Azure's POV

There was blasting all around me, and the sound echoed around the marshlands.  I swung my axe and cut the legs off a bot as it came towards me.

"Hey Robot face! Watch where you step!" Perfuma shouted at a bot, before strangling it with vines.

It had been almost a week since the Bright Moon battle had ended, but the war was far from over.  Bow was firing arrows, and I found myself watching him intently.  That helped immensely for me to alert him to the three bots, falling out of the sky towards him.  Perfuma had gotten a little carried away with the bot sized slingshots. Without much thought I whirled my axe and leapt into the air.

"Incoming!" I shouted, and Bow gave me lift, helping me jump higher into the sky.  I whirled my axe around and took out two of the three bots. The other barreled towards Frosta, about to crush her when Mermista stepped in.

"Got it." She said, in her monotone voice which had started to show a bit more emotion.  Mermista used a wave to move the bot away from Frosta, and Bow shot it with an arrow, causing a minimum explosion.

"Uh, sorry Frosta." Perfuma apologized.

"Wow, flower princesses can't aim." Mermista smirked, and Perfuma tensed up.

"I'm working on it!" Perfuma spluttered in frustration.

A bot rose behind her, and I pulled my axe from the glass face of s bot I had taken down.

"Look out!" Frosta yelped. Glimmer popped into existence above the bot and smiled calmly.

"I got it." She said grabbing the bot, and disappearing in a shower of sparkles, before popping up a few feet away, as an explosion of smoke billowed up a mile or so from were, we stood.

"Thanks for dropping in." Glimmer smirked coolly.

"Ha-ha! dropping in! Because you dropped him from the sky, good one." Frosta laughed loudly, and gave Glimmer a friendly pat on the back, which came off a little harder as her hands were encased in ice.  I exchanged a look with Bow, and he shrugged.

Noah strolled up and strapped his broad sword to his back.  "We can chill now; the wave is over." Noah said, and I nodded.

"They usually send in more bots in two-hour waves." I noted, and Noah nodded, walking over to Mermista, inviting her to his wedding no doubt... I felt a stab of childish jealousy hit my chest, and I slumped against a slightly burnt tree. Bow walked over to me and touched my arm.

"Hey Azure. Are you okay?" He asked, and I nodded trying to look happier than I was.

"I'm Fine, you?" I asked and pecked his cheek.

"Much better now." He said, and I breathed in his sent.

Bow, and I had gone on two dates this week. I guess one of the dates was the victory party Glimmer set up for everyone, the real first date was the restaurant he had taken me to.

"Poor woods. They'll never be able to regrow if the bots keep attacking." Perfuma said sadly as she nurtured a small sapling.

Bow pulled away to look over a bot he had taken down with an electric pulse. I cocked my head and watched. The bot was intact, slightly rumpled, but still in one piece. Frosta leapt next to me, and slammed her ice fist into the bot, which crumbled, and gushed fluids beneath her.

"Hey! I was looking at that." Bow said, stressed, and exasperated beyond toleration.

"You're welcome!" Frosta sang and skipped away.

Bow sighed, and I looked down at the bot, prodding the lenses behind the broken glass face.  "He's still got cameras in here, I don't like the fact that he's watching us," I grumbled, and backed off. Bow followed me.

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been really stressed lately." Bow said, and I nodded. I still could not believe my own family had been neglecting the hints, and they were all so focused on the wedding that they have forgotten.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It is just the stress of this wedding... I really want it to go well for them." I sighed, and Bow nodded, taking my hand in his.

"We'll take some time to relax, plus your bachelorette party is coming up soon." Bow sang in my ear, and I chuckled.

"We don't even have a time set, everyone has been so busy." I said, and we started back.

The bog sucked, and spat under our feet as we trudged away, conversation was little, but pleasant. I slapped a mosquito off Noah's arm, and she looked at me, seaming a little offended.

"What was that for?" He asked, and I held up my hand, showing him the gooey mess of the bug smashed onto my hand.  Noah looked at his arm in frustration.

"I guess we have to get vaccinated since we're working out here." Noah sighed, and I nodded, checking my neck, and hands.

I set my axe on my back and made conversation. "Are we all coming back tomorrow?" I asked, and Noah nodded.

"Faust is coming in for me since I have some wedding planning to do." Noah said importantly, and the others immediately jumped on that topic train.

"Have you seen Petra's wedding dress?" Perfuma asked happily.  She had been placed in charge of flowers and was amazing with the details.

"No, Petra won't let me near the closet." Noah laughed, and I looked down at my boots.  I was over all the wedding talk. I was so happy for my brother, and Petra, but I felt sick thinking that I was not going to stand out. It was a trivial wish, but I felt the way I felt.

We arrived back at Bright Moon, and we all went our separate ways to clean up. I changed out of my armor, and into a simpler outfit. I slid on a tan jumpsuit, with a black over dress, open in the front, and secured around my waist with a sash. I looked in the mirror, and cleaned a few cuts, none of which would scar. I then pulled my hair into a ponytail and walked out of my room. Bow was waiting for me around the corner and tackled me in a hug.  I squealed in shock, and Bow laughed.

"You have the cutest little squeak." He cooed, and I playfully whacked his hands away.

