"I'm telling you Glimmer, this is a great idea!" Perfuma insisted.

"A ball? Really?" Glimmer said, clearly unconvinced.

"Uhhh… did you like… see how the people down there are looking at us?" Mermista pointed at the large camp that had been built just outside the palace's grounds, at the edge of the Whispering Woods.

"That's exactly why we should do it! We should show the Horde's people that we're not the monsters Hordak told them we are! We should show them how much happier they could be here!"

"That's… really nice Perfuma, but I doubt that a single party could make them change their mind." Glimmer gave the flowery princess a sad smile.

"Don't be like that Glimmer! Trust me! I bet that it's going to be great and-" Perfuma began to speak, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, you!"

The new voice caught the three's attention. As the young queen and the two princesses turned around, they found themselves face to face with a small girl. She had to be around nine or ten. What took the princesses most by surprise was the stun baton she was holding in her right hand. A moment after, another girl appeared. She was older, one of Adora's old friends if Glimmer was not mistaken. She was called… Lonnie! That's what her name was. She rushed to the young girl's side and swiftly grabbed the baton away from the young girl's hand.

"Ivy! What are you doing?!" Lonnie hissed through gritted teeth.

"Give that back to me! I'm tired of you saying that I have to wait! I know they did something bad to her!" Ivy shouted back.

"Her?" Perfuma asked in confusion.

"Don't play dumb with me, princess!" Ivy addressed her with a mocking tone. "I know you took Catra and locked her up in your big, stupid castle!"

Glimmer snorted and chuckled slightly.

"Something's funny?!"

"You're cute, you're just like an angry little cupcake." The young queen mused, making Perfuma giggle and Mermista smirk.

"W-what?!" Ivy became as red as a tomato as she heard Glimmer's words. "I'll show you 'cute' rebel scum!"

But as soon as the young girl raised her fists into a fighting stance, her eyes fell on a figure near the castle's gates.

"Catra!" Ivy yelled, rushing towards the feline.

However, the young girl stopped dead in her tracks as she saw that Catra wasn't alone. Ivy's eyes widened in shock as she noticed the blonde walking beside her. She had already seen that face… many times if she had to tell the truth. There were cadets who told stories about a Horde soldier who went rogue and sided with the rebellion after receiving the powers of a princess… She-Ra… Adora. A few soldiers had even made sketches of her face and put them on their punching bags. That's how she had recognized her.

"Watch out Catra!" Ivy shouted as she resumed her run towards the feline.

Catra's expression went from surprised to amused in a matter of seconds. She stood in front of Adora, shielding her, although not in a way that would make Ivy feel threatened.

"Hey pipsqueak, what's the problem?" Catra grinned down to the little girl, who had stopped right in front of her, her fists raised in a fighting stance.

"Wha- Catra! That's She-Ra! Run! I'll protect you!"

Catra burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh! She's dangerous! She's-" Ivy began to rant, but immediately stopped as the feline dropped to her knees.

Catra knelt down in front of the little girl and brought her into a tight hug as she kept laughing.

"I'm glad you're okay kid."

Ivy felt her anger vanish immediately as she heard those words. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she hugged Catra back.

"I was scared… I thought they hurt you." Ivy muttered.

"No, I'm fine, see? Better than ever." Catra said as she stood up, flexing dramatically, earning a chuckle from the little girl, although, her concerns came back pretty quickly.

"B-but… that's She-Ra!" Ivy pointed to a very confused Adora.

'Who's this kid?' The blonde thought.

"Yeah, and you wanna know something? She-Ra saved my life. If it wasn't for her, Prime would have killed me, and by saving me, she almost died herself." Catra said, giving Adora's hand a light squeeze.

Why did that make Adora's heart flutter?

"She… she did?" Ivy's tone went from angry to disbelieved.

"Yes… Ivy, meet Adora… my… my oldest friend. And Adora, meet Ivy, the bravest, toughest cadet you'll ever know." Catra introduced the two to one another.

Ivy looked at the blonde suspiciously for a couple of moments before she spoke once more.

"What's with that dumb hair poof?" The young girl crossed her arms.

Adora looked surprised for a moment. She turned towards Catra and saw that the feline was trying her best not to burst out laughing. She returned her gaze to the little girl… strong… fierce… ready to fight She-Ra if she had to… all to protect Catra…

"I can see you already had a great influence on her Catra…" Adora joked.

