedy."_

Although going into the Fright Zone made her uncomfortable, she agreed with Bow and Glimmer that they had no other choice. After all, friends stick together, through thick and thin. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time to form a plan, angering Adora without question. She wished there was someone there who understood her need for organization and order, even as a fighter of the Rebellion. While Bow and Glimmer did fulfill these characteristics, she would meet such a person but not until sometime in the future when they accidentally arrived in Bright Moon with their group of friends. However, the need to delve on what could be rather than the reality wasn't a luxury they could afford at the present.

Jack ran breakneck speed through the Fright Zone, able to knock aside the guards with his magical sword. They stood no chance against him. Soon enough he reached Hordak's inner sanctum, as some liked to call it, with the strongest tremors of any room within the Fright Zone itself. As he entered, Entrapta, the princess who had joined the Horde, greeted him with a friendly, and warm, smile, with Hordak nowhere in sight.

_"Hello, fellow traveler, what brings you here?"_

Jack explained how he had accidentally come to Etheria through a portal, which had sent him across dimensions, but that he had meant to go back in time. Entrapta told him that this was "fascinating" and remarked that he must have been the being she detected as arriving in the Crimson Waste a few days ago. It intrigued her that Jack came from another world and she wanted him to tell her "everything."

As Jack began to tell her his life story, respecting her as an intelligent, although hyperactive, person who was kind to everyone she met, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer burst into the room. They told Jack not to listen to her, reminding him that she was on the side of evil and may have no conscience whatsoever. While they said that, Entrapta began speaking about what she had discovered about the First One's technology, telling them she was aware of the existence of a computer system which had been created by the First Ones. Each of them nodded in agreement to Entrapta and she told them, as she had said in the past, that she was happy in the Fright Zone and had no reason to return to Dryl or join the princesses. This obviously dismayed Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, but they still accepted her choice, even though they profoundly disagreed with it.

Jack wasn't moved by the pleas of Adora, Bow, and Glimmer that Entrapta embodied the evil they were fighting. He saw a kind, but lonely, 30-year-old woman who had a positive outlook on life, dedicated to pursuing knowledge and discovery through her experiments and research. It filled him with joy to meet someone thrilled with learning new information, although she seemed a bit obsessive in this process. Even so, he could see that such dedication would lead to a disregard of morality, meaning she didn't recognize that her work could hurt others. In a thundering voice, he told the rest of them his intentions and why he had come there.

_"This woman created a portal which I will use to go across dimensions and back in time to defeat Aku. What issues you have with her is your business. I see an opportunity and I am going to take it!"_

Entrapta gladly appreciated the enthusiasm but his intention to use the portal concerned her. The portal was nowhere near complete and it had a high potential of error in the process of dimensional, or even time, travel. In a distressed tone, she directly addressed Jack.

_"I appreciate you would like to use the portal I made, but it is not ready. The possibility of error is astronomical. I recommend you do not use this portal and find some other way to get home. I'm sorry I cannot help you, Jack."_

Stubborn as ever, Jack insisted on using it. Entrapta felt a sense of obligation to help this fellow traveler despite her reservations about the safety of the portal itself. Adora, Bow, and Glimmer screamed in terror as the portal opened, throwing them across the room. There was nothing they could do to stop Jack from using it, despite their best efforts. If the portal tore him torn apart into 1,000 tiny pieces, all they could do was watch in horror. They felt that his determination had got the better of him and that rationality had completely slipped his mind.

Jack stepped into the portal and wished them all goodbye, bowing and telling Adora, Bow, and Glimmer that their good deed of helping him since he arrived in the Crimson Waste would not be forgotten. The portal whirred and he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Afterwards, speakers nearby let out a harsh and horrid warning sound. Something had gone wrong, and Bow asked her what had happened.

_"Entrapta, what is happening to the portal? Can it be stopped? Is Jack ok?"_

She lamented that nothing could be done other than shutting down the whole portal, which would be dangerous since Jack hadn't finished traveling through the dimensional gateway. She noticed a major error: the portal continued to transport Jack through dimensions, but the ability for time travel wasn't working. While she couldn't predict where he would end up, she guessed it wouldn't be Earth, but would be somewhere else.

Little did Entrapta know but the portal had tapped into a channel of sorts from Etheria to Homeworld, where the Diamonds lived out their lives. These overlords were still shaken from what had transpired when Steven and the other Gems had come to change their minds, forcing decisions on them they wouldn't have made otherwise. Jack was thrown out of the portal and into the Diamond throne room, with Yellow, Pink, and White Diamond looking at him with interest. At this point, Entrapta had closed the portal on her side, so he had no chance to go back to Etheria. Jack stood before three giant beings on another planet foreign to him.

As he looked up at the Diamonds with terror, White Diamond, the most domineering of them, opened her mouth to speak. She wanted to know why he had come there.

_"Starlight, what brings you to our chambers? We were not expecting a visitor here so soon after our last ones left with a bang."_

He told them how he used a portal on a distant planet, hoping it would send him across dimensions, and back in time. But that clearly failed, as the portal had malfunctioned, sending him there. As he stood before them, the Diamonds announced that they had to excuse themselves, but would be back in a minute.

In private, White, Blue, and Yellow didn't know what to do. Blue had an idea: contact Steven, a human-gem hybrid with Pink Diamond's gem, since they were all family. They readied their transmission and broadcast it to Earth.

Back on Earth, Steven felt his Diamond communicator, which the Diamonds had given to him after they had healed the corrupted Gems, vibrating. As he opened it, a video message by Blue Diamond began playing.

_"Steven, sorry to disturb you, but a human arrived here on Homeworld. He calls himself Jack and tells us he wanted to go back in Earth to fight this being he called "Aku." We have no record of anything of the sort, so we hoped that if you found the portal he speaks of, the Diamond communicator we gave you could be used to triangulate its connection, so he can go back to where he belongs."_

Steven nodded in agreement and went back to his daily chores of cleaning up the wreckage from the Gem battle near Beach City after Garnet's wedding. He quickly forgot about this message and went on with the rest of his day.

Back on Homeworld, Yellow Diamond began asking Jack questions. Her interest, especially, was in the distant planet he spoke of. She saw it as a problem that should be dealt because others could come through such a portal, meaning this problem needed to be nipped in the bud. Jack turned to her, talking about where he had been.

_"Just my arrival here, I accidentally came to Etheria through a sort of dimensional drift. The armies of evil, calling themselves the Horde, had recruited this woman, who was technologically savvy, to build them a portal, new weapons, and technologies. They were fighting against this group of princesses and other rebels, who were trying to restore balance and order to the planet."_

White Diamond was intrigued. The names "Etheria" and "Horde" rang a bell. However, as she did not have a new Pearl since her Pink Pearl, formerly under her mind control, no longer served her. As such, White asked Blue for a favor, to ask her own Pearl to look up these words in the Diamond Authority Archives, DAA for short. She complied with this respect, with her Pearl, Blue Pearl, bowing before her, telling her: "My Diamond, I will do this task forthwith."

What she uncovered confirmed White's suspicions. Pink had reported on the planet years ago, describing it in detail, with entries not only about the abundant life there, in hopes that the planet become another one of her colonies, but noted an evil force called the Horde. Other records showed that the Horde knew about the Diamonds and had amassed a fleet near the planet of Horde Prime, searching planet after planet for the Diamonds so they could be the unquestioned conquerors of the universe. White, Blue, and Yellow were enraged. They would not allow such a force to one-up them and challenge their dominance. This force needed to be dealt with once and for all. Thanks to their efforts in conquering planets on their own, the Diamonds had their own impressive fleet of warships which could be easily readied for battle.

Even so, it seemed unlikely that Jack would fight alongside, or even lead, their forces. Using their powers, they all directed their energy at him, which he tried to block with his sword. But he failed. They were able to mind control him, meaning that he still could fight like an excellent samurai warrior but was under their control. Yellow Pearl, at the request of Yellow Diamond, remotely activated the Diamond communicator Steven had in his pocket. This device, little did Steven know, had been configured in such a way that when it passed through a portal, like the one Jack had gone through, the location of the Horde fleet would be revealed. While such a strategy did not have a sure chance of success, it seemed probable considering that the portal sat on Etheria. To ensure that Steven and his Gem friends would visit Etheria soon, they implanted a memory into Lion's mind so that he would warp them to Etheria next.

Once they had the location, the Diamond fleet could immediately warp their ships there and catch the Horde fleet by surprise, destroying it in one single blow. The threat to the Diamonds would be smashed and no one except themselves would know. This would not be something they would share with Steven because he would not only oppose it but would feel they hadn't really changed their minds. They would seem as power-hungry and imperialistic as ever, wanting to expand their empires without question. On the other hand, such a battle was, from the perspective of the Diamonds, an act of self-preservation rather an imperialist venture.

Back on Etheria, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer stood in front of Entrapta, demanding to know what had happened to Jack. She explained that he had arrived in another dimension, but it not Earth. By her calculations, she remarked, he was safe and sound, although he hadn't arrived where he wanted. They could hear Hordak's footsteps coming down the hallway. As the sounds of his shoes got closer, they told Entrapta that she couldn't tell Hordak about this under any circumstances. She agreed since it was a failed test and that revealing the portal's use for a purpose other than helping the Horde would cause Hordak to immediately distrust her, cutting her off from any supplies she needed in future experiments. In the nick of time, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer teleported out of Hordak's inner sanctum and into the hangar bay where the skiffs were kept. Without anyone noticing, they proceeded to steal a skiff, riding it to the edge of the Whispering Woods, exploding it to destroy evidence of their escape. From there, they set off to Bright Moon, so they could attend the upcoming war council meeting, where they would tell everyone else about Jack's disappearance while planning their next moves against the Horde.

In the Fright Zone, Hordak approached Entrapta, asking why she wasn't asleep at this late hour. She lied by omission, cheerfully talking about her progress on the portal and how it would soon be ready. Hordak smiled creepily and praised her for such work.

_"Thank you for sticking with this project. Soon, I hope, I will be able to send a message to Horde Prime so they can dispatch their fleet here. Then the Rebellion can be wiped out once and for all. I will be hailed as a hero by the rest of the Horde rather than an outcast and an upstart."_

Back in the Whispering Woods, Adora, Bow, and Glimmer continued walking until they were too tired. They fell asleep in a nearby clearing, resting for the night, and would continue their trek to Bright Moon the following day.

After waking up at an early hour, by mid-afternoon, as they continued to walk through the Whispering Woods, progress on the journey was swell. Not very far away was the sparkling kingdom of Bright Moon! They were just in time for the war council meeting to start! Bow and Adora walked into the room, beat from their journey. Sitting down in their chairs, each of them told everyone of Jack's disappearance and the existence of a portal in the Fright Zone. This worried Angella, especially, since Glimmer did not come with them into the room. As she readied her mouth to ask about her daughter, Glimmer ran in, recharged by the moonstone, excited for the meeting to start. Angella chided her daughter on such reckless behavior.

_"You were in the Fright Zone...again? You could have gotten hurt! You need to be more careful next time! The princesses can't always mount a rescue mission to save you...like they did last time...and even then, you were corrupted by Shadow Weaver!"_

Glimmer understood her mom's concern, hugging her, reassuring her she was OK. She turned around, telling everyone they needed to come with a plan to defeat the Horde once and for all. Little did anyone know, but soon a group of strangers would warp into the room from another planet, surprising them all, leading to a whole new set of adventures...
Chapter Five: The Crystal Gems Warp to Bright Moon

After their ordeal on Homeworld, Pearl, Amethyst, Steven, Lapis, Peridot, Connie, and Garnet were ready to collapse and rest. Convincing Blue, Yellow, and White Diamond, intergalactic imperialists, or dictators as Steven had called them, to heal the corrupted gems and change their entire system of governance was a deep emotional toll, and a physical one too. They planned a short trip to a surprise part of the planet for well-deserved relaxation using Lion, a black-eyed and pink furred mammal with a light-pink mane and a magenta-brown nose, who had been resurrected by Steven's mom, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond, just like Steven accidentally did for Lars, now a space captain with the Off Colors. Bismuth and the other un-corrupted gems would stay in Beach City to protect the Earth from possible threats.

Each of the Crystal Gems were unique in their own way. While Steven was a stocky 14-year-old boy with black eyes, curly dark hair, a salmon-pink T-shirt with a gold star in the center, cuffed blue jeans, and sandals the same color as his shirt, Amethyst, one of his guardians, was different. Close to Steven's height, with bright lilact skin, dark indigo eyes, and messy pale lavender hair that flowed down to her ankles, a large bang obscuring her left eye, she wore a black tank top opened in the chest to show her gemstone, dark mauve shorts with black stars, white-colored boots. In contrast, Garnet, a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, another guardian, had three eyes, colored medium ruby-red (on the right), medium sapphire blue (on the left), and reddish violet (in the center) covered by a half-star-shaped orange visor, a deep violet cube-shaped afro, purplish-red skin, and had her gemstones embedded in her palms. Another of Steven's guardians, Pearl, had a different physique from Steven, Amethyst, and Garnet. As a slender Gem with ivory-skin, sky-blue eyes, peach hair, and a pointed nose, she wore a cyan poofy blazer, with a yellow star on the back, covering a teal-blue top piece, indigo leggings, and light pink ballet flats. Her gemstone, which had its own form of internal organization, sat in the middle of her forehead.

There were a few other members of the Crystal Gems which were glad to join them in this quest for relaxation. One of them was Lapis Lazuli, a slim figure about Pearl's height, with cyan skin, cobalt blue hair at chin-length, with long bangs and a fringe covering her forehead, royal blue eyes, and a water droplet-shaped gemstone in her back, where her dark-blue water wings could emerge. She wore a blue-shaded backless halter crop tank top, dark blue puffy pants tied up with a bronze-gold ribbon, and sandals of a matching color. By her side, as a loyal friend, was Peridot, a lime-green skinned gem about as tall as Ruby or Sapphire, and only slightly above Steven's height. She had pale chartreuse hair in the shape of a tetrahedron, a bluish-gray tongue, an inverted-triangle gemstone in her forehead, a butterfly-shaped yellow visor, bright-green leggings with dark green stars on the knees, and pale chartreuse boots. Connie, Steven's friend and one of the members of the temporary "New Crystal Gems," or the "New Crystal Temps" as she had called it, with Lapis, Peridot, and Pumpkin, would stay by Steven's side, as a good and loyal friend, coming along on this quest, wherever it took them. A slim 13-year-old girl, with dark brown skin, black eyes, and dark brown puffy hair, in a chin-length bob with bangs, she sported a stylish dress and her father's pale brown jacket.

While the Crystal Gems planned to stay Earth-bound, Lion had other plans. He readied himself to warp them to another dimension, not far away, in a sense, from Earth itself. Steven spoke to Lion. "Lion, warp us out of here!" Soon, all seven of them were being warped by Lion, whose eyes and mane emitted a white glow. He knew of something they didn't: the Panama Wormhole, which could only be accessed by beings like himself. Legends said it led to a planet named Etheria, a place without stars. Although these stories were often derided as a cruel joke, they were true. Once they had reached the Panama Wormhole, which started on the Moon, he let the wormhole warp do its magic rather than using up his own energy. Steven realized something wasn't right since the warp was taking much longer than he had expected, but he couldn't do much of anything. They all screamed and landed on the floor with a thud. They were in Bright Moon, one of Etheria's many kingdoms, and the center of the Rebellion, although they did not know this at the time. This magical world shared almost nothing in common with Earth. The elemental runestones of the princesses they were about to meet were tied to the planet itself, grounding them there, limiting their ability to travel to other dimensions if they so choose, unlike their gemstones, which weren't tied to any specific planet.

Looking at Garnet, Steven, Connie, Lapis, Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot were the members of the Princess Alliance. Like they did every week, they were discussing their next move against the Horde, as part of their war council, and checking in on their progress, with Glimmer presenting a new plan to defeat the Horde. Their presence interrupted that. As such, she, Adora, Bow, Netossa, Spinnerella, Mermista, Frosta, Sea Hawk, Perfuma, and Swift Wind stared at these new (and unexpected) visitors with astonishment like they were party crashers. Frosta wanted to freeze them, Netossa readied her net to capture them, and Glimmer readied her magic to confuse them with her ability to distort light. Luckily for the Crystal Gems none of these actions came to pass because Perfuma felt differently.

" _Let us accept these unexpected visitors with open hearts. With love and understanding, we can solve anything. Let's all form a drum circle and hold hands, making love, not conflict."_

While the other princesses shook their heads in what seemed like "hippy-logic" to them, Steven nodded, since he would have said something similar. This means that Perfuma, without knowing it, acted like "the Steven" as Peridot had dubbed Connie in the past. Smiling, he introduced himself, explaining they had been brought to Bright Moon by accident, and that as the Crystal Gems they worked to defend Earth from evil attacks. Queen Angella, heading the table, with Castaspella beside her, considered this.

" _Very well, Crystal Gems, as you call yourself, you can be guests in this wonderful and beautiful Bright Moon castle."_

She paused and continued. "As prisoners!"

They were quickly escorted out of the room, into a separate area of the castle, before they could process this shocking turn of events and fight back against this brazen declaration. Angella tasked Adora, Bow, and Glimmer with the interrogation of the Crystal Gems.

Adora asked them what they knew, Glimmer threatened them with her magic, and Bow readied his bow and arrows, including a sonic arrow and an arrow with a grappling hook. No one wanted to answer them. Steven stepped forward.

" _Don't do this. We just want to go home and came here by accident. We don't want to cause you any trouble."_

Bow, taken in by this sympathy, realized the Crystal Gems didn't want conflict, but Adora and Glimmer were not convinced. Seeing the Gems as a threat, the cry of "For the Honor of Greyskull!" echoed across the room. Like she had time and time again in the past, Adora transformed into an eight-foot-tall warrior named She-Ra. The Crystal Gems were ready for anything Adora or Glimmer would throw at them. Adora went on the attack with the Sword of Protection. Energy blasts were fired across the room, most of which Steven blocked with his shield and others that hit the wall behind the Crystal Gems. Garnet fought back, able to block the sword's blows with her gauntlets, with Pearl at her side, using her pearlescent spear to jab at Adora. At the same time, Amethyst, easily tied up Glimmer with her whip, so she couldn't attack them with magic, while Lapis used her ability to control water to throw Glimmer against the hard-stone wall, making her dizzy with confusion. Peridot, with her power of levitation, ferrokinesis to be precise, trapped Bow under his metallic bow, moving him up the ceiling, where she held him. Connie joined in, fighting beside Pearl and Garnet, thrusting at She-Ra, overwhelming the eight-foot-tall warrior.

