Chapter Text
Like most meetings, Lord Hordak found this one particularly useless.
Lord Hordak was in the heart of the Fright Zone, his Sanctum. He sat upon his metal throne, but he still managed to loom over his subordinates, even if they were seeing him through a screen.
Since many of his Force Captains were scattered across the globe, monthly meetings were conducted to “debrief” everyone on the various war fronts. Lord Hordak thought the ordeal was wholly unnecessary, since all the reports sent to him contained every detail of their excursions. However, multiple Force Captains requested a debriefing. Even Commander Cobalt agreed. “Good for camaraderie,” he said.
Thus, because he half-way respected the opinions of his forces, Lord Hordak reluctantly agreed to the ordeal, even if it meant sacrificing an entire day he could be designing new weapons or dealing with improving the Fright Zone.
So, there he was, sitting on his throne, surrounded by a gallery of screens hanging from the ceiling, all filled with the faces of his underlings.
This particular meeting had gone smoothly, so far.
Commander Octavia reported on a recent attack from a sea monster, rendering one of their vessels useless. It now sat at the bottom of the ocean, along with the bodies of 28 soldiers. Lord Hordak, of course, already knew this and still felt guilty about it. He needed to design better weapons for his naval ships. Something that can stand against monsters more effectively than what they already have.
After Octavia’s report, a Force Captain informed him that their attack against Plumaria’s Heart Blossom was proceeding as planned, which Lord Hordak also already knew.
One by one, all the Captains and Commanders went through their spiel, and Lord Hordak was about to adjourn the meeting when Commander Grizzlor, who had been absent from the meeting, signed on.
His yellow, pupilless eyes were bloodshot. His frazzled mane was gleaming with sweat, and his breath was ragged and labored.
“L-Lord Hordak,” Grizzlor heaved.
“Commander Grizzlor,” Lord Hordak greeted. He leaned back on his chair, his expression somewhere between curiosity and apathy. “What has happened to you?”
“We were attacked, Your Lordship,” the commander shuddered. A host of other Captains gasped while Lord Hordak only furrowed his brow. “A demon, or goddess. She was- She was so- She wiped out most of our weapons, and she was so bright… I don’t even know how to describe-”
“Calm yourself, Commander.” Lord Hordak held up a hand. Nothing the man was saying made any sense, and frankly, Lord Hordak was too tired to keep up with his stammering. “Tell me what happened, slowly.”
The commander took in a deep breath, calming some of his frayed nerves.
“It started with a horse,” Grizzlor began, his brow furrowing as he tried to keep his voice steady. “This great white horse with bird wings and a horn came to our camp. It was causing a mess, so we tried to restrain it, but then, this bright light appeared. It was a woman. She was nearly eight feet tall, and she wielded this massive sword. She was shooting beams of light everywhere, and some of our soldiers were even blinded.”
“Was she blonde?” another Force Captain asked.
“Yes, she was, but why is that-”
“She-Ra…” the Force Captain said breathlessly. “That’s what the people of Thaymor called her when she stopped our invasion of the village.”
“But, who exactly is she?” Lord Hordak interjected, sitting up straighter.
“A legend,” Shadow Weaver informed. Lord Hordak, along with a few others, fought the urge to roll his eyes at the sound of the soucress’s voice. “She is a warrior of the First Ones’ myth, said to return to Etheria in the hour of their greatest need. I never thought she was actually real.”
“She sounds pretty dam real to me,” Commander Octavia interjected.
“What else do we know about her?” Lord Hordak asked, his tone growing harsher.
“They call her the Princess of Power,” Shadow Weaver continued. Lord Hordak’s mouth pulled itself into a tight line. Of course, she had to be a Princess. “She wields the sword of Protection, a relic from the time of the First Ones.”
‘The First Ones,’ Lord Hordak thought to himself. He had heard of them in passing a few times in his life on Etheria. He knew they were a bigger deal outside the borders of his empire, but no one in the Scorponi kingdom had paid them much mind. However, perhaps he should investigate them, given that this new threat had a clear connection to them.
