Chapter Text
Frosta moved through the crowd hiding behind crates and trunks wherever she could, dodging and dashing for cover where she could not. Her small body was perfectly adapted to crouching low, giving her more dexterity. Plus no-one was actually looking for her at the moment. She moved with an air of mischievous intent, spotting her quarry on the edge of the clearing. She moved closer and ducked down behind an assortment of crates about to get loaded aboard the nearby spaceship. Chuckling to herself, eyes narrowed, a small smile spread across her lips as she checked her position. Peering over the crates she spied Scorpia and Perfuma having an intimate chat. One of those boring grown-up private talks. She could tell "kissing" would happen shortly if she didn't do something fast.
She clutched the opaque glassy jewel in her fist and lifted it to her mouth, her eyes never leaving her prey for a moment.
"Force Captain! Report to the docking station immediately!" Catra’s ruthless vocals rang out clear and loud across the distance. The effect was immediate and Scorpia stood to attention; claw raised in a formal salute.
"Yessir!" She said and without a backwards glance raced off towards the hanger leaving a perplexed Perfuma alone. Frosta laughed so hard she snorted, her eyes tearing up in glee. It was short lived.
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Pertuma’s head loomed large above the young princess, the flowery woman's face a picture of uninhibited rage for once, hands on hips. "You should be ashamed of yourself Princess Frosta, playing on others' feelings the way you just did. I want you to go and apologize to Scorpia this instant."
Frosta, still doubled up laughing in her crouched position merely pointed at Perfuma and tried to steady her breath.
"You... Your face... It's priceless."
Perfuma’s glare hardened and Frosta could tell the conversation was about to plummet into the icy depths of a glacier in the Northern Reaches if she didn’t at least appear to be apologetic. She stood up, her laughter dissipating into a soft chuckle and moved towards Darla to find Scorpia, 'apologise' and make things right. Thankfully Perfuma hadn't asked how she'd mimicked the cat girls voice, the rage clearly getting the better of her for once and Frosta didn't offer an explanation. Double Trouble’s little gift to her was to be their secret and one she didn’t plan to give up easily. She also deigned not to tell the flower princess she'd already tricked Sea Hawk into singing a shanty to Mermista about burps and other bodily functions. That was a triumph of ingenuity achieved by "Bow" giving dating advice from inside his tent. She’d kept Sea Hawk from entering by telling him that she “Bow” had a contagious disease she couldn’t name but didn’t want to pass on to anyone. The sea shanty had been fun. Mermista had slapped her boyfriend and stomped off in a fury.
Frosta reached the spaceship and marvelled at the size of it and all the activity going on around her. She spotted Scorpia not far off talking to Catra. They were deep in discussion. As she watched, their eyes gravitated towards her and they shared a look of annoyance. Frosta certainly wasn’t going over there now.
Glimmer stood at the bottom of the loading bay ramp ticking off supplies as they were loaded into the ship. Darla was nearly ready to go and the tannoy had requested all passengers to board several times although only a handful had actually acceded to the request so far. Perfuma reached Scorpia and Catra and the three older women looked at Frosta expectantly. Clearly, she was supposed to apologise. Instead she stuck her tongue out at them from behind Glimmer’s back eliciting three glares and a shaken head. The three women entered Darla ready for take off and Frosta was left with Glimmer.
Glimmer sighed as she turned around and found the ice princess hiding behind her back.
“Frosta, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on board for take-off. We’re leaving for the planet Shireen as soon as I’ve finished this inventory.” She groaned and raised her eyes skywards as she considered the amount of paperwork she still had to do for this trip alone. Hopefully there would be time for rest and relaxation at some point alongside the diplomatic reasons for the visit.
Frosta thought fast, smiling and saluting with pride, "All weapons accounted for, Queen Glimmer."
Glimmer groaned and pinched the space between her eyebrows.
"We don't need weapons Frosta" she said, a sharp edge to her voice from exhaustion. She’d need a break after this trip. Frosta froze at the words but Glimmer had looked back at her clipboard. "This is a peaceful envoy. Are you all packed?"
Frosta nodded, arms folded. "We can't go unprepared Glimmer; we need weapons in case we run into space pirates or monsters or..."