While the Crystal Gems were clearly winning, this fight dismayed Steven. His loud, and commanding, voice, resonated across the room.

" _Everyone, stop fighting! This isn't right! We need to understand and accept one another, not try and hurt each other. Let's be friends."_

The other Crystal Gems listened, withdrawing their weapons, with Bow gently let down to the floor by Peridot, Glimmer taken out of the grip of Amethyst's whip, and Adora putting away her sword, reverting out of the She-Ra form, while Connie put her sword, which had a golden pommel, purple hilt, a gold star emblem at the base of the crystalline pink blade, into its scabbard. Lapis, of all people tried to lighten the mood.

"You all have...unique fighting skills...but no wonder you haven't defeated the Horde...you are no crack security team," echoing Glimmer's description of herself and Bow after they had captured Adora, then a Force Captain for the Horde.

Even though she often didn't trust strangers when she met them, Lapis's true personality was extremely laid back, despite what you might believe. Letting out snort, then a laugh, she joked that their fighting skills would be better on the dance floor than on a battlefield.

Everyone came together and hugged each other. They weren't enemies. They were potential friends who could work together. After all, if Adora, Glimmer, and Bow could be friends, why couldn't the Crystal Gems be friends with them and vice versa? Adora and Glimmer were still skeptical but had calmed down. Adora came forward, apologizing for fighting them, blaming her repressed rage and emotional trauma, and asked the Crystal Gems if they could help the princesses defeat the Horde. Each of the Crystal Gems nodded in agreement. Steven showed them his bubble, spiked bubble, and told them of his healing powers through his magic spit. Glimmer grimaced. "Ew! That's weird but disgusting." More interesting to her than Steven's magic healing spit was Garnet's future-vision, as she could see the benefit to the Rebellion, while Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, Connie, and Garnet passed at the opportunity to show their abilities, recalling they had already shown what they were made of in the previous scuffle.

Glimmer smiled.

" _So...interesting! We should show you the rest of the princesses!"_

Peridot chuckled, as these princesses were nothing like the gems they had encountered and less powerful than the diamond overlords on Homeworld by leaps and bounds. She told them this much, almost jeering them.

" _Princesses? The Diamonds would reduce you all to dust. Maybe the other princesses are more impressive than the three of you."_

Bow ignored this comment as he wasn't a princess, but Adora and Glimmer, who were princesses, were clearly peeved by this comment. They glowered and continued leading the gems through the castle's halls. But they didn't get far. They were soon stopped by Angella.

" _What are you doing with these prisoners? You are supposed to be interrogating them!"_

Adora whispered in Angela's ear, telling her that the Crystal Gems were not their enemies but only wanted to help. Of course, she still doubted their true nature and promised to keep an eye on them. Angella sighed.

" _Very well, Adora, if you think of them that way, then they can meet the other princesses...again...and under better circumstances than before. I won't interfere this time."_

Everyone had someone to talk to. Connie and Steven talked to Perfuma about her ability to control plants, flowers, and nature, while Garnet chatted with Netossa and Spinnerella about her fusion, consisting of two gems who loved each other (Ruby and Sapphire), intriguing them. Pearl turned to Adora, praising her for her fighting skills, showing her methods to fend off the enemy and offered to teach her better swordfighting techniques, where she would award "Pearl points" for punctuality, perseverance, and positivity. Adora chuckled at the suggestion but acknowledged she would consider the offer. Amethyst laughed with Glimmer about their powers, interested when Glimmer explained her ability to teleport and control light. Each of them praised each other's appearance, even their hair styles. Predictably, Peridot jested Bow about their respective technology abilities. Even Lion and Swift Wind were getting better acquainted with each other. Of all the gems, Lapis stole the show. When she brought out her water wings, the princesses peered with curiosity. Adora, Glimmer, and Bow were especially amazed, looking at her adoringly. Lapis blushed not from their adoring looks, but, when Bow praised her for her beautiful, majestic wings. This impressed Mermista. "Ugh, I wish I had wings like that! The ability to fly would make my job, like, so much easier. Controlling water and having a trident is great and all, but water wings are...AMAZING!" When Lapis showed her ability to freeze water, able to manipulate the state of water itself, which neither Mermista nor Frosta could do as flawlessly, Frosta looked upward, slack jawed.

After a quick chat, many of the princesses said their goodbyes, while Adora, Glimmer, and Bow remained with the Crystal Gems. They continued to walk around the castle, with Adora and Glimmer showing them their bedrooms, a sign they were more comfortable about these visitors than before. The Crystal Gems were surprised by the beauty within these rooms. The orderliness and tidiness of Adora's room, especially the symmetry and organization, impressed a bug-eyed Pearl. This love for organization was appreciated by Adora, who tried to follow rules and stick to plans, apart from her life decision to leave the Horde and join the Rebellion many months before. Similarly, Pearl, who often had low self-esteem, thinking she couldn't influence others and felt weak compared to the other gems, saw a kindred soul in Adora, who seemed to feel the same way about organization that she did. Although they were not the same age and had different upbringings, clearly something between Pearl and Adora clicked, a spark of friendship. They continued to chat with each other about organization, planning, and swordfighting.

In the same room, Bow and Peridot chatted about technology, he showed her the tracker pad he had created. While she remained gracious, she chuckled. Such technology seemed primitive to her, as her tablet, in her opinion, had much more power.

" _I've built robots and helped engineer a drill which reached the center of the Earth to stop a cluster of gems from destroying the planet with my friend Steven. And...you could only, with your touch stumps, build this?"_

Bow, annoyed and hurt she had described his work that way, calmed himself down so her arrogant, bragging, and slightly condescending attitude wouldn't affect him. He admitted that while he didn't know everything about technology, he served as the tech master for the Rebellion, since Entrapta, a princess with a brilliant and technical mind, adept at creating new technology, had defected to the Horde.

"I still miss her every day and am inspired by her technological mindset to tinker with technology as part of the planet's maker community. Someday, I'd like to introduce you to her, but I'm not going to the awful Fright Zone anytime soon. Last time, the Horde held me in a prison cell after kidnapping me. It was awful. I have to thank..."

Peridot cut him off and looked at the recorder sitting on a nearby table.

"You have one of these too! Wow, I never thought I'd see one of these again. Do you record your intimate thoughts and observations on this...thing?"

She played back one of the entries. "Future Bow, Mara...Serenia...I don't know what this message means." Interjecting, she asked Bow if she could record something using the device and he consented.

"Log date 7 24 19. Today, I was transported to this planet which has many unique properties which I would like to explore, meeting a group of elemental princesses and one person with a tanned complexion, kinky dark-brown hair, and dark black eyes. It calls itself Bow and says it is a tech master on this planet. Clearly, it is knowledgeable about technology, which I did not expect from these creatures, and not a clod. I would never much like to learn more from this person that calls itself Bow..."

Handing the recorder to Bow, he added his thoughts.

"And I met a short light-green skinned being today and hope to learn from her about new technologies from another dimension. It's so exciting!"

Peridot understood and spoke once more, after Bow had handed him the recorder back. "End entry. Facet-2F5L out." They both embraced each other and continued talking, like Adora and Pearl, while Lapis, Steven, Garnet, Connie, and Amethyst walked into a different room.

These other Crystal Gems didn't really know where to fit in, as they had not struck up conversations on their own. While Glimmer had a friendly demeanor, she didn't really share much in common with any of these other Crystal Gems, except for Amethyst, as they had talked a little earlier. She explained that Angella was her mother, who grounded her when she disobeyed. Amethyst, who loved to joke around and do pranks, had an idea. Slipping outside the door, unseen, she shapeshifted into Angella. Glimmer heard a knock on her bedroom door and opened it. Amethyst walked in, still appearing to look like Angella.

" _Glimmer...you shouldn't have invited these gems into your room. I told you to watch them closely, not bring them here! You disobeyed me once again and are grounded for ONE MONTH for this transgression."_

Glimmer huffed, thinking her mother stood before her.

" _You never listen to me...or let me do what I want! Why do you have to be so stubborn!"_

As it got serious for a moment, Steven sternly addressed Amethyst.

"Come on, Amethyst." He paused. "Stop that."

Amethyst transformed back to her usual form.

" _Man, it was supposed to be a surprise, Steven! Why did you have to ruin it!"_

She let out a great howl of laughter. Glimmer didn't fully understand what had happened, except that she had been pranked, the first time she had experienced that since princesses could not shapeshift like the Crystal Gems. Despite the prank, Amethyst tried to understand Glimmer's feelings, even though they had only known each other for a short time, and cheer her up by shapeshifting herself, which Glimmer thoroughly enjoyed, showing her effort was a success. Perhaps, they could both share a love for eating food, although she doubted Glimmer felt the same way about eating and wasn't sure if Glimmer acted impulsively. She didn't know that Glimmer had often been impulsive, the primary reason she had been grounded by her mother in the past. Glimmer and Amethyst continued to talk, with the other Gems excusing themselves, as they didn't know what to say or what to do next.

The castle felt peaceful and the surroundings were serene, but they felt out of place, unlike Pearl, Peridot, and Amethyst, each of whom had started conversations with Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, respectfully. They began walking around Bright Moon, observing the landscape, buildings, and everything else, including the magical nature of the kingdom itself. Angella saw them and asked if they wanted a tour of the castle, with her acting as a guide, telling the history of their people and their struggle against evil. This sounded fun and exciting, better than walking around the kingdom and sight-seeing. Connie, the most enthusiastic, ecstatically spoke to Angella.

" _I love history! I'd be honored to go on a tour of this castle with you, ma'am."_

Steven nodded in agreement, with Angella glad to hear such sentiments.

" _I'm relieved that you would love to learn about our wonderful history, and I'd be glad to tell you about it! Follow me into the depths of knowledge! History isn't just one event, but it's an experience everyone can enjoy."_

Lapis and Garnet were not as eager about this proposition. But they went along since a history tour outranked, in their minds, aimlessly wandering around the magical kingdom. So, they tagged along for the ride.

As they walked toward the castle, Angella explained the importance of the massive and opalescent moonstone, glowing a blue-white color, which hovered over one of the castle's spire near the castle.

" _This runestone is the source of my powers, and those of my daughter, and we both have the power of light. It can be, in extreme emergencies, used to protect this castle against attack, but that is not its ideal role."_

Steven and Connie listened intently while Lapis and Garnet were blithe, indifferent to her stories. As they walked into the castle and through its hallways, she showed them the bas-relief telling the story of her people and husband, King Micah, who died at the hands of the Horde.

" _I think of my husband almost every day, because I...ordered the battle where he died. But, I have, in some ways, forgiven myself because if I had died in his place, this kingdom would not be any better off."_

She then shifted to the discussion of the Battle of Bright Moon, only a few months before, with Swift Wind, Bow, Glimmer, Adora, Netossa, Spinnerella, and herself defending the castle from the Horde's attack with the Whispering Woods freezing over.

" _It looked as if we were going to lose, and this castle would be destroyed, but in the nick of time, Princesses Frosta, Perfuma, and Mermista came to our aid, with friends like Sea Hawk. With their assistance, the castle only sustained minor damage, we dealt the Horde their biggest defeat to date, apart from various skirmishes."_

Luckily for Bright Moon, since that battle the Whispering Woods had regrown, making it harder, than ever, for the Horde to retake Bright Moon, especially with a strong and united Princess Alliance.

On the last part of their tour, Angella showed them her private library, with books and materials of all sizes and shapes. Glimmer had never seen them herself because she didn't care much for such intellectual pursuits, unlike Adora or perhaps Bow. Steven and Connie, thinking back to the Buddy Buddwick Library in Beach City which they had visited, a place where Steven found the wonderful journal of Buddy Buddwick, the first mate on the ship that founded Beach City, loved this most of all. On the other hand, Lapis and Garnet, were not in the mood for such intellectualism at this time of day, although they were not against libraries or books. Angella explained the importance of her library, which she had curated herself.

" _These books mean so much to me personally. Some are diaries written by the first settlers on this planet, others are books of spells used by sorcerers, histories of Etheria I commissioned during my reign as Queen, and other assorted materials I like to read for fun."_

Turning to Steven and Connie, she handed Connie one thick diary, titled _The tale of a Quartz and a Diamond._

" _I've tried to understand what this book means, but from all the Etherian history I know, I've never heard of these names before. Perhaps you can figure out what it means since you call yourselves gems and the people in this book are a bit like all of you."_

She paused and continued.

" _Just remember to bring it back within a week, because it's one of my most prized possessions."_

Connie responded radiantly and politely.

" _Can do, ma'am!"_

With the tour coming to an end, Angella led them to their quarters, an extra room in the castle where they were to sleep. As she walked away, Connie, Steven, Garnet, and Lapis ran to the rooms of Glimmer and Adora, finding Amethyst, Peridot, and Pearl. What happened next was unexpected, even for the Gems. Perhaps the Gems wanted to get to know their new friends better, or maybe Adora, Glimmer, and Bow felt similarly about these new visitors. Whatever the reason, they had a slumber party. Adora, Glimmer, Bow, Peridot, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven, Connie, Lapis, and Garnet all slept in the same place: Adora's room. They were not sleeping together in one bed but were huddled in different parts of the room. While the Crystal Gems hoped that the next day would allow them to relax in this strange new land, where they had met some of the nicest people, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow had similar hopes, learning more about these visitors, who were almost like alien invaders from outer space to them. As they drifted into deeper and deeper sleep, with Lapis loudly snoring and Pearl's projecting her dream across the room, although no one saw it since they were fast asleep. It showed her teaching Adora to improved swordfighting skills and awarding what she called "Pearl Points" for her progress so far, indicating the bond of friendship between them had strengthened.
Chapter Six: The Tranquility of Mystacor

BANG! BANG! BANG! A loud noise resonated across Adora's bedroom. Amethyst had transformed into a mallet and was banging herself against a large metal cylinder which Peridot was levitating in the air. Adora couldn't stand the racket, covering her ears and head with a pillow. Glimmer yawned and grumbled. "It's too early to wake up. Just...five more minutes," using her sparkling cloak to cover her face and head, muffling the sound and reducing the light that reached her eyes. Bow, on the other hand, got up, stretching and observing the spectacle unfolding before him, with Steven and Connie joining him. While Amethyst and Peridot were having a lot of fun making this racket, everyone else, especially Glimmer, Adora, Bow, Steven, and Connie, did not feel the same. Lapis was deep asleep, like Garnet, and snoring loudly. Pearl was awakened by the sounds echoing across the room. Unlike the others who had been awoken, she didn't mind because she had another one of those weird dreams where Greg was dressed up in Rose's clothes with pizza coming out of his mouth.

After everyone had been woken up by Peridot and Amethyst's racket, with Lapis and Garnet woken up by the other gems, they made their way to the castle's dining room where the kitchen staff had prepared a breakfast. Since four of them, Pearl, Garnet, Lapis, and Peridot, did not need to eat, and six of them, Steven, Connie, Amethyst, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, enjoyed or appreciated food, it was easy to prepare a meal. Amethyst devoured her food. Turning to Glimmer, she inquired about the day's plans.

" _So...sparkle princess, what do you have planned for us today?...since we are your guests...We would like to relax before helping you fight those evil people...you call the Horde."_

Glimmer heard Amethyst loud and clear. She excitedly answered with a chirp.

"I have a place in mind: we took Adora there since she was under so much stress."

She paused, moving herself closer to Amethyst. She continued.

"I'm thinking of Mystacor, a city floating in the clouds...while its invisible to the naked eye, it is the home of the planet's sorcerers and one of the safest places to unwind."

Bow excitedly interjected. He was overjoyed to hear Glimmer mention this because it had been a while since he had been there.

"Yes! Mystacor...is the best! You...really have to go there."

Peridot let out a cheerful squeal. She would get more time to talk to Bow about tech stuff, although he was still getting used to her, and wasn't as keen about this. Amethyst, Pearl, Adora, and Lapis were intrigued, willing to give Mystacor a try. Steven and Connie were perhaps the most enthusiastic, hoping it resembled the calming waves and warm sands of Beach City which they had grown to love over the years.

To get there quickly, Amethyst transformed herself into a helicopter. Everyone but Lapis and Peridot got inside, traveling together. Lapis gave Peridot a piggyback ride, like she did for Steven when they explored the Earth many months before for a place to live, whose water wings excitedly flapped through the wind. Peridot seemed to enjoy this more than Lapis, although she didn't mind because Peridot was much lighter than Steven or his dad, Greg. Inside the helicopter, Steven, Connie, and Adora cracked each other up, giggling about their looks, jokes, and whatnot. The others inside, Garnet, Pearl, Bow, and Glimmer, sat in repose, not saying more than a few words to each other.

They soon reached a cliff, with the steep drop down the ravine obscured by clouds. Amethyst turned into a bird, readying herself to fly to Mystacor's entrance. Glimmer and Bow jumped into the clouds, giving everyone, but Adora, a scare. While Pearl, Garnet, Connie, and Steven ran around in terror, thinking Glimmer and Bow had plummeted to their deaths, Peridot matter-of-factly lamented the same, almost like she was making another log in her recorder.

" _The human lifeforms jumped into a mass of water droplets, which they call "clouds." The drop is incalculable but if they continue at their current velocity, they...will reach the bottom of the ravine in less than five minutes...plummeting to their deaths"_

To their surprise, a grass-covered floating mountain, a boulder of sorts, burst through the cloud layer and came up the cliff edge. Glimmer and Bow, standing upright, smiled, with the Crystal Gems relieved. Steven, Connie, Garnet, Peridot, and Pearl stepped into the boulder, standing on the lush green grass, while Lapis and Amethyst followed from above. It was only a matter of time until they all were inside Mystacor's protective grid, riding the magic boulder through the clouds!

They were greeted by Castaspella, who had some reservations about the Crystal Gems.

" _Welcome to Mystacor, fellow travelers! I hope you enjoy your stay!"_

Glimmer reassured her about them, as did Adora. As they walked forward, Pearl, Garnet, Steven, and Connie were fascinated by the sorcerers casting spells. The last time Adora, Glimmer, and Bow had come there, dark spirits commanded by Shadow Weaver had invaded, trying to bring Adora back to the Horde and the Fright Zone. Luckily, they had failed. It was different this time: no dark spirits had followed them. And, instead of leading them on a tour, Castaspella left them alone to their own devices. They proceeded to walk to one of the Kingdom's most relaxing places apart from the peaceful cloud beaches and tranquil gardens.