"She's a great kid." The feline smirked proudly.

Adora smiled sincerely at the little girl before talking.

"I'm glad Catra has such a brave, young little girl looking out for her." Adora put a hand next to her mouth and fake whispered, "She wouldn't last a day without us."

"Hey!" Catra pouted.

Before she could realize what she was doing, Ivy snickered. The young girl cheeks suddenly flushed of a deep red as she realized she had just laughed at a joke the supposed Horde's nemesis told her. But before she could protest, a voice caught the attention of the small group.

"Adora! You're awake!" Glimmer yelled happily as she rushed to hug the blonde.

Adora stumbled back as the young queen threw herself at her, laughing alongside her.

"Sorry! Sorry…" Glimmer apologized as she noticed the small grimace of pain on the blonde's face.

"It's okay." Adora reassured her with a warm smile.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good! Just… hungry… a lot actually." Adora chuckled as she scratched the back of her neck.

"To the kitchen then!" Glimmer announced, pointing a finger dramatically towards the palace's entrance.

"Soooo… what about the ball thing?" Mermista asked as she reached the group.

"A ball?" Adora asked, her tone a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Yeah, Perfuma had the idea, why don't we talk while we have some pancakes?" Glimmer proposed.

"What's a… pancake?" Catra asked, raising a brow.

"Oh! You're going to love them! They're really soft, and warm, and sweet!" Adora said, grasping her hand.

Catra smiled, not questioning the warm feeling that unfurled in her chest as the blonde's hand made contact with her own. She had forgotten how much she liked seeing Adora blabber about whatever thing she found impressing. The blonde was so easily entertained.

"Sure, why not. But wait a moment." Catra said as she let go of Adora's hand and walked over to Ivy. "Hey, you wanna come?"

Ivy's eyes lit up at the offer. Spending time with her hero? Who would refuse? Even if she would have had to be in the same room with a bunch of stupid princesses, she would have never passed up the opportunity.

"Someone has to make sure they don't poison you." Ivy cast a dirty look at the princesses near the palace's entrance.

"See? An angry little cupcake." Glimmer smirked as she elbowed Adora lightly, making the blonde snicker.

"I'm not a… a… whatever that thing is!" Ivy fumed.

The trip to the kitchen was pretty quiet, everyone looked happy though. The treat of Horde Prime was still present, but for a moment, it was just the princesses having breakfast together, it was just Adora and Catra, together just like the old times, it was just… them. Glimmer opened the kitchen doors only to be met with chaos. Dozens of cooks were running back and forth, with Frosta yelling orders as loudly as she could.

"You heard the Queen! We have to bake a wonderful breakfast for the Horde soldiers that got to Bright Moon! Quicker! You, be sure the pancakes don't burn! You, you're too slow!" The young princess conjured a ball of snow in her hand and threw it at the poor chef.

"I think… you're overdoing this Frosta… just a little." Glimmer chuckled.

"Nonsense! You should have seen them before I got here! They were slower than nails!" Frosta crossed her arms.

"Breakfast for all the Horde soldiers?" Catra grinned in amusement, looking at Glimmer.

"A-ah! Well…" The young queen's cheeks flushed, "They just got here, they're out there living in tents and they're probably eating those… ugh… horrible ration bars Adora told us about. I wanted to do something nice for them, to show them… you know…"

"Yeah, I know." Catra smiled.

"You think you can buy our loyalty with food? You rebels are even dumber than you look." Ivy shook her head.

"Hey, grumpy pants! Be nice or you won't get any!" Frosta yelled, pointing at the young girl.

"Uh, sorry?! How did you call me?! You wanna come here and say that to my face?!" Ivy growled.

"I think I have a better idea." The ice princess grinned as she threw another snowball, this time aiming at the young Horde soldier.

The ball flew through the air and hit Ivy square in the face. It obviously didn't hurt, even though the small cadet thought it would. Instead, the strange sphere revealed itself to be far softer than the training staffs Ivy got hit with during training. However, the shock of not having been actually hurt quickly vanished, replaced by anger and embarrassment.

"You're going to pay for that!" Ivy yelled as she tried to rush towards the small princess, only to be stopped by Catra.

"Woah, come on Ivy, chill out." Catra snickered, holding back the small cadet.

