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In the years since becoming Queen of Brightmoon, Glimmer had thought that running the kingdom and being the leader of the Princess Alliance would get easier over time, especially with Etheria now being a peaceful world. Oh lord, how wrong she was. A lot of her time was spent in stressful meetings dictating the governance of the entire planet.
While Glimmer managed to get through her meetings, especially when she had people like Catra and her father to be her advisors, in the last few weeks, it had become noticeably more stressful.
She was trying, by the First Ones was she trying, but the cumulative stress of being pretty much everywhere at all times and dividing her attention to over a hundred different plans and trying to write out laws that everybody could at least tolerate on top of trying to squeeze as many seconds as she could from her day to spend time with her friends along with trying to enjoy the rare romantic rendezvous with her boyfriend, it was a miracle she didn’t burst into flames with how hard she was working herself.
Of course, there were certain outside factors that just added to her haggard disposition. One of them being, at the moment, Catra. She was happy the former Horde commander was now on their side, providing useful insight on how her former enemy used to operate and how they could use that to improve certain daily actions, but for the love of all that was magical could she be a bitch. She could live with Catra’s snarky comments and flagrant disregard for authority, but she solidly drew the line at actual sabotage of Glimmer’s life.
…Okay, so “sabotage” may have been a bit of a stretch, but what else would she call the felid’s insistent need to contradict every suggestion she made?
Like Glimmer’s latest endeavour: the restructuring of Brightmoon’s military forces and overall improvement of planetary defences. Now that the war was finally over, it was time to focus on more local causes of distress. For that, she would need to send her forces out to act as peacekeepers to protect various settlements all over Etheria. She had planned on very small groups, a dozen or so soldiers at most, lightly armed and lightly armoured who would act more like a local watch than actual soldiers.
Catra, on the other hand, felt this was stretching their resources too thin, especially in regards to the larger threats posed by the various alien factions who would no doubt want to take Etheria for themselves. She thought that a better strategy was recruiting from local areas to build up their guard forces instead, as well as the construction of a planetary defence shield to protect against threats from space.
Suffice it to say, neither woman was budging from their ideals. Each of them knew the merits of their plans, but neither was willing to admit any of their flaws.
“Sparkles, you’re spreading our guys too thin here,” Catra argued. “We haven’t nearly expanded our forces enough to justify deploying them over the whole planet. Getting the locals of these sectors to chip in to help protect their towns and villages is much better.”
“Look, Horde Scum, you know that things have been getting rather chaotic with the remnants of Prime’s forces out in space, plus all those merc gangs that keep raiding the villages here,” Glimmer reminded her. “We need to strengthen Etheria’s defences and not everyone on Etheria can pick up a blaster.”
“Our defences will get completely crushed if we have too few people! Just throwing more people at a problem isn’t going to solve things.” She groaned. “If you actually thought ahead, you’d know getting a new planetary shield online would be a much smarter approach to planetary defence.”
“Which will take time to do, something we might not have if any of those crazy ex-clones up there decides to take a potshot at us!” Glimmer shouted. “Which is why we need to deploy our full garrisons!”
“Once again, your mentality is just ‘shoot sparkles at them, let god sort it out’.”
Glimmer’s eyes widened. “Excuse me, I seem to recall going in guns blazing helped me quite fine before.”
“Maybe in some cases, but as I recall, Sparkles, rushing head first into things caused you to get your ass kicked. A lot. Like when you tried to capture me in Dryl that time… or the time you went at us in the Northern Reach, which gave me a chance to put that First One’s disk on Adora and turn her crazy. If you rebels bothered to have a plan half the time, you wouldn't have been losing for so long.”
“And if I also recall,” Glimmer chimed back. “We beat you! And we didn’t need much planning to do that considering how things were falling apart on your end.”
“Oh do not go there.”
“Oh I’m going there,” Glimmer said smugly. “And besides, all that strategic thinking of yours… don’t you think that’s compensating for something? I doubt if you had as much raw magical power at your disposal you’d need to plan ahead so much. Or am I wrong and you’re not jealous that you’re the only one without powers?”
Catra’s eye twitched, but she just smirked. She and Glimmer practically had this argument a dozen times over the years. It was a well-worn subject between the two of them, and Catra knew things weren’t exactly serious. But damn if she didn’t know how much the Pinkette’s comments could get a rise out of her.
Fortunately, Catra also knew just what buttons to press.
“Yeah, guess it really is unfortunate that I’m lacking in the powers department. Sure, I’m probably the best hand-to-hand fighter in this damned castle, but that’s nothing compared to a full-on sparkly sorceress like you,” she said sarcastically and smugly, flicking out one of her claws. “If only I had a way to compensate for that… oh wait, I do, I’m married to a literal magical goddess who could probably crack the planet in half with her sword.”