Once they arrived at the healing hot springs, Glimmer acted like a guide. "And here we are at the steam grotto! These hot springs are filled with magic minerals which sorcerers use to cleanse themselves of worry...before they perform big ceremonies." She then provided further encouragement. "Loosen up, let your hair down, and make yourself comfortable."

While Adora, Bow, and Glimmer stripped down to their undergarments, stepping into one hot spring, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet, who didn't change what they were wearing, went into another spring. Steven and Connie also stripped down to their undergarments, wearing boxer briefs and a two-piece suit with a bikini respectfully, were joined by Lapis and Peridot. While Lapis didn't change her appearance, since her clothing was already suited for water, Peridot took off her visor, which kept her hair in a pyramid shape with a small electromagnetic field. It made her pale chartreuse hair messy, like how Amethyst wore it, covering one of her eyes, although it wasn't as long. The visor, or goggles as you could call them, also kept the hair out of her eyes and often were used by Peridots, such as herself, to do jobs without discomfort. You could hear snickering from Garnet, an "oh my" from Pearl when she saw this new hair style, Amethyst shouting "NERD!" at her, and Lapis a bit shocked as she hadn't seen it before, even when they had lived in the barn together. Steven and Connie said "Aw" together in unison. While Peridot was a little embarrassed, they were all at peace. It's no surprise that when Steven and Connie held hands, Steven's gem lit up with a pinkish light.

What happened next amazed Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, while surprising Lapis and Peridot since they were not expecting it. Steven and Connie fused into one being! This was something the "Best Friend Squad" had never seen. They were jealous they couldn't do the same. Before them was Stevonnie, a non-binary fusion over 28 years old, 75% human and 25% gem, with dark purple hair, tied up with a scrunchie, and black eyes. They had an athletic build and light brown skin, wearing a pinkish one-piece suit. This differed from Stevonnie's past appearance on the Jungle Moon when they wore a pale brown jacket over top a red shirt with a yellow star in the middle, shorts, a backpack, and a custom-made sword on their back in a rose-colored scabbard.

A voice blurted out.

" _Sorry...I didn't mean to fuse...it was an accident."_

They looked at their clothes in disgust.

" _I'm wearing...this? Ugh...I can't even fit on that jacket."_

Lapis let out a snort and then a belly laugh. Rather than thinking of her previous abusive fusion with Jasper, she tried to lighten the mood

" _You look ridiculous...It's...hilarious."_

Stevonnie, embarrassed, was ready to un-fuse over Lapis's comment. But, at the last second, Garnet interjected, reassuring Stevonnie and giving Lapis the evil eye...with all her eyes underneath the visor.

" _You look beautiful the way you are. There is no reason to change yourself to...make other people feel better about themselves."_

Inquisitive, Adora and Glimmer asked what was going on, while Bow blithely laid in the hot spring. Garnet explained she was a fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, which she had mentioned to Castaspella and Spinnerella in Bright Moon. She told them how fusions require love, trust, communication, and stable mindsets free from worry and guilt. Relationships had a physical manifestation in two or more beings fused together, with the tone of the relationship between those fusing determining whether the fusion is stable or not. A fusion can be, she added, based on friendship, romance, or even something sexual, and is fundamentally a choice, with consent. This gave Peridot, who had a secret crush on Lapis, an idea.

" _Lapis, would you like to give fusion a try?"_

Lapis grasped Peridot's hand tightly. In a stern but fixed way, she coyly agreed.

" _Sure, it's worth a try. If Steven and Connie can do it, why not both of us?"_

They stepped outside the hot springs and began their fusion dance, producing something extraordinary. About the same height as Stevonnie, this new fusion, which surprised everyone, but especially Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, had turquoise-colored skin. Her mid-length lime green bushy hair had blue highlights, and bangs covering part of the forehead. Apart from her blue-green eyes, a dark blue tongue, and an inverted triangle gem on her forehead, there was a teardrop-shaped gem on her back, also colored turquoise, and a see-through visor pointing upward like two interconnected right triangles, only for show unlike Peridot's visor. Her clothes were a mix of Peridot and Lapis's clothing styles. She had on a very dark grayish cyan halter crop tank top, with a yellow star in the center, very dark cyan puffy pants with dark blue stars on the knees, a pale chartreuse ribbon at the waistline, around the pants, and matching sandals.

More of her abilities came from Lapis, meaning she had turquoise water wings which could turn into fists while she also had Peridot's ability of ferrokinesis combined with Lapis's ability to control water. She could now levitate and control not only metallic objects but all those composed partially or completely by water, which included human beings, or anything composed like a human being. It also meant either one of her gemstones could project a bright light, simultaneously or individually, serving as a flashlight, she could bubble objects in bluish-green bubbles, was immensely durable, could project her memories on mirrored surfaces, and had pathokinetic resistance. Furthermore, she could, due to Lapis's abilities, form water bubbles, create water clones of her enemies, change the state of matter of water (turning it to ice or perhaps even steam), generate water from her gems, and had enhanced strength! She could also summon thunder and lightning, in localized areas, against her enemies.

While it seemed this fusion was strong, it was a little unstable. Lapis had visions of Jasper, bringing back emotional trauma of their abusive fusion, and shouted in pain.

" _I'm sorry...I'm not ready!"_

To everyone's shock, Lapis and Peridot were thrown apart violently into their own original forms. Peridot was displeased the fusion didn't work. She sighed.

" _Well, when you are ready...we can fuse ourselves again and call ourselves "Amazonite," although I know you would like the name of "Meep Morp" better."_

Lapis put out a hearty chuckle. She now thought of them being together like the art installations she and Peridot made when they lived together as bunkmates in the barn.

" _Peridot, I'll be willing to give it a try...later. I just don't want to hurt anyone I care about, like you, like I hurt Jasper."_

It was simple. Peridot wanted to fuse since she had been unable to do so with Garnet. This embarrassed her because Steven, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst could all perform fusions...but she couldn't...and thought of herself as deficient.

Everybody was in their respective hot springs. Stevonnie, sitting beside Lapis and Peridot in their hot spring, tried to calm down Lapis.

" _Take your time...once you are cool and collected...your fusion can then be strong and stable. If you let guilt and negative feelings drag you down, a fusion will fall apart...It's going to take time and if fusion upsets you, then avoid it. That's completely okay."_

Lapis, cheerless and moody, cried. Her tears came out like a little waterfall.

" _I want to fuse but...I am utterly terrified, Stevonnie, of what will happen. What if..."_

Stevonnie understood her sentiments, her doleful nature, and that she was shamefaced the fusion didn't work out. Sympathetically, he turned to Lapis.

" _I know how you feel. You did something awful and no matter what you do, you can't reverse it...but that doesn't mean you are a terrible person...you are good, Lapis, I know it, and Peridot feels the same way."_

Stevonnie stopped speaking. Contemplating what to say next, they tried to still be understanding.

" _At some point, Lapis, you will need to move on and forgive yourself for your fusion with Jasper."_

Lapis beamed. What they had told her built up her confidence, but she was still woeful. She replied to Stevonnie.

" _I know it's hard, but I'm going to try."_

They embraced each other, with Stevonnie and Lapis's gems lighting up. They were fusing and didn't even mean to! They didn't need silly dance moves or graceful moves the other Crystal Gems had mastered for fusion. The power of friendship had brought them together.

This new fusion, half-human and half-gem, hesitated.

" _What?...I...didn't mean for this to happen."_

There was a pause. Recognizing their predicament, the fusion spoke once more.

"Wait...it's okay. I'm fine!"

Peridot let out a scream of "Aaaaaah!!" Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst looked with amazement. Peridot directly addressed the fusion itself.

" _Stevonnli...Stevolis...are you ok?...Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, wha...t...do you call that?"_

Garnet smirked. Lapis, part of this fusion, was intrigued, realizing she could be comfortable fused with Peridot as Amazonite. The fusion opened its mouth once more, giving itself a name.

"We are Stevolinnie, combining the names of Steven, Connie, and Lapis."

Amethyst was radiant and wild eyed. She joked with Stevolinnie about this new name, thinking the name had been chosen because of Steven's love for pizza. She was cut off by Stevolinnie, telling her it was much simpler: the name sounded catchy, although...pizza was so...tasty, at least to Steven and Connie, although Lapis didn't feel the same way since food wasn't always appetizing to her. However, Lapis did have a secret love for food and eating, but she didn't share it openly, with Peridot not telling Lapis's secret to the rest of them.

But what did Stevolinnie look like...anyway? When Steven and Lapis fused in the past, by accident, the fused being, which some called "Chalcedony," was light purple-skinned, with magenta hair, with a light purple star on the left side of their head, wearing a multi-colored top piece, sitting above a purple gem in the stomach, and had four arms. That fusion combined Lapis's laid-back personality with Steven's loving, caring one, although its short existence put into question what possible newfound powers or abilities they gained. As Sardonyx had told Stevonnie, every fusion gains something new, whether a weapon or a new power. This was the case for Stevolinnie, and it manifested itself in this fusion's appearance.

This fusion, of three beings, looked different than the fusion of Steven and Lapis. Due to Lapis's skin complexion, it had magenta skin, with long flowing dark brown hair. They wore stylish poofy purple pants, combining Connie and Lapis's clothing styles. They would have been wearing a white t-shirt with a purple star, taking from Steven's clothing style, but he wasn't wearing a t-shirt at the time of Steven and Connie's fusion. Instead, this fusion wore a sporty blue tank top over top the rose gem on her stomach, while the water droplet on their back was able to breathe. Apart from their gold-colored sandals, with gold wings attached like the Greek god Hermes, their water wings were light purple and were huge, like those of a falcon or hawk, allowing them to support the extra body weight from four arms. Since one of Steven's abilities was electrical interference and Lapis had power to control water above and beyond what Mermista or Frosta could do, they could electrify water in such a way as to create a surcharge. The water, in a sphere, stream, or whatever form, would be filled with millions of volts of lethal electricity which Stevolinnie could throw at any enemies.

Lapis now knew she could fuse with another being, Peridot or even someone else. Steven and Connie honored her wishes to un-fuse with them, meaning that Stevolinnie reverted to Stevonnie. While Lapis un-fused, Steven and Connie had no reason to do the same, as they were enjoying themselves. With all the fun (and experimentation) over fusion ending, the two remaining fused beings (Garnet and Stevonnie), the other Crystal Gems and the Best Friend Squad let themselves go, as their worries peacefully floated away in the hot springs. They breathed deeply, focusing on the warmth hitting their skin, their bodies lying perfectly still, staying together in the same place, letting the memory of their past fight in the halls of Bright Moon castle fade away. This was a break they all needed from the battlefield, tranquil and beautiful places whether Bright Moon, the base for the Princess Alliance, or the Earth, the pale blue dot and base of the Crystal Gems.

As they all loosened up, in their hot springs, Amethyst noticed something. Pearl was gone. Bow and Glimmer also looked around. Adora was missing too. Bow, worried sick, called for her.

" _Adora...where are you?"_

However, they were both unwinding so much, they didn't want to get out of the hot spring. Glimmer was not very concerned, even though she was usually, sometimes to an extreme degree.

" _She'll be fine...just give her five more minutes, then we'll go and look for her."_

Amethyst felt differently. Since she looked up to Pearl, she was perhaps even more disturbed than Bow over Adora's disappearance.

" _Man...Pearl, where did you go off to this time?"_

Garnet wryly smiled. With her future vision, she could see many possibilities and had a good guess of what they might be doing, remembering Adora carried around a magical sword on her back. Lackadaisically she told Amethyst, lifting her visor and then putting it down again, "they'll be fine...trust me." She proceeded to submerge herself further into the hot spring. Of course, Amethyst was having none of this and wanted to find out what was going on.

" _Ok...Garnet, but I still want to know what they are up to."_

She turned herself into an eagle, which soared above, landing on a nearby pillar overlooking a tranquil garden where Pearl was teaching Adora. Amethyst watched intently.

" _Adora, I'm so glad you agreed to do this...we're going to have such a fun time!"_

Adora grumbled but knew this was the best for her. Pearl heard this, but she still thought she could make Adora an even better fighter.

" _Although your swordfighting is good, it is a little sloppy. Perhaps this will help you...enhance your techniques."_

She summoned a few Holo-Pearls, version 3.000001 holographic (and translucent) blue-tinted version representations of herself, for Adora to face, which were less lethal than previous versions. Flat and hollow mechanical voices rang out across the garden. "Do you wish to engage in combat?" Adora answered with "affirmative" and lunged at them with her magical sword. She was able to block their blows as they lunged at her, changing her sword into a shield. Pearl was fascinated by this ability to change weapons, which was not possible, even for Gems like herself. She watched as Adora went on the offensive, quickly cutting down the Holo-Pearls.

Pearl was pleased, digging into her pouch. She put a Pearl Point on her wheeled chalkboard, which had "Pearl Points" written in flowery cursive at the top, on the row titled "Round 1."

" _Adora, that's one Pearl Point for you!...Great job beating those Holo-Pearls!"_

Glad to get the encouragement, Adora was cheery. She mentioned how the sword she held, the Sword of Protection, could transform her in an instant into She-Ra, an eight-foot tall warrior, which would be a much easier form. Remembering the fight from before, while still trying to remain supportive, Pearl told Adora, "I know you could transform, but...fight in your original form because...transforming into She-Ra might not be an option every time you need to fight...so, let's try this one without your sword." Adora shivered. She was afraid. The sword was her friend and her ally. She remembered back to the Princess Ball when the sword had been taken by her villains, who kidnapped her friends. As such, it had been some time since she had fought without her sword. Pearl handed her an adult saber to use instead.

" _Use this saber...and try fighting the Holo-Pearls again...Ok...let's start round 2!"_

Just as the round began, Amethyst flew away, back to the steam grotto, ready to tell the rest of the gang about what she had seen. She could hear Round 2 ending in the distance. More mechanical voices cried out. "Defeat accepted." Not wanting to hold back, Amethyst told them all about Adora's training with swords. Bow shrieked, remembering her failed attempt to heal Glimmer from Shadow Weaver's corruption. "I told her not to play with swords! Let's make sure she's ok," ready to bolt out of the hot spring. Snickering, Amethyst tried to calm him down.

" _She's fine...dude...chill out and enjoy the hot spring, man."_

Glimmer was not in the mood to join him and get out of the hot spring, so Bow sat in the water, grumbling. No one else seemed concerned. Stevonnie also tried to calm Bow down.

" _I've trained with Pearl before...she just wants the best for Adora. She won't do anything to hurt Adora."_

Lapis, Peridot, Amethyst, Stevonnie, Bow, and Glimmer had enough of the hot springs since they were feeling like shriveled up raisins. Everyone put on their clothes back on and marched to the tranquil garden where Adora was finishing up her third round of swordfighting training with Pearl. Due to the fact the clothes Steven and Connie had on had come together in their fusion, they un-fused temporarily to put on the rest of their clothes. Afterwards they held hands and shouted, "Jam Buds...For Life!," fusing back together. No one, but themselves, knew what it meant, so it was almost like an inside joke. As everyone walked over to the tranquil garden, they could hear Pearl's authoritative voice.

" _Adora, you did great today...you've made so much progress...getting a Pearl Point on every single round....impressive!"_

Happy with Pearl's praise, she put her sword in a scabbard on her back and shook Pearl's hand firmly.

" _It's an honor being trained by you...I appreciate you doing this."_

As she turned around, she was surprised to see everyone looking at her with interest. She blushed since she didn't expect anyone to be there. "What are you all...doing here? I was just finishing up with some training with my new...friend, Pearl," hugging her tightly. Sarcastically, Amethyst let out a yelp. Rolling her eyes, she mumbled that she "never" would have expected something like this to happen.

Taking charge, Pearl told them the next item on their "schedule" was the cloud beach. "R&R is nice, but it has to be organized and regimented! To the cloud beach!" with Adora pointing in the same direction. They each blushed, with Pearl's blushes bluish and Adora's reddish, at each other's jokes, flattery, and terrible puns, while teasing each other. Since they were further ahead from the rest of the group, neither one could hear Stevonnie asking Amethyst and Garnet what was happening between them. "It's flirting, Stevonnie," Amethyst told them. Stevonnie's eyes filled with wonder. They replied to Amethyst's observation in a loving and understanding way. "Aw...that's cute." Bow and Glimmer did not feel the same way, shaking their heads. Glimmer mentioned that someone else had been close to Adora in the past.

" _When she was in the Horde, there was this slender and tan-skinned feline woman, Catra, who slept at the base of her bed...sometimes, so she says. They apparently had some sort of rivalry from what I can gather."_

She groaned, continuing, "Catra is now a Force Captain leading the forces against us...but I don't know the nature of their past or present relationship...but emotional tensions are still bubbling below the surface."

She ruminated about Adora. What was happening between Adora and Pearl felt different than a sort of relationship, if any, Adora had with Catra.

"But...this is something completely new. I haven't seen this sort of intimacy before...I'm a bit surprised by it to be honest."

They soon reached the cloud beach, with Glimmer carrying some towels for everyone to use. She suggested they all lie down and let the gentle clouds, and sand, course through their toes, let their cares melt away, like a wise yoga teacher. All of them laid down on towels, even Adora and Pearl, looking at the sky above while holding hands, something which no one could see but them. While they all could get massages or walk through tranquil gardens, lying on the cloud beach was even better. There was no fighting, no battles, no wars to be won or lost in this quiet and serene atmosphere. Stevonnie sat up, taking out the thick diary Angella had given Steven and Connie in Bright Moon. It was emblazoned with the title _The tale of a Quartz and a Diamond_. In some ways, this diary was like Buddy Buddwick's diary, although it had many more illustrations than words. One of these illustrations was titled "The Glowing Castle." In the appended description, the diarist wrote that while they couldn't get inside the structure, they saw three figures enter through an underground passageway. The following page showed these figures. One was obviously She-Ra, although not the one Adora transformed into when she shouted "for the honor of Greyskull!" and the other two were...Pearl and Rose Quartz. Stevonnie was confused. "Mom was...here?" This left Steven so disconcerted he wanted to un-fuse, but Connie calmed him down. She promised Steven they would confront Pearl together, as one fused being. As they approached her, they tried to be as gentle as they could. "Pearl, sorry to disturb you...but what's the deal with...this?" thrusting the page showing an illustration of herself, Rose, and She-Ra in front of her face. She was a little embarrassed Stevonnie had mentioned this, with blue blushes on her cheeks. However, she was glad this illustration had been shown to her because she didn't want to keep anything more from Steven or even Stevonnie.

