Suddenly, the Horde Attacks

Adora's eyes were opened to a magical, enthralling new world that she'd been taught to fear and resent all her life. But her serenity ended when explosions went off nearby. Her equine friend turned away and Adora spun around to find smoke rising from the festival. Bow and Glimmer noticed as well and the trio took off to investigate. What they found left Adora frozen in horror.

The once peaceful festival had rapidly turned into a battleground. Banners lied scattered on the ground, fires raged in small patches, huts were damaged with holes blasted open like gaping wounds. The air was no longer filled with tantalizing aromas but rather the stench of smoke. The melodies of pan pipes were replaced with the screams of civilians running for cover as arachnoid robots with spheroid centers fired their lasers. What stood out the most was the jarring insignia defacing on one of the buildings of two large bat wings. The same one on Adora's **** captain badge.

"It's the Horde," exclaimed Glimmer. She grabbed Adora's hand and they ran with Bow into one of the huts for cover. Right as a skiff flew by piloted by a Horde soldier. Adora was completely spaced out and struggling to comprehend what was going on. Her mind tried to rationalize why the Horde would ever target a harmless village.

"Why are they here?" Bow asked, as if reading Adora's mind. "The people of Thaymor aren't a threat."

As soon as he said Thaymor, Adora's blood ran cold.

"Wait. Did you say Thaymor? This can't be Thaymor!" insisted Adora.

Glimmer glared and said, "Did you know about this?"

"No! I mean...yes, but there's been a mistake. Thaymor's supposed to be a heavily fortified rebel fortress, not a civilian town." At least, that's what Adora was lead to believe.

Glimmer took Adora by the arm and dragged her outside to confront the truth. "Do you really think that matters to them?"

Adora desperately wanted to prove the princess was wrong and that everything she was raised to believe was a lie. "I can get them to stop. This is a big mistake. I just need to talk to them." Adora guaranteed. "Get as many people out as you can and don't let them see you." She removed the cloak covering the Horde symbol on her back and gave Bow and Glimmer a sorrowful look. "I'm sorry."

Running towards the destruction in the opposite direction of the fleeing civilians, Adora's worldview crumbled right before her eyes like the huts being smashed through by encroaching tanks. Screams and laser blasts drowned out any excuse her mind made up to justify this atrocity. To top it all of, she wasn't exactly in peak condition. Her stomach full of sweets weighed her down almost as much as the guilt eating away at her. Adora spotted a tank heading her way and jumped in front of it. She spread her arms, shouted at the driver to stop, and stood her ground. It slowed to a halt, with the barrel aimed inches from her face.

The tank's hatch opened and Adora hoped to talk some sense into the driver but instead of a high-ranking official, what popped out was a familiar mane of hair. "Adora!"

"Catra?" Adora had a plethora of questions for her but before she could get a word in, Catra pounced and knocked her on her back.

"They let me drive a tank! Can you believe it?" said Catra.

"Catra, I don't understand. Why are you here?"

"Uh, duh. We came to find you." Catra helped Adora off the ground but not without mocking her for believing she could sneak out without anyone noticing. "Seriously, did you just immediately get captured right after you snuck out or-" Catra put her teasing on hold and looked her friend over. "What is that?"

Adora wanted to focus on the invasion in-progress but then she remembered the flower Bow gave her. She brushed it out of her hair before Catra gave her a hard time about that next. "Nothing."

Catra scoffed. "This isn't nothing. That is a gut." The feline slapped her hands around Adora's midsection and gave it a rub. "Were those princesses trying to fatten you up so they could eat you?" Catra stopped for a moment to mull over what she just said and then asked with earnest, "Wait, were they?!"

"No! They don't eat people!" At least, Adora was pretty sure they didn't. Glimmer may be chubby but if princesses really did eat people, she'd be half as big as the village. Her butt would be bigger than a wagon and her belly could cover the courtyard. And her breasts...Adora snapped out of it and concentrated on the matter. She had to stop the invasion and get Catra on her side.