Glimmer remembers, vaguely, her fifth birthday. Not in detail more fragments. Her excitement when the castle staff wheeled in more presents then she could count. Granted she couldn't count too high yet but that's not important! She remembers the sea of pink her mother had the main hall decorated in. It was the most beautiful thing her tiny eyes had ever seen. She remembers the she was already bouncing off the walls from the absolute buffet of cupcakes when they rolled in a birthday cake so massive she tried to swim in it, her father having to hold her back. But most of all, she remembers that just before she went to bed that night, her parents took her in a dual hug. She remembers feeling safe, feeling loved, feeling like the luckiest girl in all of Etheria and wishing they could do this every day.

Glimmer remembers her 16th birthday. Most of it anyway. Her birthdays had changed a lot since she was five. Dad was.....gone and mom had shut herself off from everyone including her meaning recent birthdays had been muted affairs. Bow had been her only source of fun these past few years but this year was different because this year they had Adora. While growing up in the Horde left the blonde with no idea what a party even was, her first experiences had left her ready for more. And this party would be extra special because she had scored something from mom's private collection. Bow's eyes were the size of saucers while Adora thought it was some kind of fruit juice, which was technically true. They spent the whole evening seated on the castle wall, trading stories of their future heroism. As she sat there, the warmth steadily growing in her belly, Glimmer remembers thinking of how fortunate she was to have made two such kind, brave, generous & hot loyal friends.

Glimmer remembers her 17th birthday. The now reunited Princess Alliance had come together to throw her a birthday picnic. Frosta created a giant statue of her out of ice, portraying her as a muscle bound bruiser. Glimmer loved it. Swift Wind used the magic in his horn to summon music for their enjoyment. Perfuma performed a traditional Plumerian belly dance around the fire. Mermista and Sea Hawk just started making out in front of everyone. And at one point Adora just started laughing and when asked admitted she had no idea why. Glimmer laid next to Bow on their shared towel as he played her a special birthday song on his mandolin and she backed in the feeling of being a teenager for once.

Glimmer remembers her 19th birthday. The cold that seemed to radiate off every inch of Prime's ship. She'd never felt so soulless, so devoid of life despite, hell in defiance of the endless number of his clones that walked though the Velvet Gloves' eerily smooth, white halls. She remembers the emotions that swirled through her. Worry for her friends who fought for survival on the planet below. Shame over her treatment of them during the final months before Prime's arrival when she became convinced victory was all that mattered, not the friends who had saved her from defeat time and again. Sorrow at the thought she may never see them again, that she'll never get to tell Adora she's sorry, never get to see Frosta grow up, never see Mermista & Sea Hawk marry, never see Perfuma heal Etheria's plant life as she confessed to wishing. Never see Entrapta come home or Scorpia claim her rightful place among the other Princesses. Never confess to Bow how much he truly meant to her. As she sits crying in that freezing chamber a visitor arrives. A visitor whom the mere sight of threw Glimmer into an almost primal fury mere months ago but as since become her only source of comfort. Catra sits down in front of her and offers her a slice of cake which Glimmer accepts with a smile, grateful for even this small reprieve from the endless monotony of the Velvet Gloves.

It is Glimmer's 20th birthday, the first she can truly celebrate as Queen. She should host a formal affair, a night of elegance and extravagance. Her mother would like that she knows. But Glimmer, for good and I'll, is not her mother and that is not the celebration she wants. No the room before her is everything the Velvet Glove was not, full of joy and love and life. There is some formality or course, it is inescapable when dealing with so much royalty in a single space. But Glimmer will not let that stop her, none of them will. Her friends are here, her father is here, the man she loves is here, all here with her to celebrate not just her own birthday but the beginning of a new chapter of Etherian history. One dedicated to peace. And that.....

Glimmer will always remember.