" _Stevonnie, that illustration shows me, Rose, and She-Ra...It was thousands of years ago and Rose wanted to bring me somewhere I'd enjoy...she wanted to explore other worlds...it was before she had chosen to rebel against herself and permanently cast off her form as Pink Diamond...and be Rose Quartz forever...I had such a fun time...after an ordeal through some enchanted woods she brought me to this crystalline castle...where we met a glowing warrior who called herself She-Ra. Apparently, Rose and this warrior had met before...Stevonnie, I don't see how this is relevant"_

Stevonnie turned the page. He pointed to the illustration titled "The Glowing Castle."

" _Where you ever...here?"_

Pearl thought back. She could recall such a place.

" _I remember it well. Inside, there was this being, a bit like a hologram...it...called itself Light Hope...for some reason it was very friendly to us."_

Still holding Pearl's hand, Adora shot up. She had been only loosely listening, intrigued when she heard the words "She-Ra" and "Light Hope." She continued to be inquisitive.

" _What are you saying about Light Hope and She-Ra?"_

Stevonnie showed Adora the book. Studying it over, they asked about the castle and those in the illustration. Grinning, she gladly responded.

" _Yes...I've been there multiple times...it's the Crystal Castle...on this planet...and Light Hope is its facilitator...who has taught me how to fight as She-Ra."_

She scratched her head, commenting she had never seen the woman in the flowing dress (Rose), but she recognized Pearl, and seemed to think the She-Ra depicted was Maura. Many eons ago, Maura, the previous She-Ra, was cast away when she moved the planet to the Desparado dimension, with the Sword of Protection taken away from her after this foolhardy act. It had been left for Adora by Light Hope to find and form a connection.

Adora's explications astonished Pearl.

" _That means...this is the planet of...Etheria...I still remember the name...I didn't recognize it because it looks so different compared to its appearance thousands of years ago. It was fuller of life then...I thought the dimensional gateway was disrupted...or at least Rose thought so when her friend, She-Ra, went beserk and moved the whole planetary system."_

Adora patted Pearl on the shoulder. She held no resentment or anger against her. She then spoke to her softly.

" _I don't blame you for not recalling this was the same place you had been before...we're learning all the time and memories get jumbled up...I just hope this will bring me one step closer to finding out...who I am...why Light Hope chose me to be She-Ra."_

Just then, Castaspella barged in, announcing a banquet in their honor had been prepared by her staff. It was ready and steaming hot. The wafting tastes made Amethyst's mouth water. She licked her chops, announcing to them all, "it smells so good...let me at the food!" Glimmer implored Castaspella they had to go.

" _Sorry, Aunty, we need to go on this quest thingy...we can't stay for dinner."_

Castaspella turned to Glimmer. She would have no such talk. But she still tried to be accommodating. "Don't you want to eat before your journey?...I'd love to eat a meal with you all...learn about and from all of you." After looking at all of them, she added the words "...of different shapes and sizes."

Just as Glimmer was about to answer, she could hear the clanging (and smashing) of plates, forks, knifes, and spoons in the distance. There were cries of terror in the distance.

" _It's a purple tiger...and its eating all the food!"_

Pearl, Garnet, Stevonnie, Lapis, and Peridot all cackled. They all knew who was responsible and Pearl snickered, telling them so.

" _Oh, Amethyst...you were so hungry...you turned into a tiger...to devour such food...I've never seen that before, but I'm not at all surprised."_

She said this as a being who found eating of food disgusting and horrifying.

Amethyst, in the form of a tiger, sauntered back over to them, her mouth covered with mashed potatoes. Turning back into her usual form, she spoke.

" _Sorry I ruined the meal for you all...but the food was...so good...I couldn't stop myself!"_

Sighing, Castaspella let them go on their merry way and continue their quest. As she walked away, Adora stood front of the group, with Pearl at her side, ready to lead them forward. "Onward...to the Crystal Castle!" This stirring statement inspired Bow. Quickly thinking he shouted a phase that Sea-Hawk, a man he had a crush on, used with great fanfare on their previous quest: "Adventure!" Lapis carried Peridot, holding on like those who took "piggyback rides" and everyone else got in the helicopter that Amethyst had transformed herself into, once again. They were leaving the tranquil and hidden kingdom of Mystacor. They were off to the mystical and mysterious Crystal Castle in the Whispering Woods...
Chapter Seven: Pearl's Mystery, Light Hope, and Adora's New Friend

The crystalline structure glistened in the moonlight. The helicopter, which Amethyst had transformed herself into, touched down, as did Lapis and Peridot. Stevonnie, Bow, Glimmer, Garnet, and Amethyst looked at the structure almost with a reverence. Adora stepped forward, with Pearl following close behind, and entered the underground passageway. They were so glad that the flying alicorn, Swift Wind, was not joining them on this quest. Glimmer shouted, "screw Swift Wind...he is so annoying. I'm glad he stayed back in Bright Moon. He's more trouble than he is worth." Adora was not a fan of this sentiment, as she appreciated Swift Wind, but Bow agreed with Glimmer, while the Gems had no idea what they were talking about.

They all made their way into the castle's main chamber. Creepily, Light Hope was waiting, almost like expected them to come. It seemed she had a sort of future vision, although she had not expected a samurai warrior, otherwise known as Samurai Jack, who had come to the castle in the past. So, perhaps she felt bored or had nothing else to do. A mechanical voice broke the eerie and almost deafening silence.

_"Hello, Adora. What brings you here today?"_

She explained how a diary Angella of Bright Moon had given her friends contained an illustration of the Crystal Castle. To provide direct evidence of her claim, she turned to the page showing Rose, Pearl, and Maura, the previous She-Ra, so that Light Hope could see it for herself. Unfortunately for her, Light Hope was underwhelmed.

_"A book means nothing...is that the reason you disturbed me today?"_

__

Adora was perturbed. This wasn't the response she expected. If learning about herself, and Pearl, hadn't been so important, she never would have made the journey from Mystacor to the Crystal Castle. As such, she continued to persist in hopes that Light Hope would come around, realizing the importance of her inquiry.

_"I am here today because the Pearl drawn in that book is with us."_

__

Since Light Hope's salty attitude and dismissiveness was getting them nowhere, Pearl decided to act. She stepped forward into the light and bowed before Light Hope in a manner of respect, thinking it was befitting of her. She announced herself like a servant to royalty.

She chuckled awkwardly at Pearl's formality. It was a level of respect Adora never gave her. As a result, she was glad that Pearl gave her such respect, treating her as something other than just a holographic projection created by the first settlers of the planet, the First Ones. Still, her overall attitude did not change, unfortunately.

The mechanical voice rang across the room. The words were cold and calculating, with no emotion, like most computer-generated voices.

_"My memory banks recall you visited this location before. You were with a woman who called herself Rose, and with Maura, the previous She-Ra. Why have you come here today?"_

__

Pearl was surprised by the question, as she did not think Light Hope would ask her anything. Nevertheless, she attempted to answer it to the best of her ability. She did so in hopes that Adora would learn more about her past, meaning that her answer was more about helping someone else than assisting herself, a selfless act.

_"Well, ma'am, I came here by accident. I didn't recall this place or planet. It's so different from the last time I was here."_

__

Light Hope apologized for the circumstances they were under. Still, she stated that what Pearl and those with her had witnessed was not at all related to Adora. She saw Pearl as basically irrelevant and not important, a non-entity, even though she was anything but that. She turned herself to Adora and demanded answers for why she had entered the Crystal Castle.

_"So why did you really come here? This is a sacred place and I don't want to get involved in petty issues such as this. You need to..."_

__

She stopped. It seemed like she was going to mouth the word "leave" but the whole word didn't come out. Almost like she had been possessed, Light Hope's eyes turned blood red, a bit like Adora's when she had been corrupted, and she shouted one word: "DIE!"

Bow suspected that Entrapta might be involved. While Peridot did not know, like Bow did, the whole background of Entrapta and the history of her previous role in the Rebellion, and now the Horde, she had a theory about what had happened.

_"She is hacked somehow. She wasn't supposed to say that."_

__

Pearl looked in terror as huge red eyed spiders entered the room, surrounding them all. There seemed to be no chance to escape from the castle. They seemed trapped, doomed to be poofed, shattered, or killed outright, depending on what kind of beings they were. Contemplating this, she shrieked with shock.

_"Never mind that, we need to get out of here!"_

__

Garnet was also very concerned. But she thought of it in a different way. As a person with stronger leadership skills than Pearl, she could prepare not only herself but her fellow comrades around her for battle. She tried to be as inspiring as she could.

_"Everyone team up! We can do this!"_

__

All of them took what Garnet had told them to heart. In preparation for the fight, Stevonnie stood alongside Garnet, while Bow, Glimmer, and Amethyst stood together. Peridot had an unique idea which would fulfill her desire to measure up to the other Gems. For it to work, she needed Lapis to be on board with this plan in its entirety.

_"Lapis, I know this isn't the best time, but I really think we need to fuse to defeat these awful monsters...otherwise they will shatter us and kill our magical friends!"_

__

Lapis smiled. After her previous fusion with Stevonnie in Mystacor, she was completely and fully ready. The horrid fusion with Jasper, for a few months under the ocean, had become a memory, not something to worry about. She had grown and matured since then. She was not the same person who had fused with Jasper. As the spiders closed in, their fusion, Amazonite, emerged. They were ready to fight...together.

With Amazonite and Stevonnie smashing apart the spiders, Amethyst, Bow, and Glimmer holding the other spiders at bay, they could hear Pearl reassuring Adora. The friendship between them was strengthening, although it had not reached a climax.

_"Remember your training...you are strong, Adora, I know it...you can take them down."_

__

They both lunged at the spiders together, working in tandem. With all of them fighting, the spiders, despite their strength, were no match for them. Using their powers, they were able to bust out of the Crystal Castle. The structure was so weakened that they escaped just before it began showing signs of collapse. Amethyst turned into a helicopter with everyone but Amazonite getting in, who flew alongside. They could see the Crystal Castle caving in on itself. What did this mean for Adora? And more importantly, who hacked Light Hope...and why? Those were questions that neither Adora nor those more knowledgeable with technology like Pearl, Peridot (within the fusion with Lapis) or Bow could answer.

The helicopter touched down and Amazonite flew down to a nearby clearing in the Whispering Woods. Everyone tried to collect themselves over what had happened. No one expected the structure to topple. Had the Horde planned this whole thing so they could trap them there and kill them? Or did they have other plans? Adora was the most concerned of all, not surprisingly, about this development.

_"I have never seen Light Hope look like that before...the look in her eyes seemed to be corruption...but different somehow...it was unfamiliar."_

__

Bow didn't know how to follow up a comment like that. However, the battle had been tiresome, sapping all their energy. Like before, Glimmer had a suggestion. They would go to a place they could recharge, in a different way than their relaxation in the hot springs and cloud beach of Mystacor. They had been there before, but it was time to return!

_"How about we go to Plumeria...and meet Perfuma?"_

__

Stevonnie, who had talked to Perfuma in Bright Moon, when they were un-fused as Steven and Connie, loved this idea. She embodied many of the characteristics that the Crystal Gems tried to display daily. After all, she had ensured that Angella was merciful on the Gems rather than doing something worse, like imprisoning them in the castle's spare room within an energy field of some kind, although their death at her hands didn't seem in the cards.

_"Sounds great!...let's go!"_

__

As they entered Plumeria, they heard a squeal of excitement. A woman, wearing a pink flower crown, and a pink sundress with a green long-sleeved shawl, pink sandals, and pinkish coverings at the bottom of her legs, stood before them. It was Perfuma, with her light blonde hair, reaching to her waste, full of pink flowers, blowing in the breeze. She was so excited to see them. She easily recognized Adora, Glimmer, and Bow, but not as familiar with Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Stevonnie, or even Amazonite. Still, she greeted them with open arms. Her confident voice boomed.

_"Welcome to Plumeria, a simple kingdom with noble, gentle, peaceful, and optimistic people. It is centered by the wonderful Heart Blossom, the source of all my magical powers...to grow and control plant life!"_

Unsure why they were visiting, she was always glad to have visitors, especially those who wanted to turn the darkness of the world into light. Stevonnie and the Gems were especially interested in this mostly agricultural kingdom, with its residents, who had big families, living, within yurts, tents, and other structures, making use of trees within their dwellings, places where people had lived for thousands of years. There were majestic trees and beautiful flowers dotting the landscape. However, this peacefulness and wonder was ignored by Adora, who addressed Perfuma with deep sorrow and confusion.

_"We came...because the Crystal Castle collapsed in on itself...and we...I really don't know what to do now...how in the world am I supposed to be She-Ra when my teacher is buried underneath rubble?"_

__

She began to cry, almost like Lapis's outpouring of sadness and emotion in Mystacor, after which Stevonnie tried to calm her down when she lamented about the painfulness of fusion, recalling her abusive fusion with Jasper. As tears ran down her cheeks, Adora tightly gripped Pearl's hand for support, seeing her as a friend to rely in these dark times. Perfuma reassured Adora she would do anything "for the She-Ra," and noticed something peculiar: Adora was holding the hand of Pearl.

_"Who is your new friend, that looks like a ballerina? I vaguely remember her from the war council in Bright Moon but I never got a proper introduction."_

__

Pearl blushed, with bluish marks on her face, a bit embarrassed. Still, she was more than happy to tell Perfuma about herself. This was the chance she had been waiting for to make friends with the beings of Etheria. So, she jumped at the opportunity like an excited rabbit.

_"I am Pearl, a gem of many skills...dedicated to guarding the Earth and all its living creatures from harm as a member of the Crystal Gems!"_

__

Perfuma persisted, asking why she seemed so chummy with Adora and...why they were still holding hands. Pearl did not expect such a question. She froze up, not knowing what to tell Performa. So, she awkwardly hesitated with an "um" and "well." Luckily for her, she was saved by Adora's directness, who got right to the point.

_"I'm done with everyone trying to figure out my relationships. She's my friend...and I'm never letting go! We will stay on this planet...or wherever...together!"_

Not only were Amethyst and the Gem fusions (Stevonnie, Amazonite, and Garnet) shocked by this display, but so were Glimmer and Bow. They never would have expected Adora to blurt out something like that, or for her to be so protective of someone she just met. They asked themselves what really happened when Pearl and Adora were in Bright Moon some days back. Sure, Bow and Peridot were in the same room, but Pearl had erected a bubble of silence around both herself and Adora so neither Bow nor Peridot could hear what they talked to each other about, at the time. Everyone else still didn't know what this all meant.

With Glimmer in a state of social confusion, Bow was more than willing to support Adora's decision. After all, they respected Entrapta's decision to join the Horde even though they profoundly disagreed with it and tried to convince her to change her mind, so she could come back to the Rebellion and leave the Horde. As Bow tried to comfort Adora, what he told her echoed not only the sentiment of his dads, when they found out he was a rebellion fighter, and his apology to her the last time they were in Plumeria. He spoke for himself and for Glimmer.

_"I thought we were being supportive...but we were really being terrible! Neither of us knew you had felt that way, but we'll try to be better friends. We like you no matter what and think you are an awesome person!"_

A smile spread across Adora's face. She was glad to have supportive friends who were trying to encourage her, friends who would be with her no matter what, no matter what path she took. Perhaps she had been a little harsh and too defensive. Sometimes her emotions snapped over inconsequential questions or speech due to her constant stress from the burden put on her. She was expected to be the savior of Etheria, especially in the She-Ra form. Even so, she would not abandon her friends, the Rebellion, or Etheria and return to the Horde. It was a lot of pressure to be She-Ra but going back to the Fright Zone meant a return to abuse, manipulation, and violence, something she was free of as a member of the Rebellion, apart from occasional skirmishes with the forces of the Horde.

Perfuma understood where Adora was coming from, but, unlike her, she tried to approach problems in a more positive manner. She was glad to meet Pearl, Adora's new friend. She stretched out her arms and hugged tightly.

_"It's so nice to properly meet you Pearl! Adora has chosen her friends well...you are so lovely! I could sense that from our encounter in Bright Moon but now I am completely certain."_

She paused, with happiness radiating throughout her body. She wanted it to be like the last time Adora, Bow, and Glimmer had been there, without the Horde killing the plant life of course. That meant they would all have a big party together. She spoke to the rest of those in Plumeria in hopes of drumming up support for her idea, getting the citizenry to help her out.

_"Gather around everyone! Let us welcome these guests to our wonderful home...with a huge celebration and feast. Bring out the windchimes, ready the drum circles, and prepare for dancing! We are going to have a great time!"_

While Adora and Pearl told Perfuma that this wasn't necessary, she insisted on it. So, to be agreeable, they played along. Everyone else was happy and glad to enjoy a party. They felt it would be a way to wind down, so they didn't have to think about the destruction of the Crystal Castle earlier that day, almost killing or poofing them.

Elsewhere on Etheria, others were plotting and scheming to tear the Rebellion down and shroud the planet in darkness, specifically in the Fright Zone. Hordak cracked his fingers and snickered. His beady red eyes looked at the huge screens in front of him. Displayed was information about their hacking of the Black Garnet runestone and the recent shattering of the Crystal Castle. He asked Entrapta, who sat nearby, about the progress of their plan. Entrapta, who had an almost slavish dedication to "science" no matter how much it hurt the planet, excitedly answered him with an evil look in her magenta eyes as her prehensile lilac hair quickly tapped on the keyboard.

_"Progress is going great! Our hack of Light Hope was a success...and the crumpling of that crystalline structure means it will be so much easier to get First One's tech for our machines. The Rebellion will think it's gone and done for, allowing us to go in without a trace. Now, if we could hack into all the runestones, perhaps we could even track the princesses...this...I must say...is all so exciting!"_

Hordak praised her on the progress, even though she was a princess, an inventor and a tech genius. He saw her as essential, part of his bigger plan to crush the Rebellion. Adora becoming a Force Captain was one of his original methods to crush the rebels and rout the Princess Alliance and making Catra a Force Captain was a replacement plan. This hadn't worked out how he had hoped. Catra had been clumsy, losing the Battle of Bright Moon, allowing the Whispering Woods to regrow, allowing a Horde-controlled fortress to fall into the hands of the Rebellion, not disabling the Salineas Sea Gate, and many other blunders, including getting herself captured. Entrapta was, on the other hand, much more reliable for Hordak and his schemes.