“At the defeat at Thaymor, Princess Glimmer was seen with her,” the Force Captain added. “She must already be tied to the Alliance.” A few of his other forces grumbled at the Force Captain’s statement.
“Hm…” Lord Hordak mused, brows knitting together. As he thought, his undelings started debating over something, but it could not reach Lord Hordak, for his mind was somewhere else entirely. He then stood up suddenly, his hand over a button attached to the armrest of his throne. “Find me everything about She-Ra and the First Ones. I must ponder on this.”
Before anyone could get in another word, Hordak shut his screens down. Instead of pushing another button to move the screens back up to the ceiling, he hastily descended the stairs toward a deeper part of his Sanctum, toward his laboratory.
His sanctum was dark, as always. Only a few floodlights hung from the ceiling, so most of the light came from the various screens littered across his laboratory. He knew some of his underlings would whisper to one another about how “unnecessary” so many monitors were, but they all had a purpose. He even tried to explain this, but he could tell his subordinates didn’t care and were only listening out of obligation.
Once he had made his way to his main monitor in the middle of his sanctum, Cobalt had already sent over a few files. Hordak almost smiled at the sight, pleased at the commander’s quick work. However, a big part of him resented that this pleased him.
In the Galactic Horde, everything was done quickly and efficiently, and the hive mind allowed for constant updates and the flow of information. Nothing was done halfway, and there was no interpersonal nonsense bogging down production. If it wasn’t for Horde Prime, Hordak might be tempted to try to return.
Still, needing patience was a weight on his shoulder he could endure for the sake of his new life at Lord of the Etherian Horde.
Hordak sat at his monitor and began reading through the files. As he scrolled through, more files flooded in from his various Force Captains, accompanied by an annoying little ping that Hordak needed to get around to turning off.
After a grueling hour of searching files filled with myth and legends, Hordak’s eyes began to burn, and knots formed in his brain and lower back. Only a few of the articles proved useful, since they pertain to the remnants of the First Ones' technology. He wished he could obtain some samples to study their properties. He doubted it could be super useful, but it was worth a try.
As Hordak began to ruminate on the possibility of sending a squadron of soldiers to retrieve some samples for him, another set of files was sent through. Upon opening the documents, Hordak’s jaw fell.
There were dozens of articles written about First Ones technology. Paragraphs and paragraphs filled with data about the melding of magic and science. He had never encountered anything like this on Etheria! Magic infested every corner of the backwater planet; so much so that the march of technology was nearly nonexistent before he crashed-landed in the Scorponi kingdom. And here this was! Actual scientific writings about a subject that was actually important!
It was clear that someone from Etheria was scientifically sound enough to write articles such as these. He must meet them. No. He must have them work for him. He was certain that, wherever this person came from on Etheria, they were not being appreciated enough. A scientific mind such as this must be a member of his forces.
The Warlord then searched the articles for their author. For whatever reason, the Force Captain who sent them cropped out any identifying marks. This made Hordak slightly perturbed as he struggled to find a name.
But then, there it was. In small letters on an odd corner of the paper, a name was written.
‘Entrapta’
Hordak paused as his eyes rolled over the single word a second time. The name seemed vaguely familiar, but he could not quite place where he knew it from. His curiosity continued to grow as he pulled up another window on his monitor. He then made his way to the Horde’s database and typed the elusive name into the search bar.
Then he saw something that nearly made him choke on his own breath.
“A PRINCESS!” Hordak shouted as he stood up, slamming his hands against the table and letting his chair clatter to the floor.
Yes, it was true. There, on the screen, was a big, bold string of letters that read ‘Entrapta, Princess of Dryl’.
In the distance, Hordak could hear Imp screeching. A moment later, Imp emerged from the shadows and glided down to sit on Hordak’s desk. The little creature wanted to ask its creator what distressed him, but he was smart enough not to ask that very moment.
Immeasurable disappointment washed over Hordak like a tidal wave, and the frustration that remained felt like seafoam left to sizzle on hot sand. Of course, the first person he learned about who could even remotely hold a scientific conversation with him just so happened to be one of his worst enemies. Wait a moment. Having a conversation was not the point. The point was the First Ones tech.
