She-Ra and the Heroes of Power 2 (She-Ra/MHA)

Earth? You call your planet 'dirt?' Really?

“Okay, so,” Glimmer huffed out, a tad out of breath after that man had chased them. They’d lost him down a couple of sidestreets. “At least we know the translation spell I cast worked.” It was hard to look on the bright side of things given the situation they were in. Panicking doesn’t help any of us, though, especially not mom.

Glimmer noted that she was also panting harder than any of the other four. She was hardly out of shape, but when your main method of getting around a battlefield was teleportation, you didn’t tend to be as athletic as people who had to run in a fight.

“‘Quirks?’ You sure that translation spell is working?” Catra snarked at Glimmer.

“Yes, I’m sure!” The young Queen very much did not pout. “Maybe they just name things dumbly on this planet,” she pointed out, to be met by varying levels of disbelief from her comrades. 

“And what was that about needing a hero ‘license’. Like how does that even work?” Catra asked, her face scrunched up in a cute way. “Being a hero is something that’s decided informally when you rush off to save a baby from a tree or whatever it is you heroes do. Wait, did you have to get a hero license when you ran off to Brightmoon?” She turned, asking her lover.

Adora snorted. “No, didn’t really work like that. I just sorta, ‘fwooshed’,” she said, making a gesture to indicate transforming. “And then I pledged myself to- to the Queen. After that everyone knew who I was.”

“That simple, huh? I seem to remember a few chaotic incidents before we reached that point,” Glimmer added with a teasing smile. Easy to tease her about it because half of those hijinks were my fault… at least half. Years of warfare had ground down some of the humor, or maybe some of those incidents were just too fresh to view the way their old adventures were.

“Sounds like you haven’t told me the full story about that part then,” Catra said, a smirk on her face.

Adora’s face grew red. “I meant, I told you all the important stuff. There’s a lot of details to cover,” she made a weak excuse.

“Did you notice how everyone had a datapad? Or at least something like it; all the civilians were pointing theirs at us while we ran. They were so much more compact than mine too.”

“Can’t be that high tech - the baton the man in blue had was of even lesser quality than we gave the grunts back in the horde.” Catra pointed out dismissively.

“Whatever the case is, it’s clear this world is very different from our own,” Glimmer said, gesturing to the buildings around them. Even from the brief glimpses we got of this place, there were towers that soared higher than even the Moonstone in Brightmoon. We’re in a narrow sidestreet that’s filthier than any part of my kingdom, with hundreds, probably thousands of people bustling past on either side of us.

“We need to find more information about this place, before we go looking for Angela.” Adora announced. Glimmer opened her mouth, a quick retort ready on her lips… before seeing how apologetic her friend looked.

“Fine.” At the shocked expressions of the BFS she snapped, “Don’t look that surprised! I get it, we need more information on this place before we can even begin to look for my mother. Once we do though…”

“We’ll find her,” Catra vowed, placing a hand on Glimmer’s shoulder in support.

“What are our plans for finding things out about this world?” The Queen asked. It’s not like we can just wait for answers to drop into our laps.

Right after she thought that, they heard the sounds of a teenage boy saying, “Hey, I think they went down this way!” The Best Friend Squad stiffened up before seeing a trio of boys a few years younger than them walking down. None of the boys were visibly armed, or had any semblance of danger to them. I hardly think any of them are as good as Double Trouble was at hiding ill intent.

One of the boys, with brown hair, had glasses, while another had hair like shards of black glass. The third had no hair, his face unusually blocky and grey, his hand following that same square-esque, rocky shape.

Glimmer relaxed a fraction as they approached. “Man, that was so dope the way you guys messed with that cop like that,” the boy with glasses said.

“You’re not a fan of these cops, are you? Are they always aggressive like that?” Adora asked intently.

“Oh yeah, fuck the police, man.” One of the boys said, which despite being a confirmation instantly keyed the group into him not being serious. There was no fire in his voice like the other members of the Rebellion had, more the whispered complaints of the people in Glimmer’s court thought she wouldn’t hear.

