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Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own She-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone reading can enjoy it.

Thoughts will be in italics



Horde headquarters

Catra was pissed as she sat staring at the pile off scraps that used to be Hordak's portal as her mind kept forcing her to remember the look Adora had given her when the portal had been closed. The vitriol made Catra feel sick and the pathetic moping of Hordak wasn't helping either even if that was her fault for lying about Entrapta. Everything had gone wrong and even in the perfect world the portal had made for her she still couldn't win. Adora hated her, Entrapta had been banished, Shadow Weaver was part of the rebellion now and Catra could just feel her own anger and self-loathing growing inside of her which only made her angrier. Why can't I get a win just once? For once I just want to feel like no one else is holding me back or pitying me or looking down on me. I want to win, and I want them all to hurt.

Looking at the portal Catra felt her stomach grumble as she realised, she had been sitting for hours as Scorpia had arrived with a worried look on her face and a bowl of soup. "I thought you my be a bit peckish after brooding for so long." Catra had a look of annoyance and mock horror on her face as she felt like laughing though she didn't know why.

"I wasn't brooding I was scheming Scorpia. Things are a mess if you hadn't noticed with Hordak in his funk and Shadow Weaver siding with the rebellion we are not in a good position. The horde can afford to lose a bit of territory but once we can't let the princesses make any moves into territory beyond what we took from them."

"Well, I don't think the alliance would really be making a move against the horde for a while Catra." Catra gave Scorpia a weird look like she couldn't understand what she was saying. "Of course, they would attack now. We are in no real position to fight with Hordak indisposed at the moment we are basically leaderless, and our opponents have inside knowledge of our land and security. Why wouldn't they attack?"

"Well, I mean Queen Angela did just die closing the portal. The members of the alliance will be working on Glimmer's coronation and setting up a memorial and wake for Angela. I mean for all we lost the princess alliance lost a lot as well especially Glimmer, she lost her mom after all she'll most likely be pretty emotional and needing time to rest and mourn herself. I mean didn't you feel the same way when Shadow Weaver left? I mean she was like your mom wasn't sh…" Scorpia shut up as she realised, she may have overstepped knowing how much of a sore spot Shadow Weaver was to Catra.

Rage filled Catra as she started shouting at Scorpia "Shadow Weaver was a monster and hated me! She made my life miserable! Nothing was ever good enough! She was all I had, no family, no father or mother, nothing and she just kept using me as her punching bag! She doesn't deserve the title at all!" Why couldn't she be a good mother? Why couldn't she be like the Shadow Weaver in the portal world? Why did I have to suffer without a mother?

As Catra thought about the families she had been jealous of growing up in the Fright Zone when she stopped as a twisted thought filled her mind. "Scorpia gather the remaining sorcerers and bring them all the Black Garnet and make sure the remains of the portal are brought their as well."

"What are you going to be doing then?" Scorpia seemed a bit confused Catra had seemed rather angry and now she was all giddy. It was actually rather concerning how quickly Catra's mood had changed. "Just need to talk to Hordak and inform him of my plan. Just make sure to get everything I need. Oh, and thanks for the soup, Scorpia, I had no idea I was that hungry."

Scorpia kept happiness contained as she squealed in happiness after Catra left the room at the compliment. She had done a good job and Catra wasn't mad anymore. Things are looking up. Catra isn't in her funk anymore and she actually like my cooking. I should go thank Kyle for being my taste tester. Wait I need to get Catra's stuff first then thank Kyle. Oh, things are going to be awesome.

Rushing off humming Scorpia still wondered what Catra was planning while her friend was talking with Hordak.

Black Garnet Room (few hours later)

Magic users were rare in the horde and had been for a while with some even leaving due to Shadow Weaver's attitude. The few that remained seemed confused as Catra slowly weaved out her plan to craft a magical guardian using the remaining magic essence on the portal and linking it with the Garnets magic.

While the task had been rather simple in design actually getting it done was another thing entirely. The challenge was welcome however though many of the sorcerers had a good laugh at how much Shadow weaver had made life difficult for herself never asking Scopria for help in understanding the Garnet's magic due to her own pride and thinking so little of Scorpia. "I must say you have been a big help. Are you sure you wouldn't like us to try and help you connect with the Garnet, the ability to use magic is such a gift?" Scorpia just motioned that she'd think about it as she had never given the idea of using magic much thought.

"I hope everything is on schedule here and you're not all just having a tea party."

"Ooh there's a tea party? Where Catra where is the party?" Scorpia stopped as she saw the Catra was joking and felt a bit sheepish as Catra laughed a bit at Scopria.

"Everything is on schedule we just need you to provide the mental imprint doe the guardian to work off of." Catra just nodded as she got into position as the magic flowing in the started to connect to her mind as she started to put her thoughts and feelings into the magic. Slowly energy started to peel off from the shattered remains of the portal machine, flowing through Catra mixing with the magic of the sorcerers before the energy and magic left Catra and flowed into the Garnet.

Catra grew a massive smile as she watched the magic slowly take form starting as a blob then taking humanoid form. A win is a win, but it doesn't hurt that helping the Horde also gives me something I want and lets me hurt the rebellion and Adora and her new friends.

The magic finally coalesced into a rather familiar form much to the shock of everyone else in the room besides Catra. The former Queen of Bright Moon was standing in the room though there were a few differences like the bat like energy wings instead of the usual bird wings though they faded away as the magic stabilized though her eyes were sporting the same heterochromia iridium of green and yellow like Catra. "Catra why didn't you tell me you were introducing me to your friends. I would've made some snacks or at least some tea. I wouldn't be a very good mother if I didn't treat your friends well." Everyone else in the room felt rather uncomfortable not knowing what to think of what they were seeing and hearing as the being they had just created doted on Catra while the young Cat woman just smiled a rather large and somewhat creepy smile.

Catra on the other hand just felt happy. She had something she had always wanted and now she also had a tool and weapon that would hurt Bright Moon and its allies a great deal especially Adora and her new friends. "Come on mom this place is a mess. Let's get you to your room to rest it's been a long day after all." Watching the duo leave Scorpia could help but feel like she may not have done the right thing in helping Catra while the sorcerers felt proud at their accomplishment but also felt a bit worried about the amount of power the rather unstable Catra now had and how she had used it and how it could affect the Horde

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own She-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone reading can enjoy it.
Thoughts will be in italics


Catra fidgeted nervously as she led her new mother and new guardian of the Black Garnet to what was once Shadow Weaver's room though she had made sure to get rid of all of her old tormentor's things and had the room decorated with new things she felt would best suit its new tenant. Wonder how well Weaver's things will burn? I could have a big bonfire to celebrate, make it a bit of a party and invite some of the others. Could be fun and it would be so cathartic.

"Catra what are you smiling about like that? Is it that you have someone special on your mind like that cute scorpion girl, cause I'm sure she has a crush on you as well?" Catra froze up as she went red with embarrassment and was glad neither Scorpia nor the other soldiers were around to here Angella's question.

"No! no I'm not thinking about anything like that mom. I was just thinking about finally being rid of Shadow Weaver." Angella's shoulder's sagged as a look of sorrow was clear on her face. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here to protect you Catra. You deserved better than that monster and I promise I'll make up for lost time."

Catra smiled happy taking up Angella in a hug feeling safe and warm in her arms. Despite the happiness though Catra could feel a cold ball of ice in her gut as she felt guilty about how Angella was only saying and thinking these things because of the false memories she had implanted and constructed in this new being to be a protector and mother for her and the Horde. Pushing that ice ball deep down into her subconscious focusing more on how happy she was feeling. "Come on mom your room is just in here and I made sure to have it decorated to your liking and I made sure they used a green, yellow and blue colour pallet."

Tagging her new mom Catra ran off laughing to the room while Angella chased after her laughing as well stating that Catra would not get away from her so easily and that tickle torture was in her future when she caught her.

As the two ran off Kyle looked rather put off by the whole situation having walked into the room to get some parts for a tank, he was fixing alongside Scorpia whom he had brought with to help him carry the weighty parts. "Why the frowny face Kyle? Catra is happy and the Horde has a powerful new protector plus I think she'll be a lot of fun at the annual officer's party."

Scorpia is just to innocent, How the heck did she ever manage to become a force captain with how naive she seems to be at time. "Seriously you don't see what's wrong with this picture. Catra is literally using this golem to not deal with her feelings about Shadow Weaver and Adora which is not healthy in the slightest and the form she gave that thing just seems like wanting to kick a puppy. I'm worried that Catra is not in the right state of mind at the moment and that it could lead to her spiraling."

Scorpia had flinched a bit at the puppy comment but overall, much to Kyle's liking she seemed to be understanding what he was trying to tell her. "Look Kyle Catra's been through a lot the past few months and I think this could really help her. I know it looks a bit weird but give it chance before dismissing it outright. I promise I'll keep an eye on Catra and make sure she's fine." Kyle just nodded in thanks before motioning Scopria to the parts he had been looking for missing the look of contemplation on Scorpia's face as she digested the many many issued facing her friend Catra and how badly this whole situation could backfire on her not to mention how the Bright Moon and the other remaining Kingdoms would react when they found out about this.

Scorpia decided she needed to protect her friend because for the first time in a long time Catra seemed happy and not just pretending to hide her own pain. Don't worry Catra best friend Scorpia is on the job. No puppies or kittens will be kicked under my watch, and I'll keep you and your mom safe from the princesses. Her decision made Scorpia chatted to Kyle about the offer the sorcerers had made in helping her awaken her own powers and access to the Black Garent. Both of them made jokes and laughed about he idea of Scopria having princess powers making her feel better that Kyle wasn't judging her or mocking her for taking an easy power up outside of training and more training.

As the members of the Horde went about their daily tasks, fixing up weapons and vehicles or making sure supplies were properly numbered and sorted Hordak was having a conversation with the head of his remaining sorcerers. "Vector I understand your concern about Catra having such a close link to the construct but your over thinking things. That construct may be a weapon that our resident magicat has a close link to but it's the Garnet that maintains its existence and power and we control that and once you manage to convince Scorpia to properly learn how to use her powers the Horde will have two aces to use against those annoying princesses."

"We may have the power now sir, but I think your forgetting how crafty and intelligent Catra can be considering she took down Shadow Weaver even if that 'witch' was weakened she was still dangerous and Catra managed to find away around the advantage being used against her and won. You need to be careful sir, or she could attempt a coup against you."

Hordak laughed off Vector's idea as a joke. "Catra is many things but her biggest flaw is a constant need for approval. Sure, she could take the role of leadership for a time, but she would crack. She just isn't built to hold the position and she knows it even if she is sef destructive enough to take a shot at it." Hordak hid a grimace as he recalled how she had left him powerless when she had confronted him about his emotional state due to Entrapta's betrayal removing the power source from his suit. The magic cat could've killed him then and there but instead pushed simply for him to get his act together but also promoting her to his right hand.

Vector just sighed not understanding his leader's thought process but decided not to argue. "While you believe Catra may not be an issue the construct of the Granet, the Angella copy we made could be an issue in the future. We used what was left of her essence and magic tied to the portal gate when she made sure Adora escaped according to Catra to act as a shaping force for the construct. While she may have false memories there is a chance the real thoughts and memories of the original Angella could surface at ill-opportune times that could not work out for us." Hordak did take this warning seriously as he recalled the few times, he had seen the former queen of Bright Moon on the battlefield.

"Like I said Vector, that construct is reliant on the Garnet for its existence, and we just need to cut it off if it ever becomes a threat. Oh, and before I forget I want you to see about finding magical hopefuls among our ranks to teach as the Horde could use more competent and loyal magic users and with Shadow Weaver gone, I'm sure it will be so much easier for you to find students." The sorcerer just nodded and smiled walking away already thinking up lesson plans and to hold a part to celebrate Shadow Weaver's absence.

Shadow Weaver's old room (Angella's new room)

Catra lay down on the big poofy bed she had made sure to get brought in as Angella lay sleeping holding Catra in a cuddle as Catra listened to the heartbeat of her new mother. It was calm slow and stead, the heart of someone with a calm mind and soul. A kindness not seen in most members of the horde that was now hers. This is working so well. The memories are holding up, she is stable and once things settle down, I can't wait to see the look on Sparkles and Adora's face when they meet her. I win, I have a mother that cares and someone even stronger than Shadow Weaver looking out for me. You better watch out princesses the Horde isn't going to back down.

Catra was pulled from her inner monologue by an Angella that had woken up and had started tickling her making fun of the serious look on Catra's face as the magicat begged her to stop as the two eventually just lay down giggling and talking about Catra's accomplishments as a force captain and the sweet snacks Angella was planning to make in celebration for her arrival in the Fright Zone main base. "Don't you worry about a thing Catra mother will take care of everything." Catra just sighed content as she let her eyes close and sleep take her as she had the most calm and restful sleep she had had in years.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own She-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone reading can enjoy it.
Thoughts will be in italics



Catra's Room

The young magicat now understood what if felt like to be embarrassed by a parent as the Angella replica had dragged Scorpia and Lonni to her room for a sleep over. Catra got along well enough with Scorpia but she and Lonni had never really gotten along which made the night feel awkward for a while until the snacks and bad romance vids had been brought to her room which managed to help things along as the two made fun and mocked the writing and premises of the vids though Scorpia seemed to eat them up really enjoying the shows and shushing them whenever their was a scene she liked that they laughed at.

"I have to say Catra I never really liked you all that much but then again you never really put in the effort to be friendly with people, but I can respect you. You put in the effort to get to where you are now unlike Adora." Catra smiled a bit as during her time as a force captain she had learned a lot of the other higher ranking Horde members had not liked Adora all that much with how close she was with Shadow Weaver who had a lot of hate aimed at her from the just about everyone in the Horde and most felt that Adora had everything just handed to her without putting in the same amount of effort everyone else was.

Catra had actually been rather surprised at how much people had been willing to bad mouth Adora once Shadow Weaver had gotten imprisoned. Catra had also understood instantly that despite the respect she was getting that was temporary and would only last for as long as she did a good job as a force captain. "So Catra why the mom thing? I understand the premise of a magical guardian well enough, but this just seems a bit much."

Catra paused not really surprised by the question but still struggling a bit to put her thoughts into words. "I wanted to hurt the princesses, hurt the rebellion and hurt Adora and her new pals. I wanted to have someone that actually cared about me and wouldn't betray me. I wanted to win Lonni and I wanted to make sure that my win hurt my enemies." Lonnie actually looked a bit freaked out but nodded a bit after some thought. "Makes sense but dam that is cold. I mean to use the image of someone's dead mom against them is just harsh. Can't wait to see the look on those idiots faces when they try to make a move on us."

"Shshshshshshsh come on guys this is a sleepover. We talk about clothes and cars and gossip not about work." As Catra and Lonni were about to rebut Scorpia that it was just as a good a time to talk about work to large pillows slammed into their faces. Scorpia laughed as her two fellow soldiers fall on their backs from the force of the throw but quickly recovered and started attacking back as feathers and laughter and cheap romance vid dialogue filled the room. Outside the room the replica Angella smiled as she watched her little kitten having fun and making friends.