If he got a few pieces to study, he could understand and utilize them without input from the Princess. No. That would never work. The Princess’s articles dated back over a decade, and in the most recent one, she admits there is still so much that she did not know. And, unlike the Princess, Hordak could not spend years of his life pouring energy into studying something that might not even help him.
After halting his pacing, which Hordak didn’t even realize he was doing until now, the Warlord set his chair back up and began digging deeper into the princess’s life.
According to his database, Entrapta had inherited the throne at a young age after her parents' death. She was a member of the Etherian Makers’ Guild, a fact that made Hordak pull his mouth into a thin line. In his experience, the Maker’s Guild’s inventions were nothing more than party tricks and datapads. They were also heavily sponsored by the Princesses, which only made Entrapta look worse.
Then, he found something curious. Dryl had a council… According to his database, Dryl had its own revolution a few hundred years ago, and now the monarchy was required to keep a council elected by the people.
At that moment, it dawned on Hordak how strange it was that this was not more widely talked about, especially in the early days of the revolution that led him to rule the Fright Zone.
Dryl was a very solitary kingdom, along with its Princess. The Horde seemed to have barely any photographs of the Princess, and the ones they had were blurry, making her look like a cryptid caught on camera.
Regardless, Hordak needed to find a way to contact the Princess, or at the very least, hack into her files and steal her research. Luckily for him, his kingdom bordered Dryl, so he didn’t have to worry about ferrying a message across enemy territory-
“No,” Hordak told himself. Imp perked up at the sound of his creator's voice and turned to face him. “This is far too rash,” Hordak glanced at Imp, “Is it not, Little Spy?” Imp could only respond with a confused chitter, having no clue what Hordak was talking about.
Hordak ran a clawed hand through Imp’s little tuft of hair, a half-hearted smile pulling at his lips.
“The entire idea is ridiculous, really,” Hordak pushed himself away from the desk, resuming his pacing from earlier. “She is an Etherian Princess, who has no reason to join our forces. Besides, what would she even gain other than trade? Both of our kingdoms rely on tech, so it would make more sense for her to trade with countries with more agricultural exports. Besides, what would Dryl need that Princess Entrapta could not already build?” Hordak looked at Imp, who was looking up at a blurry photo of the Princess. “What do you think?”
Imp’s head snapped toward Hordak, having not heard a word the Warlord had said. Knowing no other way to respond, Imp shrugged.
“You are right,” Hordak sighed, “I should think about it.”
Imp, as confused as ever, only blinked and scurried off.
_____________________________
Two days had passed, and Princess Entrapta had consumed the Warlord’s every thought.
Well, that wasn’t totally accurate, but to Hordak, it felt like it. At random intervals, the thought of reaching out to the Princess crossed his mind, usually when his mind was less active.
He found the whole thing extremely annoying. In all his years on this backwater planet, he never needed to rely on ancient tech from a bygone era, but here he was, desperately wanting to know more. And, he knew if he wanted to know more, he needed to talk to the Princess.
He felt like he was at war with himself. If he contacted the Princess, he could ally with her, and she could work on creating First Ones’ Tech weapons for his army. However, she could say no, since Hordak doesn’t really know what he could give the Princess in return. It would be ridiculous to presume the Princess would need anything, so why bother trying?
Besides, almost all of his subordinates will be against the idea. After their experience with the last set of rulers they had, they’ve all vowed to hate any Princess they come across.
Surely leaving well enough alone is the best course of action. Hordak just needed to find better sources of energy on his own, and then he could create better weapons. He was just as smart and capable as this Etherian Princess. Besides, he had been doing everything alone for decades. He doesn’t need anyone’s help, especially not a random Princess from a backwater planet. Sure, it would be nice to have someone to talk to about tech, but he had Imp, even if the little creature could barely respond.
He didn’t need her. He is sure of it.