While the Gems and the Best Friend Squad, as they fashioned themselves, did not know the extent of Entrapta's involvement, they had a sense that something was wrong. But they did not worry about that for the time being. Instead, they took a break and enjoyed themselves. Stevonnie showed off her killer dance moves, as did Garnet, while Amazonite flew from tree to tree with delight. Glimmer, Bow, and Amethyst enjoyed the food, while Pearl and Adora sat off to the side, laughing at each other's jokes, teasing each other, as they had done before.

As the sun went down, they had nowhere else to go. Some villagers offered their lodging, but they did not want to impose too much, so they only accepted bedding materials and slept alongside Perfuma near the base of the tree which contained the Heart Blossom. Everyone, including the Gems, seemed to be asleep, with Lapis and Peridot un-fusing for the night because they felt too tired to stay fused together while they slept. But there were two people who were not asleep: Adora and Pearl. They stayed up as the light from the night sky shined on the ground. They walked through the Whispering Woods together, thanks to Pearl's gem serving as a sort-of-flashlight and reached a rock outcropping that overlooked a lake. This lake was something the Horde had overlooked when they came through the Woods before, partly because they didn't know the terrain as well as those who lived there. Adora held Pearl's hands tightly and declared something that surprised her, who saw them as friends and nothing more.

_"I really admire you, Pearl, your elegance, knack for organization and order, and your inspirational talk. Bow and Glimmer are nice and all, but you are really a friend I wish I had known sooner. I wish you could stay here forever."_

Pearl was flattered but cautious. They had only recently met and because of this, they did not know each other that well yet. So, she gave Adora a word of warning, while remaining supportive and blushing at her praise.

_"I'm glad that you like those qualities and see me as a true friend...but we barely know each other...Garnet says love is something that grows over time, not something that can just happen instantly or quickly. The same is the case for friendship."_

While Adora was a bit dismayed, she felt glad that Pearl reciprocated her feelings, just by acknowledging them. She moved over to Pearl and proceeded to hug her, excited that they saw each other eye-to-eye on this connection. She cried a little, when telling Pearl how she felt.

_"You are so interesting and fascinating...and I want to get to know you better...I want us to be the best of friends!"_

Pearl hugged her back, as she knew that Adora was a kindred soul who would do nothing to hurt her. She was different than Steven or Rose/Pink Diamond in that she was more relatable in a lot of ways. How could she not like Adora? She was a swordfighter, liked strategizing and organizing, and could transform into a warrior that was eight feet tall. She then stopped hugging and proceeded to hold Adora's hand, with Adora doing the same. They stood together, upright, on the rock overlooking the lake, shouting out for all to hear: "Pearl and Adora together...we are Peadora united!" Afterwards, they chuckled about this and made their way back to Plumeria and fell asleep with the others, who were fast asleep.

Waking up, everyone was greeted by Pearl and Adora, who seemed unnecessarily cheery, since they did not know that both had an intimate heart-to-heart talk the previous night. Everyone readied their things and walked out of the Kingdom of Plumeria, waving goodbye to the hospitable citizens and Perfuma, promising to return. On their way back to Bright Moon, they encountered a few Horde robots, obviously created by Entrapta. None of these robots seemed to have offensive capabilities. Rather, they were outfitted with digging and grabbing implements. The reason for this wasn't known, but they discreetly followed them through the woods. They could see where these robots were heading. They were moving to the ruins of the Crystal Castle. These robots were after one thing in particular: First One's tech. Through the clearing, they could see a legion of Horde soldiers commanded by Catra, awaiting the arrival of Horde robots so they could cart away the tech, then use it to crush the Rebellion. They didn't expect any trouble, although they were sadly mistaken.

Adora and Pearl brought everyone together, telling them they had a plan. They would surround the robots and Horde soldiers from all sides of the clearing, engaging in an ambush. Adora was proud of this plan. She saw it as a way to get back at the Horde and Catra herself.

_"The Horde needs to be shown who's in charge in these woods. Catra needs to be put back in her place, to slink back to the Fright Zone in defeat. If we let them take any First One's tech then...the Rebellion is over_."

Peridot, un-fused from Lapis at the time, had developed listening devices to place on Catra so they could learn what the Horde was up to. These devices would be placed on her after they knocked her out cold, at least that was the plan. While Adora would go after Catra, the others would take care of the robots and Horde soldiers, knocking them out of commission. As the plan was being explained, Lapis walked over to Peridot, asking if they could re-fuse. She happily agreed, they held hands tightly and Amazonite was reformed. With that, Pearl announced their ambush with the words "are you ready?" with everyone else nodding in agreement.

Energy blasts came from everywhere, with Horde soldiers knocked unconscious, their weapons firing here, there, and everywhere, with no order or reason. Soldiers were lifted and thrown in the air, away from the clearing. Many ran away in fear. It was utter chaos. Catra seemed surprised to see no one going after her. She commanded the robots to continue onward.

_"Keep digging for that First Ones tech. This little distraction isn't going to stop us!"_

Her hope was dashed quickly. The robots fell left and right, not only from Bow's arrows, Amethyst's electrified whip, Pearl's energy blasts from her spears, and Glimmer's blasts of light energy, but from the slashing and bashing by the Gem fusions, Garnet, Stevonnie, and Amazonite. Only one robot remained. Catra looked behind her to see Adora, who announced herself in a cold, calculating, and creepy way she had often used toward Adora time and time again, while adding her own thoughts.

_"Hey Catra. You are old news to me. I don't care about you anymore. Enjoy your sleepy time. Tell Hordak he's lost."_

Catra prepared herself to react, but...it was too late. Adora's sword, transformed into a hammer, hit Catra on the head and knocked her out cold before she could get to say a word. Adora had a new friend now, Pearl, and she didn't need Catra anymore. She was the enemy like the rest of the Horde. It was time to forget her and move on with her life. Bow soon ran over to attach the small listening devices to Catra's left and right ears, beginning the secret surveillance on the Horde. The devices were so small they couldn't be felt or even detected, easily nestling in the skin. Their range was very wide, planet-wide to be exact, and were programmed to connect with Bow's tracker pad, so they could listen to Catra, and by extension, the Horde itself.

Everyone surrounded the last remaining robot, tying it down. Bow stepped forward and spoke into the camera perched atop the robot's shell. He knew Entrapta was watching from the other side, seeing all of this unfold, so he addressed his message directly to her.

_"Entrapta, someday you'll regret all this and realize the destruction you have caused to this planet...what you are doing is wrong...it's not for science, as you may think, it's for evil. I hope you change your mind."_

Entrapta was watching on the other side and saw the monitor go dark. All her robots had gone offline and they had not retrieved First Ones tech. The mission had been an utter failure. She still had one trick up her sleeve. While it seemed cruel, she decided to do it anyway. Bow's words had not moved her because she felt happy in the Fright Zone. It seemed like home to her.

Back in the Crystal Castle ruins, Bow noticed that the one remaining robot was blinking in the eye like it was going to explode. He alerted the others, and Garnet easily picked it up and threw it into the air, away from the clearing, where it blew up into a thousand pieces. Now, the question remained...what would they do with Catra? Of all people, Bow had a plan.

_"Why don't we bring her back to the Fright Zone? Maybe we could even put her in her bed, and she might forget this whole thing ever happened."_

While this plan was clearly risky, without question, that did not mean it couldn't be done. Everyone else stayed behind...to wait. Amethyst transformed herself into a Horde soldier, while Bow, Glimmer and Adora took up uniforms as her escorts. Surprisingly, security was light and with little trouble they were able to walk through the Fright Zone and place her in her bed, just as she was waking up. Using her teleportation powers, Glimmer quickly teleported all four of them outside the Fright Zone, allowing them to get out undetected. It happened so quick that it didn't even register on Entrapta's systems.

They regrouped at the ruins of the Crystal Castle. Debating what to do, Amazonite came up with an idea. When she was un-fused as Lapis in Bright Moon, Mermista and Frosta had praised her abilities, although their own magical powers were impressive. She suggested that they visit both princesses, wherever they lived on Etheria. Glimmer explained that would be tough because the Kingdom of Snows, where Frosta resided, and the Kingdom of Salineas, where Mermista resided, were nowhere near each other, requiring some mode of transportation. Even so, she thought that this idea had merit, especially since Mermista or Frosta could help them with their ultimate plan, as could the other princesses, in bringing the war to the Horde.

Thanks to the ability of the Gems to shapeshift there was no need to use someone like Sea Hawk. They could easily change into a form of transportation at will. Adora and Pearl, the planners and strategists of the group, heartily agreed. As Amethyst transformed herself into a motorboat, something she had not done before, carrying Pearl, Garnet, and Adora, while Amazonite carried Stevonnie, Glimmer, and Bow, with her fusion able to carry more people than she would otherwise be able to. They were off to the Kingdom of Salineas and hoped they would hear what the Horde was up to soon...
Chapter Eight: Mysteries of Salineas and Hordak's Folly

In no time at all, they had arrived at Salineas and were greeted by Mermista, a seventeen-year-old dark-skinned woman. She wore a teal suit with a gold collar, dark scales, golden bracelets, and gold-teal high-top shoes, her dark blue-green hair blowing in the wind, rolling in from the nearby sea. Sea Hawk was nowhere to be seen, likely in a nearby bar playing craps, arm wrestling, or other games, with other seafaring folks. This disappointed Bow, because he had a soft spot for eighteen-year-old Sea Hawk, two years older than him, in his heart, and had looked forward to seeing him there. But he knew that Mermista wasn't a fan, finding Sea Hawk annoying and obnoxious, as both had a rocky relationship in the past.

While Mermista knew Bow, Glimmer, and Adora very well, she only vaguely recalled Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet, when the Gems had "accidentally" come to Bright Moon a few days before, barging in on the war council meeting. She had no idea who Amazonite and Stevonnie were. As such, she turned to them, inquiring about their identities.

_"So, who are you two supposed to be?...I mean, like, I never saw you before. You should explain yourselves this instant!"_

Stevonnie explained that she was a Gem fusion of two beings, Steven and Connie. Amazonite echoed that sentiment, noting that Lapis and Peridot had fused together, creating the Gem fusion. This didn't help abate Mermista's confusion. Before she could say more, a short girl, not even age 12, with black eyes, a three-pointed ice crown, a light blue jacket, a dark slate blue belt, fur-lined boots, and pale khaki pants popped out from behind a corner. This was Frosta, whose short cobalt blue hair shined in front of the Salineas castle walls. Akin to how Perfuma had acted when they met her in Plumeria, she greeted them gladly while Mermista grumbled about her "finding" the visitors. She wasn't used to Frosta in her immediate presence, although they were becoming chummier with each other.

Being logical, emotionally cool, and disliking small talk, she tried to lighten up the situation, away from Mermista's confusion, with one of her classic puns. While Bow, Glimmer, and Adora shook their heads, knowing what was coming, she decided to blurt out one anyway. She hoped to coax them into explaining why they had come to the kingdom in the first place.

_"Ice of you all to drop in!"_

Glimmer explained that they had come to specifically ask for Mermista's help in a final effort to defeat the Horde. She told them that even though the Princess Alliance had been clearly effective, the Gems would give them a new advantage over the Horde. The planting of listening devices on Catra, after the skirmish near the ruins of the Crystal Castle, made it more possible than ever to engage in a surprise attack.

Like Mermista, Frosta barely remembered the Gems and had also never seen Stevonnie or Amazonite. This made her confused since fusion didn't exist on Etheria. Sure, the princesses had magical powers which emanated from their runestones, but they could not fuse together into more powerful beings. In that way they shared nothing with the Gems, even though there were still commonalities between them.

Since they were puzzled, Steven and Connie un-fused so they could explain who they were, formally introducing themselves to Mermista and Frosta. This was helpful because neither of these princesses had overheard what Garnet had told Netossa and Spinnerella about fusion on Bright Moon. Now, they understood fusion better and how it worked. Even so, they didn't know who or what Amazonite was, as they had never seen her before. Just as Steven and Connie were about to re-fuse, everyone was astonished by the unexpected un-fusing of Amazonite, revealing Lapis and Peridot in a tender embrace. Their cheeks blushed either light green, in the case of Peridot, or dark blue, in the case of Lapis. They did not mean to come apart in front of everyone with their lips touching each other in a seductive French kiss. Steve loved witnessing such moments of true dedication and love between two people, especially among his friends.

_"Aw! You are so cute together. You are great for each other."_

Peridot stumbled a little, hemming and hawing over what to say, with lots of "uhs" and "ums," so Lapis spoke on their behalf, attempting to explain their relationship. She framed it in such a way that they would all understand. Lapis hoped that since all the people they had met, besides Catra, in the same age cohort as Adora, were loving and caring of each other, that any doubt of their connection would be washed away.

_"Peridot is my close friend and we complement each other, from the TV shows we enjoy to meep morps, farming, and much more. She's always there for me. We admire each other...what's wrong with that?"_

None of the Gems, although they were astounded by this affection, could counter Lapis's sound logic. Steven whispered to Frosta and Mermista, explaining to them what "meep morps" were, telling them it was what they called art, even though the reason why they came up with such a term couldn't be determined. Mermista, tired of all this small talk, wanted some action. She wanted to see what this fusion could do.

_"Fine, you can be together, whatever. Like, what can your fusion do? I mean, I know you, water wing lady, can control water, and you, greenish kid with a triangular-shaped head, can control metal objects, but...what can you do together?"_

She challenged them to a contest to demonstrate how each of them could control the elements. As part of the rules, neither person would harm the other one in any way, shape or form. As Steven and Connie silently fused back together, no one noticing but their fellow Gems, in full view of everyone, unafraid of what others thought, Lapis and Peridot came together in a close embrace, intensely kissing each other. With their connection re-ignited, with a flash of light they fused into Amazonite. With that, the contest began between these two beings.

Mermista, as an elemental princess, used her power, emanating from the small white pearl within her kingdom, to manipulate and control the water around Salineas. She created a huge tidal wave which came in and hit the Salineas Sea-Gate. It had no effect on this powerful magical barrier and barely touched them with water. It was Amazonite's turn, who flapped her turquoise water wings in excitement.

She could levitate and control metallic or water-composed beings, whether completely or partly composed of water, project her memories on mirrored surfaces, and change water's state of matter. Amazonite then focused her energy on the body of water around Salineas, turning some water into steam and then into a rain cloud. She then turned the rain cloud into a mini-thunderstorm which erupted over Salineas, with lightning strikes hitting everywhere. Jokingly, she declared to Mermista, impressed by this show of skills, who couldn't engage in such a feat:

_"Feel the wrath of Amazonite...the conjurer of water, lightning, and thunder!"_

While Frosta watched in amazement, she challenged Amazonite, feeling she could best this Gem fusion. She had the power to manipulate, shape and create ice thanks to her connection to the Fractal Flake, serving as one of the planet's elemental princesses. Coming into the personal space of Amazonite, only inches from her face, she continued her brazen remarks.

_"What an impressive display, but it's no match for my ability to create ice weapons and armor! I'll show you!"_

Using her powers, she proceeded to freeze the nearby bay, turning it into a big ice rink, navigating across the slippery surface with self-created ice snowshoes. They were a bit cold, but not as cold as the suit of armor she made for herself in a previous battle.

Amazonite would have none of this, conjuring a mini-thunderstorm. The electricity from the storm electrified the ice, just as electricity moves through a conductive state of matter like water. She also made ice clones of Frosta, showing that her ability to manipulate water included creating copies of other beings. Jumping back from the frozen bay, Frosta barely avoided being electrocuted. If she had been, then Amazonite's attempt to connect with new friends would have been a tragic failure. To destroy the ice copies, Stevonnie produced a resonance from their shield making them dissipate into nothing, similar to what Steven had done with Lapis, after stealing part of the Atlantic Ocean in a vain effort to reach Homeworld, and attempted to kill (or injure) his friends. At the same time, the electricity from Amazonite's thunderstorm produced heat which began melting the ice, even though the bay remained charged with electric current.

Luckily for everyone, Mermista had a solution. She summoned a huge tidal wave into the bay so that the electric charge could be dissipated, turning the bay from an electrically charged death trap into a safely navigable one. At the end of this display, with her dark blue-green hair blowing in the breeze, she smirked and snarkily addressed Frosta and Amazonite.

_"That was so much work...to clean up that mess you both created...But I handled it, urrrgh! It's just...annoying."_

__

None of them wanted to overstay their welcome, especially not Adora, Bow, or Glimmer. Even with the situation becoming emotionally charged, Mermista knew they wouldn't leave anytime soon. She remembered what Glimmer had told her about a near-death experience in the small civilian town of Thaymor, near the Whispering Woods: Adora loved horses. That gave her an idea, although it would be a bit inconvenient to execute since she would have to transform herself into a mermaid in order to effectively navigate through the ocean.

Trying to be cool and casual, she turned to Adora. After all, she was the princess of the oceans, who had dubbed herself "Sea-Ra," and could use a trident in the heat of battle. She hoped that her gesture would make Adora, at least age 16, feel better.

_"Adora, I heard from Glimmer that you adore horses. I could show you some seahorses if you want. If not, whatever."_

Her eyes filled with wonder. It was just like what had happened when she met "horsey," whom she accidentally transformed into Swift Wind with her magical sword. She was excited to meet these new "horses," as Mermista described them.

_"SEA HORSES! Mermista, I would love to see them! Can you show me?"_

Mermista rolled her eyes. She told her that these horses were under the water and since Adora had no gills, it would be tough to get there. She agreed to show her these beings because she respected her as a fighter and as one of the friendliest princesses on the planet. Glimmer and Bow grumbled, asking each other in hushed tones if Adora would be disappointed when she found out that sea horses weren't horses. Bow laughed at the prospect of that happening.

Stevonnie could go underwater with a bubble while Amazonite also could, thanks to her fusion with Lapis, and Garnet, a very good swimmer, could somehow also spend a long time beneath water. However, it seemed unlikely that Pearl, Frosta, Adora, Bow, or Glimmer could be underwater for a long period of time. Just as Mermista readied herself to jump into the water, changing her legs into a mermaid tail, Bow uncovered something unusual: a metal covering of some kind. Using her whip, Amethyst opened it. A light shined on the extraordinary discovery: a see-through underwater passageway. Mermista didn't need to travel underwater. But, since the sea horses were far out in the ocean, living among a beautiful coral reef, she would rather swim than walk the whole way.