As she turned around to leave Vector arrived handing her a note that Hordak wanted to meet with her. Nodding she left though feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to understand what their leader would want with her.

Hordak's chamber

"Ah good you're here thank you for being punctual. So, few of those that I call for are." Hordak motioned the replica to a seat next to the holographic table he was looking over.

Sitting down Angella noticed it was a map of a large area of Etheria. "I was hoping you could help me plan out an attack as the Rebellion has managed to stalemate us for a while since the princesses started working together again."

"I'm not sure how much I could help you lord Hordak. I was only a spy in Bright Moon and I was never really able to see any chinks in their defences." Hordak hid a smile as he felt a perverse joy in hearing this replica even if it wasn't the real Queen Angella call him lord. "True you may lack much knowledge about their defences, but a map of the territory would be very useful once we break through their barrier. Please get to work on it and make it as accurate as possible." As the replica got to work Hordak left letting himself chuckle a bit as he came to appreciate Catra's plan a bit more with the benefits he was starting to reap from it. "Oh, I will have some food and drink brought to you Lady Demona so please take your time."

I have to give Catra credit while its not a fully proper replica she still seems to have knowledge of Angella's kingdom even if Catra had to modify some of those memories to make sure things stayed stable, but the name is also quite fitting and will be no where near as annoying as constantly referring to her by that pain in my ass queen's name.

Activating his communicator Hordak sent a message to one of his force captains to put some pressure on the kingdom of Plumeria. Its defences were much weaker than that of the other kingdoms and its princess was in Bright Moon at the moment, so it was an easy target to start up the campaign again. Small victories were better than no victories. Plus, this will make it easier to see the current state of the rebellions fight forces and make my moves accordingly. Even if I couldn't contact my brother Etheria will still be mine. Even in this failing body I will have accomplished this dead and proved my worth if Prime ever finds Etheria.

Hordak felt happy as he imagined the pride that would be in Prime's eyes when he handed him Etheria the planet kept from his grasp by the first ones.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own She-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone reading can enjoy it.

Thoughts will be in italics

Fright Zone (Horde War Room)

Most of the force captains were assembled with the few not present currently watching over captured territory to make sure things stayed calm and quite while the Horde got back on its feet after the incursion by the rebellion and the loss of Entrapta's technological expertise. Many knew about Hordak's 'relationship' with the princess of what had once been an enemy nation, though none had been brave enough to talk to their leader about their worries and many had dismantled the machines the princess had built when the news had spread of her banishment to Beast Island.

"Good your all here. I hope you've all read through the planned invasion of Plumeria to unbalance the Rebellion and give the Horde breathing room to get everything in order and make sure there had been no sabotage and our equipment is all in working order. This stalemate has gone on long enough and after the Rebellion's attack on the heart of our nation its time we put an end to this war once and for all."

Looking over the plan Catra was pleased to see things had returned to a sort of normal with Hordak putting in effort to run the Horde again instead of delegating and to be seen by his people. The plan itself was simple yet elegant in its design to keep the Rebellion occupied with constant small attacks on the flower kingdom forcing them to spread the rebellions forces thin thinking the Horde was trying to take Plumeria again. This is good but it could be better.

"Lord Hordak, my apologise but I think we can do better than just buying time to prepare for mobilization." Most of the other force captains went still as a board as they kept their eyes on Catra wondering how things would play out if Hordak didn't like her plan. "And what would you recommend we do Catra. At the moment our forces are in disarray and things are even more dangerous with Shadow Weaver being a confirmed traitor to the Horde siding with the Rebellion."

Many of the force captain had heard the gossip about the dark sorceress running away to join the Rebellion but many had not given it much thought thinking it just being some sort of joke though they had all be glad for her absence many thinking she had just been banished to Beast Island for her insubordination to Hordak. Worried murmurs filled the chamber though Catra swiftly silenced them with a glare and mocking their fear pointing out how she had been the one to capture Shadow Weaver in the first place before tuning back to Hordak to explain her idea to modify his plan.

"Well sir I believe we can shrink the size of our attacking forces being sent to Plumeria and spread them out to from two additional attack forces to attack the Kingdom of Snows and Salineas as well." One of the other captains laughed calling the idea ludicrous. "We'll be cutting one large force into smaller forces to attack three different kingdoms which will most likely lead to use not only losing but also losing supplies and equipment in these failed campaigns."

"I do hope that this plan isn't finished yet Catra?" Catra scowled at her fellow captain that had interrupted her as she felt Hordak's gaze on her.

"No sir what I wanted to say was to time each attack. Start with Plumeria and wait till the Rebellion forces strike then have the next force attack Salineas and then once Rebellion forces move to support Salineas send the last force to attack the Kingdom of Snows." Hordak nodded as he thought of the edit to his guerrilla warfare plan aimed at a single kingdom though each battle would be shorter due to supplies being split but it could work.

Catra smiled as it looked like Hordak was liking her idea. Time to hit him with the finisher to the plan. "Lastly sir I believe a salted earth tactic would help us here. We are not aiming to claim land but to bleed the Rebellion in any way we can as we strengthen our position so while we attack Plumeria and literally salt the soil and ruin its fertility with poison, pour toxic waste into Salineas' ocean and use heating equipment and fire weapons to melt the Snows Kingdom. The princesses may be able to repair the damage we do but it will take time and drain them of a great deal of magic and resources while also splitting up the princesses as they are forced to stay in their own kingdoms or risk revolt during the time of crisis for their people."

Most of the other captains looked at Catra in shock at the brutal tactic she had ask that they employ. Hordak on the other hand seemed to be liking the plan as he mulled it over in his head. "Well done, Catra, it seems you once again prove me right in making you a force captain. We use less but still manage to do more damage, though how do you plan to time these attacks?"

"That's the easy part sir. I have a spy ready to infiltrate Bright Moon and I will also have drones following the attack forces so we can immediately see when we should move on to the next kingdom to attack."

"Well done Catra you and your mother seem to be the most useful and competent people under my employment…. Well, you all heard her and know the plan! Go get the supplies and equipment ready for your troops! We will move in the next week after a few small strike forces make attacks to test the defences so we know the best places to fight so we can drag things out without making anyone suspicious."

The other captains rushed out to avoid angering Hordak for being slow to follow his orders while Catra strutted out happy at the praise she had received and how her plan was actually given merit and being followed. Soon Double trouble will be in Bright Moon keeping an eye on things for me and the other kingdoms will be so busy they won't be able to strike at the Fright Zone again anytime soon. Look out Adora your perfect little world is going to crumble, and I'll be there to watch you try and fail to put the pieces back together.

Unbeknownst to Catra Scorpia had stayed behind and had a worried look on her face as she didn't like the rather harsh and terrifying tactics that Catra had decided they should use. While Scopria was worried she was able to justify the plan a bit as she thought about how the princesses had already healed such massive damage when they reversed the Horde's attempt to drain the Plumeria Runestone. Ok it looks bad, but Catra is only trying to stall them. The damage can be fixed, and we are at war so it should be fine. They did also attack us at our base and ruin Hordak's machine thingy.

Her mind made up that things weren't as bad as she had first thought Scorpia grabbed Catra in a big hug surprising the magicat as she dragged her to the lunch hall for the special of chocolate pudding for desert.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics


Bright Moon

The kingdom lacked the usual bright and happy mood it used to have whenever the young princess now queen had looked at it from the balcony of her mother's room, now her room. Even after she had taken up her connection with the rune stone and accepted her position as queen Glimmer still felt that things just didn't feel right and often felt uncomfortable as she did paperwork and listened to the grievances of her people so she could do her best to help them.

Things are just so slow these right now. I'm stuck in this chair really only signing papers and giving orders to others to fight for me instead of actually going out and helping. Glimmer had always been a person to take action instead of just sitting around and waiting. Her new position was not only testing her ability as a queen but her own lacking patience as she read through the reports Bow, Adora and the other princesses were bringing her to keep her up to date on what was happening in the war against the horde. Maybe I should organize a sleep over. Give myself a break and a chance to properly catch up with everyone…. No, that won't work, I'm way to busy and so is everyone else. Mom I wish I knew what to do, what if I'm a horrible queen and what if I end up losing everything to the Horde after all the work you put in protecting Bright Moon.

Glimmer felt her frustration growing as she tried to focus on the papers in front of her before she just gave up delegating it to some of her officials and left to get some fresh air and cool down. Walking around the castle Glimmer just felt her own feelings suffocating her as memories of the time she spent with her mom kept running through her mind and making her feel worse as all she could think about was how they had argued before the portal had been opened and how she had never gotten a chance to say goodbye or apologize to her mother for how poorly she had treated her.

"Well, what brings the new Queen of Bright Moon down here to visit me?" Glimmer in her memory hazed state had not really thought about where she was going as she walked around the castle ending up in the room being used as Shadow Weaver's prison cell. The dark sorceress simply tending to the plants in her room barely giving Glimmer a glance as she continued with her botany. "It's rather unbecoming of a queen to simply gawk and not actually talk, you know."

"Well, I'm sorry for interrupting you hobby but this is my castle, and I can do what I want in it while you're a prisoner who's lucky to have such a nice room."

"A glided cage is still a cage princess much like it seems your new position is for you. All the power of a queen and yet your stuck here in this castle just like I am except I have something too keep me busy while you on the other hand are drowning in your own feelings of inadequacy." Glimmer didn't want to give the sorceress the satisfaction of confirming she was right but Shadow Weaver had hit the nail on the head.

"And how are you so content just being stuck in this room with no control over what happens to you and lacking any agency despite your power?" Asking the ex-villain for help didn't feel right for Glimmer yet she wanted some answers, anything that could help her.

Shadow Weaver paused in her gardening looking at the once princess, now queen of Bright Moon standing behind her. "It's rather simple your majesty, I know how lucky I was that Adora decided to heal me, and I know how lucky I am to be in such a nice room in Bright Moon instead of a prison cell in Mystacor. I also know I am valuable to you and the Rebellion so even if I am currently incarcerated, I know my future is assured. This is not the answer you're looking for however is it my queen.

Glimmer shrugged not sure what else to do as she listened to the sorceress speak.

"No, you're feeling trapped but more because you feel powerless which is made worse because of all the power you actually wield now. You have armies at your command, people looking to you for answers you feel you don't have and your feel stuck now that you can't fight on the front lines with your friends anymore. Your majesty what you have to realise is that even if you don't feel like it, you have power. You are the one in charge making the decisions that need to be made and you need to stop looking at the small picture and focus on the bigger one. Once you stop looking at the small picture the whole time and focus on the bigger picture more these small things will just fade away and stop worrying you as much."

Glimmer just felt confused as she turned to leave as Shadow Weaver went back to gardening. "Oh, Glimmer you should really get Castaspella to train you more. You have such great potential magically and it would be a shame for you to squander it when you have access to an adequate teacher."

Glimmer walked away back to her room before releasing a breath she hadn't know she had been holding. Glimmer felt confused as she mulled over her own feelings and the things Shadow Weaver had spoken about. Glimmer didn't have much time to think whoever as a messenger bird arrived with a warning about Horde forces moving on Plumeria and its outer territories. Perfuma was asking for support in defending her kingdom as few of her people were really fighters and she didn't have the ability to fight off the Horde forces being sent on her own.

Glimmer felt a growing rage towards the Horde as all that she could think about was what they had cost her personally. Taking out some paper Glimmer wrote a message to Adora and Bow asking them to go assist Perfuma and then wrote a second letter to Perfuma that Bright Moon would be sending soldiers to help support her and fight off the Horde.

The Horde will pay. We wont just be fighting a defensive war anymore. We will push them back and wipe them out. No more lost homes, no more lost kingdoms, and no more lost moms.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics



Mystacor

Castaspella felt tired as she read up on reports from her councillors and assistants. More reports were coming in on renegade sorcerers joining the Horde instead of making the journey to Mystacor to learn in the kingdom of magic. Most likely with Shadow Weaver gone many mages that had a dislike for the kingdoms felt the Horde isn't such a terrifying option anymore. Shadow Weaver defecting has given the rebellion a lot of new intelligence since Adora first left but it had given everyone a new set of headaches to deal with as well.

Cataspella now had to deal with most of her people simply wanting to isolate themselves from the war not wanting to pick a side at all simply waiting to see who won and if the Horde came out on top strike them down while they were exhausted. That was an option she refused to think about with her own family being part of the rebellion not that she could say much against the idea as many viewed her rulership of Mystacor as a conflict of interest with her loyalties being split between two different kingdoms.

Sides was the last thing Castaspella wanted to take but she had her niece on one side begging for help beyond simply offering a place of rest and safety from the war and on the other she had her people calling for her to cut ties with Bright Moon to avoid bringing the wrath of the Horde to their home with them unable to defend themselves. Hide and wait until our enemy has exhausted themselves or join the fight and risk either being destroyed or being stripped of my position and leave Bright Moon on its own. Castaspella took a drink from her glass as she contemplated her choices knowing she would have to choose eventually as her time ran out.

Though the time she had available to make her choice may be less than she thought she had as one of her assistants came running in with a letter from their scouts. Plumeria was suffering under a Horde assault that was much smaller than the norm from what Shadow Weaver and Adora had once explained about Horde troop movements and now she knew why. The Kingdom of Snows and Salineas had come under attack about a week after the first attack on Plumeria though Salineas had managed to repel the attack before any permanent damage had been done though from what she her scouts were telling her the Horde had started attacking the very environment of the Kingdoms weaking the magic of the rune stones and the princesses as the magic was used to try and heal the damage being done.

As things were Mermista and her people were sending support to help Frosta and her Kingdom due to her being hit with the largest force, the kingdom's military being rather weak depending more on the harsh conditions of the environment of their kingdom for defence and Plumeria having She-Ra to help fight back against the Horde.

"Selina, I need you to get into contact with the council. I fear a choice will have to be made on Mystacor's position in this war." The young assistant rushed off to gather the political body of Mystacor fear in her heart as she had gotten a glimpse at the information from the scouts and their findings as the other kingdoms fought against the Horde, the numbers being much greater than she had thought the invaders were capable of mustering for military action.

Castaspella felt worried for her people as she watched her assistant leave almost tripping on her own feet her fear rather clear in her eyes. My people I fear they will be forced to witness the horrors of war and that it will scar them. The people of Mystacor aren't warriors, they are researchers, scholars, and academics. They are here to learn and grow, to master their gift as a tool not as a weapon. What horrors will the Horde bring down on us once this decision is made?.... At least I'll be able to spend more time with Glimmer, maybe even catch up on our magic lessons.

As much as Castaspella had made the choice to join the war in full she felt that some would not understand her choice and knew that Mystacor would suffer as there would be those that would simple leave not understanding why they needed to join the war. Mystacor would suffer desertion and a blow to its reputation, but Etheria would gain much from the support of the sorcerers and they would be able to push back against the Horde and hopefully wipe them off the map.