Glimmer scoffed. “You know, Adora’s not gonna be backing you up forever.”
“And neither will Arrow Boy for you,” Catra snarked.
Standing up, Glimmer put her hands on the table, staring right at Catra and smirking. “You know, I think things between us are getting a little heated… and it’s also been a really long day.”
“So feel like sparring down in the training yard?”
“Considering how worked up I am, I think we’re gonna need somewhere a little bigger and more out in the open.”
“Good thing I know just the spot in the woods,” Catra stated. “Meet you there in ten minutes… then I’ll really be able to show you how much my smarts trumps your power any day of the week.”
“Bring it fucking on,” Glimmer said smugly, confident she’d win.
Sometime later, in a clearing in the Whispering Woods, Catra had changed out of her royal attire and gold jacket into her more casual, combat-oriented outfit. It resembled the one she used to wear during her days of running the Horde, though with some gold accents. She knew things were probably going to get rough between her and Glimmer and the last thing she wanted was her favourite white and gold jacket to get dirty.
As she stretched her arms and legs, she saw Melog walking up to her, the alien feline mewling at her. Catra just smirked as she petted her companion’s head. She knew she and Melog were going to show Glimmer how wrong she was, that brains did indeed triumph over brawn.
“Yeah girl, we’re gonna kick Sparkles’ stupid glittery ass,” Catra said confidently. “Now… go and hide before she gets here.”
Melog nodded, before turning invisible and darting into the trees, as Catra then went back to her stretching. She plotted out her plan of attack in her head, knowing exactly how Glimmer would attack, what she prioritised during battle… and how she was going to be able to turn that against her.
After stretching, Catra took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, calming her thoughts. Meditation was something she’d taken up after the war, helping to focus her mind. Her head was usually a chaotic jumble of trauma and pain, but Catra had gotten a lot better at dealing with that now.
Just as Catra had centred her thoughts, however, the telltale sound of Glimmer’s teleporting was heard.
“Ready to get your ass kicked, Catra?” Glimmer goaded her opponent.
Catra turned, seeing Glimmer suited up in her silver battle armour, having discarded her pink dress and sparkly blue cape. The Queen held her staff in her hands and smirked confidently, pointing it straight at Catra, sparks of magical energy surrounding her weapon. She had come fully prepared. Catra was impressed.
“Wanted to go all out on me did you?” Catra replied, before tying her hair back into its ponytail.
“You deserve nothing less, my dear general,” Glimmer smirked.
“Why Sparkles, I’m flattered you went to all this effort,” Catra snarked back. “But you’re still gonna be the one who gets beaten here.”
“Au contraire,” Glimmer stated. “Let’s do this!”
Catra roared as she rushed at Glimmer with her claws bared. Glimmer teleported back as Catra kept slashing at Glimmer, her claws scraping against the Queen’s armour. Glimmer still managed to dodge Catra’s attacks, but she was surprised that Catra was making such an amateur mistake getting so close.
She then found herself an opening, smacking Catra back with her staff and blasting her back. Catra grunted, as she scraped along the ground, but with the claws on her feet digging into the dirt, she stabilised herself easily, not being knocked down. She then lunged at Glimmer and managed to knock her staff clean out of her hand.
“What?!” Glimmer exclaimed.
“That’s one point to brains, Sparkles,” Catra stated, grabbing the staff in her hand. “I goaded you into using your staff on me, so I’d have an easier time knocking it out of your hand. You fell for the oldest trick in the book.”
“Too bad you don’t have magic!” Glimmer mocked. “You won’t be able to do a thing with my staff.”
“You sure about that?” Catra then twirled the stick in her hands, before standing in a fighting pose. “A staff is a staff and I know just how to use them.” She then leapt at GLimmer again, trying to smack the pinkette with her own weapon.
Glimmer teleported away, furious that Catra had gotten the advantage so easily. She quickly charged energy into her hands, blasting Catra with beams of sparkling pink light. Catra deflected them using the staff in her hands, the jewel at the staff’s tip absorbing the magic blasts easily.
“Told you I knew how to use it!”
“Fine, then let’s see how you deal with this!” Glimmer shouted, before she then fired another series of energy blasts at Catra.
Catra was able to dodge the blasts with ease, laughing as she did so. “That the best you got?”
“Wait for it…” Glimmer then narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists.
The energy blasts then formed together into spheres of sparkling pink light that surrounded Catra from all sides, before firing at her with beams of their own. Catra yelped and rushed into the woods as the spheres chased her from behind. They kept blasting her left and right, Catra narrowly avoiding their blasts.