The boy with glass-like hair added, “It’s so annoying, having the cops always harping on about ‘not using your Quirk in public’ and ‘dangerous littering.’ It’s like, man, I don’t wanna be worried about my hair cutting someone, but it’s expensive to always be going to a specialty barber. They aren’t usually so mad about it that they try to chase you down like that pig did.”

“Teleporting in front of traffic was kind of crazy though,” the rocky boy pointed out. “You could have gotten seriously hurt if you hadn’t gotten out of the way.”

What were those strange wheeled skiffs that moved quickly along the center of the roads? The translation spell helped a ton, but it couldn’t cover anything. Deciding to hedge her bets, Glimmer said, “It was a bit of an accident, but luckily we were all quick enough to avoid that vehicle.”

“Were you the one with the teleporting Quirk?” The rocky boy asked. “Just assuming cause, you know, the sparkles looked just like your hair.”

Do they call magic ‘quirks’ here? Magic can have its oddities at times, but still. “Yes, I teleported us here.” That earned some appreciative whistles from the boys.

“Damn, must be nice having a strong quirk like that,” The glasses wearing boy said. “I’ve just got Sanded Edges,” he said, holding up a hand. The edge of it shifted to a rough, coarse surface. “Do the rest of you have cool Quirks too?”

“Umm, I grow bigger and stronger?” Adora answered, nervous like this was a test she hadn’t studied for.

“Awesome. Guess you got cat powers?” Catra nodded stiffly at the question asked of her and the rocky boy nodded back. “Cool, cool. My Granite Body is pretty obvious too. Not super flashy, but it’s nice in a scrap. What about you?”

Bow blinked. “Oh, I don’t have any powers. Just good with my bow and tech.” Suddenly the mood instantly changed, the three boys frowning at him.

“You’re Quirkless? Seriously?” Before Bow could answer, the boys turned to the girls. “Hey, why don’t you ditch this loser and hang out with us instead?” The glass haired kid said. “I can show you-”

“I’m not interested,” Glimmer declared, summoning her staff and slamming it down in front of her. The shockwave was mild, barely noticeable, but it still had him scrambling backwards.

“Whoa whoa, okay! Geez,” He said, muttering something under his breath. The three of them turned around and made an expeditious retreat.

“That was weird,” Bow said, scratching his head. He’s too kind. Those young boys were clearly just looking to hit on us, which was definitely barking up the wrong tree. Still, we got a bit of intel on the planet.

“So they seem to call magic ‘Quirks’ here and people aren’t allowed to use them,” Adora stated, only for Catra to shake her head.

“Can’t use them openly, without a license or whatever. Besides, feels like how we had assigned bunks at the horde but no one cared when I slept in your bed.” Adora gave out a shocked gasp.

“You told me Shadow Weaver gave you special permission- okay, that probably should have been my first clue something was up there.”

“Yeah, and even she didn’t care about that.” Catra pointed out.

How Shadow Weaver was in the Horde sounds like such a different person than she was in Brightmoon. It wasn’t exactly something Glimmer needed a reminder of - she had experienced Shadow Weaver’s ‘tender’ ministrations while captured by the woman. That was easier to brush past as being on opposite sides of the war however, especially when she had acted as a helpful (if still somewhat shady) advisor when in Glimmer’s court. Was it just being around the Horde that changed her or was it just her concealing that side of herself?

In any case, the question couldn’t be answered; that woman was dead and gone for good, unlike her mother, who she still had a chance of rescuing. “Let’s focus on gathering intel,” Glimmer stated, and the others snapped back to focus. “We need intel on the planet and what those boys said gives me an idea of the groundwork.”

“Bow, you look into their technologies. We didn’t expect much from them with no spaceships or the like, but they had those missiles and everyone has datapads or communicators. Adora, I want you to study the laws and military of the land. We can find out what isn’t allowed on this planet so we don’t run into any more trouble. Catra-” She paused for a second, unsure of what task to give the former Horde Captain.