Bright Moon (1 week later)

Glimmer didn't know what had really changed the minds of her aunt and the Mystacor council, but she was happy as the Rebellion forces had gotten much needed backup. Salineas had managed to help the Kingdom of Snow push back the invading Horde forces while Mystacor mages had helped push back the forces at Plumeria. At the moment she was taking stock of the damage the Horde had caused in their attacks and feeling worried. At the moment Perfuma was in a guest room resting under the watchful eyes' of Mystacor healers while Adora was working on empowering the Plumeria rune stone to help it clear out the poison the Horde had used on the land of Plumeria and would be traveling to the other Kingdoms to help speed up the recovery of their Kingdom's environment.

"Why strike like this? They spread their forces thin in this attack and for what goal?" Glimmer felt confused as she tried to glean an answer from combat reports.

"Perhaps there was no real purpose behind the attack." Glimmer barely gave the owner of the voice a glance not at all surprised by their arrival with the recent increase in Horde activity. "That doesn't make any sense Shadow Weaver. These attacks would've taken up a great deal of resources not to mention all it did was help bring Mystacor officially into the war against them so if anything, these attacks did nothing but galvanise their enemies against them."

Shadow Weaver chuckled a bit at Bright Moons queen though they young queen didn't look pleased at how the sorcerous seemed to be making a joke of her frustration frowning as Shadow Weaver continued to explain. "The Horde has always been the one on the offensive in this war and with your attack on the heart of their territory, destroying Hordak's personal project and much of the military infrastructure in that area in the process you have struck a nerve. You gave them pause and now they feel the need to reassert their dominance in this war. It may look like they gained nothing from these attacks, but they have gained something, they gained time. The Bright Moon at the moment has to deal with an influx of refugees from its allies, Adora will be spending a great deal of time helping the other kingdoms recover from these attacks meaning less time She-ra will be spending in combat and the Horde keeps up their morale of being the dominant force on Etheria while we are stuck recovering and recouping our losses even with Mystacor's support they have time to rally and build up their forces much faster than we can while repairing the damage they have caused."

Glimmer felt a weight on her shoulders as she looked through the combat reports again and realising Shadow Weaver was right. A heavy sigh escaped from the young queen as shewent back to the war reports as she tried to come up with a plan to fight back. "Glimmer these reports can wait; at the moment you should go meet the refugees. Your presence would greatly improve the image of the princesses in their eyes and even get some to support from the other kingdoms that have hoped to stay neutral in this war as word of your compassion and the brutality of the Horde spreads."

Glimmer nodded agreeing as she left to meet with those hoping to escape the wrath of the Horde. She spent a few hours helping the servants on the ground hand out supplies, healing the sick and even playing with children to help them get their minds off the destruction of their homes.

Taking a small break to rest Glimmer smiled as she watched the happy smiles on some of the refugee children as they ate snacks being handed out. "I gotta say I'm surprised to see the queen of Bright Moon being so hands on with us." Glimmer jumped up in surprise as she looked around for the source of the voice. "Up here your majesty"

Looking up Glimmer saw a young elf girl flying above her. "Hi, I'm Flutterina and its nice to meet you. Thanks for looking after the kids, usually I'm the one entertaining them but I kinda got lost trying to find some food for the little ones." Glimmer felt a bit overjoyed as she listened to the young girl praise her for doing as little as she had. "It really isn't much and I feel like I should've been able to prevent this from happening at all." Looking back at the kids eating or playing Glimmer just waved and smiled while they waved back. "These kids have lost their home and the people of Etheria suffer under the threat of the Horde as they desecrate the land and brutalise the people. It helps a bit though to see that I can still help the people of Etheria even in these small ways."

"I am grateful that I was able to help you queen Glimmer and I was hoping you could help me. I was an entertainer in my village but with it destroyed I am kinda out of work, so I was wondering if you knew any place that was hiring. I want to help as much as I can and since its obvious, I'm not much of a fighter I was thinking I can help around the kingdom in some way to help the rebellion or even just the people that this war has displaced and frightened."

On the side out of view Shadow Weave watched with as Glimmer interacted with those displaced by the war. Small jobs being given out to those that weren't able to fight but could still help in other ways. Blacksmiths would be able to help repair and produce much needed weapons, tailers that could help produce clothing for soldiers and other workers, farmers that could help keep supplies from running out, and even mechanics and engineers from Dryl that had abandoned the kingdom to escape the Horde that were now being put in positions that could help the rebellion overcome their technological disadvantage against the Horde.

The young queen is doing so well. The horde had made many enemies and terrifies others to the point that simple kindness like this will win them over to Glimmer and the Rebellion's side. This child has such potential and under my tutelage will become a true queen that even the Horde will not be able to stand against. I should increase the level of magic I am teaching young Glimmer as I'm sure she would appreciate being treated like a person and being given the responsibility of such high-level magic, will also help  me look better in her book and prevent the others like Castaspella and Adora from being able to convince Glimmer to imprison me again.

Shadow Weaver smiled and waved to Glimmer as the queen ran off back to her chambers to finish going through the papers, she had abandoned all the while Shadow Weaver planned to cement her position in Glimmer's life.

Horde main base

Catra smiled as her data pad lit up as a message arrived and she left to inform Hordak that her plan had worked. "Sir my spy has managed to infiltrate Bright Moon. Everything is moving according to the plan and soon Etheria will be yours."

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics

Bright moon

Shadow Weaver smiled with pride as she watched Glimmer go through the steps of creating a summon. “Very good Glimmer just remember that it is a physical construct of magic so if you don’t create it right it will explode instead of just fading.” The only response the dark sorceress got was a thumbs up as several large see through wolfs seemed to dog pile on Glimmer as she laughed and cuddled with them only for a small explosion to follow as Glimmer sat up covered in soot and a few bruises.

“I did try to warn you to balance out the magic when crafting them.” Despite her scolding Shadow Weaver had to hold back a laugh as memories of her time teaching Glimmer’s father came to mind and how he almost blew up the testing arena when he tried to show of his ability to craft summons making nearly a hundred much to the dismay of his assessors and how she and Norwyn had been forced to contain the resulting explosion.

Glimmer pouted at her teacher as she saw how Shadow Weaver found her situation humorous. Seeing her student getting angry and embarrassed Shadow Weaver held up her hands in a defensive manner as she worked to calm Glimmer down. “I’m not laughing at you Glimmer. You did rather well if you consider that most magic users can barely maintain two summon constructs even after they have mastered the spell let alone six while they are still learning it. Honestly, I was just recalling when you father was still in training and almost blew up the testing hall trying to show off with that same spell. He got such a scolding and was punished by having to care for the school garden for a month without any magic… I can’t tell you how many times he tried showing off only for it to blow up in his face.” Glimmer smiled as she listened to Shadow Weaver talk about her father.

“I see that same potential in you Glimmer if not greater as you have the mind to at least be more cautious than your father. I don’t have to worry about finding my student in an infirmary every other week which is a great relief or sleeping through lessons not even paying attention to the fundamentals. You are honestly one of the best students I’ve had in years.” Glimmer seemed to glow from the praise her previous anger and embarrassment forgotten while she seemed to find it humorous that her dad was such a reckless child let alone reckless as a student.

“Do you think you could tell me more about my dad?” The question seemed to come out of nowhere catching Shadow Weaver off balance. “It’s just nice to learn more about him and have someone that I can talk to about him that actually knew him and actually has time to have a meaningful conversation.” Glimmer gave her best puppy eyes as she asked Shadow Weaver which was enhanced by the soot and bruises covering her.

Shadow Weaver paused as she tried to gather her thoughts due to Glimmer’s request. Micah was honestly a rather sore point for her but talking about him seemed to be an in road with Glimmer and taking a break seemed like a good idea while she cleaned the young queen up. “I don’t see why not. What would you like to talk about or what stories would you like me to tell?” Glimmer beamed as she started asking questions about her dad when he was still Shadow Weaver’s student and studying at Mystacor.

The next few days while Glimmer had time off from her duties as queen, she enjoyed spending time learning more about her father as she trained her magic. I don’t know why I didn’t try to expand my skill years ago. Heck even if auntie Casta didn’t have the time I could’ve studied at Mystacor and learned more than basic energy blasts and teleportation. Glimmer was grateful for the magic she did know but training under Shadow Weaver had shown her how little she had actually been working with and how limited she had actually been.

Meanwhile watching from afar Castaspella felt uncomfortable watching her niece training under the guidance shadow sorceress, but she couldn’t really give her own input. Things with Glimmer had been rough with how little time she had actually been able to spend with her niece and how much trust she seemed to be putting into Shadow Weaver. The first few times she had tried to bring up her concerns Glimmer had seemed to humour her but now she just seemed annoyed when ever Castaspella tried. Honestly part of this is my fault for taking so long in getting back to Bright Moon but running a kingdom has its downsides. Shadow Weaver has her claws in Glimmer and in her mind I’m not objective in my assessment of her and Shadow Weaver has been more active and supportive of Glimmer and Bright Moon than I or Mystacor have been. The best I can do is just build up a rapport with Glimmer again and hopefully avoid Shadow Weaver until I’ve managed to repair my relationship with Glimmer so I can mitigate the damage that scoundrel has done to my niece…. I hope Adora and Bow get back soon because they may be the only ones that can actually get through to Glimmer right now.

Her mind made up Castaspella left her niece and her nemesis to go send a message to Bow and Adora about her concerns about Glimmer and her new teacher. Hopefully they would be able to come up with a plan that could help Glimmer see that her new ‘friend’ wasn’t who she was pretending to be. Her work done Castaspella left to go eat a meal and calm her nerves before looking over her letter one last time in a better state of mind before sending it off.

In her absence however a lone pink winged figure snuck into Mystacor’s rulers room snooping around growing a large smile as she found and read through the letter. She giggled a bit as she realised how lucky she was with her find. Dissention in the ranks, I couldn’t get any luckier with this and sending a copy to the right people here in Bright Moon will grease the wheels for a big pay day from the Horde and maybe a nice bonus from that Catra chick when she learns I used Shadow Weaver to make her job easier. I must say though these rebellion idiots really don’t have the same level of security as the Horde its much easier to sneak around and steal from them than it is from the Horde.

Opening a window in Castaspella’s room the spy smiled at the strong breeze that blew through that would easily cover up her action. Snatching the letter, she walked out careful not to be seen as she thought about the best place to leave the letter, so things didn’t look suspicious. The figure stopped slapping her head for a moment sneaking back into the Castaspella’s room and stamping the outside of the letter with her seal. Now if someone like a little old maid finds a random letter with a royal seal just lying around it would make sense for her to bring it to someone of high rank and status. Skipping back to one of her many jobs around the castle of helping in the kitchen, cleaning up, repairing uniforms, or just helping to move supplies around the castle and even acting as a messenger between the castle and the city. So many ways to make small problems that would have a big pay out later and many ways to get information for her current employers.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics
The replica of Angella will be called Demona except in specific situations and events.


Bright Moon

Adora took in a deep breath happy to be back in Bright Moon. She had been happy to help Frosta but the weather of her friend's kingdom just didn't suit her. She was a bit worried though from the few letters she and Bow had received from Castaspella keeping them informed about what had been happening in the kingdom and what Glimmer was up to. "You worried Adora? I know you don't have the best relationship with Shadow Weaver, but we should be careful about how we talk to Glimmer about this. She can be really stubborn when she thinks people are challenging her."

Adora knew all to well about how stubborn Glimmer could be and to make matters worse even though they had talked out some of their issue during Angela's memorial things were still awkward between the two. "Maybe its better if you talk to Glimmer Bow. There is no way that Glimmer will look at me trying to convince her to stop hanging out with Shadow Weaver as objective considering my history with her."

"That history may be the only thing that could help Adora. You know Shadow Weaver better than anyone else so I'm sure Glimmer will understand why were concerned if you talk to her." Adora wasn't sure about Bow's argument considering how often Glimmer had disregarded advice from her own mother and aunt when they knew better but the innocent and cute look, he was giving her just made it impossible to say try and argue with her friend any further. I hope this plan works because we don't need any infighting to break out in this war against the Horde… Oh who am I kidding with our luck this will blow up in our faces before we manage to fix anything.

Seeing the gates to Bright Moon Adora smiled though she took note as she and Bow walked towards the castle that a lot more people seemed to be around. The Horde must really be pushing much harder than before. I knew they tended to attack indiscriminately these days, but this is just horrible. How many villages did they destroy that this many refugees made the trip here?

Arriving at the castle Adora and Bow waved to the guards who seemed very happy to see them as they rushed towards them. "Adora, Bow we are so glad to see you please you need to go talk to the queen she and her aunt have been in a shouting match for the last few hours!" The men looked so panicked surprising Bow though Adora had an idea of what had started the shouting match considering how worried Casta had sounded in her letters she may have tried to talk to Glimmer on her own. Rushing inside Adora grimaced as she saw her old teacher standing outside the door were rather animated and colourful language was originating from.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you. They've been at it for a while, and I don't think you getting involved is going to help." Bow walked up to Shadow Weaver in anger.

"I don't know what you told Glimmer to start this fight, but I promise you we'll fix it and then you'll be back in your cell." Despite still wearing her mask Adora could tell Shadow Weaver found Bow's declaration amusing. "Come on Bow she's not worth the effort. Let's just go in and try and diffuse the situation." Bow nodded having said his piece though Shadow Weaver decided she would also say her piece.

"Like I said you shouldn't go in there. This is a private moment between family and as you can see even, I'm not in there. Also, boy despite what you make think this is a mess of Castaspella's own making. Treating Glimmer like a fragile child and questioning her decisions all the time seems to irritate her to no end so I can assure you you'll just add to the problem if you rush in there."

Adora didn't like Shadow Weaver but at the moment she hated her old teacher because she knew she was right. As much as she and Bow wanted to try and help, they would just be adding fuel to the fire of the situation. Bow look frustrated most likely understanding the position they were in despite wanting to help his friend and the chance of making things worse.

"I don't care what she was in the past or what you think of her! She is helping me and teaching me instead of babying me! I don't need you lurking behind my back all the time like I'm some sort of helpless child! You're not my mom and I don't need you pretending to be her!"

"You may not care but I am trying to protect you from that Leech! She is just using you and you're to blind and prideful to see it! I may not be your mother, but I can assure you she would be so disappointed by the choices you are making!"

There was a pause of silence as the arguing stopped followed up by the door slamming open and Glimmer running out crying with Castaspella trying to chase after her niece trying to apologize. "Well done, Casta, I must say you really did a good job at trying to turn your niece against me." The voice of her fellow sorceress dripping with sarcasm hurt Castaspella due to how badly she had messed up. Glimmer had found one of her letters to Bow and Adora and had confronted her about it. The argument had started so small and yet things just kept escalating as she found herself getting frustrated by Glimmer not listening to her when she knew better.