Catra eventually realised that she’d have to turn and fight and so, leaping onto one of the nearby trees, she flipped around and smacked her staff into one of the sphere’s absorbing its magic. Then, as she landed on the ground, she deflected several of the energy blasts with the staff before she then threw the staff like a boomerang, watching as it hit every one of the spheres and dissipated them, before returning to Catra.
“Okay, Sparkles, where the fuck are you?!” Catra snarled.
“Right behind you!” Glimmer chirped.
Catra turned and stared in horror as Glimmer was directly behind her, charging a massive blast in her hands, her whole body glowing with a deep purple aura, her eyes shimmering white with how much power was coursing through her body. Arcs of pink electricity coursed into the orb in Glimmer’s hands, the queen putting all her effort into this attack.
“TASTE MY SPARKLES!” She roared as she fired the massive beam. Catra was struck by the beam with full force, sent flying across the forest and skidding along the ground, grunting as she was battered by the sheer force of the blast. As she came to a halt, Catra grunted, very weak.
Teleporting behind Catra, Glimmer picked up her staff, grinning.
“And that’s one point to brawn.”
“We’ll... See… about that…” Catra groaned. “Sic her!”
From the nearby bushes, Melog then leapt out, transformed into a more monstrous form. The alien feline tackled GLimmer to the ground, clawing at her and allowing Catra to stand up. Glimmer eventually blasted Melog off herself, before pulling herself back to her feet. Summoning her staff to her hand, she growled.
“And that makes two points to brains!” Catra declared.
“Not fair, you cheated!”
“This isn’t a contest between our fighting skills, Sparkles, remember?” Catra said, folding her arms. “See, I planned ahead. I knew you’d probably bring me down with your magic somehow at some point, which is why I had Melog here lying in wait for the right moment.”
“Fine, I’ll grant you that, but this whole thing still isn’t done yet!”
“Wasn’t saying it was, your majesty,” Catra replied, baring her claws again.
However, before the two women could brawl again, they were interrupted by the sudden arrival of their respective spouses, as Bow and Adora quickly rushed onto the scene, with concerned looks on their faces. Adora looked around, seeing the devastation her wife and her friend had wrought upon the woods.
“Catra, Glimmer what happened here? This place looks like a fusion bomb went off!”
“Make that a dozen!” Bow remarked. “Seriously girls, what’s going on? We could see the explosions all the way from Brightmoon.”
Catra and Glimmer both felt embarrassed.
“Well uh, see, Sparkles and I got into one of our disagreements over brains and strength and uh…”
“It’s been a long week for us with all the meetings regarding the guard deployments and uh…”
“Figured we’d blow off some steam!” Catra chirped.
Bow rolled his eyes. “We can’t leave you two alone for a second, can we?”
“I’m more annoyed you didn’t ask me to join in!” Adora complained. “You know I’m always up for some action!”
“Well, this was between me and Catra alone, Adora,” Glimmer reminded her. “And Catra was desperate to prove she could handle herself without you.”
“Oh yeah, well now that Adora’s here, I think the odds are even further in my favour,” Catra stated.
“Hey, woah, don’t bring me into this!” Adora stated. “I mean I wanted to fight but if this was between the two of you…”
“Oh come on, Adora, don’t you just wanna wipe that smirk off her face for old time’s sake? Besides, you know how unstoppable we are together.”
“So are me and Bow, like have you seen us fight?” Glimmer chimed in.
Bow looked at the three of them and then raised his hand. “You know… rather than just talking about it… we could just put things to the test.”
“Two on two?” Catra assumed.
“Yeah, it's been a while since the four of us sparred.”
“Good idea, Arrow Boy… but we’re still gonna kick your asses, right Adora?”
The blonde had already summoned her sword into her hands and was holding it aloft, grinning. “Oh yeah… FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL!” Her whole form was bathed in the glow of the sword’s magic as she transformed into She-Ra, white and gold armour forming over her powerful muscular form. As she finished transforming, she leapt to Catra’s side, Catra baring her claws.
Bow pulled out his bow and went to Glimmer, grinning at their two friends. “So we placing any bets on this?”
“The losing couple has to buy the winners a fancy dinner,” Catra remarked. “Sound fair?”
“Fair to me!” Glimmer agreed. “Shall we ladies?”
Adora and Catra looked at each other, nodded and then looked at their opponents with confident looks on their faces. “We shall!”
Charging at Glimmer and Bow, Adora and Catra began their battle with their friends. While it was going to be a while before a winner would be declared, one thing was for certain. When Catra and Glimmer fought with their respective lovers, things balanced out completely, both couples being completely unstoppable.