"Awwww… young love is by far the cutest thing in the world." Perfuma cooed.

"WHAT?!" Both Ivy and Frosta yelled, turning as red as tomatoes.

Catra, Adora, Glimmer, Bow and even Mermista couldn't help but laugh.

"Come on, the chefs are going to be done cooking in a few minutes. Let's go to the dining room, I'm starving!" The young queen announced. "Frosta? Come on, I think you scared them enough."

Frosta gave the kitchen staff one last glare before following the other princesses. When they reached the dining room, Scorpia was already sitting at the table waiting for them, chatting with Spinerella and Netossa. As soon as the small group came into view, the scorpion princess turned her head and smiled brightly.

"Wildcat!" Scorpia waved a pincer at her.

"Hey Scorpia." Catra smiled back.

As everyone sat down, the waiters came in, bringing a seemingly endless trail of different types of food on the table.

"Come on." Catra patted the chair next to her, looking over at Ivy.

The young girl looked embarrassed. She shifted uncomfortably before nodding, sitting down next to the feline. Everything around her was so… colored… vibrant… everyone looked so happy and… kind… it was as if nothing of what the Horde had taught her was true. But it couldn't be! It had to be a trick, to bring them to their side, to destroy the Horde! She wouldn't fall for that.

But… despite not liking Catra's plan, Ivy knew that they would have never been able to defeat Prime on their own. They needed all the help they could get. But as soon as they defeated the tyrant, they would have gone back fighting the Rebellion, fighting the princesses, bringing back order to-

Ivy's train of thoughts got interrupted by the sound of chair shifting beside her. As she turned her head, she found herself face to face with the blue haired princess from before.

"Ugh… do you have to sit here?" Ivy muttered.

"Uh, do you see any other free chair?" Frosta crossed her arms.

"Whatever." The young Horde soldier scoffed.

As if she cared… Ivy looked away. She could always talk with Catra. She turned around only to find the feline smirking.

"What?" Ivy asked in an annoyed ton of voice.

"Nothing." Catra chuckled, stabbing the pile of pancakes with a fork and bringing a piece to her mouth.

She expected it to taste like ration bars, maybe a little bit different… but… she would have never expected it taste like… like this. The feline's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as she chewed on the soft, sweet food.

"Oh… my…"

"They're so good, right?" Adora asked, smirking.

"S-shut up. It's not that great." Catra stuttered, blushing slightly.

"Sorry to tell you Wildcat, Horde's food got nothing on this." Scorpia said with her mouth full.

"As if…" Ivy rolled her eyes.

The young girl looked at what had been brought to them and chose to reach for a steaming mug. What was inside looked like a brown, dense liquid, with a tuft of something white on the top. She brought it to her lips but yelped as the liquid burnt her tongue.

"Ah! It's a trap! I knew it!" The young Horde soldier exclaimed.

"Oh, for the First Ones's sake!" Frosta exclaimed, taking the mug in her hands.

"Don't drink it! It's poison!" Ivy exclaimed, trying to reach for the cup before she could think about what she was doing.

However, the ice princess didn't seem to want to drink the burning liquid. She simply held the mug between her hands, one eyebrow raised in curiosity at the cadet's exclamation. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes and spoke again.

"It's not poison dummy. It's hot chocolate. It's just hot." The princess rolled her eyes.

"Wha… b-but then… why did you take it?"

"I'm cooling it down." Frosta answered, tightening her hold on the steaming mug.

Oh…

But that's… kind…

Princesses are not supposed to be like that…

Ivy remembered the words of her teacher…

"The princesses are mindless monsters and their powers make them capable of the most atrocious things."

This was a princess but… she didn't look like a monster… and she surely didn't act like one…

"Thanks…" Ivy muttered as Frosta passed the mug back to her.

The ice princess hard façade cracked a little, surprised by the Horde's cadet words. She gave her a small smile and nodded.

The "hot chocolate", as Frosta had called it, revealed itself to be the most delicious thing Ivy had ever tasted in her entire life.

What's better than an angry little cupcake? Two angry little cupcakes! Don't where that Frosta/Ivy scene came from, but I found myself writing it nontheless. Hope you all liked the chapter! New one coming soon! Also, my final exam is growing closer, then after this one, I'll have a ton of free time, like... all rest of July, all August and the first twenty days of September... horray! See you soon!