"I'll go talk to her and once she has calmed down a bit I'll come and get you. I'm sure she'd love to talk with you and your little friend Bow, right Adora." The young warrior grimaced as she watched a defeated and slightly depressed Castaspella simple retreat to her room while Bow looked like he wanted to argue but understood he wasn't really in a good position to try and make his case that he and Adora should be the ones to go after Glimmer.


Training field (Bright Moon)

Sitting alone on a bench playing with a crafted puppy summon was where Shadow Weaver found Glimmer. "You know she didn't really mean what she said about your mother right. I've known Castaspella for a long time and I can tell you she just let her own frustrations overtake her, though that doesn't excuse what she said."

"I just don't like how she went behind my back to try and attack you. She treated me like a child, like I couldn't make my own decisions. You don't treat me like I can't look after myself why does she?" Glimmer was surprised when Shadow Weaver pulled her into a hug slowly stroking her hair as she worked to comfort the young princess.

"I am not a good person Glimmer. I haven't been for a long time and that is much of what your aunt chooses to see. She wasn't wrong when she called me a leach though that was in the name of survival after a spell, I was working went horribly wrong. You are also her niece; all she sees is that little girl she helped raise and cared for and can't grow beyond the need to protect you. I also care but I know you are capable which is why I keep an eye and instruct but don't interfere while you practice and train. You can only learn from your mistakes, and I don't wish for you to stagnate when I see such potential in you." Shadow Weaver smiled as she felt Glimmer's breathing calm down and pulled herself deeper into the hug.

"Thank you that helped a lot… could we just stay here for a while? I don't think I'm ready to talk with my aunt or Adora or Bow right now."

"Of course, Glimmer take whatever time you need until you feel you are ready. How about we help you get rid of some of that frustration ok." A bit confused Glimmer watched as Shadow Weaver used her magic to make large stone targets shaped in Hordak's image. "There, no we have some good targets for you to take your anger out on." Glimmer laughed a bit as she put the summon down and started to have fun wrecking the targets Shadow Weaver had crafted.

As Glimmer had her fun, she turned back to Shadow Weaver. "Besides my potential why are you putting so much effort into teaching me?" Glimmer was a bit stunned by the eruption of laughter that came from behind her teacher's mask. "Oh, that is a simple question to answer my queen. You are the politest and most diligent student I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. You father was a show-off that got himself and me as his main teacher in trouble as he refused to take his lessons seriously often cause a great deal of damage due to his ego and Adora never really had much patience to learn magic beyond the theory behind it, so she knew how to fight it, which is a shame to see a young one of such potential squander her gifts to the point of atrophy. The worst is the other students I had to teach in the Horde were just plain incompetent or only want to learn the 'cool' magic like fire balls and lighting from their fingers. No one want to take the time to learn the rituals and more complicated magic or even practice their basics unlike you who is actually putting in the effort as a student."

Happy with her answer Glimmer called for a servant to bring a small meal and drinks while she went back to blasting the Hordak targets enjoying herself as Shadow Weaver told her stories about her dad and the times he blew himself up trying to show off to her mother when she had first visited Mystacor or how he had often made a fool of himself flirting with girls only for Castaspella to drag him by the ear back to their lessons. Glimmer even found herself amused when Shadow Weaver told her about the times Adora had messed up in training often to hilarious results like getting covered in mud or stuck in an escape room when training for prison breaks if they ever got captured. Hearing about Adora having failures actually made Glimmer feel a bit better inside as she had always seen her friend as the unmovable rock, the perfect girl that couldn't fail, elevated due to her status as She-Ra and how it had often made her feel bad about her own short comings taking a hit at her self esteem so hearing about Adora's failures helped out a lot more than she felt comfortable feeling.

Fright Zone

Sitting in her room Catra laughed as she read the latest report Double Trouble had sent her. How a divide was forming between the queen of Mystacor and Bright Moon due to Shadow Weaver and how it even seemed like Adora, and that archer boy seemed to have a growing distance with their friend the queen. She was also happy to see how her plan had also started to stretch the resources of the Rebellion as they had to deal with the influx of refugees while lacking the infrastructure to properly care for them and keep fighting effectively. Oh, I can't wait to see what happens when they are forced to start making choices that throw some nice black paint on their moral superiority.

As she read through the report Catra was working on upgrading her whip to make it more effective. She yelped in surprise and a bit of pain as she shocked herself with one of her tools. "Dammit why wont this work. I can make an energy whip no problem, but I can't upgrade a simple regular whip to have a shock function." Catra sighed in frustration as she put down her tools and reports."

"Why not take a break Catra. You always spend so much time working I hardly ever see you have a chance to relax." Catra jumped up in surprise at hearing her mother's voice before quickly trying to clean her room up embarrassed by how messy it looked with parts and papers lying everywhere. All Demona did was giggle a bit as she walked over to Catra cleaning up her hair a bit and pulling a screwdriver out of her hair.

Catra went red in embarrassment while Demona shook her head as she helped Catra clean up. "You're going to burn out if you keep up this pace Catra. And then you'll start to make more mistakes and I'm sure you want to avoid shocks like what happened with your whip."

Catra sighed a bit knowing her mother was right. "I know mom, but I just feel like I need to prove myself. I've worked my whole life to gain this position of respect and honour and now that I have it, I'm so scared of losing it and failing my friends and allies. I feel like I need to work twice as hard to show everyone I deserve this position."

"Ok how about this, you take a break with me, and I'll teach you a bit of magic. I know you like your technology but knowing how about and how the tools of one's enemies works makes it easier to fight him plus I'm sure you'd like surprise you next opponent with a fun new trick." Catra giggled at the mischievous smile on her mother's face as she also tackled Catra onto her bead tickling the young force captain into surrendering.

"Ok, ok, ok I surrender. I'll take a break with you." Catra laughed as she tried to get Demona to stop. "I just don't know if I'll be any good at it. The other magic users always told me I didn't have much magical capabilities."

"Don't worry about what they told you. You don't need to be all powerful when using magic Catra even the smallest spells and tricks have their uses that can turn the tide of a fight even against a more powerful or skilled magic user." Catra smiled at the support though also using the quick pause in Demona's tickle attack turned the tables on her mother before the two collapsed tired from their battle but leaving Catra feeling like a weight was off of her shoulders and happy, a warm feeling in her heart as her mother got up to leave telling her she would start working on a lesson plan and that Catra should rest up for the her magic lessons as they would start tomorrow. "Now why don't you go spend some time with your friends. I'm sure Scopria misses your company what with her own time being spent with the sorcerers guild with her training with the her family's runestone or you could spend time with Lonni as it looks like you two have finally started to get along with each other and I'm sure that as much friction as there is between the two of you, you'd like to spend time with her more than you would those stuffy older force captains right."

Catra laughed a bit and agreed to spend some time with Lonni plus it would be nice to spend time with Kyle as he had been on of the few people that had been nice to her when Shadow Weaver had still been around. "Ok I'll take a break but I'm holding you to your word on those magic lessons. I'm going to show everyone they were wrong for underestimating me."

Demona just smiled as she watched Catra run off as she finished cleaning the room feeling a sense of pride in the success of her daughter though also feeling distraught for how she had just left her in Shadow Weaver's care when she had gone undercover in rebellion territory. Don't worry Catra I'll make it up to you and I'll make sure Shadow Weaver pays for how she treated you and I'll make sure my little girl gets the life and world she deserves, maybe even get a new son or daughter in law in the process. Demona giggled at her own plans as she worked to clean up Catra's room as she planned for the future where her daughter no longer needed to fight.

hope everyone enjoys this latest chapter and is having as much fun reading this as I am writing it. were are almost at the fun part where we get to have a rebel reaction to our clone of Angela. hope i can make it as interesting a chapter as possible for you all.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics

Bright Moon

The last few days had been odd for Adora as true to her word Shadow Weaver had managed to calm Glimmer down even managing to get Glimmer and Castaspella on speaking terms again even if it everyone could feel out thick the air became with tension. She was glad at least to see Bow and Glimmer hanging out and having fun. It helped calm Adora’s nerves that Glimmer wasn’t spending as much time around Shadow Weaver anymore. I still don’t even understand how Shadow Weaver managed to gain so much trust from Glimmer after everything she’s done and what I’ve told her. Guess I really underestimated what she could do.

Adora also found herself spending more time in the archives going through the Rebellion’s records of its war against the Horde. It was boring work, but it was better than spending time with Shadow Weaver in Adora’s mind even if it cut out some of the time she could spend with Glimmer. The work while boring was also helpful as Adora compared the different methods of the various force captain tactics the Rebellion had faced and how the different the Horde tactics where in more recent attacks. The Horde had only recently started changing its operational style from what Adora could see most likely because of her actions as She-Ra and the princesses acting in unity again.

There is so much information here but none of it really helps me think of a battle plan…Wait what’s this? Adora stopped for a moment as she reread some papers before diving back into a pile of papers. Why would the Horde send a declaration of surrender to Bright Moon for the kingdom to surrender? It talks about a trade of some sort but what did the Horde have that they thought they had leverage over Queen Angela at the time? Adora felt like she was swimming in records as she struggled to find an answer to the question burning inside of her. Why did the Horde think they could get Bright Moon to capitulate?

Adora happily found what she was looking for though it had resulted in a bookcase falling on her when she had climbed it, unable to find a ladder. Here it is, wait why does it have Queen Angela’s seal on it? Unsure but curious Adora broke the seal opening the record and was surprised by what she learned. The Horde had captured Glimmer’s dad, Bright Moon’s king and Queen Angela’s husband. No wonder they thought they could get Bright Moon to surrender without a fight by trying to leverage the life of the king. Unfortunate it looked like Angela had refused their offer of surrender though Adora could tell it had hurt from the tear stains on the paper she was reading.

Unfortunately, the records said nothing of what happened to the king after the refusal just that it was assumed that the Horde had just killed him. Adora remembered the times Glimmer had spoken about her dad and how sad it always made her and now with her mom gone and not even a body she could mourn over… A light bulb went off in Adora’s mind as an idea began to form. Maybe I could try and find out what happened to Glimmer’s dad. Even if I can only bring a body back Glimmer will at least have closure on everything. Adora felt elated believing her idea could help fix things with Glimmer only to freeze up in frustration as she realised her only source of information that could help with this idea was Shadow Weaver. Adora just let out an angry huff as she steeled her nerves to deal with her condescending old teacher as she carefully cleaned up the mess she had made and left to hopefully get something useful out of Shadow Weaver.

Finding her old teacher a few minutes later Adora was surprised but happy to see that she was alone. “Ah Adora to what do I owe this pleasant surprise? Is it too much to hope that you’ve buried the hatchet and put your petty misgivings about me behind you?”

Adora really wished Shadow Weaver didn’t always wear her mask unable to judge or guess what Shadow Weaver was thinking and plan around that. She also hated how condescending she sounded making light everything she had put Adora through trying to make her into a perfect tool for her to use in her bid for power in the Horde. Adora felt a growing want to just punch Shadow Weaver in the face consequences be dammed. No, no calm down Adora she isn’t worth it. Just remember this is all for Glimmer.

“No this isn’t about your poor teaching and mothering methods, sorry. No, I’m here for some information you should have about Bright Moon’s king.” Adora was surprised when she saw Shadow Weaver tense up giving a rare look at the woman being surprised and unbalanced.

“Why do you want to know about Micah?” Shadow Weaver’s voice had an edge to it toned with curiosity and caution.

“I want to know what happened to him. I know that the Horde captured him but what happened after? What did the Horde do with his body?” Adora hoped she had a good poker face as she tried to stay calm to hide how nervous she was from Shadow Weaver’s gaze that was studying her.

Shadow Weaver stayed silent for a bit contemplating on how to answer Adora’s question before deciding to humour her and give her what she wanted. “Body dear Adora, that is much too morbid a thought when Micah isn’t dead as far as I know. Micah still had his uses to Hordak despite Queen Angela refusing his offer, so he dumped him where he dumps everyone that is too dangerous to keep in the Fright Zone dungeons but valuable enough to keep alive. He dropped him on Beast Island. I don’t know what you hoped to gain from this question but that is all I know. I do ask that you refrain from asking me about Micah in the future though Adora, I prefer the past staying in the past.

Adora watched Shadow Weaver leave a bit confused as she had felt some actual sadness coming from Shadow Weaver, when she told her what had happened to the king. How does she even know Glimmer’s dad well enough to talk about him with his name? No, no you got what you needed, think about Shadow Weaver having emotions and her past later.

Crystal Castle

The location of Beast Island had always been a rather tightly kept secret in the Horde even though it was used as way to scare cadets with stories of how dangerous the island was. While Adora had now idea where Beast Island was, she knew someone that might while not risking Shadow Weaver learning of her plan and maybe hijacking it to further improve her relationship and hold on Glimmer.

“Uh Light Hope by any chance do you know about an island called Beast Island.” The AI seemed to stare down Adora before disappearing for a moment as it searched the data banks of the castle before reappearing.

“I have searched my data banks and have found no information pertaining to what you call Beast Island. Perhaps if you can give me something more to work with, I may be able to find what you are looking for as it may be under a different name in my data banks.”

Adora took a moment to recall everything that had been told to scare her when she was still a cadet and relayed everything, she could think of that could be important. Light Hope froze up for a moment as it took in the information.

“From what you have told me I believe I know what you are referring to though the First Ones always referred to the land mass you know as Beast Island as the dump. It is where they threw away damaged or broken technology though they did start monitoring the island for a while before they left Etheria though my data on that is incomplete, so I am unsure of why they started monitoring the island. I have a data pad with the location of the island waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Light Hope, you have no idea how much this helps.” Adora was elated as she readied to call Bow and tell him about her plan, maybe also get Castaspella to help. A united front would work better than just her alone in this situation, also having people that King Micah would be familiar with would make getting him to co-operate much easier.

“I would recommend caution Adora. The island may have something on it that could corrupt or damage the sword. Only use the transformation if it is necessary as there is much risk with all the damaged and broken First One technology just lying about.” Adora felt nervous and a bit scared as she recalled the virus Catra had used against her as she thought about the chances of running into something similar on Beast Island. “I’ll be careful Light Hope plus I won’t be going alone so I’ll have others watching my back.”

Bright Moon several days later

It had taken a while getting everything together in secret but so far everything was in order. Bow had been happy to help though he had been a bit apprehensive about keeping Glimmer in the dark though he had been bought on the idea of all the First One technology he could scavenge or things he could bring his dads for their research. Castaspella had been much easier to convince with Adora even learning that Micah was her brother with the mission lighting a fire in Castaspella that had seemed to be dulled since her fight with Glimmer.

“That’s the last of the things you wanted Adora. Is there anything else you need for your trip to Salineas?”

“No that’s everything Flutterina. Thank you for all your help with all of this in such a short time. Mermista just found something she needed some help investigating and we didn’t have much time to get everything together. Oh, and please give Glimmer our best while we’re away.”