Thankfully, she supplied her own role. “I’ll look into the customs and general mood of society, it’ll help us blend in.” At the questioning looks sent her way, Catra bristled. “What? I’m great at adapting to new societies. Remember how well I fit into the Crimson Wastes? Barely a day in and I was practically running the place.” I think that says more about how bad the Wastes and your personality back then rather than how good you are at ‘blending in.’

Not having a better task for her however, Glimmer decided to accept it. “Right, and I’ll investigate Quirks. See if they actually are magic and what they can do.”

Bow frowned. “Sounds like we’ll have to split up. Are you sure that’s wise?” No, but I don’t want to waste time here in finding my mom.

“It’s the fastest method. We’ll all carry communicators and I can come to teleport anyone out of danger if we need it. Just as a last resort until we figure out what exactly is going on here.” 

“Shame we can’t have Melog just hide your magic. We could get into all sorts of places like that,” Catra commented. It was annoying, but Melog’s illusionary talents were needed far more there to keep it hidden.

“Maybe later, if we can’t find out what we need now. Assuming everything goes well-”

“That is a whole lot of assumptions there-”

“-We’ll meet up at the ship at sunset, okay?” Glimmer finished, ignoring Catra’s interruption. Bow handed out datapads so they could contact each other in case of trouble, each one with Darla’s location already recorded on them. “Great, let’s move out, team!”

With that confident declaration, Glimmer strode off out of the alleyway, ready to search for information.

***

“I have no idea where to look,” Glimmer groaned, an hour into her search. The problem stemmed not from having too little clues like she expected, but too many. Just walking down the street, there were hundreds of signs, hints, and distractions. 

The city was organized in grids, based primarily around the movement of their wheeled skiffs with sidebars for the people to walk on. Lights hung over the roads, with different colors coordinating the flow of traffic for the vehicles and people. It took a minute to figure out, but there were far lower lights to indicate clear times to walk and not, and so Glimmer made her way through the metropolis. 

Many advertisements blared different products and services, from massive billboards and screens on the sides of buildings to smaller ones within the windows of different shops. And there were so many shops. Commerce flowed in and out of every building it seemed, with trade going on for so many goods. I thought Brightmoon had a decent amount of trade, especially recovering after the war, but this is insane.

As different as everything seemed here, with their massive buildings of steel and glass, and how packed it all felt, there were some similarities too. As she entered a ‘mall’ (which Glimmer found to be an even more condensed collection of stores), she saw some food stalls at the ‘ground level.’ The scents and appearance of their foods were different than home, but at least it felt somewhat familiar.

The few attempts she made to ask people for information were rebuffed, the citizens too busy, or just looking at her weird before laughing and walking off. Urgh this is so frustrating! She was about to give up before she spotted an odd, thin floppy book in a nearby general store. On the cover it had a line about ‘Heroes with unexpectedly powerful Quirks!’ 

Picking it up from the ‘magazine rack,’ she began reading through it. The magazine had tons of colorful pictures, particularly of the ‘pro heroes’ in extravagant costumes performing flashy feats. Are they like Princesses? Is that what separates a Pro Hero from other people? 

Reading a bit more closely, Glimmer was starting to think her conclusion was wrong. While the magazine clearly hyped up the ‘heroes’ within, none of their Quirks felt anything like what a Princess could manage. Maybe more like a really narrowly focused sorcerer from Mystacor… and even then, only an average one. Glimmer herself could manage far more with her spellcasting than most of the heroes in the thin book.

Of course, it does state that they’re nowhere near as strong as ‘All Might’ who shows up a lo- Her musings were interrupted by an employee marching up to her. “You gonna buy that?” He demanded.

“Ah, I-” Glimmer paused, realizing the issue. I don’t have any money! Not even Etherian currency - as Queen of Brightmoon, she hardly ever needed to actually carry around money herself. Not that they’d likely accept it anyways.

“Then get out!” He snatched the magazine out of her hands and shooed her out of the shop. 

