MariCata

Mariposa x Catania is the femslash ship between Mariposa and Catania from the Barbie fandom.

Canon
Mariposa is sent to the kingdom of Shimmervale to make peace with the Crystal Fairies. So she and her pet, Zee, go there together. There, Mariposa meets Catania, who is the princess of the realm. While the residents of the kingdom hide from Mariposa, making her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, Catania is very interested in her. And she tries to get to know Mariposa as soon as she gets to the town.

Her efforts, though, are constantly interrupted by her father, the King, and various royal duties. So their brief encounters are always filled with yearning. Both from Catania's deep desire to get to know Mariposa better, and from the fact Catania is the only one who is kind to Mariposa, when all of the people in town are not.

Throughout the movie, Catania tries her best to make Mariposa feel comfortable and "at home", going way beyond the efforts of any other subject. She transforms Mariposa's entire guest room into a beautiful garden. And even gifts her an entire library because she knows that Mariposa loves reading. She also takes Mariposa on a date to see all the beautiful sights in her kingdom. There, in a very intimate moment just between the two, the both of them exchange mementos of their homelands, claiming that it can help them remember each other in times of need. Later, as they sit side by side in a cave, Catania opens about her childhood trauma to Mariposa, who openly supports her.

They then go to the Crystal Ball and, because Mariposa's wings were folded down, she can't fly and socialise in the air. So Catania invites her to dance with her on the ground,  which makes everyone begin dancing and having fun. However, one fairy noticed the crystal necklace around Mariposa's neck, and everyone assumed Mariposa had stolen it. This is then used as a pretext for King Regellius to banish Mariposa from Shimmervale, so Mariposa ends up returning the crystal necklace and starts going home. Catania is furious after this, so she leaves with her pegasus, Sophie, and Anu.

As Mariposa is going back to Flutterfield, she sees Gwyllion, who uses her magic staff to turn every crystal in Shimmervale to rock simultaneously. Mariposa tries to stop Gwyillion, but fails and gets frozen. But saving Mariposa helps Catania overcome her paralyzing fears. As the power source for the kingdom is banished, Mariposa has the idea of surrendering their gifts in an attempt to light up the beacons again. And as the both of them unite this, their hands touch and Catania gives Mariposa a lingering look.

Fanon
Mariposa x Catania are one of the popular femslash ships within the Barbie fandom. And they are the most popular ship from the movie the characters are from, "Barbie: Mariposa & the Fairy Princess". They are known as "the lesbian version of Romeo and Juliet" by fans of the ship since their story is incredibly similar to that of Rome and Juliet's, since both of them come from rival fairy kingdoms and go to secret dates together throughout the movie. Many fans notice that if this were a het ship, their relationship would've ended as a romantic one, since Catania is the only one who's kind to Mariposa from the start, she bothers to learn about her culture and to make her feel welcome in her kingdom, and she trusts her blindly even when everyone around her tells her she shouldn't. In return, Mariposa listens to Catania about her struggles, and does everything in her power to help her overcome them. They have a lot in common and a lot to teach each other, their relationship development feels very natural, and their bond is what saves the day in the end.

Also, at the finale of the movie, Barbie trades her dark-pink wings in for lesbian-flag colored wings, which do go very well with the purple ones of Catania. And many fans realized that this follows the recurring theme of most Barbie movies, where Barbie is very often transforming into dresses, wings, mermaid tales, etc. in the lesbian-flag colors, while her female character companions usually change into either blue, or purple, or exactly the same colors as the bisexual flag colors.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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