Flutterina nodded as she waved off Adora and her small crew wondering how dumb they thought she was with how easy it was to discover their true intentions. Beast Island huh, I can think of some people that would love to know about this and I can see a big bonus in my future. Finding a good hiding spot Flutterina activated her communicator sending a message to the Horde leader as the Rebellion traveling to his personal prison seemed like something he would like to be informed about immediate and Flutterina didn’t like the idea of him hunting her down from not informing him if something went wrong.

Reading his reply Flutterina felt a bit confused as he told her he would inform Catra personally and she should go radio silent for a while as he didn’t want to risk Shadow Weaver learning of her presence. Flutterina didn’t really care all that much as she got paid either way.

Fright Zone

Hordak felt angry as he tried to think of a plan. If the Rebellion made it to Beast Island, then there was a big risk they could reunite with Entrapta and bring her back into the war turning her skills against the Horde in a more physical fashion than just betrayal. Beast Island is also full of old First One technology, who knows what the Rebellion could do with it if they managed to take control of the island territory.

It hurt Hordak as he knew what he needed to do to end this threat to himself and the Horde even if he really didn’t want to do it. Opening a communicator, he sent a message to Catra and Demona the two closest in Beast Island and would be able to reach it the fastest as they had taken a ship to scout the border of the Horde’s territory with Salineas while also being able to safely practice magic. “I have an important mission for you. I am forwarding you information on the prison Beast Island and its prisoners as I have recently gotten information that it could be compromised. You need to travel to the island and liquidate any surviving prisoners as they are a massive security risk for the Horde. Don’t disappoint me.”

His message sent Hordak hoped that Demona and Catra could complete the mission and that if they found Entrapta that they at least made things quick and painless. He would never admit it but another part of Hordak hoped that they couldn’t find Entrapta. That the princess of Dryl would stay safe and escape. Most likely She-Ra will be making an appearance as the Rebellion would be sure to send their best in this sort of operation. I hope Catra can finally put an end to this nuisance and that Demona proves to be a worthy investment with the affect she should have on the Rebellion if they see her while on the island.

Hey readers sorry this update took a while. I had to scrap this chapter at least twice before I felt satisfied with my work. Hope you all enjoy this latest chapter. Don’t forget to like and comment.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics

Catra hated water, it was a stereotype associated with cats and people had often made fun of her over it but then again, she was willing to take a few whispers from her crew after the twelfth time she had been splashed by a wave. Avoiding the water was not the only reason she had hidden herself away in her room on the ship. Sitting on her bed Catra froze and unfroze a cup of water staring deep into the liquid and ice as if it had all the answers to her questions and problems.

Besides the rough waves and avoiding getting splashed again Catra was also avoiding her mother. She meant well with her lessons on magic, but Catra really felt frustrated with herself with how slow her progress was and her own lack of talent or power when it came to magic. The small stuff was easy, but she lacked speed and power in even the small amount of magic she had managed to learn. She didn’t want to disappoint her mom with her own failures, and she didn’t want her to see how much her lack of progress was affecting her.

Beyond her issues with magic Catra had also noted that her mother had been acting strange since she had been reading through the list of prisoners of Beast Island and the background information on them. While there were a few Horde prisoners on the island a majority of its current residents where Rebellion political prisoners if any of them had managed to survive this long. What had Catra worried was what was possibly going on in her mother’s head.

What if I didn’t do a good enough job with her memories? I used Angela as the base for mom’s creation, what if some part of that dammed queen is still in there somewhere? What if she leaves me like Adora did? The last thought was a nightmare Catra didn’t want to face. It would destroy her if she lost her mother someone, she had built to care about her. “No mom wouldn’t do that, and I’ll make sure the rebellion can’t take her from me.” Catra whispered to herself as she tried to calm herself down. She needed to keep her cool and pull off this mission properly not wanting to incur Hordak’s wrath.

Catra’s brooding was interrupted by a particularly rough wave rocking the ship hard enough that the recently unfrozen water in her cup splashed on her. “When I get back, I am making sure not to get mission that needs me near the ocean again for a while.” The magic cat muttered as she dried herself of deciding she should go look for gym on the ship to try and exercise her frustrations and worries away. While she was worried about her mother being taken from her though another darker part of Catra’s mind comforted her with the fantasy of rubbing Adora’s biggest failure in her face. Catra smiled as she imagined the look that would be on her former friend’s face and how she would struggle to explain what she had seen to Sparkles. “You may have taken Adora from me, but now I get to take something from you sparkles.” Catra got a few odd looks from crew members as she giggled with a dark glee, but she didn’t mind as she maned to get her mind to ease up a bit as she imagined the anguished look on Adora’s face.

Demona’s POV

Watching Catra run off after her latest failure in her magic training hurt quite a bit. Catra for all of her hard work had never gotten the support she needed, and her fear of failure only made things worse. If I could get my hands on Shadow Weaver, I would end her for what she did to my girl. Demona realised that Catra had a very big self-image issue when she felt she was not living up to other’s expectations of her. Failure was harshly punished and any small success she had managed to claim was looked down upon and mocked.

Catra failed to see her own capabilities and it hurt Demona that her little girl couldn’t see how amazing she was. Catra even with her own small magic reserves managed to learn magic rather quickly even if she lacked the power the princesses, Shadow Weaver or the average guild member showed. I wish you wouldn’t compare yourself to these people Catra. They’ve been studying magic for years and you’ve only been at it for several weeks now. You can expect results immediately or to have the same power as a princess. Once we are done with this mission, I’ll have a sit down with you and explain why you don’t need to feel less because you can’t accomplish something immediately or you aren’t perfect at something.

Feeling she had a game plan of how to help her daughter Demona started to read through the list of the prisoners on Beast Island to sort out who would be worth the risk to bring back alive and who would need to be put down. She and Catra had gone through the list several times though they had been interrupted by poor weather making reading and planning nearly impossible, Catra getting seasick and being stuck in her cabin for a whole day or the headaches that had started plaguing Demona. Most likely just a bit of guilt. Some of the names on this list are people I met or knew while I was undercover and got them sent to the island in the first place. Though the pain always feels worse when I look at this King Micah.

Demona honestly didn’t know why she felt like she was forgetting something when it came to the king. She had been a lowly maid in the castle and barely had any contact with the royal family and yet she felt like something was missing, that she had a connection to the man she had no memory of yet felt she should. Demona was honestly a bit worried someone had used magic to alter her memory, or a more calming yet still alarming thought was she had altered her memories herself. “I’ll ask the man himself once we get to the island. His answers will determine weather we kill him or bring him back. Though if we did bring him back, he would be a good hostage to use against the young queen of Bright Moon and if the notes on the man’s history was accurate it would be a good way to mess with Shadow Weaver using her old prize student as a way to show not only the Horde’s superiority over the Rebellion but Catra’s superiority over Shadow Weaver.

Making some final checks on the list Demona left to look for Catra to try and help her daughter feel better. Maybe some snacks will help improve her mood. I’m sure she would also enjoy the idea of holding this win over her old tormentor… I really need to apologise again for leaving her in the care of that monster.

As Demona searched for her daughter and Catra plotted on how to hurt those that had hurt her the small Horde fleet came into visual range of Beast Island. Even though everyone present knew they were on a mission and not being imprisoned on the island yet most of the crew and soldiers present were terrified. This was the one Horde Prison that had never really needed guarding though no one knew exactly why. The fact that to this day there had never been a successful escape only increased the legend of the prison island and why it should be feared. “LAND HOE!” the voice of the captain boomed as the docks of the island were in range. “15 minutes until we make landfall. Everyone prepare and get ready because I don’t want to be here any longer than we need to be. Make sure the mages set up a proper perimeter because the moment I see a monster the fleet will be leaving as fast as it can. We can’t risk losing the boats or we will be stuck here.”

The captains voice boomed over the intercoms of the ships making sure all the Horde soldiers present heard the message. Catra hearing the message dragged herself out of her room eventually meeting up with Demona as the two went to meet up with soldiers they had brought with to plan the defence of the docks and plan to hunt down the prisoners of the island. Demona smiled as she saw Catra seemed to be in a better mood having calmed down from emotional break. Demona was unable to see the darker thoughts consuming her daughter knowing they would be running into Adora and her friends on this mission. Catra herself did feel better noticing that her mother showed none of the judgment or disappointment she would usually receive from her other trainers or Shadow Weaver when she was unable to show progress or succeed even if she had only just started learning something.

While neither mother nor daughter knew what the future held for them, they both knew how important this mission was. They could both tell that their future was on the line depending on how this mission went as the daughter planned on how to hurt her enemies and the mother planned on how to save her daughter from herself and heal the wounds on her heart and mind. Just you wait Adora, I know that sparkles sent you and this time you’ll be the failure and I get to be the hero for my side.

Oh, Catra once we get home, you’ll see you don’t need to be perfect for me. My love isn’t conditional. I’m not Shadow Weaver and you don’t need to be sacred of me leaving you if you are successful 100% of the time. I’m sure you’ll see that you have friends worth a lot more effort than this Adora like that nice Scorpia girl or maybe even that Lonni girl. I’ll make sure my little girl gets the love and care she deserves.

Plans set in motion mother and daughter prepared to free or execute the Horde prisoners before the Rebellion could get their hands on anyone willing to help them against the Horde.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics

Beast Island

Beast Island was a dump in Catra’s opinion. The docks were a mess barely held together taking up a lot of the engineers and magic users time was being taken up making sure the dam thing was stable and that the boats wouldn’t drift away and leave them all stranded. As her mother handled setting up camp Catra did one last run through of the prisoners she felt would the most likely to return as she went through the list again. Wow Shadow Weaver sent a lot of her challengers here. I think a lot of them would love the chance to take their pound of flesh in revenge against her. Mostly magic users though so we’ll have to be careful with the engineers we left here as I won’t have much leverage as I’m sure they’ll be smart enough to know what Hordak sent us to do if they refuse to return.

“Catra, you can take a break from the list and help set up camp. We will be here a while and have a good base will help on our job and I’m sure you don’t want to get caught in the rain.” There was squeaky hiss that seemed to come out of the young magic cat much to her embarrassment as she rushed to help set up the camp.

Watching Catra work Demona looked back at the thick forest just a few meters away uncomfortably. Ward spells were already hard at work keeping back vines that seemed to reach out from the forest. I wonder how many of those that Lord Hordak imprisoned here are still alive. Demona just felt nervous as the island have a very dangerous reputation and held a great deal of unknown dangers as well.

Turning away Demona stumbled a bit as a barely audible sound seemed to come out of nowhere. Looking around to try and see what had startled her Demona felt herself grow more nervous as she didn’t see of feel anything except the eyes of hungry monsters. Demona shrugged off her fear reminding herself that she had a full task force with her and Catra and that they could take anything the island threw at them. Ignoring the sound issue Demona turned back to help Catra set up their tent.

Catra enjoyed working with her mom and smiled as they set up what would be their home for the next few days. I won’t let anyone take you from me mom. This island is full of threats to my life but there is only one I need to get rid of. Entrapta is a big threat to me and my mom if she ever gets off this island and Hordak learns the truth considering how he felt about her. Lying to Hordak had been a mistake but now she was trapped in that lie as it supported everything else, she had gained and if that thread ever snapped and the truth came out, she didn’t even want to think of what would happen to her let alone her mom. No Entrapta had to be silenced permanently.

Catra just gave her mom a big hug as she tried to think of a way to slip away from the group so she could find and eliminate Entrapta without anyone asking questions. Catra knew that there were those that felt they needed the princess back and would attempt to try and convince her to return to the Horde and she knew that her mom wouldn’t agree with simply killing Entrapta without even talking to her.

As night fell Demona had everyone go to sleep early so that they could get to work at first light. “Remember don’t stray apart from the group and don’t leave camp if you don’t know where anyone else is. This island is dangerous, and I don’t plan to lose anyone when we came here on a rescue mission.”

On the opposite side of the island Adora cut through another bunch of vines in frustration as she felt so lost. They had managed to set up a small camp at the beach they had landed on and she and Bow had volunteered to scout out ahead but very quickly had lost track of their location. Another slash and a small thud sound came as Bow fell out of a tree pulling off vines that had grabbed him. “Ok so climbing the trees to try and get a better view is out of the question. Why don’t you try transforming Adora because I can’t think of another way to get back to camp that won’t end up with me in a monster’s gut and you cutting me out.”

Adora laughed a bit but stopped as she realised how likely that scenario was. “That sounds like a plan Bow but I want to leave She-Ra as a last resort. Remember Light Hope told us how this place was a dumping ground for broken first one tech. well what if there is another corrupted data disk like the one that Entrapta found and infected the sword. We don’t need a berserk She-Ra or me being all loopy.” Bow recalled the events of Entrapta’s castle and when Adora had gone berserk because of her old friend infecting the sword with something.

Bow nodded not wanting to go through those scenarios again. “Ok how about this, you take a break and rest while I stay look out and then I’ll wake you when it’s your turn to take watch.” It was a dangerous plan, but they didn’t have much choice at the moment with how dark it was and the risk that implied if they kept moving and just got more lost. Waiting for Castaspella to find them was the safe option.

Adora wasn’t sure how long she had slept for but felt well rested as she got up. “Bow… Bow where are you.” Adora felt a bit of panic staring to grow before she smelt cooked meat and saw Bow in front of a small fire and then realised, they weren’t in the small open patch of forest they had rested in. Before she could get her bearings a large ball of purple hair pounced on her. Wait purple hair!

“Adora! Its so good to see you guys again, sorry about all the times I almost blew you up…. So, what brings you to Beast Island.” Adora just felt shocked as she looked at Bow who just shrugged and continued to eat and then back to Entrapta who just had that same goofy smile on her face. Adora just felt confused as Entrapta rambled on about how amazing the island was so full of first one technology even if most of it was broken.

“Entrapta please slow down. I feel a bit confused here, how are you even here? Aren’t you like super important to the Horde at the moment? Entrapta just grew a bit of a sad look on her face before dropping her mask down to hide her face. “Entrapta are you ok?” Adora felt a bit worried for the princess as while they hadn’t been friends for long, she knew that she was pretty sensitive, and she could hear her sniffling trying to hold back tears.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just feel a bit hurt is all. Catra got be sent here after the portal incident. I thought she was my friend…… But now I’m surrounded by all this lovely data and tech I can work to my hearts content and test all my theories.” Entrapta had gone from being sad to happy again with a sudden whiplash that left Adora feeling really concerned but also knew that she shouldn’t push with how fragile Entrapta seemed at the moment so she would wait.

“Oh, by the way have you guys run into king Micha yet. He doesn’t talk much but he’s tons of fun.” Adora and Bow stared slack jawed at Entrapta. “That is why you guys came here right, to look for him. I mean he is pretty important and powerful right.” Adora and Bow just look at each other before pouncing on Entrapta with a big hug overjoyed by the unexpected news they had just been given.