“Rude!” She shouted back before striding off, trying to ignore the grumblings of her stomach. It had been a long day already, and was likely to be even longer. Without money, I probably can’t get any food, either.

Glimmer tried to leave the mall, but the confusing layout of stairs and levels left her a bit disoriented. For a split second she started to call on her powers and just teleport to the exit before recalling what she had said earlier. This isn’t really necessary, is it? With a sigh, she wandered to where she saw a directory. Needing a map just for the inside of a building feels crazy, but I kind of get it now. Honestly, probably could do with something like that for my castle; I might know how to get around it well, but it can be confusing for guests.

It was fairly simple to read a path out from there, but as she went down, she saw a bookstore to the side, an employee eagerly waving at passerbys. Thinking it over for a moment, Glimmer decided that there was no harm in asking and marched over.

“Excuse me,” she said politely to the employee holding up a red book with a large bin of copies of said book beside her. The androgynous person had long white hair, obscuring one of their eyes, the visible right eye having an oddly solid and gold look to it, though it did track to Glimmer as she approached. They were wearing a fancy red suit as well.

“Hello, what can I do for you, Miss…?” He inquired.

“Just call me Glimmer. Umm, I was wondering if you had anything I could read about Quirks, their histories, how they work, that kind of stuff.” His face lit up so brightly that Glimmer felt immediately compelled to add, “But I don’t have any money. Sorry.”

Their grin dropped a bit, but they didn’t seem aggressive like the man from before had been, just confused. “A mall is an odd place to look for it then. Hmm, no money is a bit of a problem, but…” they glanced down at the red book in his hand, holding his other thumb up to his forehead as he thought. “This book here is Destro’s autobiography and a bit of a passion of mine. It tells all-about his tale fighting for Quirk Rights back in the Dark Ages of Quriks, and because of that goes a fair bit into the history and touches on the genetics and mechanics of Quirks as well. If you wouldn’t mind telling me about your Quirk and situation, I’d be happy to give it to you for free.”

“Really?” She shouted eagerly before composing herself. “I mean, that sounds great, Pegasus?” She said, reading his nametag. I’ll be careful about giving too much away about my situation, but I can probably be vague about the truth.

“Please Glimmer-girl, call me Max. Or Maximillion if you prefer to be formal. Now what’s your Quirk?”

“Teleportation. Oh, and making blasts of light.” Somehow, that was the wrong answer, Max frowning at that.

“How can you have two Quirks? Everyone only has one,” he stated it as if this was an ironclad fact. Something that should be apparent to everyone in the world, no matter who they were. Crud! Didn’t know I’d get tripped up this early.

“Well, they both make the same color of lights and have a sparkly effect so maybe they’re connected?” She tried, which seemed to settle him down.

He rubbed at his chin. “Definitely possible. Several Quirks have greater applications than one would consider at first. Those two manifestations of your Quirk could be connected. Quirk doctors aren’t the most thorough with youth I find. Perhaps because they’re just testing their limits, but still. Would you mind showing me your Quirk? I do find it so fascinating to see how one demonstrates their power.”

“Wait, isn’t it illegal to use my Quirks here?”

“Ahh, I forget how backwards this country can be at times,” Maximillion declared dramatically. “Japan has its charms, but the draconian Anti-Quirk laws are not one of them. As you might be able to tell I’m from America originally. Your English is impeccable, by the way, though I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that accent before.” He said leadingly.

“Yeah, I’m umm, from pretty far away, you could say.” Glimmer replied, hoping he wouldn’t press, which thankfully he didn’t.

“Well, if you wish we can head to my office. As a private space, you’ll be able to demonstrate your Quirk freely.” He waved an employee over to take up shilling the book to passersbys as he led her to the back of the store. Guess I should have realized he wasn’t just an employee since he didn’t have the same uniform all the others had. It’s so weird seeing stores filled with dozens of people all dressed in the same way. It’s as if they were soldiers but like, they waged war by selling trinkets to other people.

