Hey, there!
Welcome now to the conclusion to this episode, which finds Entrapta about to share her findings from investigations aboard the mysterious Tree Moon orbiting Etheria! 😃
Time for a recap, as well!
Previously in Episode 71:
Part One: In an extraordinary effort, Darla breaks free from Horde Prime's old flagship to return Wink and Entrapta to Etheria.
Part Two: Scorpia helps Perfuma to see her true magic, as former Horde soldiers and Plumerians sow seeds of food and friendship.
Part Three: Micah shares the rediscovered magic of Mystacor with Glimmer.
Part Four: Catra, Glimmer, and Swift Wind catch up with Adora and General Juliet in Bright Moon, and Entrapta makes an Entrapta-like entrance!
I'm dedicating this chapter to Constellation ( @JellyfishConstellation ) because a) Constellation is awesome, and b) Entrapta is about to science!
Hope you enjoy! 😁
In the Council Chamber of Bright Moon, Catra, Glimmer, and General Juliet are looking at each other in nervous silence. Finally Catra speaks.
Catra: [helpfully] So, should I go get Adora?
Glimmer: [snapping] No! We need to just --
A loud voice from the doorway causes them all to start!
Entrapta: [over-cheerfully] Hi, there, everyone!!
Glimmer whips around.
Glimmer: Entrapta?!
Entrapta steps into the room, heading straight for Glimmer, with Adora close behind her.
Adora: [matter-of-factly] It was Entrapta.
Entrapta stands close to Glimmer and lifts up her tracker pad, which is hanging from a strap around her shoulder and neck. She holds the pad in her hand and studies it. At the same time, one of her ponytails reaches into a pocket of her overalls and withdraws a wand-like piece of tech, which she proceeds to interface to the edge of the pad by some hanging wires and a cord. The lash-up looks like it was hastily constructed.
Entrapta: I’ve been working on the problem of the princess magic, Glimmer, and I’m ready to confirm my latest hypothesis. I need to take some noninvasive bio-readings on you.
Glimmer nods without hesitation.
Glimmer: Okay. What do you need me to do?
As Entrapta completes the connections to the tracker pad with tendrils on her left ponytail, she uses her right ponytail to pull a chair back, away from the central table of the Council Chamber.
Entrapta: [without looking up] Sit here and extend your arm outward.
Glimmer does so. Catra and General Juliet move closer to observe.
Glimmer: Now what?
Entrapta leans over her eagerly, one ponytail settling on top of Glimmers head to hold it firmly, the other grasping Glimmer’s fingers to hold her arm stretched out.
Entrapta: [with energetic anticipation] Now hold perfectly still!
Glimmer looks uncertain, but resolute.
Holding the tracker pad in one gloved hand, Entrapta uses the other to slowly pass the wand over Glimmer’s arm from shoulder to fingertips. It emits a strange buzzing noise, which ends with a small electronic chirp.
After doing this, Entrapta immediately steps back, releasing Glimmer so suddenly that she wobbles.
Glimmer touches her arm with her other hand and rubs it, as if checking to see if it was damaged. She looks relieved. Then she turns to Entrapta, who is staring head-down at the screen of her tracker pad.
Catra, Adora, and General Juliet observe over Entrapta’s shoulders. After a moment, Catra looks away, apparently bored. Adora glances at Glimmer, shrugs, and shakes her head.
All of a sudden, Entrapta erupts with laughter.
Entrapta: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is incredible!
Glimmer: [intrigued] What?! Did you figure something out?
Entrapta: Ohhhh, yes!!
Entrapta raises up on her ponytails and perches on them like a high stool.
Entrapta: Just look at THIS!!!
Entrapta leans over toward Glimmer, both arms extended, with the tracker pad held between them, screen outward.
Glimmer squints at what looks like a complicated line-drawing of white on black. It resembles the shape of an arm, but with a branching set of zig-zag lines traced over it, like cracks in a window.
Glimmer: [Tentatively] Is that my arm? What are those lines?
Entrapta’s face appears over the top of the pad, beaming with enthusiasm.
Entrapta: It’s First Ones Tech!
Glimmer recoils from the image and grasps her arm.
Glimmer: [in shocked disgust] That’s inside me?! First One’s Tech?!
Entrapta leans back on her pedestal of hair, holding the tracker pad in a way that everyone can see.
Entrapta: Yep! Conductive filaments and processors embedded deep within your entire body!
Glimmer: [fearfully] But why?! How did it get there?
Entrapta: [with excited delight] It’s always been there! You were born with it inside you! ALL the princesses were! [a pause, frowning to herself] At least, I think they were.