_"Why didn't anyone tell me about this before? What other secrets have been hidden from me? Like, I'm not walking all the way down that tunnel to get to the sea horses. I'll follow from the outside while you go down the creepy tunnel...I'll lead you there, ugh."_

Everyone else, but Amazonite and Mermista, got into the tunnel, which continued along the ocean floor. Adora feasted her eyes on sights around them, while the rest of the group were also impressed, but not as much. After an hour or so, they reached the sea horse breeding ground around the coral reef in the ocean's temperate waters. Mermista pointed up at the sea horses and held one in her hand. Adora stared at it lovingly through the clear tunnel, with her puppy dog eyes. She became more entranced when she saw hundreds more swimming around the outside of the tunnel itself! She hugged Pearl and pointed up at them: "Aren't those pretty?" Pearl smiled, uttering, "Yes, they are" and hugged Adora back in a warm embrace.

As they walked back, through the tunnel, to the shore of Salineas, Frosta saw a big red button on the tunnel wall. Due to her impulsiveness, recklessness, and curiosity, she decided to press it, not caring what would happen to anyone else. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the bottom of the tunnel, sucking everyone into a dark passageway, speeding down like they were all on a very slippery slide or a fast rollercoaster. Some, such as Stevonnie, enjoyed this a lot more than others. Mermista and Amazonite watched in horror. They had no idea where anyone had gone. Although she was concerned, Mermista decided to swim back to shore because she wanted no part in "this," due to the effort involved. Amazonite, on the other hand, would not give up, and continued to search through the ocean in hopes of finding them some way or another.

Frosta, Garnet, Pearl, Adora, Stevonnie, Amethyst, Bow, and Glimmer were thrown out of the tunnel into a huge underwater chamber. At first, it seemed to be an abandoned First One ruin. This perception quickly dissipated since Gem technology was embedded, piquing the interest of Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, and Stevonnie. One thing was clear: to find the true meaning of this place, the Gems and princesses needed to combine their powers. While Glimmer offered her help, Bow recommended she save her strength since they were far from Bright Moon where she could recharge, using the Moonstone. That left only two people, Adora and Pearl, since Frosta didn't have a personal connection with any the Gems, at the time. Two slots could be seen: one for the Sword of Protection and another for any gem weapon, such as the pearlescent spear that Pearl carried. Each put their weapons into the designated slots. A static hologram began playing, with Rose and Maura speaking in unison, alarming everyone:

_"Hello. If you have come here searching for answers, then you have come to the right place. This is the underwater Salineas archive. It was hidden for thousands of years because we didn't want the people of Etheria to know a deep, dark secret: Earth and Etheria are interconnected. The energy flow from one planet created a passageway to the other, allowing a connection between our distant worlds. We wish you the best of luck on your quest for knowledge."_

The recording came to an end. Suddenly, glowing records and control panels revealed themselves, while the tunnel, they had traveled through, closed above their heads. They were stuck in this place, giving them the perfect opportunity to find out about the past. Adora walked to an open keyboard, typing in "ADORA," and pressed enter. No results came up. Frustrated, she proceeded to type in "SHE-RA." A picture appeared and videos began playing on other screens which covered the walls of this underwater cavern. A mechanical voice rang out, comparable to Light Hope's voice. This voice constituted a manifestation of the M.A.R.A. system that Bow's dads had discussed with Samurai Jack, Bow, and Glimmer, although Adora didn't know that.

_"She-Ra is the defender of Etheria. The sword of protection was created with an engraved runestone, specifically for a designated person of Eternia, to be used to protect Etheria, restoring balance and order."_

Frustrated, she let others give it a try. Pearl walked over to the keyboard, then typed the words "LIGHT HOPE." Again, a mechanical voice blared, noting something fascinating: Light Hope served as only one manifestation of a larger computer system. This intrigued Adora as it could mean that Light Hope could be regenerated, even though the Crystal Castle has collapsed. She continued typing, inputting the words "PINK DIAMOND." What came up astounded all of them, especially Pearl. A video began playing on all the screens and a holographic projection, demonstrating the features of Gem colony on the planet, resembling the horrifying plans for an Earth colony that Peridot showed the Crystal Gems on the Moon Base.

_"As Pink Diamond, I see tremendous potential in this planet as a colony. Blue and Yellow will be so impressed when they see this place. Surely they will respect me even more..."_

The recording cut off. Clearly, someone had taped over it. A new message began playing. In some ways, it seemed that Maura, clearly tired, worn out, and determined, who voiced the message was standing before them. What she declared shocked everyone.

_"I have discovered that my friend, Pink, otherwise known as Rose, wanted to destroy this planet, turning it into her own personal colony...to impress the Diamonds. I have no choice but to move this planet into another dimension so the energy link with Earth can be broken. I have reason to believe that the Horde is working with the Diamonds to subjugate this planet. I cannot let that happen...if you are hearing this message I succeeded and Etheria is safe."_

__

The message made Pearl speechless. She had no idea that Pink wanted to turn Etheria into a colony to "impress the Diamonds," as Pink had never expressed a sentiment for Etheria to be a colony from what she could remember. Adora was fuming, readying her sword to become She-Ra. As she was about to charge, Pearl calmed her down, with Amethyst, Garnet, and Stevonnie helping, reminding her that Pink had changed since then. Not only did Pink permanently change her form to Rose Quartz, leading a war against herself, but she inspired many to fight alongside her. Amethyst then said that Maura must have been "deranged" to move the whole solar system, especially since the Horde hadn't left Etheria, meaning the planet had not become "safe." Adora heard their pleas and softly told them, "yeah, you are right. I can't change the past, but I can change the future...by defeating the Horde!"

Their time in the underwater archive seemed to be at an end. Adora retrieved her sword out of the slot, as did Pearl with her spear. However, due to the fact they didn't take them out at the same time, it caused an internal error. A cold automated voice could be heard reverberating across the room. This message echoed what Adora had heard in the Crystal Castle, or what Bow, Glimmer, and Adora had heard in the Crimson Waste along with Samurai Jack.

_"Unauthorized access detected. Beginning self-destruct sequence. Opening all hatches and doors. Have a nice day!"_

__

While no one felt that they would have a "nice day," Stevonnie chuckled at this humor, no one guessed the pop culture reference, a movie which brought together Rose and Greg even closer together. As the floor gave way, everyone fell toward a rushing river below. Almost as if she could see into the future, knowing they were going to fall, all of them landed on Amazonite's back, who began to fly them out through the pipes. She had explored them in an attempt to find where they were. She would have broken into the underwater archive had they not unintentionally triggered a process which would destroy this valuable repository of knowledge.

To lessen the burden on Amazonite, Amethyst turned herself into an eagle, carrying Stevonnie, Pearl, and Adora. The rest of them rode on the back of Amazonite. The disappearance of this archive deeply concerned Stevonnie. They were sad to see such knowledge disappear in the blink of an eye and hoped that the information was available in another place. Little did they know, but Bow, thinking ahead, had saved copies of the archival recordings, database, and records, on a flash drive, while also copying it to his tracker pad. No one really noticed his actions because they were so focused on what the computer system was telling them.

Zooming out of the tunnel, they escaped just in time to the shore of Salineas and were greeted by Mermista. They could see a huge explosion in the distance, obviously the underwater archive. The resulting tidal wave moving quickly toward Salineas. Rolling her eyes at the fact she had to deal with yet another "annoyance," Mermista reversed the direction of the wave, moving it away from the beach where they were recovering from a harrowing journey.

Bow's tracker pad began to hum with static, almost like an act of magic. This puzzled everyone but Bow, and Peridot, still fused with Lapis. They knew what this meant. While there wasn't reception under the ocean, on land, recordings from Catra in the Fright Zone could easily come in. Due to the fact they had been under the ocean for a prolonged period, the messages were stored up, coming in one by one. Everyone raised their ears at one recording in particular:

_"Hordak doesn't respect me anymore, he just cares about that techy princess, Entrapta, and building that portal. It's time for a change in leadership. I need to be the leader of the Horde, not Hordak. Then I can rule Etheria once and for all. Adora will pay for what she did to me...they all will pay for what they have done!"_

In later messages, Catra talked about the Horde amassing its armies around the Fright Zone in preparation for a massive offensive. While she hoped to head this effort, she admitted this wouldn't occur because Hordak didn't trust her.

What Catra had in store gave Adora an idea. They would instigate an attack on the Fright Zone with...its own troops! Amethyst would shapeshift into Catra, leading a coup d'état against Hordak. This could only happen if the real Catra could be captured, knocked out and detained. While such an idea seemed far-fetched, it could work if they all worked together!

For this plan to work, they needed to recruit Netossa and Spinnerella in Bright Moon and Perfuma in her gorgeous kingdom, Plumeria. A success of this bold move would show that the light of the world could triumph over the ever-encroaching darkness.

Without much delay, Amethyst transformed herself into a helicopter, carrying Adora, Pearl, Stevonnie, Glimmer, and Bow to Bright Moon. The others rode on the back of Amazonite, who could handle the extra weight thanks to her fusion. Stevonnie tried to ask about the underwater archive, but due to the helicopter's speed, no one else heard them. They resolved to mention it later, since information in the underwater archive could be vital to Earth and Etheria.

Soon, they arrived at the Bright Moon castle. Even though they announced their arrival, Angella must have not heard them because she was enthralled with reading books and manuscripts within her private library. Instead, they were greeted by Spinnerella and Netossa. Adora cheerfully asked them a question of genuine importance.

_"Will you join us on our quest to defeat Hordak, that 50-year-old bag of bones, restoring balance to this planet?"_

Enthusiastically, Spinnerella and Netossa accepted. Amethyst turned herself back into a helicopter, a tiring fusion to hold for such a long time, and Amazonite carried the rest of them. Thanks to her ability to control wind and air, coupled with the ability to create cyclones while spinning, Netossa and Spinnerella were able to move themselves forward without the help of the Gems or other princesses. To join in the fun, Stevonnie twirled around the cyclone with both of them, joined by Mermista, who continued to have a nonchalant attitude toward everything.

Their final stop was Plumeria. They unintentionally startled Perfuma, only age 17. She didn't expect them to come, meaning she had nothing prepared for them. Stepping out of the helicopter, Adora approached Perfuma, imploring her to join them to strike a decisive blow against the Horde. She chirped and excitedly told Adora she would help.

_"I will do anything for the She-Ra. I knew this world would right itself one day and...now we have the chance to do that!"_

With that, they walked through the Whispering Woods, to its edge, and across a desolate plain en route to the Fright Zone. Adora hoped that everything went to plan rather than something improvised. Only time would tell if they would be successful in defeating the Horde.

As they positioned themselves, Glimmer and Adora began the first part of their plan: kidnapping Catra. They arrived at the Fright Zone at the right time, night fall, meaning that she had started falling asleep. They could easily teleport in, capture her, and then knock her out. Bow would stay behind because it would be too difficult for her to transport more than three people. After all, as a 15-year-old, she was still inexperienced at using her magical powers. As they approached Catra's bed, Adora and Glimmer could see her eye observing them but did not experience much resistance.

Adora and Glimmer teleported Catra outside the Fright Zone's walls with no one detecting their presence. The fact that Entrapta didn't pick up their magical signatures, on her computer, had been a miracle. It was a happy coincidence she had been in a deep sleep. She needed rest, especially since she had an older age than many of the princesses, who were in their teens, having lived and breathed for 30 years on the planet. Standing outside the Fright Zone, Adora whispered to Frosta that they needed to create a cage for Catra, to temporarily hold her. Frosta complied with that request, building an ice cage while Netossa threw an electrified net on top, making it hard to escape. Grinning almost devilishly, Adora approached Catra.

_"It's such a delight to see you in a cage, like the animal you are. It's time for you and the Horde to pay the price for what they have done to this planet. We will be free from the awful tyranny, once and for all."_

Catra hissed and seemed ready to bust out of the cage. Adora doubted this would happen. She could tell Catra was disoriented and groggy because she had woken up only a few minutes before. This meant that knocking out Catra with a small hammer, one of the forms of the Sword of Protection, measured among one of the easiest tasks. Her unconscious state would serve their purposes, allowing their plan to proceed.

While they could wait until morning to execute the next stage, it would be too late, meaning that the possibility of failure would rise. They needed to strike decisively. As per the plan, Amethyst transformed herself into Catra and walked in front of the Horde tanks. Although the soldiers of the Horde were skilled fighters, they weren't the brightest bulbs in the box. She announced that Hordak, their leader, had become a traitor to the Horde by allying himself with a princess, meaning it was time to restore balance (and order) to the Fright Zone. Somehow, the Horde soldiers bought this argument and readied their tanks.

Soon enough, the blasts from the tanks hit the Fright Zone's structure, as they continued to vent their anger at Hordak's betrayal, wanting to destroy everything in their path, causing the structure to crumble. While Bow and Glimmer stayed to guard the prisoner, Catra, the others could sneak inside since the Horde soldiers were pre-occupied. With explosions rocking the structure, this disturbed Hordak, wondering what in the world was going on. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, all of whom were teenagers like Catra, Bow, Glimmer, and Adora, had been awakened by the commotion. Scorpia surveyed the area, searching for her "wildcat" but couldn't find her, although she observed Horde soldiers rushing through the Fright Zone at a fast rate of speed.

A legion of Horde soldiers faced Hordak, standing in his inner sanctum, declaring they would arrest him since he had traitorously allied with a princess for his own personal gain. When he demanded to know gave them such "outrageous" orders, they told him their orders were from Catra. Feeling threatened, they fired upon him but were clearly no match. His armor easily deflected their blasts. He charged toward them, throwing them left and right across the room. The trap had been sprung. While fighting off advancing Horde soldiers, the princesses and Gems snuck behind him. In a combined blast, they used their energy to hit him in the back, weakening him and causing his armor to fall off. Although their attack had debilitated him, he turned around toward them and began to charge at them, who only wanted to stun and capture him, a condition they agreed to so that Stevonnie could join them. It was too late for Hordak. Seeing their dead comrades strewn across the floor, another legion of Horde soldiers, who arrived in the room, raised their guns and opened fire. Their laser bolts struck him across his back, causing him to fall to the ground. Croaking, he breathed one last gulp of fresh air. His death, from their laser bolts, meant he had been killed not by the princesses he had sought to eliminate but by the Horde soldiers who had been trained to carry out his bidding!

As the smoke cleared, the legion of Horde soldiers approached them, readying their blasters. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio led the group, resolute in their determination to restore order and balance to the Fright Zone. The soldiers radioed down to "Catra." They reported to her that Hordak had been killed, but that they had encountered a group of rebels, and asked how they should proceed. Amethyst, in her form as Catra, did not know what to tell them. Luckily, she never had to utter a word because Mermista covered the Horde soldiers, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, with a tidal wave of sewer water. While Frosta proceeded to freeze them in place, Stevonnie protected them all with their pink shield, blocking the laser bolts fired from the guns of the Horde soldiers. The lasers stopped coming when the Horde soldiers, and their comrades, were frozen in place. They were then picked up by Amazonite who threw them outside the Fright Zone walls, falling hundreds of stories, leading to extreme injury or perhaps even death. This display of utter violence shocked Stevonnie, almost leading Steven and Connie to un-fuse, although they stayed together despite these disturbing events.

With Hordak gone, there remained two obstacles to their plan: Entrapta, with her command of technology, and Scorpia. The latter could cause their whole plan to fall apart. Dedicated to her friend, she had run through the Fright Zone. Exiting the deteriorated structure, she found Catra trapped within a prison of ice, surrounded by an electrified net, protected by Glimmer and Bow, believing she could take them on. She shouted, "I'm coming, wildcat!" Hearing that, Amethyst jumped inside a Horde tank, aiming it at Scorpia. As she ran toward Catra, with Bow and Glimmer at the ready, Amethyst aimed and fired a projectile from the Horde tank. Not expecting this, the projectile hit her straight in the back. Unlike Hordak, who was killed by laser bolts, her scales were tremendously strong, meaning that the blast only stunned her temporarily.

That left Entrapta, who had woken up, ready to face the princesses and the Gems, whom she had never seen before. They felt she could help them in the final stage of their plan: wipe the Fright Zone from existence, eliminating all traces from the planet itself. Preparing to attack them with her prehensile hair, Adora stunned her with a regulation stun gun which she had taken from a Horde soldier, whom had been killed by Hordak. Although she was in a daze, she could hear Pearl and Adora utter a few stern words, "Entrapta...it's time to talk," while the others surrounded her in a semi-circle. The time for reckoning was at hand...
Chapter Nine: For the Honor of Etheria?: Adora's Choice and Jack's Bold Move

With the stun gun's effect wearing off, Entrapta came to her senses, even though she was still on the ground. Glimmer helped Bow, who examined her computers, while Adora and Pearl looked at her intently, with the other princesses and Gems standing guard. Surprised by their boldness, she demanded to know why they had come there.

" _Hey, why did you stun me? I didn't do anything to hurt you all. You were the ones that attacked me, not the other way around!"_

Glimmer, Bow, and Adora shook their heads. They brought her over to Hordak, who laid lifeless on the floor. They reminded her that the scientific experiments she had conducted caused the destabilization of Etheria, almost killing them in the process. Seeing Hordak on the floor emotionally destroyed her. She soon dropped to her knees, shouting "Why! It was the first time I ever had a lab partner. You don't understand him like I did. You are monsters!" While some of the princesses were ready to console Entrapta, one of the Gem fusions did so instead. Stevonnie, who had almost split apart due to Amazonite's violent methods, cried beside her. They reassured her that the princesses and Gems hadn't killed Hordak but rather the Horde soldiers fired upon him in "self-defense."

Entrapta, shocked by this revelation, felt very confused. It almost seemed as if the world had come to an end for her. In some ways, the princesses and Gems felt the same since the Fright Zone had become more unstable due to the continual barrage of energy blasts from Horde tanks upon the structure itself. They implored Entrapta to come with them, saying that she did not have to join the Princess Alliance or the Rebellion, but that the Horde was finished. Entrapta, thinking they didn't understand her, touched a few buttons on the computer screen, leading to a whirring sound. The portal began to open. She thought that if the Horde no longer existed on Etheria she could join them on Horde Prime. She would, if she went there, serve the ultimate leader of the Horde, Malevolent, Hordak's half-brother. As she was about to step into the portal, the princesses and Gems held her back, Frosta with her ice chains, Perfuma with her flower chains, and Amethyst with her whip. Realizing they were right to stop her, she relented. Unbeknownst to them, a Diamond communicator, given to Steven by White, Blue, and Yellow Diamond, had been sucked out of Stevonnie's pocket, and into the portal, which had, due to the out-of-control suction, started pulling in the rest of the room like an expanding black hole. Luckily for them, the portal pulled in nothing else.