The office was a cozy space with a large poster of a man in a grey jacket and long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Around his eyes were a splotch of black paint, almost like a mask. Even more eye-catching however was the portrait of a blonde woman in an elegant red dress behind Max’s desk.

Catching her gaze, he said, “The two most influential people in my life. Destro,” he said, pointing at the poster. “Was a visionary ahead of his time, and while decried as a villain centuries ago by a prejudiced and nasty populace, he would no doubt be hailed as one of the greatest heroes of our age if he had been born today. And my wife,” he said, gesturing to the portrait. “The light of my life, my other half. Gone too soon from this world.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss.” It was pretty clear that for a species that didn’t appear to have spacefaring capabilities that he meant his wife was dead, not simply on another planet. He smiled politely at her condolences, taking a seat at his desk.

“Thank you. But we were here to talk about you, Glimmer-girl, not ancient history!” The man gestured his hands out wide, signalling his permission to show off her magic.

Not wanting to damage anything in the room, she conjured a sphere of sparkly pink light around her hand, not firing it off as a blast. Despite that, he said. “Very nice. Now, could you teleport from one side of the room to the other?”

“Uh yeah,” she said, teleporting first to the one side of the room, then back and forth between the sides. That display earned some clapping from the man.

“Quite the impressive Quirk you have! And yes, I do see the similarities between the light you make and the teleports, though I’m afraid I don’t see the connection between the others either. I’m just a humble bookstore owner and failed card game developer, not a scientist.”

“You made a card game?” She asked. Clearly it’s important to Max for him to bring it up like that.

“Yes my dear, card games are my passion. I was inspired by mythology, magic and monsters, all sorts of fanciful tales of the past. I made a game of strategy and elegance, players summoning these monsters and using them to fight each other in card form. I even had plans for holographic images to accompany them, to give a sense of ‘realism’ to the game as it was played that would invigorate the players!” He declared triumphantly before dropping down.

“But it wasn’t to be. Misfortune followed in my footsteps, and despite America having more permissive laws than here regarding Quirk use, it still had enough restrictions that I couldn’t play my own game at important events.” At her confused look, he explained.

“My ‘Millennium Eye’ Quirk allows me to see what cards someone else is holding in their hands, even with the backs turned to me. Rather lame compared to your Teleportation Quirk, I’ll admit,” he said with a self-depreciating chuckle. “But even covering up my right eye wouldn’t stop my power and so I could be accused of cheating with it. Not being allowed to play in my own game was the last straw, and the company collapsed. So now I run a humble bookstore, but it’s a good life.”

He continued. “I hope you don’t mind me prying a little further, but did you never consider becoming a hero with your Quirk? Forgive me if you are and I haven’t recognized you.” 

“Well, my powers weren’t as strong when I was younger. I’d get tired out doing too many teleports without rec- resting, and taking more than one person with me would really exhaust me. Not to mention my range… I’ve just gotten tons stronger than back then.” Wiser, too I hope. Looking back on those days, I feel so foolish.

“Oh? How far can you teleport nowadays? Feel like whisking me away to a foreign climate?” He said, holding out an arm semi-jokingly.

With a smirk, Glimmer decided to indulge him, feeling like showing off. Grabbing his arm, she said, “Sure. So long as no one else lives there, it’s fine right?”

“It should be- Ahh!” He shrieked shrilly as they teleported. Or maybe it’s from the cold, wow! This is worse than the Northern Reach! 

The two of them were standing in the snow, the white barren landscape extending out around as far as they could see. Which was about three feet, due to the snow whirling around in the wind all around them. “Ah sorry!” In a flash they were back in his office.

“Wha-what was that?” The man asked, shocked and shivering slightly.

“The south pole?” Glimmer tried, shivering a bit herself. “Sorry about that, I-”

“No no! It’s fine!” He said suddenly, a very wide smile on his face for a second before he calmed down. “Wanting to show off your Quirk is natural; what’s unnatural is how much this country tries to restrict us. Still, probably best not to show off how you can hop international borders to most people.” Glimmer blanched a bit at that. Hadn’t realized there would be laws about that in particular. Really hope Adora gets some good intel on that.