"It wasn't a squeak; it was a shout of surprise." I defended myself, and Bow smiled.

I looked up at him fondly and kissed him. Our lips molded together, and I smiled pulling away. "Is Adora back?" I asked, and Bow nodded, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"She just got back, Glimmer was going to pick her up, and meet us here." He said, and I nodded, and reached up to touch his face.  His eyes had dark circles under them, and he looked a little tired. I imagined I did not look much different.

There was a pop, and a small wave of sparkles, and Glimmer stood next to us with Adora. "You should have seen it. With the Moonstone super charged, I have been so much more powerful. I took out at least five bots." Glimmer said excitedly, not pausing as we headed out. Bow's face turned tense, like he was thinking hard.

"Just like the day before, and the day before that." Bow said, and we paused.  I understood the frustration, there was no way that they had this many bots, they had to stall sometime.

"What are we supposed to do, not fight? We have to protect the woods." Glimmer said and waved her hands in an exasperated fashion.  "The Horde will keep taking the land until it regrows." she finished, and Bow grumbled.

"I know, but how long can we keep this up? Did you learn anything new from Light Hope?" He asked Adora.

She looked around nervously and held up her sword. "Getting way better at transforming my sword, look." She said, and the sword transformed into a pitcher.

"A pitcher, that's so useful." Bow chuckled nervously.

"We can picnic once the woods regrow." I grumbled sarcastically.

"We should turn it into a dagger! See me take out that bot with daggers?" Glimmer jumped as Frosta appeared out of nowhere and voiced her opinion.

"Where did you come from?!" Glimmer gasped.

"I've been here the whole time." Frosta grimaced, and I sighed quietly

"Well, we have to go, we have an important meeting." Glimmer said with an air of sophistication, and exasperation.

"The war council? I am going too! Better hurry, you're going to be late." Frosta said and ran off. Glimmer's eye twitched and Bow grinned beside me.

"Do we have a new addition to the best friend squad?" He teased, and Glimmer growled.

"Shut up, ugh." She said and lead us through to the war council room.

"Sorry, heh, I think that's my chair." Perfuma said to Mermista who was indeed in her chair.

"Yeah, don't you find it useful to shift perspectives sometimes?" Mermista asked rhetorically.

Perfuma's eye twitched, and she backed off. Everybody's eyes seemed to be twitching today, there must have been something in that bog.

"Aunt Casta, you made it!" Glimmer grinned over at the familiar sorceress.

"I wouldn't miss it, dearest." Casta said sweetly.

"The first war room of the new alliance, how exciting." She said, and I took my seat between Faust, and Noah.

"Shame you couldn't be here when the alliance was formed." Angela said, and Casta glared.

"I knew you'd bring that up-" She started, but Angela strategically cut her off.

"We have a great deal to discuss. Swift Wind, what news do you bring from the west?" Angela asked.

With the push of a button a hologram of the wetlands appeared.  "The horde has gained more territory in the west, but with the help of Spinerella and Netossa, our forces have managed to reclaim Thaymor! Also, I want a chair, everyone else has a chair, I want a chair." Swift Wind blabbered on.

The gladness of having Thaymor free helped my sour mood. "Of course, a chair, I will see to it." Angela promised then turned to Glimmer.

"Glimmer, how goes the situation in the Whispering woods?" Glimmer stood with a pleased look on her face and gave the report.

"I'm happy to report, we are handling the bots, and protecting the woods while they regrow. Which they are doing, very slowly." She mumbled a little more towards the end.

"Maybe it's time we stop fighting, and stat healing! My powers are not strong enough to regrow the woods, but when all the princesses worked together in the Battle of Bright Moon, our powers grew! We should try to recapture that energy, maybe we should hold hands, and think healing thoughts." Perfuma said, and grabbed Mermista's hand, and hummed.

"If I may your majesty, we can't go on like this." Bow said and stood.  "We defeated the bots but more keep coming. While we're using our resources on holding our boarders, the Horde hasn't had to deploy a single soldier." He said.  It was a good point, and I could see most of us were nodding.

"Typical Catra." Adora grumbled.

"I've only managed to recover pieces, since we've never not completely demolished one of these things. But if we capture a whole bot, I might be able to program a kill switch." Bow said and looked at Angela who was thoughtfully nodding.

"It's a great plan. The bots are all linked, we know that much." I said thoughtfully, and Noah nodded.

"We could even re-purpose the bot for our own protection." Noah added. Bow confirmed this with a nod.

"We could wipe them all our at once."

Angela nodded proudly.  "An excellent idea Bow, this could turn the ride for us." She said, and I sent a wink to Bow.  "Glimmer, take your patrol out, and capture a bot for Bow to study, and carry out his plan." Angela commanded, standing up.  Glimmer nodded, and moved from her chair, and turned to leave.

"Commander, I have a few ideas to improve. First, we should all have code names. I'd like to be Frostbite, and you can be Sparkle Bomb, second-" Frosta said popping up behind Glimmer.

"Oh uh, Frosta, I need you to stay back, and help Spinerella, and Netossa guard the castle." Glimmer said, and grinned.  "Great Thanks!" Before Frosta could say anything, Glimmer had disappeared.

I shrugged, and followed the troop out of the council room, and out into the halls to get ready for our little adventure...