________________________
The following day, Hordak was in the middle of designing new weapons for his naval vessels. He was actually making good progress until that same annoying little ‘ping’ halted his progress. He looked over his shoulder to see that a report from Plumeria marked ‘URGENT’ had been sent.
Wasting no time, Hordak moved to the main monitor and clicked on the reports.
Suddenly, the Warlord was bombarded with pictures and videos of vines overtaking the Horde’s base in Plumaria. It seemed that the Princess of Plumaria finally grew a backbone and decided to attack the base. Anger began to bubble in Hordak’s chest. The Force Captain in charge of this operation has assured him that the Plumarians and their Princess would pose no threat. Clearly, this particular squadron got too comfortable, and now, their mission to destroy the Heart Blossom is a failure.
Looking further into the report, it seems that Plumaria has made an official Alliance with Brightmoon. How could his forces have let this happen? What was next? Will Salenius or the Kingdom of Snows go to join them next? Or worse, Dryl. One of the reasons the Horde was winning was their technology, and if Dryl joins the Alliance….
Just as Hordak was about to decide on a punishment for them, another figure within the pictures caught his eye.
She-Ra.
That was who they ran from.
Grizzlor’s frantic muttering suddenly made sense. She-Ra was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Still, there was something so familiar about the way she fought. And her eyes had a recognizable quality that Hordak couldn’t quite place-
Nevermind that. Hordak needed to find a way to counteract this Princess.
Well, there was one way…
“Dammit,” Hordak muttered to himself.
There was no way Hordak could find a new energy source on such short notice, and, with the Alliance growing and the rise of She-Ra, Hordak needed something, quickly.
Hordak just hoped that Princess Entrapta’s First Ones’ Tech was as powerful as she claimed.
“Imp!” Hordak bellowed. In some odd corner of his Sanctum, Hordak heard the clatter of metal followed by Imp gliding toward him. The creature landed on Hordak’s shoulder with an inquisitive chitter. “Find Commander Cobalt and tell him that he needs to meet with me in, say, two hours,” Imp responded with an affirmative screech and flew to a vent, leaving the warlord completely alone.
Since the warlord had no way to contact the Princess electronically, he knew he needed to depend on actual mail. It was something he rarely needed to do, since he made sure all communication in his empire was done digitally. Therefore, it took him an embarrassingly long time to find his stationery.
As if acquiring paper was hard enough, actually writing the message proved to be impossible. The Warlord had drafted at least twenty versions of his message, and all the failed versions wound up torn apart and discarded on the floor. When Imp returned, he immediately took it upon himself to use them as toys and tear them up even further.
Luckily, as Hordak finished penning his message, Commander Cobalt entered his Sanctum.
“Your Lordship,” he greeted, clearing his throat. He seemed apprehensive, not knowing what Hordak wanted with them. “You wanted to see me.”
“Read this.” Hordak practically shoved the paper into Cobalt’s hands, not even looking his Commander in the eye; instead, Hordak began rummaging through some of his drawers, looking for something. Cold realization washed over Cobalt. Hordak was in one of his… moods, meaning that he had an idea and there was no talking him out of it.
“Sir, what am I looking at?”
“A letter to the Princess of Dryl,” Hordak responded absentmindedly.
“What-” Cobalt shouted, but he caught himself when he saw the Warlord tense. “I mean- My apologies, Your Lordship. I would just like to know why….”
This finally made Hordak fully face Cobalt.
“Princess Entrapta is the most knowledgeable person when it comes to First Ones’ tech, and if this She-Ra is related to the First Ones, she could give us more clarity on the situation.”
“Permission to speak freely, my Lord…” Cobalt said hesitantly. Hordak’s eyes formed into slits before he nodded. “Thank you. Now, with all due respect, Lord Hordak, Entrapta is a Princess-”
“But,” Hordak interjected, “neither she nor her parents have ever joined the Alliance or raised a weapon against us.”
“But, she’s also a part of the Etherian Maker’s Guild. You know how loyal they are to the Princesses.”