After they had both shaken off some of the snow that clung to them, he passed her the red book (which he had thankfully placed down on the desk before they left). “Thank you for your time and showing off your Quirk to me.” She grabbed the book eagerly, but he continued before she could leave.

“If I may be so bold, you seem rather new here, and perhaps a bit sheltered?”

“That’s… not incorrect. Mother was always worried about me after we lost Father. She made sure to keep me under her wings then. Literally, at times.” Max pulled out a small white card and handed it over to her. It had been fun when I was a little kid, but as I grew up it felt embarrassing. Now I just wish for her to hold me that close again. Hold out just a little longer, Mom, we’re coming for you.

“I see. Well, know that I would be happy to help you. If you need work, I could offer you a job here, and have a few associates who might be interested in your help. They could fast track a license so you could use your Quirk for your job, and I might even know some people that could help you become a pro hero.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. While most everyone goes through the Hero Courses during high school, there are other options to gain a license in that regard. Someone with a strong Quirk like you though, that might have been overlooked while you were younger? There are ways that you could be a fine hero yet. And if there’s anything else you desire, feel free to ask. I’d be glad to help a bright young woman such as yourself. Especially if you want to learn more about Quirks. ‘Meta Liberation War’ is an excellent primer on the subject of course,” he said gesturing at the book she now held, “But there’s even more literature that looks deeper into the specific topics Destro covered.”

“Uh wow, thanks,” Glimmer said, feeling a little overwhelmed as she pocketed the business card. Maybe there are a bunch of nice people here too, if we just give them a chance. “I’ll definitely think about it.”

With that done, she headed out, eager to dig into the book she’d been given, hopeful she could find out more about the world, and with it, a sign of her mother.

***

“We can’t bring magic back to Earth,” was the first thing she said as Bow arrived at the ship, the last of the Etherians to make it back.

“Sorry it took me so long, they’ve gone an interesting technological route on this planet and I was busy looking into it and- excuse me?” Her boyfriend said, looking baffled. “But that’s why we came here in the first place!”

“Earth? Wait, you mean they call their planet ‘dirt?’” Glimmer ignored Catra cackling about the name of the strange planet they’d landed on, with even Adora snickering beside her.

“I know, and it might sound selfish but… I honestly don’t think the people here are ready for magic,” Glimmer explained, holding up her book. “Quirks were apparently discovered around two centuries ago, a genetic mutation that granted people minor powers. And the first people to gain these powers were persecuted. Beaten in the streets, attacked in their households,... it was horrible!”

The book didn’t go into much graphic detail, but the fact that Destro and his compatriots had to go through that much was terrible. So illogical too! Mages need training to use their powers well, but I fear the people of this world won’t care about that. They’ll just see people talented with magic as a new group to persecute.

“Seriously? But how are we going to deal with magic being released across the universe? People are going to discover magic anyways,” Adora pointed out.

“I don’t know,” Glimmer admitted. “But I think revealing magic to the world would be a bad idea right now.”

Catra chimed in. “I agree, but probably not for the reasons you have. I’ll give my report after you’re done, Sparkles.” The Queen rolled her eyes at the nickname but let it pass without comment. “What else have you got for us?”

“Apparently ‘humans’ even looked far similar with less body divergences than you might expect on Etheria, while nowadays they have even more. The people with different body characteristics beyond some basic skin color are called Heteromorphs… and in the distant past even the different phenotypic characteristics were something to discriminate against.”

“That’s terrible,” Bow replied, looking aghast. He sat down on a nearby rock on the beach, placing down the bag of bits and pieces of tech he had gathered. The others sat down nearby on fallen logs or in Catra’s case, perched atop a tower of junk. The waste-filled beach turned into the Royal Brightmoon throne room before their eyes… though the log Glimmer was sitting on still felt like a slightly damp piece of wood.