“I'm sure Entrapta has that covered. Just… get into your seat and be ready for take-off." She turned away, touching her ear as she spoke into her comms, “Bow! You got Darla through the pre-flight systems check yet?"
Frosta sighed and headed towards Darla, dejected. She was tired of being ignored. As the youngest princess she had no-one her own age to play with and adults were boring. All they did was talk and kiss, yuck. At the top of the ramp she turned back to see Glimmer pacing up and down and talking rapidly into her microphone. The cockpit, where everyone would be waiting for her was to her left. Where Scorpia, Perfuma, Catra, Mermista and Sea Hawk would be waiting for her. Not to mention anyone else she had pranked with Double Trouble’s mimic crystal. There had been many.
She hesitated and turned in the opposite direction, towards the engine room. At least if she was on the ship she was doing as Glimmer had asked and she hadn’t pranked Glimmer yet anyway. Plus there would only be two people in the engine room and she doubted Entrapta or Hordak would tell on her even if they knew about her misdemeanours. They were always far too busy to get involved in petty squabbles.
She reached the engine room and her heart lifted when she spotted Entrapta hovering on pigtails near the ceiling.
“Hi, Entrapta,” she called out with a wave. She hopped onto a crate and giggled as Imp flew into her arms for a hug. The small creature cuddled into her as she petted his head.
“Hiiiiii, Frosta,” Entrapta sang from above. The purple technician swung down to greet her new visitor. Her face was bright and alert but a shadow of concern crossed her eyes, “Is everything ok, Frosta? You don’t normally visit the engine room.”
Frosta squirmed but plastered a bright smile on her face, she’d assumed Entrapta wouldn’t ask her anything, “I missed you!” she said on impulse. “Can I stay here for take-off?”
“Oh! Well that’s nice. Yes, I guess so. You can use my seat and…”
A repetitive beep filled the air and the voice of Bow permeated the room,
“Cockpit to Engine room, Entrapta, are you there?”
“Hiii Bow” Entrapta answered, “we’re just about ready for take-off. I just need to finish….” She typed into several screens at once, “Yep, that’s us, ready to go!”
“Great! Thanks, Entrapta. By the way is Frosta down there? She’s supposed to be in the cockpit with us.”
“Yes! She is with me in the Engine Room, but don’t worry Bow I can make sure she’s safe until after the launch.”
“Great,” Bow sounded relieved, perhaps he was trying to avoid a confrontation too, no doubt certain people were making complaints about her already. Frosta felt a pang of regret. Maybe leaving things as they were was a bad idea. Perfuma always said leaving things too long created resentment.
“As soon as Glimmer’s on board, we’re ready to go.” Bow finished speaking. Frosta hopped off the crate and headed towards the cockpit.
“Copy that.” Entrapta signed off and turned back to where Frosta had been sitting, “Okay, now… where’d she go?”
“I’d better go see Bow,” Frosta yelled back from the corridor, “I think I have some explaining to do.”
“Oh… Okay.” Entrapta sounded disappointed and Frosta felt sad but she had decided to say sorry and say sorry she would.
She made her way through the ship when she passed the landing bay doors again. They were still open. She was about to move on when a movement outside caught her attention. An old woman in pink seemed to be hovering behind a tree and staring at her. She beckoned to the ice princess and Frosta wondered what the old lady wanted. She still had time; they wouldn’t leave without Glimmer and Glimmer hadn’t boarded the ship yet.
Tentatively she made her way back down the gangplank and stood at the base of the ship. There it was, movement in the trees to her left. She walked to the tree but when she arrived, no-one was there.
“What?” she shook her head in disbelief and turned back towards Darla, ready to reboard and say sorry to her friends when the spaceship, gangplank now withdrawn and the hanger bay doors firmly closed, lifted up into the air. With a loud roar of engines and a whoosh of wind, Darla soared into the atmosphere and was gone.
Frosta stared after the ship in amazement. They had left without her. No princess left behind. That was their motto, and she’d been left behind.
A small smile spread across her face as she realised she no longer had to apologise or put up with adult kissy faces anymore. In fact, she was now the highest-ranking monarch on the whole planet. The world was hers, no rules she couldn’t break, no place she couldn’t go. The smile widened and she waggled her eyebrows,
“The princesses left me behind!”