Traveling through the portal, the Diamond communicator popped out on the other side, floating in space near Horde Prime. The portal had been closed on the Etherian side when Entrapta shut it down and Garnet smashed the structure into oblivion. However, the Diamond communicator continued to be active: it pinged out a location to the Great Diamond Armada (GDA) sitting in orbit around Homeworld. It revealed the location of the Horde fleet, consisting of at least 57 warships, named Horde Space Snappers, floating near the decrepit planet of Horde Prime and its nearby moon. These ships, covered by metallic black armor, had a pointed front and a neck connecting the head of the ship to an almost-diamond-shaped back region, which contained a thruster emitting a bright green light. Malevolent, on the mothership, basically a bigger version of a Horde Space Snapper, twiddled his thumbs. Like he had for over 1,000 years, he awaited the signal from his half-brother, keeping his ships at the ready in the event the day would come for invasion.

Back on Homeworld, the GDA received the coordinates for the Horde Fleet and inputted them into their navigation computers. No Gem Warships would be traveling to Horde Prime, but an impressive set of armaments were still part of the GDA. Emerald, a high-level aristocrat of the Homeworld society, commanded a 40-ship squadron of Destiny Destroyers, shaped like enormous green octahedrons, with small front-facing windscreens, four claw-like prongs containing the ship's main cannons, and an assortment of precision missiles. Escorting them were 20 Sun Incinerators, yellow ships shaped like hexagonal prisms, with the fronts tapered into a point, and two wings on the sides. There was also a 50-ship squadron of Trilliant Splitters, strong enough to ram into enemy spaceships. Sparkling in the sky, these unique ships, different from those that were square, round, or rectangular, had sharp and dashing features, comprising a triangular shape with three equal sides, with the equivalent of 50 facets to accent their powerfulness. They were angled, with sharp points, having such splendor that their enemies would be awed by the symmetry and destructive force of these ships. Able to blind their enemies with a white flash of light, they contained a set of slicer cannons and an arsenal of diamond-tipped missiles. The Pear Shimmer, shaped like a pear with a rounded side narrowed to a point, which could open and allow those docked in the ship's hangar bay to depart, accompanied them. The 100 starfighters housed within the ship were Marquise Chippers, which resembled the shape of an elongated eye, with four cannons. One ship led the GDA, unlike any of the others.

Samurai Jack flew this octagonal ship, called the Asscher Slasher, with large step facets and four cropped corners. While living on Homeworld and under the Diamond's mind control, he had become an Honorary Admiral, with the Diamonds supporting him since they sensed a great warrior which could be used to accomplish their ends. No longer could he be called Samurai Jack, but his more accurate name showed a level of higher importance: Admiral Jack, commander of the GDA. He ordered the fleet to warp to the new coordinates after activating the Diamond communicator orbiting Horde Prime. The communicator let out an EMP, which disabled many Horde ships with a huge energy surge, making them sitting ducks for the massive attack to come. No ship would be spared, ensuring that only debris and dust remained of the enemy fleet. If Steven, or any of the other Gems, had known of such an attack, they would have never sanctioned it, and that is why Blue, Yellow, and White Diamond vowed to never tell them.

As Malevolent tried to get the disabled ships back online, working with the ship commanders, they found the source of the EMP. It emanated from a device of some kind which they quickly obliterated. Those ships affected worked to restore power, so that their weapons systems, including a heavy stock of missiles, were ready to launch at any approaching enemy. Sitting on the mothership, he received a warning from the ship's computer: it had detected something warping toward them through hyperspace. Despite the EMP going off, he had no reason to expect an attack was imminent and hoped Hordak had come with a fleet of ships to assist them in conquering worlds. He couldn't be more wrong.

Blue warps appeared around the fleet. While they could, under normal circumstances, easily defend themselves, the tactics of the incoming enemy rendered them almost defenseless. The Trilliant Splitters warped right into Horde Space Snappers, ramming into them at a fast rate of speed. Soldiers were thrown across space to their deaths, propelled forward by the huge explosions, colored bright yellow, tangerine, and dark orange, which had split apart the ships, and rocked the Horde fleet. In desperation, seeing laser bolts fill the skies and the destruction outside his ship's windows, Malevolent demanded the crews of the remaining ships fight back. They were no match for the full might of the GDA. Although their ships were being eliminated, one by one, he was hopeful they could win because the mothership and space station remained intact and untouched. To recover from the battle, Horde ships, some smoldering with black smoke, retreated and formed a defensive posture around the space station and mothership. They were faced with a formidable enemy. All 50 Trilliant Splitters had warped in, facing them, and had ravaged 33 of their ships, resulting in an incalculable loss of life. Only 24 ships remained, less than half of their original fleet.

The Horde fleet would soon be outgunned. Although the Trilliant Splitters stopped attacking and arranged themselves in a defensive triangular formation, the other GDA ships were ready to join them. The 40 Destiny Destroyers, 20 Sun Incinerators, the Pear Shimmer, which housed 100 Marquise Chipper starfighters, and Jack's ship, the Asscher Slasher, warped in, arriving in front of the Trilliant Splitters. They were ready to finish off the Horde. Leading the GDA, Jack ordered them to attack, with a mission of picking off one Horde Space Snapper at a time. The Nephrite pilots, sitting in the Pear Shimmer, readied themselves for battle, while the Agates, which commanded the Sun Incinerators, with a crew of Carnelians and Quartz soldiers, whom were Amethysts, prepared their nova thrusters. The Destiny Destroyers, headed by Jaspers, apart from the one commanded by Emerald, had a crew of Peridots and Citrines, and were glad to join their compatriots in the assault, preparing their targeting computers.

Cannons of the Horde ships continued to fire at the approaching enemy. The Diamond ships were barely touched, while detonations of Horde ships boomed across space. It pained Malevolent to see the Horde fleet, which he had worked so hard to build, be systematically eviscerated. Without warning, cannons of the GDA ships, which had wiped out all but three Horde Space Snappers, stopped firing. While this seemed like a strange move to him, with commanders of the three remaining Horde ships feeling that chance of victory was remote, he had one more trick up his sleeve. Snickering devilishly, he ordered their starfighters, sitting in the space station, to be launched and told the remaining star cruisers to go on the offensive. Before the Diamond ships had time to regroup, the Horde ships advanced upon them. This seemed foolish, as they were outgunned, but they had a plan: concentrate their combined firepower on one ship at a time, in an effort to wipe them out. It would provide a distraction while the starfighters came in for the coup de grace.

Hundreds of Horde starfighters swarmed the Diamond ships, thinking they were driving a channel between them. Little did they know, they were falling into a trap devised by Jack, thanks to loyal sapphires whom had predicted this move by the Horde. As they moved between the ships, those at the front and end of the channel, closed them in. Suddenly, a gauntlet of laser fire rained down upon the starfighters, coming from the 100 Marquise Chippers, which had silently left the Pear Shimmer. Unable to survive the onslaught, those left tried to retreat to the Horde fleet, but the 105 Diamond ships and 95 starfighters had them in their sights. They became nothing more than smoldering pieces of wreckage after they had been destroyed with flashes of yellow and white light. While the Diamonds had lost five Star Incinerators and five starfighters, the Horde had experienced much greater severity.

The star cruisers Malevolent had ordered to advance on the Diamond fleet had become floating rubble. All that remained of the Horde's forces were the space station, 25 starfighters, and the mothership. Jack ordered the Trilliant Splitters, their strongest ships, to fire upon the mothership, while the others would attack the space station. He would, in his Asscher Slasher, lead their starfighters so that the remaining enemy starfighters could be routed. As the radio crackled in his cockpit, he spoke to his fellow compatriots:

" _Nephrites, follow my lead. Prepare to attack on my mark...Commence attack. We do this...for the Diamonds!"_

Heavy flak from the remaining Horde starfighters resulted in many of his fellow pilots being killed. Even so, they stuck together, allowing them to completely raze the enemy fighter squadron. The dogfights they engaged in were almost child play. Despite the fact they had more experience conquering planets, the Horde pilots weren't ready for battle. This was why it saddened Jack to see his fellow battle-hardened Nephrites killed by enemy laser fire, especially since he had trained with them for months in the fast-tracked process to become an admiral. During that time, he had become a new person. Almost none of his old thoughts and beliefs were part of his being. Even if mind control of the Diamonds ultimately cracked, which continued to be a possibility, it wouldn't matter. Any thought he had of being a righteous samurai destined to defeat Aku seemed to have disappeared. He had become a warrior of the Diamond Authority, exactly what Blue, Yellow, and White Diamond wanted. There seemed nothing to crack him out of such control, not even himself.

A huge blast reverberated across the battlefield. The space station had become a floating wreck, leaving only one Horde ship remaining: the badly damaged mothership. Jack ordered the Trilliant Splitters to stop firing. The GDA, then consisting of 105 Diamond ships and 55 starfighters, surrounded the enemy ship in a blockade. He patched through a message, hoping that whoever commanded it would surrender, allowing them to win the day.

" _I am Admiral Jack, commander of the Great Diamond Armada. We implore you to surrender yourself and your remaining crew. Let us end this battle."_

He could see his opponent, Malevolent, cackling at this request. Despite the fact the entire Horde fleet had been wiped out, along with the space station, making him emotionally distraught, what Jack proposed was out of the question. He wouldn't give up so easily. He felt that a surrender would dishonor everything he had worked for.

"Surrender? That will never happen. I will fight to the end and will go down with this ship. Someday you will pay for the destruction you have caused here today!"

Jack responded, telling him that if he wanted that to happen, then he would order all his ships to fire upon the mothership. He thought talking captain-to-captain would end the fighting so that no more blood would be spilled. That seemed out of the question. Soon enough, the laser cannons of the Diamond ships barraged Malevolent's ship, causing it to crack apart. Knowing that the ship had some power left, he hoped to rig it to detonate and wipe out the Diamond fleet in one blow. Unfortunately, for him, this plan backfired, as his ship lost power instead and quickly plummeted toward the surface of Horde Prime, meaning his kamikaze plan had failed. Watching in disbelief, Jack told the fleet to move a safe distance away from the planet.

As his ship burned up in a reddish yellow-orange fireball, he yelled out one final word "JAAAAACK!" Of course, Jack couldn't hear it, as the sound from Malevolent's voice couldn't carry that far. The resulting detonation caused Horde Prime to break apart, with rocks hurtling toward the Diamond ships. Seeing the danger, Jack ordered the fleet to warp back to Homeworld in haste to avoid being crushed by the incoming rocks. All of them complied, with planetary debris only wiping out five Destiny Destroyers in huge yellowish green clouds of energy. Jack, preparing to warp back to Homeworld and rejoin the Diamonds, looked back at the remains of Horde Prime. The Horde's reign of evil across the universe seemed to be an end. Little did he know, but Horde soldiers, tanks, and the Fright Zone remained on Etheria, a problem that the planet would have to figure out on their own terms, whatever way they saw fit.

Back in the Fright Zone, with the portal turned off, the princesses and Gems confronted Entrapta. Glimmer, the most forthright of all the princesses, told her that the hacking of the Black Garnet and the resulting climate changes had disrupted the fragile balance of the planet. She pointed out how the use of First One technology had been a theft of historical artifacts, as bad as her other transgressions, while seriously endangering all their lives! Bow sighed, telling her that she had become, whether she liked it or not, a "collaborator with evil." These comments, more than any other, shook her to the core. She had justified, to herself, the theft of First One's tech and "science" no matter what. She had felt abandoned by the princesses and thought she could find new friends among the Horde. This had become meaningless because none of these "friends" had come to her aid when the Gems and princesses liberated the Fright Zone. Those "friends" were off helping themselves and did not care about anyone else.

Delving into deep thought, she began to realize the consequences of her actions from their point of view. It all seemed clearer now, but it disturbed her that Hordak had been killed. She opened up to them, realizing her errors.

" _My god, you must think I am a monster. I can understand why you are angry at me. I only wanted to conduct scientific experiments, collect data, and test the boundaries of thought. I never wanted to hurt anyone. But, in the process, I blindly charged ahead, not thinking of how my actions would affect other people. I am sorry and I ask for your forgiveness."_

While Perfuma cried tears of joy, and hugged Entrapta, more than willing to forgive, the other princesses felt she should pay penance for what she had done. They asked her to help them begin the process of dehordeification, starting with the destruction of the Fright Zone itself. She agreed with their terms on the condition her materials and supplies could be moved back to her castle in Dryl. She hoped this meant they would provide a new lab for her, so she could continue her experiments. As they prepared to leave, they could hear screams of terror from outside the Fright Zone. They ran down the hallways, with Entrapta on the back of her robot, Emily, which had powerful lasers that could melt through walls.

Opening the Fright Zone's last outer door, they could see Catra and Scorpia standing beside each other, with a legion of extremely hurt Horde soldiers. Snickering, Catra evilly uttered her famous catchphrase: "Hey Adora." Glimmer and Bow were tied up inside the ice cage instead of Catra. What these evildoers hadn't expected were the Crystal Gems, whose powers they had never dealt with before. Garnet fired her fists at them, while Pearl's spear sent laser blasts in their direction. Adora, who shouted, "For the Honor of Greyskull!" and turned into She-Ra, charged at them. Stevonnie threw their shields while keeping one to protect the group from incoming laser bolts from the guns of Horde soldiers. Their attack incapacitated all of them except Catra, who approached Adora, feeling she could beat her once and for all. She did not count on a huge rat; which Amethyst had shapeshifted herself into. She didn't know much about Catra, but she thought that anyone would fear such a menacing animal. It worked, frightening her, causing her to run away terrified. Perfuma caught her. Adora, who had changed back into her usual form, not that of She-Ra, let out a hearty laugh and addressed a disoriented Catra.

" _You aren't getting away this time, and we'll make sure of that. Your reign of destruction on this planet is over!"_

Fast forward three days. The Fright Zone had been destroyed, thanks to Entrapta's ingenious implosion, and efforts to fill in the area with dirt, to serve as a location for a new structure, were beginning. Horde symbols were systematically obliterated apart from previous battle sites, whether near Thaymor, the Whispering Woods, or anywhere else. They were maintained so that all could be reminded of the evil deeds of the Horde. A small selection of Horde weapons, armor, and technology were acquired by Bow's dads, George and Lance. As a token of goodwill, Adora gave her old Horde shirt to them, since she no longer felt comfortable wearing a reminder of evil. She would always remember the Horde, but in her own personal way.

George and Lance worked with Angella, Bow, and his other 12 siblings, to plan construction of a new building, atop the Fright Zone's previous location, called the Archives of Etheria. This put a smile on Stevonnie's face since the records from the underwater archive in Salineas had been saved and were stored with care. In the meantime, Peridot and Lapis, having no battles left to fight, felt comfortable un-fusing into their original Gem forms. This allowed Peridot to talk with Entrapta, whom, as a form of atonement, worked to ensure that the new archives would have the appropriate technology. As a token of goodwill, Bow and Peridot had created inter-dimensional video recorders for each other, so they could communicate even when the Gems returned to Earth. As a kind gesture, Stevonnie gave the diary, _The tale of a Quartz and a Diamond,_ back to Angella. She gifted it, along with other books and materials from her personal library to the growing archives, a new institution of knowledge, where she would serve as a special adviser, helping them choose the right items to add to their collections.

Although the head of the Horde, Hordak, had been killed, the disarmed Horde soldiers and their compatriots (like Catra, Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogellio) remained. While Perfuma wanted a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Angella and the other princesses demanded a more stringent approach. Those who had been part of the Horde would be brought to trial, judged by ordinary citizens of Etheria from across the planet's many kingdoms, elected by their fellow citizens, with lengthy sentences for those who had committed heinous crimes. There would be no gentle treatment of those who had committed war crimes, with all offenses against morality and humanity undoubtedly punished. Some could say the princesses were hypocritical since Entrapta, whom had collaborated with the Horde, worked alongside them presently and in the past. But, like everyone else, she would have her own trial. Measures were put in place to ensure that those at the top of the Horde structure, like Catra and Scorpia, would never be allowed to hold any position of power on the planet ever again. If Shadow Weaver reappeared, she would be on trial for her many crimes, which stretched beyond collaboration with the Horde to killing fellow Sorcerers in Mystacor, and many other misdeeds.

The effort to de-hordeify the planet continued, with those who had been part of the Horde sent to schools in order to ensure their evil ways and thoughts would fade away, so they could become productive members of society. Their role in Etheria would depend on whether they could recognize the errors of their past association with the Horde and work to help rebuild the planet. For some, the punishment for their past transgressions would be community service, while for others it would include something more severe, perhaps even death, although this would be decided by the courts themselves. Some courts were composed of a judge and jury, while others only included lay jurors, with the referral to the appropriate court depending on the severity of the crime former Horde members had committed. Those charged with crimes could defend themselves in court, even asking for someone to represent them. This seemed to be a remote possibility because those living on the planet, as a matter of principle and en masse, refused to defend anyone whom had been associated with the Horde, remembering their crimes.

In the meantime, the Gems were preparing for their departure. Since they had met everyone in the war council room when they had come into Etheria, caused by a purposeful memory implantation by the other Diamonds for selfish purposes in Lion, the princesses were ready to wish them well. As they readied to leave, Adora began to cry. The departure of Pearl, whom she had gotten to know better during her time on Etheria, distressed her deeply. Who on Etheria truly understood her, that shared something in common with her? Sure, Bow and Glimmer were nice and friendly, accepting her after she had defected from the Horde, while Swift Wind had great comic timing, but Pearl felt like someone different, a person she could share her real self with. As she contemplated what to do next. Bow ran into the room, shouting that when he reviewed records of the underwater archives, he found something startling. Everyone stopped and listened to the hologram of Light Hope he had discovered:

" _In order for She-Ra to bring balance and order to Etheria she must wield a power of unimaginable destructive capability. With the Sword of Protection, the planet itself can become a weapon, allowing it to annihilate the Horde or any other foe, saving the universe from destruction. This will result in the death of all those on the planet except She-Ra...but, what is the life of one planet measured against those of the entire universe?"_

This message horrified everyone, especially the princesses. They now fully understood why Maura, the previous She-Ra, had moved the planet to another dimension, and why Light Hope had cast her out. While the Gems didn't know what to make of this other than express their displeasure, Adora became enraged, wiping the tears from her face. All her training with Light Hope, the use of the Sword of Protection, and her role as She-Ra seemed to be a lie. She asked herself how wielding the Sword of Protection was justified since Light Hope had genocidal thoughts, uncaring about the people who lived on the planet, her home since she had crash landed on the planet as a baby.