“Thanks Melog,” Glimmer said, appreciating the effort anyways, and scratching the cat’s head. They leaned into it for a moment before continuing on to hop up and curl around Catra.

“As I was saying, these people seem to discriminate against those that aren’t like them. I met a nice shopkeeper that gave me this book for free, but even that was because he thought I had a strong Quirk. If he knew I was an alien… I don’t know what he’d think.”

“Disbelief at first, followed by a healthy heaping of fear, probably.” Catra added. “I think that is a bigger concern than revealing magic to the world. They’ve got tons of movies and stories here, but most that cover aliens have the aliens depicted in a negative light, as invaders or the like. Even the ones that have ‘nice’ aliens usually have them in contrast to the ‘bad’ ones.”

“I mean… that’s not that far from what Horde Prime was like, right? So we could lean into that,” Bow offered, but the former Horde soldier shook her head.

“He’s not really around any more, and just our word on it isn’t great. I didn’t find any sign of Horde Prime or the First Ones mentioned here. Well, none save for the message we sent out which uh, wasn’t the greatest.”

“What are you talking about- oh. Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” Catra said, with a bit of glee in her voice. “The details aren’t being publicly released, but some stuff was leaked about the First Ones ‘demanding the planet stand down and make way for the coming upliftment of their primitive land.’ Seriously? Must she take pleasure from giving people bad news, even if it’s to her own side?! No, no. That’s not fair. It is kinda funny just how much we’ve bungled things thus far. Ha… Really hope Bow has fixed the fabricator on the ship so we can finally get some food.

Adora was busy smacking her palm into her face. “So stupid… shouldn’t have ever trusted… ahh how will we win back their trust?”

Catching the tail end of her lover’s mumblings, Catra responded. “Becoming a hero seems like a good option for that. Those people are everywhere and it seems to be all that anyone talks about here. I thought Princesses were insufferable before, but I didn’t realize what it would be like to live in a world with thousands of them!”

“Heroes are hardly like Princesses,” Glimmer crossed her arms in a pose that definitely wasn’t a pout no matter what her mother said… Shaking a bittersweet memory aside, she refocused. “I’ve looked into these ‘Quirks’ and as the name sounds like, they’re usually pretty weak in power. Just an oddity that each person has, like seeing what your hand is in a game of cards, not on the level of a Princess.”

“That’s even worse then. They’re a bunch of mini-Princesses with several times as many people fawning over them.” After a beat Catra added, “So yeah, we should get in on that action and become ‘Professional Heroes’ ourselves! We get all the benefits of their popularity and money. We can use that to win them over!... And to find Angela. I looked all over for any sign of her or an actual alien here, but nothing. With how much media they have, if she was known about here, then there would be a sign.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s not here though. If we could bland in here, she could too, right?” At Glimmer’s words, Catra gave her an encouraging smile. Adora reached over to squeeze the young Queen’s shoulder as well.

“Any luck on fixing the ship to detect her?” Glimmer asked hopefully and Bow waved his hand back and forth.

“I think most of Darla is repairable, but some of the critical components that were damaged on the ship were things they don’t seem to use here. Instead of crystals, they use chemicals for a lot of their electrical sources. It’s fascinating, but the specific crystals used in the detection system had regulating properties on the software itself. It used the resonance they had-” Seeing how lost his friends were, Bow switch tracks. “I can’t fix it with what we have here. But maybe if someone had a Quirk we could use to repair it…”

“Then we could rescue my mother!” Glimmer exclaimed, teleporting over to kiss her boyfriend. His dark skin blushed faintly at the affection. “Awesome, so now we just need to find out who has a Quirk like that.

“The government does keep a registry of everyone’s Quirks,” Bow began. “... But it’s secure and I don’t have access to it.”