“Even so, Dryl has no official Alliances with anyone-”
“So what makes you think she’ll ally with us?” Cobalt retorted. Hordak, in turn, shot him a deadly look, and Cobalt felt holes being bored into him from the heat of the Warlord’s gaze.
“Try and remember yourself, Commander Cobalt,” Hordak said through gritted teeth.
“My apologies, Lord Hordak,” Cobalt said a little bitterly, “I got ahead of myself.”
“Let me explain this to you more thoroughly,” Lord Hordak said, a hint of venom dripping from his voice. The Warlord then began pacing around the Commander, like a predator about to pounce on its prey. “I plan to contact the Princess of Dryl in hopes of making an Alliance with her before the Princess Alliance can snap her up. She is knowledgeable in the ways of First Ones’ tech, and her kingdom possesses a vast amount of resources that we can untalize. Therefore, I believe it is in our best interest to ally with her before the Alliance can get to her. Her kingdom even has a council system, so we know she is not a tyrant like the rest of the Princesses. Now, Commander Cobalt, where you come in is that I want to keep this diplomatic exchange a secret for now, since most of my people,” Lord Hordak gave Cobalt a poignant look, “think all Princesses are not to be trusted. So, it will be your responsibility to make sure this message and any ensuing exchanges between our kingdoms are a secret.” Lord Hordak halted in front of Cobalt, looking him dead in the eye. “Will you accept this task, Commander Cobalt, or shall I find someone else to do it?”
There was a long pause as Cobalt considered this task. He hated all princesses, but he had to admit, Princess Entrapta was the lesser of their evils.
“It would be an honor, Lord Hordak.”
“Excellent,” Hordak replied, his tone lighter. Even the sanctum itself seemed to get brighter. Hordak then brushed past the Commander and continued rummaging through his drawers somewhere in the shadows.
This left Cobalt practically standing alone in Hordak’s vast Sanctum, since Hordak’s mind was miles away in Dryl. To be honest, Cobalt hated it when Hordak got into these moods where he became as stubborn as a mule and so consumed by a project or idea that he started neglecting his other duties, and guess who it would end up falling to? It should fall to Shadow Weaver, but she always managed to pawn it off on inexperienced cadets who had no business dealing with such high-level work. Therefore, Hordak’s neglected work would often fall to him since Shadow Weaver couldn’t be trusted with it.
Sure, Cobalt was always grateful for the results of these manic episodes. It was how they acquired most of their technology, such as the bots and cargo vessels, but it was annoying nonetheless.
“Yes,” Hordak muttered to himself. The warlord emerged from the shadows with a block of red wax and an odd, torch-like device in his left hand. On his right hand, he wore a silver signet ring that he was given when he first came into power. He wore it for a while, but when he worked in his lab more consistently, he discarded it and never used it. Frankly, it was a miracle he found it.
“Did you read this?” Hordak asked expectantly. He had his empty hand clasped on the top corner of the paper.
“No, sir, I for-”
“Read it, will you?” The warlord, once again, brushed past Cobalt toward a table. “It needs to sound convincing.”
Cobalt, knowing he was already on thin ice with Hordak, quickly scanned through Hordak’s letter. As he did so, Hordak was lighting his odd device and began heading the wax.
“It sounds good, Your Lordship,” Cobalt muttered as he handed the paper back to Hordak. “Very convincing.”
“Thank you,” Hordak said distantly. Cobalt raised his eyes at the thank you, but he dared not question it.
Hordak rolled the paper up and dripped the blood-red wax on the scroll. His brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to control the flow of the wax. When he pressed his silver ring into the hot, runny wax, he sucked in a breath when the excess wax burned his fingers. Cobalt, smartly, did not mention this when Hordak ignored the burns. When he pulled his fist away, the stamp it left was in the shape of the Horde’s insignia. It looked halfway decent, and after burning his fingers, Hordak decided it was good enough.
“Make sure this gets into the Princess’s hands.” Hordak turned and gently placed the scroll into Cobalt's hands. Hordak’s crimson gaze burned into Cobalt, and the Commander knew that failure was not an option.
“Consider it done, My Lord.”