While Adora and Bow chatted with Entrapta catching her up on everything that had been happening since the portal Castaspella made an unfortunate discovery as she found a camp site of sorts that had most likely belonged to others the Horde had sent to the island and yet while she found evidence that people should’ve been here there were no people around but a lot of broken things like a fight had broken out. I need to find Bow and Adora, I don’t think were the only people here and I don’t think everyone here is going to be very welcoming. Castaspella grimaced as she found shredded and burned clothing with a very repulsive smell filling the air and a few patches of recently overturned dirt.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics



Beast Island

Castaspella felt like she was losing hope. Hope was not an easy thing to keep a hold of when you grew up in the midst of a war. The war with the Horde had been a constant growing up and it still raged during her rule of Mystacor. It had stolen so much from her, her childhood as she was trained to take up the role of leading her people, her brother as he was captured and banished and now even her niece as she watched as they slowly drifted apart without the ability to do anything but speed up the process. It hurts. Why can't I fix things at all? I can't even protect Glimmer and she feels safer in the guardianship of a monster than her own blood.

Being alone left the darker thoughts and emotions of the sorceress queen to fester. Work had kept her mind occupied for the longest time. Castaspella had never really had a chance to mourn the passing or the loss of her family or those she would consider family. Running Mystacor once she became queen, the politics of staying neutral and trying to keep as many mages as possible out of the hands of the Horde not to mention her own lack of sleep and while being mentor, teacher, queen and aunt. So many roles consumed her and now on the island the weight of those roles seemed to be gone and yet that weight had also kept her feeling grounded.

Ever since the Horde started to escalate things forcing Mystacor to break its neutrality and officially side with the rebellion that weight was almost a comfort with the many new and uncomfortable situations she had been forced to deal with. How can I help Glimmer when she wants that monster Shadow Weaver around more than her own blood relative. I want to do something, but I feel like I only end up doing more harm than good when it comes to Glimmer.

The fester darker thoughts brought out a more negative attitude as fear crept into Castaspella's heart as her thoughts turned back onto the remains of the destroyed village she had come across. What if Micah really was dead and the trip turned out to be a waste? What if in the end she only brought Glimmer more pain with the confirmation of the death of her father and hurt herself as well by taking away the phantom promise that her own brother was still alive and force her to face the possibility that he really was dead.

"Oh, Micah please be alive. I don't know what to do and you always knew how to handle the tough things in life." Whispering to herself lonely sorceress prayed that she could find her brother in good health. Time, stress and the war was taking its toll on Castaspella as she felt herself losing a grip on herself and she felt that Shadow Weaver was also pushing her buttons on purpose knowing she didn't have any way to challenge her or push back without alienating Glimmer even more.

Castaspella's hunt for her brother was not a truly altruistic action as she knew the crushing wait of her responsibilities were taking their toll and she wanted her brother back to help support her. She wanted her brother back, more for herself than her niece if anyone got a chance to look into her thoughts on the matter. Sure, having Micah around would make things easier with Glimmer but she just needed the love and support for herself if she wanted to be able to keep moving.

Castaspella would never admit to this darker side of her thoughts as she did love her niece and her kingdom but while she would keep this secret with her to the grave, part of her blamed Angela and the Rebellion for the loss of her brother. it wasn't a fair idea but then fair never accounted for personal emotional baggage.

I should've waited for Adora and Bow to get back from their scouting, but I just can't wait I have to know if he is alive or not. Her impatience has always been an undesirable habit she hadn't been able to get past since her youth. She had managed to tame it, but big things always managed to break through.

While distracted a few of the native creatures made an attempt to jump their distracted prey only to hit an invisible wall as a shield spell blocked their attack. "You know, I'm dealing with a lot of stuff at the moment so thank you for being acceptable targets for me to vent on." The now visible simian creatures just growled back their teeth visible while more and more glowing eyes seemed to join the creatures that had yet to attack in hiding at the edge of the sightline of the trees and the various hiding places and shadows it provided.

The creatures that had hit the shield quickly recovered and tried to claw and punch their way through. The attempts were unsuccessful though the growing number of attackers was a bit worrying, especially as some of the creatures seemed smart enough to stay back and watch the rest of their brethren to learn from their failures.

For a moment the shield fell away causing the attacking creatures to stumble and fall over each other or face first into the ground. The pause in the attacked caused by the dropping of the shield was followed by a massive concussive blast sending the creatures flying. Castaspella followed up with several bolts of lighting paralysing the larger creatures while she then focused on simply blasting away at the creatures surrounding her. She screamed in frustration, anger and the release of emotions she had long kept supressed using the creatures as punching bags to vent.

Her focus distracted she didn't notice the slow crawl of vines behind her. For a moment silence filled the air as the monsters stopped their attack their focus no longer on the strange prey in front of them but rather on what was behind her. A low loud howl came from the largest of the group signalling a retreat. Confused Castaspella moved to pursue her former attackers only to lose her send of equilibrium as she was pulled to the forest floor and then swung around before simply hanging upside down. Trying to get her bearings she noticed the massive amounts of vines moving around towards her. Acting quickly to a stream of fire erupted from her hands that got her free for a moment as she burnt away her bindings though her freedom didn't last long as she felt a pinch on the back of her leg and saw one of the vines with a large needle like stinger dripping with small glints of red.

A numbness took over as Castaspella felt herself faltering and the fire she was unleashing shrinking and more and more vines creeping towards her. The numbness was followed with a sound she couldn't place that seemed to come from all around her as her strength faded and even her will to try and fight. The whining buzz seemed to steal her will to fight as she struggled to continue her fight only for more pricks and numbness to follow as her defences fell away bit by bit until the fire died out and all that surrounded her was the vines swallowing her up and the few creatures that had attacked her that had been unable to escape fast enough or hadn't recovered from her attacks on them.

The light in her eyes slowly faded as an apathy set in as she stopped struggling. She watched emotionless as the vines seemed to be draining away at the creatures that had attack her. The needle like protrusions stuck into them and drained away like a child with a juice box. As the creatures wasted away, she felt several pricks all over her body. A strange acceptance filled her as she felt her life about to be siphoned away before a sudden chill filled the air and a strange inhuman shrieking filled the air as the felt the vines surrounding her either pull away or snap as they froze over.

She felt herself being picked up as people covered in thick robes dragged her out of her organic tomb. Feeling unconsciousness claiming her as her ordeal started to catch up to her body, she caught a glimpse of a face she thought she would never see again. "Micah?" it was weak and rather pitiful as it was not only a question but carried a sense of begging as Castaspella wondered if she was dead and her brother had come to great her. As she blacked out a sense of relief warmed her numb core as she heard her name being called in surprise.

"Castaspella?"

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics

Bright moon

Shadow Weaver sat on a bench catching her breath as she watched Glimmer ordering some drinks and food from a vender. The two had taken a day away from the castle as Glimmer had insisted that they celebrate the Rebellions success of pushing the Horde presence out of princess Frosta’s kingdom. A small victory it may have been, but each one counted, and it really helped the moral of the Rebellion that they had managed it without Adora.

It may have been well hidden, but Shadow Weaver had noticed how many of the military leaders had hushed talks about how the Rebellion had only managed to win because of She-ra. She also saw how Glimmer seemed to shrink in on herself whenever she overheard the statements even if she never spoke out about it.

This victory though was all her own, the Rebellion’s own and she would celebrate it. I wonder if she resents Adora for how she unintentionally makes her mother look bad when looking back. Bright moon and the Rebellion did only start winning when Adora joined up. While Shadow Weaver was not a people person, she knew Glimmer needed to moment of fun and relaxation. The heavy storms also had Glimmer nervous for the safety of her friends, the storms also had Shadow Weaver nervous with how unnatural they were.

It isn’t storm season and yet the seas were nearly as rough. The outing was a good way to keep their minds off of the negative events going on outside the kingdom, a chance to rest.

It was fun though the dark sorceress would deny it to anyone else. She enjoyed her time with Glimmer as they enjoyed the meal she had gotten and the various games all around them. Going through that rollercoaster had been an experience all of its own. Honestly Shadow Weaver refused to get on another one again. She felt that whoever designed it had made a death trap and didn’t know why people though it was fun while Glimmer had laughed at how she had used her magic to basically chain herself to her seat.

Stun tag had been an odd experience, taking part in the simulated battle game. As she and glimmer joined some children helping them demolish the guards that had followed Glimmer to the fair. It felt odd for Shadow Weaver how something that had once been for combat training in the Horde had been turned into a game for children.

As Glimmer slept in the carriage ride back to the castle Shadow Weaver looked at the photos that had been taken of their time at the carnival. It felt odd, the warm feeling in her chest as she saw how happy Glimmer was, the weight of the warm lifted from her shoulders even if for a single afternoon. She even saw how her own body language in the photos was much more relaxed than she was used to.

Glimmer started to struggle in her sleep, shaking in Shadow Weavers lap, a dream turning dark haunting her mind. She didn’t know why but seeing her in distress made her uncomfortable. Casting a spell of misperception Shadow Weaver took off her mask as she hummed an old lullaby from her past. She felt content as she took a picture of herself and Glimmer, the only one without her mask. Looking at Glimmer she didn’t know why but she didn’t feel that same drive as she did with Adora, that disappointment at how so much power and talent was wasted.

“I must be going soft. I wonder what Micha or Hordak would say if they saw me now after everything?” seeing Glimmer calm down from the nightmare Shadow Weaver smiled though she kept humming the lullaby, the moment being something she could enjoy that had none of the taint of her past. She felt free, a feeling that had haunted her since she first left Mystacor and had been cursed by her black magic.

Beast island

Micha looked at the sleeping form of his sister and felt scared. The war had not been going well for the Rebellion when he had first been sent here and if his sister was now here it meant that most likely Mystacor had fallen to the Horde. Which kingdom will be next? Will I have to see Angela and Glimmer in this forsaken island as well? No I need to keep my head on straight I cant let my mind be consumed by these thoughts or the community will fall apart. Micha motioned for on of the people with him to keep an eye on his sister while he went to talk to the others outside.

It was a difficult thing to explain, it had been quite a while since a patrol had found another group or person that wasn’t hostile on the island or that wasn’t dead by the time, they found them. Some where happy, the younger group that had either been born or grown up on the island with little connection to the world outside but those who had fought in the war and knew who Castaspella was knew that her being on the island could mean that the Horde was winning the war.

While some of the smaller children huddled around the tent to meet the new stranger when she woke up, Micha and the older adults moved to discuss what to do depending on what Castaspella could tell them about the war and how she had ended up on the island.

“This is obviously a sign of Horde victory. What else could it be?”

“Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. This could simply be a shipwreck situation with a lot of bad luck on her part or even a rescue mission for us.”

“Some rescue mission if we had to rescue her. I still think we should be preparing for the Horde returning here. While the loyalists on the island are a minority, they could still cause us problems if they ever learn of this.”

Micha stayed silent as he listened to the points of each argument and what they should do. While his sister was unconscious, they were working with very little information, but her arrival did need to them to choose an action to take. “OK first we contact the other groups we know are still around and haven’t suffered from a beast attack or loyalist raids. We need to keep everyone informed and create a united front. Since that princess from Dryl arrived, we have managed to get some of the tech here working more or less so we can plan a defence if the Horde does come.”

Entrapta had been a god send for Micha even if her being here meant that Dryl was under Horde control. With her help they had managed to build defences that didn’t leave the few magic users in the group drained from constant upkeep.

Leaving the group Micha arrived at his own tent watching a little girl make a small crown of flowers while giving Micha a big smile when she saw him. “Who’s the crown for Emerald?” the girl crawled over to Micha before jumping up catching him in a hug. “Its for the sleepy lady. I heard some of the adults say she was a queen so she should have a crown. Do you think she’ll like it.

Micha just smiled nodding. “Of course, she’ll like it Emerald. It’s such a pretty crown, I’m sure it will look even better than the ones made of metal.” Leaving Emerald to get back to building her flower crown Micha could only feel grateful he had found her when he did. The girl had been a gift of the first ones in helping him keep his sanity on the island.

I should go talk to Entrapta about my sister arriving. The girl may have way more energy than I can handle but maybe my Castaspella’s arrival could calm her down enough to actually talk instead of just helping with repairs and then running off into the jungle. Micha was honestly worried the princess of technology would end up blowing herself up with how much she messed with first one ruins he found littered around the island. While he worried about her, he also knew that he and his community would need her help if they ever wanted to escape the island.

Entrapta’s base (Beast island)

Adora felt overwhelmed as she looks at all the partially repaired first one’s technology in Entrapta’s base. Bow was in heaven but for Adora this was the only place with as much intact first one’s technology as Light Hope’s temple. “Entrapta how did you manage to get all of this working?”

Entrapta looked at Adora with a look of confusion on her face. “What do you mean working? This stuff is all working at a fraction of the level once was. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the capabilities of this technology. Like how I managed to find the schematics to shut off the apathy defence system in certain areas like this base.”

“Wait what!?” Bow asked in shock as he tried to get Entrapta to explain the defence system.

“You didn’t notice? This place is stuck in active defence since this ship crashed here. The first ones didn’t like messy fights and clean up, so the system just accessed the mind of intruders and had them give up. In its broken state you need to be in a state of giving up already for it to have any real affect but yeah that was a doosy getting to even create a defence let alone stopping it from frying my brain while I canablized parts of the ship to fix other parts.” Entrapta showed Bow the giant computer she had fixed and how many files she had been reading.

The First ones had been fascinated by the magic of Etheria with it being similar to their own home world. There was a lot of damaged and corrupted information, but the royal crystals were mentioned a lot.

While Bow dived into the trove of information and technology Entrapta was showing off Adora realised if the princess had managed to survive others could’ve as well. “Entrapta is their anyone else on the island besides you?”

“Yeah silly. Despite how dangerous this place is I’ve seen a lot of communities of banished people. Some don’t last very long with all the monsters and various defence systems they run into or end up hunting them. I can get you a map if you like.” Adora smiled giving Entrapta a hug. Embracing her friend led to a strange surprise as the computer behind them lit up as if it had been given a large boost in power.

Administrator detected
unlocking program security locks
She-Ra detected, 100 cycles since a she-ra has accessed the data base please state current she-ra user name and colony of birth
……….. Horde technology detected! Security malfunctioning IFF inoperable. Administrator, please remain in the command room as the security systems will be unable to differentiate between you and enemy combatants. ERROR crystal matrix classification ruby has been tampered with providing necessary files on how to fix this error. Please read through them on how to fix crystal matrix error so the HEART remains undamaged.

The voice of the computer shut down as Adora looked down at the glowing sword while Entrapta shrieked in glee looking at all the information that she had been unable to unlock popping up on the screen while Bow looked a bit annoyed as she just pointed him to a pile of junk and papers when he asked her for her map.