“Never stopped you from hacking into our stuff before,” Catra snorted, referencing the times Bow had messed with the bots the Horde used. “Or even against Horde Prime - I know that was mostly Entrapta but you have to have an idea of how to do that too.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “They’ve got a far more sophisticated system than I’d expect given their level of technology. I think it’s because so much of their infrastructure runs on it. It’s also radically different from tech derived from Horde Prime, and back then I was never really worried about anyone tracking me back, since we were at war. With how highly guarded the Quirk Registry is, even if I broke in, they might be able to find us.”

“But we don’t have to because Heroes can request permission to review all sorts of government systems, including the Quirk Registry!” Adora declared triumphantly. “I found a library and read all about the laws here, including the exceptions. It was… about as bad as the Princess Prom, honestly.”

“Prom was a piece of cake,” Catra frowned.

“Of course it’s a piece of cake when you only attend with the express purpose of breaking the rules!” Adora fired back.

“And yet before we planted the bombs, I recall getting in way less trouble with Frosta than you,” She gave a smirk back, and Glimmer couldn’t tell if Adora wanted to strangle or kiss that smirk off of Catra’s face.

Not wanting to see either of those right now, Brightmoon’s Queen cleared her throat. “Alright, so we become heroes. I’ve got this business card and Maximillion Pegasus said he could help us become pro heroes.” Just me, technically, but I’m sure anyone he introduces us to will see that Adora, Bow, and even Catra can be just as heroic as I am.

“Great! With those recommendations we could be Professional Heroes in as short as five years!” Adora said brightly.

“““Five years!!””” All of her friends shrieked.

“We-well yeah. It’s a complicated process to be a Professional Hero after all. Tons of test and exams to go through.”

“Ugh, why does climbing up to a new position always have to be so much work?” Catra complained to no one in particular. Is it too much to ask that we just get handed what we want right away?”

“Yes. That being said, is there any faster way?” Glimmer asked Adora. “We can’t wait that long to rescue my mother.”

“Well, that’s the fastest way outside of the school system. The Hero Courses at High Schools could give a full license in three years, but provisional licenses can be given out as early as a few months into the first year.”

“I think I’ve heard of those. A bunch of kids mentioned a ‘Yuei’ High School for heroism,” Catra commented. Sounds like a good place to rub elbows with a bunch of kids with the strongest Quirks. Might even find someone there that could help us fix the ship. But we’re a few years too old to apply.”

“Easily fixed,” Glimmer said, conjuring a glyph in the air. “I can make a spell that makes us look young enough to enter.”

“And it won’t break or have a mishap?” Catra questioned skeptically.

“Gah- of course it won’t! I can cast it so it’ll last for a few days and recast it every day. A disguise spell to make us look like ourselves is fairly easy, honestly.” Both because I remember how all four of us looked back then and because I can study some of Melog’s magic before I try this.

“Then it sounds like we have a plan. Let’s go out and become heroes!” Adora cheered, and soon Bow, Glimmer, and even Catra joined in. Things are still crazy here, but at least we have a plan for the future. I can’t wait to find you Mom, to show you that Dad’s still alive, to say that I’m sorry… I’ll be with you soon, I promise.

A/N: And here we are with the next installment! Etheria is a very weird place, technologically. They had ancient First Ones super magitech, regular magitech, then Horde technology introduced via Hordak/Horde Prime, and all the inventions borne of war, but a generally very medieval-esque setting and civilization. Definitely makes for a bit of culture shock for the Etherians here and I wanted to explore that a bit.

I wanted at least one chapter for each of the main 4 characters to be from their POV, but one of the toughest ones for me. Glimmer is a very interesting character and it can feel hard to get her right at times. She has a dignified and proper upbringing as a princess and then Queen of Brightmoon, but also can be prone to showing off and throwing herself into the thick of things. Hopefully I did a decent job with her nonetheless.

And yes, Maximillion Pegasus is indeed an expy of that character from Yu-Gi-Oh! Things obviously didn't work out quite so well for him here as they did in that show... though maybe going better than in the manga. His Quirk is actually a mind-reading Quirk... but only when someone is holding a card. I thought it'd be a fun inclusion, and I didn't really want to have canon characters just happening to show up here, felt too coincidental.