Suddenly, Entrapta shrinks down as her hair-stool relaxes, and she lands with her shoes on the ground. She begins to pace. The others all stare at her with varying degrees of worry and upset visible on their faces.
Entrapta: [to herself] What I really need is more princesses to examine.
Catra: What about you? You’re a --
Right at this moment, two new figures appear at the doorway to the chamber, hand in hand. Netossa and Spinnerella!
Netossa: Helloooo!
All heads turn their direction.
Netossa: [smiling] We’re back.
Spinerella: [frowning slightly] And . . . there’s a . . . thing . . . outside.
Netossa nods, letting go of her wife’s hand to gesture with both.
Netossa: [with emphasis] Yeah. A big thing!
She drops her hands to her hips.
Netossa: [raising her eyebrow] And right now, it’s playing with Swift Wind! What’s that all about?!?!
Entrapta giggles happily.
Entrapta: [overjoyed] Hahahahaha! This is great! Come over here! We’re doing science!
Netossa and Spinnerella glance at each other and shrug. They walk toward the group. As they stop, Entrapta practically leaps forward, her tracker pad and wand in hand.
Entrapta: [eagerly] Hold still!
As Entrapta quickly passes the wand over their arms, Netossa and Spinnerella watch with curiosity.
Netossa: What is all this?
As the wand passes over the back of Spinnerella’s hand, zig-zag lines momentarily glow from beneath her skin. Seeing this, Spinnerella’s eyes widen.
Spinnerella: [in a tiny gasp] Ah!
Entrapta doesn’t seem to notice, as she stares at the display of her tracker pad. The glow on Spinnerella’s hand fades quickly, and she turns it over, staring at it.
Entrapta: YES!!! This confirms my theory perfectly!
Glimmer stands up beside her. She glances uncomfortably from her fellow princesses to Entrapta.
Glimmer: [nervously] Okay. Now that we know that there’s First One’s tech inside us . . . how do we get it out?
Entrapta looks at her curiously and shakes her head.
Entrapta: [earnestly] We don’t. We can’t. It’s part of you. It’s the reason that the princesses have any magic at all.
Glimmer: [in quiet horror] What??
Entrapta: [with glee] Hahaha! That was my breakthrough discovery!
Entrapta raises upward on the tips of her ponytails and spins for joy, her ponytails stretching, spiraling together in a braid as she raises her arms and looks to the sky.
Entrapta: My mistake was thinking that something had gone wrong with the princesses to cause them to lose their magic. I needed more information. And I found what I needed back on Horde Prime’s flagship!
Adora looks up at her with a stricken expression.
Adora: Horde Prime? You went back?!
Entrapta looks down at her and kicks her legs in the air with delight.
Entrapta: YES! That’s where Wink and I discovered the truth.
Suddenly, Entrapta tilts forward, so that she is hovering above the princesses in a completely horizontal position, gesturing down at them.
Entrapta: The princesses never had any magic of their own. It was the tech inside their bodies giving them access to the First Ones system! When we shut down the system, it shut down the princesses, too!
Netossa looks at Spinnerella, holding both of her wife’s hands in her own. She looks back up to Entrapta, almost with a pleading expression.
Netossa: Then . . . that means the magic really is gone, forever.
Entrapta spirals to the ground as her ponytails untwist. As she reaches the floor, she looks directly at Netossa, beaming.
Entrapta: Oh, no! That’s the beauty of it all! Now we know that we can bring it back whenever we want!
A strange momentary flash of purple flickers in Entrapta’s eyes.
Entrapta: We have complete control of it. Now.
Adora frowns.
Adora: [with forboding] What do you mean?
As if taken by a new idea, Entrapta suddenly spins around, facing the doorway.
Entrapta: I need some more equipment from Lucinda! I’ll be back!!
As she darts away, Adora reaches out for her.
Adora: Entrapta, wait! What do you mean?!
But Entrapta is gone.
Catra lays a gentle hand on Adora’s shoulder. Adora turns to her with a look of worry.
Out in the corridor, the guards lean well back as Entrapta vaults past them, skipping on her hair and chuckling happily.
She reaches the end of the hallway by the window and suddenly stops.
With a look of curious wonder, she slowly removes one of her gloves and rolls up her sleeve, exposing her arm. She picks up the wand of her tracker pad.
She hesitates.
Then, she passes the wand over the length of her arm, and it makes a buzzing hum.
Entrapta stares with wide eyes at the glowing signs that appear.
Spidery lines and nodes of First Ones tech stretch across every surface, pulsing beneath her skin. Far more so than with any of the other princesses.
She frowns in troubled fascination.
They saturate every part of her.
(End of Episode 71)