Adora tried to piece her feelings together as she looked at the machine Entrapta was fawning over. A chance to learn about herself, about she-ra and about Mara if this thing wasn’t as badly damaged as Light Hope had been. Taking a few steps towards entrapta and the computer a sick feeling filled her chest as the words of the program finally resonated in her head. The other people on the island were in danger.

Bow jump up in triumph as he had found the map, he had been looking for only for Adora to grab him by the collar as he rushed out of the place. “No time to celebrate Bow we have people that are in danger. Entrapta stay here and keep an eye on things for use please. I’ll be back once I know the other survivors are safe.” Bow barely managed to throw a communicator to Entrapta so they could keep in touch as Adora dragged him away with the princess just waving goodbye a smile on her face as she turned back to the computer eager to see what had been unlocked.

“You cant keep your secrets from me anymore….. I wonder if I should’ve told Adora and Bow about King Micha? Oh well they’ll run into him eventually.” Entrapta giggled as she started reading through the now unlocked data a large smile on her face as she thought of all the cool toys she could build.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics
/////// transition

It was decided by the Micha and the other leaders that they would keep Castapella a secret from the others for now to keep moral up. “I’ll go scout to see what happened. If this was a rescue or a new prisoner drop by the horde. Buff of the village security in case the loyalists decide to use this as an excuse to attack us again.”

The others nodded as they left to back to the village carrying Castaspella. Micha looked back on last time worried about the health of his sister knowing how dangerous the wildlife of the island was and feeling more annoyed than worried as a familiar whine and hum filled the back of his mind.

“Don’t think your going to win island. We won’t be your next meal and we will get off you.” The speech was more for his own sake to hype himself up, but Micha felt better having said it out loud. Lifting his staff, a small ball of light floated in front of him as he started his journey retracing his sisters tracks to find out where and how she had arrived at the island.

The trek took a few hours as Micha worked to avoid some of the larger more dangerous predators, he found lurking on the path he was taking wondering how his sister had manged to avoid the danger or why she had been ignored for so long. Actually, there is way more monsters out than usual and I doubt that my sister attracted them all. Something is off about all of this as even the magic in the air feels different for some reason.

Micha paused as he reached a beach and hid behind some trees to scout out a boat he saw in the distance. His heart soared as he noticed the identifier on the flag of the boat. It’s a Bright moon flag. This was a rescue mission. I need to get back to the village and tell everyone to get ready. HA take that stupid island. We managed to survive and we’re getting off of you. Not even thinking of going to the boat first Micha rushed off to inform his village of what he had discovered.

///////////

While Micha was busy trying to reach his community Catra and the forces she had brought with her were board as all they had been doing for the past few days was paperwork. When they had managed to fortify their position to their liking it hadn’t been long before they found survivors though most of them were still loyal to the horde.

Catra was not someone that liked killing but doing nothing but filling in paperwork to reinstate those willing to return to the Horde forces officially had been a pain. The only one that didn’t seem bother ad all was her mother as the woman was a speed demon with paperwork.

The only thing that kept Catra from going stir crazy was that the group they had found had informed them of another sizable group of survivors that held no allegiance to the Horde at all and that there were a few survivors from the Rebellions side there as well.

Catra herself was on the lookout for Entrapta though none of the survivors had seen her many were even surprised that a princess had ended up on the island. The only information they could provide was that she had most likely joined up with the other survivor group.

“Mom how much longer are we going to be busy here? I want to go hunting for those rebel remnants.”

Demona just gave Catra a cheeky smile as she continued to sign papers. “We’re still going to be busy for a bit here dear. Why not take a contingent of soldiers and scout out ahead, who knows you may get lucky and find something to fight. I’ll join you a bit later as Hordak did have a few Rebellion prisoners he wanted brought back alive if capture was possible.” Demona gave Catra a small list which Catra scanned diligently and was relieved to see that Entrapta’s name wasn’t on it.

Most of the animals kept a good distance from Catra’s group as she had listened to some advice and brought a few flamethrowers along as the survivors had warned her about how dangerous the plant life was. Fire kept creeping vines at bay which also seemed to keep the various predators that littered the island pacified for the moment as they felt that attack her group wasn’t worth the risk.

“Jungle, jungle, and more jungle. Will we see anything else besides jungle from the place. The animals aren’t even giving us much resistance and now I’m even more bord than when we were doing paperwork.”

As Catra was about to order the group to turn back one of the scientists call her over. “Mam, I think we may have a problem. My instruments are picking up a lot of data being transferred but for the life of me I can’t pinpoint is origin nor its destination. It seems like its coming from all over the island and just bouncing around relays.”

Catra felt an edge as she noticed the magic users, she had brought with getting nervous and looking around getting very defensive all of a sudden. “Ok everyone things may be getting a bit interesting after all. Let’s make a quick retreat back to base until we figure out what’s going on.

No sooner had Catra spoken than the vines the fire team had been keeping at bay started getting more aggressive and the numbers of the attacking vines increased. Yells were heard as Catra urged her group to speed up not liking the idea of being eaten by a plant. “Were blocked off Mam!”

Looking back at the path they came Catra saw crystal like golems covered in magic moving on her group. Any damage they managed to do seemed superficial and simply repaired itself just as quickly as the damaged was formed. Guess this is what I get for asking for some excitement. “Ok we need to hold out ground and get some back up her now with heavy weapons.”

The magic team quickly worked on a barrier as Catra tried to get communications to connect with the base they had built. “We need back up now! don’t know what happened but we are under attack. I repeat we are under attack and the equipment we brough is having minimal effect.”

Catra was cut off from her message as a bolt of energy sent her flying as large flying disks spitting energy broke through the shield and blew up the communicator she had been using. A bit dazed the magicat tried to get to her feet looking around as she felt helpless watching as her team tried to keep together while being barely able to stall the attacking force.

Spotting a small cave Catra had the survivors of her group rush towards it. “We need to limit the numbers capable of attacking us and the cave entrance seems like a good bottle neck.” Caves were a good sign it meant that Catra could keep her group safe or at least what was left of it. It would limit the numbers attacking us and the small entrance meant a stronger shield spell could be used with less energy as there was less space to cover Mom, please get here soon.

///////////

Entrapta was having the time of her life as she read through the data that had been unlocked. A lot of it was damaged and would take a while to repair to get the full picture of what she was looking at, but the basics still helped her out a lot. Like why the first ones or the Eternians as they called themselves had even started monitoring the island as they noticed the natural magic and wildlife integrating with the damaged technology they had thrown away.

“This is so cool. I can even see the whole island from here.” A large holographic monitor had sprung to life a short while after the system AI had issued its security alert. Entrapta had a front row seat as she watched data about the various security systems coming online and magical defences being reactivated.

A part of her knew that she should try to turn it off and she had tried at first to help Adora though the AI had not been too happy with that and had almost fried her explaining that any Horde presence meant even She-ra or other administrators were expendable to keep the secrets of Eternia out of the hands of the Horde.

“If the She-ra wished to remain safe she should’ve stayed in the command centre.”

Entrapta decided to get other data while she had a chance and recalled the small snippets about the heart of Etheria she had found and how whatever it was, was linked to the rune stones.

“If you can’t help me keep Adora safe, could you at least give me the information about this heart of Etheria. You need to keep it safe and with it being connected to the rune stones means you need local help to fix what ever meddling the Horde has done right?” Entrapta also kept silent about her own hand in messing with the ruby rune stone held in Horde territory lest the AI shut her out of all the amazing data it was providing.

The AI paused as it processed the available information. Entrapta was worried it wouldn’t help her, but it seemed to understand that she was the only one around smart enough to even work with anything related to its makers. “Due to poor conditions and lack of any other administrator’s emergency clearance will be provided to you for level 2 data systems to facilitate in the stability of the heart and the rune stones.”

Entrapa grew a huge smile as locked files started opening for her even as several others remained locked. Oh well I can just ask Adora to help open them later. Entrapta was thrilled as she saw the the information proving several of her theories about Etheria’s history and even the Rune stones right. She also found that the depression field as she had called it was actually a malfunctioning passivity tecno-magical system that had been set up to keep the larger, wilder and more dangerous animals the facility used to house more passive and easier to contain and control

The rune stones were energy regulators of sorts that maintained a balance between the magic of the planet and the royal families they were connected to. They maintained an equilibrium all over the planet which explained why the weather had gone out of control when they had overloaded the Ruby rune stone and why the plant life started to die when they had poisoned Plumeria’s rune stone.

The Eternians also hadn’t been explorers but scientists and colonisers as she saw extensive reports about the viability of the planet being a suitable colony or at the very least a rather important research outpost due to the massive amount of natural cosmic energies that flowed through the planet. Huh what’s this?

Entrapta found small nuggets of data suggesting that She-ra had been around Etheria long before the Eternians had arrived. They had been fascinated by her existence due to the similarity with another user of cosmic energy that was part of their empire though the rest of the data was corrupted an unreadable. It annoyed Entrapta for the moment but it could be dealt with later.

Looking through the data she had available about the heart she found something about a more direct control of the cosmic forces on a larger scale than she-ra and the other they had mentioned.

Entrapa was pulled out of her data binging glee by an alarm going off with the monitor showing multiple contacts between the re-activated security system and the various groups still on the island. She saw some confirmed Horde vessels and forces under assault but grew worried when she saw security forces moving on the village Micha had built.

“Wait that’s not a Horde force! Its just a group of people stuck here under duress. This island has been used as a prison by the Horde for years. They aren’t horde.”

“Irrelevant. At the moment the Island needs to be purged of all hostile forces and any Horde forces. At the moment the IFF system is inoperable, and repairs will take much longer than simply wiping the island clear and then working on repairs. It would be a shame if the She-ra was lost due to this, but a new one can be found later.”

“What!?!?! No, you can’t do that. That’s just wrong.” Entrapta watched in horror as small settlements came under assault and people tried to flee to safety while others were cut down. She rushed to the console her mind no longer on the data as she tried desperately to shut down the security system.

“That will not work. The clearance provided to you has no connection to the security forces provided for this island. Most operators tended to have moments of emotional breakdown which is why administrators gave AI models such as myself the ability to supersede their authority when the greyer missions had to be run. Only an administrator such as She-ra, the Eternian high council or science department would be able to shut this down or heavens forbid one of those defunct light-hope constructs.”

“Operator I would recommend discontinuing this pointless endeavour and returning to studying the necessary data to make repairs to the regulator systems or the rune stones as you have referred to them as.”

Entrapta staired hopelessly at the monitor wondering if this was how her attendants felt when they had tried talking her out of her more dangerous plans and ideas.  

////////////////

Micha felt elated before he felt a shiver run down his spine as the flow of magic around the island changed. The depression field as Entrapta had called it seemed to vanish the weight no longer pulling him down at the back of his mind. For a moment he felt happy not having to deal with it anymore and even happier that the children wouldn’t have to worry about it yet the sudden disappearance and lack of contact before hand from Entrapta had him thinking this had nothing to do with her and that something else was going on.

Micha dove into a bush noticing shadows above him seeing strange flying disklike drones. They paused for a few moments leaving the king feeling worried that they had spotted him but then just as quickly flew off. Micha breathed a sigh of relief before his mind caught up with him as he realised that the village was in the same direction as those drones.

As Micha rushed off to go support the defence of his home and people a loud snapping of branches and rustling of grass and leaves caught his attention as a young woman and a strangely familiar young man crashed into him.

“King Micha! Its so good to see you right now. I can’t really explain but we need to get to the boat and get out of here.” The young man realised that the old king didn’t recognise him and paused for a moment as the girl caught her breath.

“Sir its me Bow, Glimmers friend. We’re here from Bright Moon to save you. Castaspella should be able to explain everything to you back at the boat, but we really need to get going now because we may have woken up something dangerous and now this island is even more of a death trap than before.”

Micha stared at the young man, Bow that was standing in front of him as he realised that he had been on Beast Island a lot longer than he had thought. The Bow he remembered was a tiny thing in the arms of his father, a little kid that played with his daughter. If that boy had grown into this young man, then his daughter was a little girl anymore and he had missed out on so much. Catching up would have to wait though as there was more immediate problems to face.

“Bow we can’t leave yet. You may not know it Castaspella was out in the forest most likely looking for you and was attacked. I managed to save her, but she is currently in no state to look after herself, so I had her taken back to the community of prisoners and survivors I built here and whatever you woke up is on its way there. Tell me what you can on the way but there are people in danger that need saving.”

Bow and the girl looked at each other for a moment and then nodded having Micha lead the way

//////////////

Demona was humming a tune she had heard on the radio station the Horde had set up in the Fright zone that Scorpia had introduced her to. She quite enjoyed the music. It had a rhythm and life to it that the classical music that the kingdoms of the rebellion seemed to lack.

Her musing was interrupted by a garbled sound coming from the communications system as Catra’s voice erupted from it calling for help. That they were under attack and nothing they had on hand was doing anything more than slowing their attackers down. Demona felt a ball of ice grow around her heart in fear as she heard how scared Catra sounded. All that she got was co-ordinates for the last location Catra’s team had been retreating to when they had come under attack and realised that they couldn’t maintain their position.

Demona snapped into action as she had her troops start prepping the heavy weapons, they had brought with them. “I will be going ahead; I will be taking a tracker with me so that you can find our location once I find Catra’s team. It may not be necessary but have the flag ship prepare its main gun just in case. We don’t know what’s going on, but we are facing an unknown hostile force on this island that is beyond the known data we have available. Get everyone not willing to fight on the ships. As of this moment this is now an extract and burn mission. Once Catra and her team are safely on board we will be leaving and then having the ships turn this island into a pile of rubble we can sift through later.”

Magical energy erupted around Demona as ethereal batlike wings formed though they looked more like dragon wings with the amount of power Demona was channeling as she shot into the sky like a rocket to save her daughter and nothing was going to stand in her way.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer I do not own she-ra and the princesses of power and I am not making any money by writing this story. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Thoughts will be in Italics
/////// transition

Catra was not feeling very positive at the moment as she and the remains of her scout force moved through the dark tunnels they had escaped through. The lanterns they had on hand barely allowed her to see more than a few metres ahead of herself even with her enhanced vision. The flickering shadows created by the weak light sources only made her feel more anxious as it brought up bad memories of the times Shadow Weaver decided to punish her. The claustrophobia and lack of air flow didn’t help either, not to mention the sounds that seemed to fill the tunnel at random like dirt being dug aside yet it didn’t sound remotely humanoid or even like a machine.

We are going to die down here, and no one will find us. Catra didn’t know when the thought first intruded upon her mind as she tried to keep everyone moving and focused on what was in front of them and not what they were running from. The last few hours had been short and yet exhausting as Catra and the group felt like the energy had been sapped from their bodies. If not the robots then the beasts of the island will get us, or with my luck why not just have the tunnel collapse on us. The longer they walked the more the thoughts crept their way into Catra’s mind. She tried to push them back, smother them in a small corner of her mind as she tried to focus on surviving and yet the thoughts still had an effect, a small effect but a growing one.