Adora realized she had a choice. On the one hand, she could stay in Etheria with her friends Bow, Glimmer, and other princesses, deal with the conundrum of holding a sword gifted to her by a believer in planetary genocide and aftermath of the Horde's defeat. On the other, she could start a whole new life on Earth, away from the Horde, the traumas of her past, and spend more time with a friend who truly understood her, Pearl. She opened her mouth, ready to announce a momentous decision before her.

" _What Light Hope describes in the hologram is revolting, disgusting, and outrageous. As such, I want nothing to do with her or this magical sword. I am relinquishing my sword to you, princesses, to keep in your care. With the collapse of the Crystal Castle and dehordeification beginning, She-Ra is no longer needed. You have all the resources available to ensure balance and order on this planet. I am telling you all this because I am going with the Crystal Gems to Earth. I know you have all been great friends to me here, but I need to start a new life, explore places I've never been, and get to know a wonderful and amazing person, Pearl, better. I wish you all farewell."_

While Pearl blushed, Glimmer, Bow, and the other princesses hugged her. There were sad to see her to leave, but they understood her reasoning, while Swift Wind cried as well. Bow accepted her sword and promised it would be added to the growing collections of the new archives. He mentioned that he and Peridot had created an inter-dimensional video recorder, so she could communicate with them even on Earth. She grinned, hugging them back. Pearl chuckled and welcomed her into the Crystal Gems.

Stevonnie asked Lion to warp them to Earth. Yawning, Lion started the warp, with some getting inside his mane, like Lapis and Peridot, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet grabbed onto it, while Stevonnie and Adora sat on his back. They waved goodbye to the princesses and began their warp. Adora could start life anew without the responsibility to be She-Ra and the expectation she needed to "save everyone." She didn't know all the Crystal Gems as well as she would like, but her time on Earth would allow for that possibility.

In no time at all, they reached the end of the Panama Wormhole and were coming back to Earth, from the Moon Base. Lion used his super-warp to send them to Beach City. When they arrived, Greg, Steven's dad, cried tears of joy. He had been worried sick that Steven had been kidnapped, or something worse. Knowing that each of them had their own families, Steven and Connie un-fused, although their fusion as Stevonnie had shown its endurance and unparalleled strength. Yelling "Daad!", Steven ran toward his dad, who hugged him back, glad his "Schtu-ball" was safe and sound. Like Steven, Connie's parents, Doug and Priyanka, greeted her with open arms, glad to see she hadn't been harmed.

Bismuth beamed with excitement. The Crystal Gems had returned without a scratch and even brought along a new friend. This made her curious, as she had never seen this blonde-haired 17-year-old teenager, standing at Pearl's side, before.

" _Nice to see you all again! Now, we're back in Bismuth. Who is this new friend? I've never seen her around these parts."_

Before Pearl could say anything, Adora introduced herself. As she explained it, Etheria, a planet within a far-off dimension, was full of life and beauty. She had joined them so she could start a new life, away from her troubled past there. While on the planet, Pearl became one of her closest friends, seeming to understand her like no one else. She tried to show as much deference as she could to Bismuth. While this surprised her, she welcomed Adora to Earth. Steven hoped she would have a fun time with them in Beach City and in their adventures to come.

As the sun began to set, everyone went back inside the Beach House. Lapis and Peridot were unsure where they would stay. In her triumphant entrance to Beach City when the Gems were battling Blue and Yellow Diamond, Lapis had thrown the barn, where they had previously lived, on top of Blue Diamond, smashing it into pieces. They would need to make new meep morps, and could, perhaps, use pieces of the barn, which remained on the beach, to build an addition. Of course, they would need the approval (and help) of the other Crystal Gems if they wanted to start such a project. For now, they lived in the house's bathroom together. Only two remained outside: Pearl and Adora. They sat on the head of Obsidian, a statue that formed the face of the Crystal Temple, near the Lighthouse, where Ronaldo lived.

Even though Pearl had seen the Earth's sunset many times, since she had been living for over 8,000 years, like Garnet (and possibly Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot), while Amethyst was only about 5,000 years old, the bright yellows and oranges enthralled Adora. She hugged Pearl in an intimate embrace. She had never felt more alive in her life. The emotions that flowed through at that moment surpassed anything she had experienced on Etheria.

" _Isn't it beautiful, Pearl? I'm so glad to be here on this planet with you."_

Pearl nodded and hugged Adora back, as they both sat together, watching the sun dip below the horizon. As the sky darkened and feeling tired from the day's journey, she went inside the house with Pearl, lying down on the couch in the living room and soon fell asleep. Earth would be different, with new friends and new adventures. She felt free since the constraints of Etheria and the pressure to be a magical warrior had been lifted. A new chapter of Adora's life was about to begin and she didn't know what to expect next...

###
Keyword Density Index

This index comes from the most common keywords, either characters or themes by chapter or section, using an online text analysis tool called Textalyser. As such, not all the numbers may be completely accurate, but they show the characters, groups, and themes this novella focuses on.

Characters/Groups

1. **Adora** – 278 mentions

2. **Bow** – 164 mentions

3. **The Horde** – 127 mentions

4. **Pearl** – 107 mentions

5. **Glimmer** – 106 mentions

6. **Steven Universe** – 82 mentions

7. **Samurai Jack** – 70 mentions

8. **Lapis Lazuli** – 64 mentions

9. **Amethyst** – 55 mentions

10. **Peridot** – 47 mentions

11. **Gems** – 39 mentions

12. **Diamonds** – 39 mentions

13. **Stevonnie** – 28 mentions

14. **Mermista** – 28 mentions

15. **Crystal Gems** – 26 mentions

16. **Amazonite** – 25 mentions

17. **Catra** – 23 mentions

18. **George** – 21 mentions

19. **Lance** – 20 mentions

20. **First Ones** – 20 mentions

21. **Etheria** – 18 mentions

22. **Light Hope** – 17 mentions

23. **Aku** – 15 mentions

24. **Pearl** – 15 mentions

25. **Entrapta** – 13 mentions

Themes

1. **Library** – 41 mentions

2. **Spaceships** – 31 mentions

3. **Fusion** – 31 mentions

4. **Portal** – 28 mentions

5. **Fandom** – 18 mentions

6. **Time** – 16 mentions
Sources and inspiration

Each part of this story uses specific sources.

In the first chapter, I extensively used pages from the She-Ra and Princesses of Power fandom, specifically those for Bow, Adora, Glimmer, George and Lance, Queen Angella, The Princess Alliance, The Rebellion, Etheria, and Lord Hordak. Additionally, pages on the Samurai Jack fandom, directly those on Samurai Jack and his katana helped flesh out the story. At the same time, some webpages gave helpful hints on words used to describe people's expressions, like Mark Nichol's "100 Words for Facial Expressions."

For the second chapter, information about materials used to make a kimono and online definitions of silk were extremely helpful. Pages on the She-Ra fandom, specifically on Light Hope, the First Ones, the Crystal Castle, the Fright Zone, Mara, Sea Hawk, Best Friends Squad, Despondos, Thaymor, and Etheria, provided necessary details. Diana Urban's "43 Words You Should Cut From Your Writing Immediately" was vital to polish this chapter.

For the third chapter, the summary of the "Reunion" episode of She-Ra on bleedingcool.com, the fandom page for George and Lance, and Twitter users who talked about the library in that episode were used. Diversity was accounted for with the use of Behind the Name for name meanings and "8 Different Shades of Brown Skin, Which Tone Do You Have" by Sloane Betz on _That Sister_. To enhance this story, elements of the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, interpretation of those rights, posts on April Hathcock's blog on April 3rd ("Value, Care Work, and Paypal") and March 28, 2018 ("Criticalizing Our Work: Timucua Language Collection") were incorporated, along with my observations about the family library run by Bow's dads in that episode. I aimed to ensure that this chapter was more positive than other fan fictions on AO3. This was possible with the help of articles such as "14 Fictional Libraries to Check Out" by Ashley Hay, "7 Mysterious Libraries in Literature" by Pen Shepard, "The Best Fictional Libraries in Pop Culture" by Emily Temple, "A Long Overdue Nod to SciFi and Fantasy's Best Librarians" by Ashley Mullins, "5 Fictional Libraries We'd Love to Visit" by Katherine Monasterio, "A Roundup of Fierce Fictional Librarians" by Lacey deShazo, "Voices in Time: The Magic of Fictional Libraries" by Stuart Kells, "Favorite Fictional Libraries" by Tera Lynn Childs, and "Most Dangerous Fictional Libraries in Pop Culture" by Rose Moore.

In the fourth chapter I specifically used pages on the She-Ra fandom on Entrapta and the Fright Zone on the She-Ra fandom, along with those on Pink Pearl and Blue Pearl on the Steven Universe fandom. Such pages provided necessary context, improving the chapter in its entirety.

For chapter 5, I can't thank the Steven Universe fandom site enough for information on Lion, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven, Stevonnie, Peridot, and Lapis, as it was vital to this story. The same could be said about the pages on the She-Ra fandom site about The Princess Alliance, The Moonstone, Queen Angella, and Adora. The use of the term "Panama Wormhole" was adopted from what Prof. Farnsworth told the fellow characters of the Planet Express ship in the season 7 episode of Futurama, "Rebirth" and was appropriated for the chapter. The mention of Pearl Points in the story derives from the "Sworn to the Sword" (Season 3, episode 9 of Steven Universe) and the Buddy Buddwick Library referring to "Buddy's Book" (Season 4, episode 3).

For chapter 6, several sources were used. For one, I used fandom pages on Mystacor, Pearl's Swords, Holo-Pearl, the tvtropes page for the "Shadows of Mystacor" episode of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (the episode transcript from Springfield Springfield), and props like the chalkboard in "Steven vs. Amethyst" (Season 3, episode 19). Ideas about fusion outlined by PrideBarry in her video, "Garnet: The Rock, The Myth, the LGBT Legend" were integrated into this story, as were those by Kevin Williams, otherwise known as AwestruckVox, on The Roundtable in his various fan analyses of the show, and fan animations involving Peridot and Lapis ("Time For a Break," "I Love My Roomie," "Tablet Background," "Issue 13," "Issue 21," "No Need to Fuse," "When Your Partner is into The Same Show As You," "Lapis and Peridot Save Christmas," "Be Wherever You Are," "Antifreeze" (parts 1-3), "Valentines at the Barn," "At the Fair," Pericomix's 1-4, "Something in my Eye," "You'll Be Ok," "Something New," "Let's Dance," "Surprise Kiss," "And She Did," "For You") all on the YouTube channel of Shelly Kitten, which dubbed over comics with these titles. This writing was also inspired by "kissed the girl," "turquoise," "The Bug," "Peridot Tries A Banana," "Thanks Peridot," "Airborne," "Forgive Yourself," "Pining Hearts," "Lapidot {LapisXPeridot}," "Ruined," "The Ladybug," "Fusion," "Lapis and Peridot Fusion," "Adventurine," "Lapis Peridot fusion," and "Cream Pie," all Lapidot animations. Others, like "Lapis and Pearl fuse to Save Steven," "The Smothering," and "Every Single Time Lapis Lazuli Smiles" were also helpful as were official digital shorts like "Video Chat," and "How Do Gems Fuse?" Although I fear I short-shirfted the fusion of Lapis and Peridot, you could say this story is a clear homage to those that "ship" Lapidot, referring to those who think Lapis and Peridot are in a romantic relationship. Clearly, a fusion between them is possible, whether you believe in this shipping or not. For the description of such a fusion, I took inspiration from previously shared fusions on the stevenuniverse subreddit, like "Azurite" (two different ones, one by lyra_art and another by St0pRedditingInClass), "Grandiderite" (by MineOfSardonyx), "Turquoise" (by buzzbuzz20xx) and an unnamed one (by Subzero008), along with sketches by Gem Warrior on Tumblr, specifically "Aquamarine," "Aqua Aura," and "Vauxite." The name Amazonite is perfect because it is, as Crystal Vaults describes it, a rare mineral which "beckons in captivating shades of turquoise-green, promising to soothe the spirit and calm the soul...provides harmony and balance...[and] empowers one to search the self and discover one's own truths and integrity, and to move beyond fear of judgment or confrontation with others and live in alignment with those beliefs and values"! The "Forgive Yourself"/"Good" comic dub is where the description of the Lapis and Steven fusion, used in this chapter, comes from, while some of the dialogue in the "Adventurine" fan animation was helpful to inspire some of this chapter's dialogue, with the name "Chalcedony" coming from the dub of the original comic on Princely's YouTube channel. I would argue that Stevonnie can fuse, per CartoonUV on Twitter that "Steven can fuse, therefore it's possible but it probably wouldn't happen." Other dialogue is inspired by my memory of certain lines from the show, like from "Hit the Diamond" (season 3, episode 5), and pages from the fandom on Holo-Pearl, Connie, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Stevonnie, Lapis, and Peridot. The relationship between Adora and Pearl was not my original intent of the chapter, but it sets the stage for chapters to come! The part about Peridot's visor/goggles comes from the comic dub, "Time For a Break." There are a few others where she doesn't have her glasses on, like "Motherhood." Lapis's secret love of eating comes from the "Easting With Lapis" comic dub.

For chapter 7, the She-Ra fandom pages for Horde Robot, Plumeria, Hordak, Entrapta, and Perfuma were helpful, as was the page of Pearl quotes on the Steven Universe fandom. What Adora says ("I'm done with everyone trying to figure out my relationships. She's my friend...and I'm never letting go!") is a variant of what Lapis said when she merged with Jasper ("I'm done being everyone's prisoner! Now you're MY prisoner! And I'm never letting you go!...Let's stay on this miserable planet, together!"). Episode scripts on Springfield, Springfield for a few episodes of She-Ra ("Reunion", "Shadows of Mystacor", "Flowers for Mystacor") influenced Bow's dialogue in the story. The mention of Samurai Jack is a reference to part 1 of this novella. I know the name is "Mara" in the usual show, but I changed it to Maura in order to tie together parts 1 and 2 of the novella. Th section about the spare room in the castle with the energy field comes from season 3 of She-Ra as does the lines about Catra, although she is a lot colder, emotionally, than she was in the actual show! Honestly, I think Swift Wind is the most annoying character, so I don't mind having him be insulted in the first paragraph.

For chapter 8, the pages on Mermista, Spinnerella, Thaymor, Salineas, The Pearl, and Frosta on the She-Ra fandom were helpful as was the Moon Base page on the Steven Universe fandom. Since I'm not the best with detecting sarcasm, articles like Kristina Adams's "How to Write Sarcasm," posts on WritingForums, the /r/writing subreddit, Stella's "Fiction Focus- Sarcastic Characters," K.M. Weiland's "How to Write Funny Dialogue (What I Learned Writing Storming)," and Robert Wood's "Writing Funny Characters That Actually Make People Laugh." TvTropes and help-i-need-a-cool-username.tumblr.com (for the post on "headcannon," characters ages) were also helpful. The dialogue about seahorses was inspired by a post on a-dauntless-daffodil.tumblr.com. Unlike others I had posted on AO3, I rated this higher because of violence in the last half! It isn't explicit, but someone is killed, and other people are thrown off a building onto the ground, becoming very injured. And there's a lot of fighting in that part.

For chapter 9, I used Steven Universe fandom pages like those on the Gem Warship, Destiny Destroyer, Sun Incinerator, Homeworld Gems, Nephire, Quartzes, Peridot, Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran, Beach House, Crystal Temple, and the Light House, along with pages for Bow and Emily on the She-Ra fandom. For the description of the Trilliant Splitter, Michael Fried's "Diamond Shapes vs Cut Guide: Popular Diamond Shapes," 77 Diamond's "Trillion Cut Diamonds Shape" webpage, Mazal Diamond's "Diamond Shape: Trilliant Cut" webpage, and Beyond 4Cs's "The Comprehensive Guide to Trilliant Cut Diamonds" webpage were helpful. Fried's description was used for other Diamond ships as was "What Is An Ascher Cut Diamond" from Brilliance LLC. For the space battle portion of this chapter, I was inspired by YouTube clips of space battles from _Star Wars: The Clone Wars_ (from s3e20, s4e9), _Star Wars Rebels_ (from s1e5, s2e18, s3), Battle of the Planets (1972 cartoon), _Stitch!: The Movie_ (2003), a clip titled "Spaceship Battle in Atmosphere" and another titled "Battle of the Dreadnoughts -- A Star Wars Short Film," and one titled "Enterprise vs Star Destroyer FULLY ANIMATED," along with the space battle between Emerald and Lars. I pay homage to the scene, in one of the last episodes of the 2003 animated series _,_ _Star Wars: Clone Wars_ , of Separatist ships warping out of hyperspace into Republic warships, causing them to break apart. The ideas about "dehordeifiction" come from those practiced in East Germany as reported by David Silver in January 1995 ("East Germany Kept Nazi Past in Mind," _New York Times_ ), Bruni de La Motte in March 2007 ("East Germany did face up to its Nazi past," _The Guardian_ ) and ideas proposed in the "War Criminals, Activist Nazis, and Nominal Party Members" guideline issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany in 1946. I incorporated these to show that Etherians were serious about moving past the Horde's evils, although I'm not sure this would ever be incorporated into the actual show. For ages of the Gems, I specifically used discussion posts on the "Gem Ages?" thread on the Steven Universe fandom.
About Burkely

Burkely Hermann is a history-loving researcher, writer, and graduate student, working on his Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at University of Maryland, specializing in Archives & Digital Curation. He previously graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in History in 2016, and has worked as a staff researcher for the Maryland State Archives, virtual researcher for the LAC Group, staff genealogist in Washington, D.C., library assistant at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and researcher for the Digital Curation and Innovation Center in College Park on the Legacy of Slavery Project. He also worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland, has participated as contestant (in 2007, 2010, 2011) and judge in National History Day, and is presently a member of the Society of American Archivists, the professional organization for archivists in the United States. When he isn't watching movies, cartoons, or doing research for fun, he likes to hike, cook, learn more about his family's genealogy, or write new fictional narratives!
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