The group was slowing down, barely noticeable at first but as the thoughts got louder in her own head Catra had noticed that their pace had slowed greatly and that this was not a natural exhaustion and yet for some reason she was unable to articulate what was happening, to try and voice her thoughts. Why keep struggling? None of us are getting off of this island. Maybe Hordack sent us here to die, as a punishment for our assault on him.

Catra Stumbled, losing her balance for a moment as she tried to shake the intrusive thoughts out of her mind. “Ok let’s take a break everyone. We’ve been walking non-stop for a while now and I think we have managed to escape those things that attacked us. We should rest up and regain some of our energy in case we get into a fight again once we reach an exit tunnel. The sounds of sighs and people falling onto dirt filled the tunnel as the small group rested.

You should give up now before you fail even more and get more people killed needlessly. Catra tried desperately to keep her head on straight as she told her lieutenant to keep an eye on everyone as she would scout out ahead a bit to see if an exit came up.

Catra really was scouting ahead but it was also an excuse to keep any of her troops from noticing how weak she felt, how exhausted she was and how out of her depth she was trying to lead them and keep the alive in this grim situation. The battlefield was one thing, but this island felt like another, like the island itself was trying to kill them, to break them.

Catra stumbled again her breath feeling a it shallow as she used the wall of the tunnel as support. Pausing she took several deep breaths as she tried to calm down and get her nerves and breathing under control. Your pathetic Catra a little thief that lucked out, but that luck is running out. Her thoughts were turning vicious as the tone became harsher and her own inner voice seemed to get overlayed with Shadow Weavers voice. Why not just give in? it will be so easy, even a failure like you can do at least that right and succeed at failing right.

The sound was getting louder as Catra slumped to the floor of the tunnel. Dirt was being shoved aside the lamp in her hands barely allowing her to see the techno-organic vines slowly slipping out of the tunnel walls like a horde of snakes. Oddly the vines didn’t immediately reach out for her but rather seemed to link together as a conglomerate being taking a very familiar shape as the noise in her head grew louder and her strength felt like a distant dream.

Just lay down and surrender and the pain will go away. No more struggling, no need to worry about Hordak turning on us, no need to worry about mother leaving …. What felt like the sound of shattering glass flooded Catra’s mind as the noise flooding her mind seemed to lose its strength. Why am I just giving up here? Why was I willing to just let myself die? “I won’t lose to you.” It came out as a small whisper yet the plant like clone of Shadow Weaver seemed to recoil yet the scathing bark of the woman, she loathed didn’t come out of the thing’s lips, rather a painful screeching and scratching sound came out of what was supposed to be a mouth. The illusion was broken as Catra realised that something had been attacking her mind and had almost taken her. But it hadn’t just been after her.

“You won’t take me, and you won’t have my team either what ever you are.” Before the vine like creature could react, flaming claws slashed through its form the facsimilia of Shadow Weaver tearing itself apart as the vines desperately tried to dive back into the ground to put out the flames devouring them.  While Catra would’ve loved to watch the creature in its death throughs she was on a time limit as she rushed back the path, she had taken yelling to try and get the attention of her lieutenant or anyone else on her team that hadn’t been affected but what ever was now trying to kill them.

Catra soon reached the area of tunnel she had left her team behind in, the sound of weapons fire filling her with hope and dread. What ever had been affecting her had been less prevalent on her team but now they were also under attack. The noise was almost none existent so it wasn’t the vine creature so what was it.

Her question was soon answered as massive mole like creatures were barely being held at bey. A quick tackled saved her lieutenant’s life as Catra managed to get the man away from ground he had once been standing on which was now replaced by a whole in the ground and plenty of teeth as a mole erupted from the ground. The man hugged her in relief after he had patted himself down to make sure all his parts were still attached.

“Ma’am, they came out of know where! We managed to keep these creatures at bay but I don’t know how for how much longer our energy packs and magical reserves are going to last. We can’t seem to do more than artificial damage and anything that looks like it could cause some real hurt these creatures avoid by swimming through the dirt which has me worried as well.” The tunnel shook as if to emphasise the man’s worries as dirt fell like drizzling rain from the roof of the tunnel.

“Fall back through the path I came from! I’ll get their attention and give you some time, just keep running and don’t look back!” Catra yelled as she jumped onto the face of one of the creatures. They were subterranean so bright light could stun them for a bit but Catra was feeling a bit vindictive as she focused the magic in her hand as she froze the liquids of one of the creatures eyes. Its pained wail filled the tunnel as its fellow creatures responded to its distress coming to its aid.

Catra rushed down another tunnel the creature chasing after her, there anger at the pain of their fellow monster they were digging through the dirt but rushing after her above the ground so to speak. Catra smirked at the stupidity of the beasts as she looked at a small blinking metal ball in her hand. If you were already underground and digging this may not have worked but not you won’t be escaping unharmed. Hopefully I’ve put enough distance between me and my team that this won’t affect them.

A small crashing sound told Catra all she needed to know as she had created thin sheets of ice on the ground where ever her feet had landed. Using her limited magic reserves so often was tiring her out but it seemed to have been worth it. The creatures had tripped and had gotten tangled up in a pile of bodies and limbs. Dropping the metal ball Catra didn’t look back as she counted under her breath and put as much strength and will into her legs as possible to numb out the burning sensation that was starting to overtake them and her lungs. A few moments later a loud boom and rumble filled the tunnel as it collapsed killing several of the beast that had been unable to untangle themselves from the pile up and get digging before the bomb went off.

Catra smiled at the success of her plan and felt delighted at the fact that she had managed to save her team even if she had ended up sacrificing her own life. The rumbling got louder as more sections of the tunnel behind her collapsed and drew near. Catra tried to speed up but she was spent, her arms and legs feeling like solid lead barely responding to her demands as she felt herself slowing down.

A loud roaring sound filled her ears as the tunnel started to open up and she entered a small cavern of connecting tunnels and a rushing river at the bottom. Risking a look over her shoulders Catra’s heart sunk as she saw the sea of collapsing dirt heading her way. It took only a moment for her to make her choice between the river and being buried, steeling the last of her strength and resolve Catra chose the possibility of survival over the certainty that was heading her way and jumped, the last thing she heard was the splash of her body hitting the water and the current dragging her along.

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Entrapta was unsure of what to do as she hid behind an old desk reading through the information she had been forwarded about the Heart of Etheria, the Rune Stones and how they worked in tandem with the magic of the royal families the rune stones had been linked to. The data was calming as she tried to get her thoughts together about the mess her friends and the survivors were now in as the Eternian security systems were now on an all-out attack spree. She had to find a way to help them and yet anything she did that would compromise the security AI’s mission would mean she would get locked out not to mention become a possible target for attack as well.

How can I help mitigate the damage if the security IFF system is damage. It took a moment but a thought eventually light up her mind. The system was built to protect and while it could no longer tell friend from foe there would be another system that should still be operating properly. “Excuse me but is the threat level response system still working?”

The ai hologram turned to Entrapta wondering what the temporary administrator was thinking. “The system is working but I don’t see how that will help the She-ra without hindering my objective of making sure this island is wiped clean of Horde presence?”

“Well the Horde are seen as a high priority threat right? So, if we make the threat level system the primary targeting operator then it doesn’t matter if the system can’t tell who is Horde and who isn’t, they’ll simple attack what their programming tells them is the highest threat right?” Entrapta smiled at the plan she had come up with as the AI mulled it over running various simulations.

Several lights blinked red then green as various images of the security drones popped on a screen. “Your idea has merit even if I doubt it will work out. The simulations give it a 70% chance of success and thus it reaches the threshold of being allowed. For a lesser civilisation I must say I am somewhat surprised by your ingenuity.” Entrapta wanted to complain about being called lesser but was just happy the AI had listened to her. “Can’t do much more than this Adora. Please stay safe and get back here soon, I’m starting to think the data isn’t worth being around this AI.” Entrapta went back to her little hiding spot as she looked over the un-corrupted data available to her piecing together new information from what Hordak had told her about the original Horde and the data she was getting about the Eternians and this weapon the Heart of Etheria and how Etheria had been converted from a research colony to an R-n-D colony for some reason. She didn’t like the picture that was forming in her mind.

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Micha was not sure how to feel has he led Bow and the Aodra girl back to his village. The fact that She-ra wasn’t a myth but a real thing was a bit of a surprise but then again Light Spinner and Castaspella had always acted as if she was real, most of Mystacor actually if he thought about it. To most other kingdoms She-ra was more of a symbol and folk tale than anything tangible but to the kingdom of magic she was a real as the magic they learned to manipulate. He was actually more surprised that the Rebellion had manged to rebuild the princess alliance considering how bad the fallout had been between the kingdoms that had led to its fracture in the first place.

“So things are really in a stalemate at the moment? We haven’t actually lost right?” Adora did a slight fifty-fifty with her hand not sure how to explain it to the king while Bow just sighed at her attempt at levity while delivering poor news. “The Horde has expanded its territory sir, but we have managed to push them back at some points and stalled them basically indefinitely while dealing some major blows to the heart of the Frightzone itself.”

“So you came here hoping that I could help tip the balance or something?” now Bow had a nervous look on his face mumbling to himself as if he was trying to explain even worse news in a polite manner. Adora on the other hand came straight out like a brick through a glass window. “Glimmer is being taught by Shadow Weaver and she won’t listen to anyone anymore. We need your help to get her head on straight.”

Micha stopped running almost looking as if he had been slapped in the face. “Light Spinner is back?” it was a low whisper before he seemed to catch himself and correct himself “Shadow Weaver has her claws in my daughter?” there was a tone of sorrow and anger in his voice as he tried to understand what he was hearing.

“Ever since she helped us attack the Frightzone Glimmer has been taking more and more advice and lessons from her. She won’t listen to Adora because she thinks she is biased, and she won’t listen to me because she is using her status to overstep any advice, I try to give her.” Now Micha looked a bit confused as he looked at Bow.

“Glimmer is just a princess still, why not just ask Angela for help? I know it may initially hurt your friendship going to her mother but its better than letting Shadow Weaver become a leach on my daughter, your friend.” Now both Adora and Bow looked nervous and the feeling they were hiding something important from him came in waves for Micha.

“I think its better if you talk to your sister about this sir. The last few months have been a bit difficult and well I think its better if Castaspella tells you what happened.” Micha wanted to refute there decision, he deserved to know what was going on with his wife and daughter but was interrupted as several drones stopped in front of them. the group got ready for a fight before a green glow took over the red of the eyes of the drones. They quickly flew off in another direction.

“I don’t think we’ll be that lucky again sir. Let’s just get back to your village and Castaspella can explain everything.” Micha looked at Bow for some form of reassurance he could trust the young woman in front of him. Bow gave the king a nod and a thumbs up. “Adora can be trusted sir, she has fought long and hard for the rebellion and has saved my and Glimmer’s life on several occasions.”

Micha didn’t like it but he accepted that talking to his sister would be best and they weren’t very far from the village anyway and if Adora really was She-ra as Bow claimed then Castaspella’s recovery was assured to be a speedy one. His doubts about Adora placated and the chance to get some proper answers about his family from his sister in the near future only one thing irked at Micha’s mind. Why did those drones leave us be? They were attacking everything in site including us a few minutes ago. What drew them away from us?

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Demona was getting very angry as she felt her fury build with each drone, mech and monster she tore through. For every machine she destroyed two more took their place, she was being slowed down as more and more drones attacked her and when it seemed like their numbers were falling to quickly the infernal machines started herding monsters into her direction and taking pot shots at her while she had her attention split. “YOU WILL NOT KEEP ME FROM MY DAUGHTER!” instead of shaping the magic Demona simply let her anger act as a conduit as pure mana wiped off of her body eviscerating everything around her.

At the spike of mana from her large use of magic the drones paused for a moment their eyes going from red to yellow as Demona was bathed in a yellow light. She brought up a shield spell though she quickly realised what ever the machines were doing was not an attack and slowly lowered it to conserve mana. If Demona had to guess the drones seemed confused about something as their eyes flashed through various colours on repeat. Seeing her chance, she slipped away back on her goal of finding Catra.

Worry ate away at her heart as she tried to calm herself down. She needed to stay level-headed if she wanted to be of any help to her daughter. Where are you Catra, where are you? Please be safe. Looking around a feeling of relief started to raise her heart when she caught a glimpse of a small number of soldiers exiting a cave. She rushed down looking over their group to find Catra.

“I’m sorry m’lady but she here. Force captain Catra acted as a decoy to help us get out of the tunnels safely. I’m not sure of her condition though as their was a tunnel collapse behind us as we made our escape.” Demona froze up not sure what was going through her head as she looked down the dark tunnel of the cave entrance. “Take your men and head for the camp. The ship are prepping to depart and bombard the island. Hurry, what ever was attacking you is focused on me at the moment so your trip will be safe.” The lieutenant looked nervous at Demona’s cold and robotic tone and wanted to say something anything to the mother of the woman that had saved his life and the lives of his comrades and yet nothing came out as he simply rushed his men in the direction Demona was pointing them towards.

“You won’t have Catra.” A low whisper, a tight controlled fury, a promise to the island that seemed intent on trying to kill her, her daughter and the soldiers they had brought with them.

“Unknown entity you have been classified to be radiating the energy of the Black Garnet Runestone. You will be detained so that your nature can be studied and explained.” Demona looked coldly at the drone in front of her. As it played the message on loop as magic flowed to her hand and she simply disintegrated it. Dozens of crystal humanoids arrived followed by hundreds of flying drones surrounding her hands and claws crackling with electricity to try and capture her for study.

“Don’t think I’ll come along quietly to be some lab rat.” Demona hissed at the army surrounding her as she started lashing out attacking everything coming her way. Spires of earth, spears of ice, pure magical energy wiping out the machines in front of her. The only thing that pulled Demona out of her battle rage was a small beeping coming from her belt. Catra’s tracker I’m picking it up! A burst of magic erupted from her body throwing everything surrounding her aside. Don’y worry mommies on her way.

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In front of a small waterfall a young girl and her friends were collecting water for the village when they noticed someone being spat out of the waterfall and simply floating in the lake it had formed. They rushed to help the young woman out of the water and quickly preformed the techniques the adults had shown them when dealing with someone that was unconscious in water. Soon to their relief there was coughing and an eruption of water from lungs. The younger girls were amazed and captivated by the cat like woman they found lying in front of them, the eldest girl quickly took charge knowing they needed to bring this stranger to the village for the adults to see. “Come on we need to get her back to the village. Two survivors in the same week this must be a lucky sign.”

Sorry this took so long but my mind really enjoys just playing the blank sheet game with me. Writers block sucks when you manage a few hundred words and then it hits you from behind. Hope this chapter is a fun read as we draw near to the reveal. Poor castaspella, Bow and Adora throwing her under the bus to tell Micha the bad news.see you all at the next update/chapter.  Also yes i am taking the some liberties and biases with the Eternians that set up shop on Etheria.