Chapter 45: Divided, We Fall

Hello, everyone, Kellen here. I have had a whirlwind of emotions, circumstances, and a smack of life hit me the last 5-6 months. I apologize for the lack of updates, but I promise I will do better. I love you all. Thank you for reading and enjoy the story! 3

There was a mix of emotions with the four individuals facing each other. Brittni, relieved that Glimmer was still alive, Oracle, happy; even though she foresaw that she would see Glimmer again, Glimmer, still being overwhelmed in her guilt… and then there was Jovia who manifested her emotions by falling on the grass below her and shuffling on her back away from Glimmer.
"Th-that's the evil princess! She's the one that invaded Elberon!" Jovia shrieked as she quickly unholstered her laser pistol and shakingly aimed it at Glimmer. Brittni quickly moved over to Jovia and pushed the gun towards the ground.
"Jovia, wait. Just… hang on. There's a lot that's happened since then." Brittni indicated. Jovia blinked her eyes a few times, switching glances between Brittni and Glimmer.

"That doesn't matter! You should have seen her! She-She slaughtered everyone! She-" Jovia began, choking on a sob, following a few tears streaming out of her eyes, "she killed Dragstor… innocent civilians…" Jovia declared, tearfully. Brittni knelt and wrapped Jovia in a hug.
"I did see her… I was there. She attacked me, too." Brittni assured, letting out a sigh, "but you know what? Glimmer felt, possibly literally, the same way you feel now. I remember fighting her when we invaded Elberon. When we left Elberon, we left it a smoldering rubble. Carnage and bodies were everywhere… Both sides have done horrible things, Jovia. It's a matter of forgiveness that's going to get us through this war." Brittni surmised, almost coming out as a revelation to herself. Jova blinked a few times, somewhat convinced of Brittni's words. Unfortunately, her emotions would disallow her to feel any semblance of forgiveness at this time.

Glimmer, in the meanwhile, began sinking, figuratively, and literally. This was just one more reminder of how far she had fallen in her lust for revenge. At one point Glimmer sank to her knees, tears streaming harder than Jovia's. Oracle, accordingly moved over to Glimmer, knelt, and began rubbing her back.

Shuddering and sobbing demonstrated Glimmer's guilt that had been weighing on her. She was never a killer… but one tragedy after another built up the rage within her until she had completely given control of her actions to her rage. It would be an eternity before she could forgive herself.

"I'm sorry…" Glimmer muttered out. There were so many more words she desired to speak, but her overwhelming guilt, the anxiety of Horde Prime's invasion, and her self-hatred, prevented her from saying anything else. Jovia wanted to growl and scream but merely nodded at Glimmer. Brittni helped Jovia stand up as Oracle helped Glimmer up.

"You… you're the one from my vision. Oracle, right?" Glimmer inquired wiping away her tears. Oracle nodded.

"I am, Glimmer…" Oracle said to the recovered princess, as she finished wiped away Glimmer's tears. Glimmer sniffled and looked up to Oracle, accordingly, "if you did not see the resemblance, I am also Brittni and her twin brother, Brett's mother." Oracle smiled while closing her eyes. Glimmer's jaw dropped as she switched glances between Brittni and Oracle.

"You're the mother of a Horde soldier?" Glimmer demanded.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Brittni snapped. Oracle stifled a giggle.

"As I've said before. The Horde is not composed of the monsters you've seen." Oracle indicated, "but, that's a topic for another discussion. At the moment, time is of the essence and we need to move, now." Oracle declared.

"Where are we going, mom?" Brittni inquired.

"To Bright Moon…"

Meanwhile...

As Team Catra was journeying towards Fort Glenmar, they were able to enjoy a bit of peace. There were no monsters, Etherian or otherwise, lurking through the rather dim forest. However, as they came to more open fields, they could see, in the sky, white drones with neon green lights, seemingly scanning the forested area. Before going into the open area, Catra held up her hand to stop the group and pointed to the left and right. Per her implication, the rest of the team moved to the left and right and took cover behind several trees, waiting for the drones to finish their scanning, and hopefully, fly away.

...That would not happen, however. Instead, something much more auspicious would turn to Team Catra's favor, as a stream of green energy flew from the opposite side of Team Catra and flew towards the drones, turning them to smokey swiss cheese that crashed into the grassy landscape below. Catra blinked a few times and narrowed her eyes to see where the green lasers were coming from. She then let out a gasp, as, all of a sudden, a group of armored soldiers came out of the forest…

...led by a certain, red-eyed, skeletal-faced man.
"Lord Hordak!" Brett shouted as he jumped out from one of the trees and went out into the open. Catra and Entrapta followed suit, they being comfortable as Horde soldiers. Hordak blinked his eyes a few times and gave an expression the Horde trio never thought they'd see: surprise.

As the trio got a good look at Hordak, they noticed his mouth was quivering, his armor had claw scars on it, and his right arm had been outfitted… with some kind of cannon. Frankly, Hordak had never looked so desperate. He moved closer to the trio and let out a shudder. One by one, he eyed each of them, as if in disbelief. After a few more moments, he let out a breath, then spoke.

"Force Captain… Saboteur… Technician… I…" Hordak began, letting out another sigh. He then surprised the trio even more as a smile slowly crept on his face, "I thought you had died…" Hordak seemed to phase out of existence for a moment. He then blinked, cleared his throat, then went back to his normal self, "I'm pleased to see your survival. It will be tactically beneficial to have you three to join the fight."

Three different expressions were thrown back at Hordak in response: Catra rolled her eyes, Brett nodded and gave Hordak a salute, and Entrapta threw her arms around Hordak and wrapped him in a hug. Yet again, Hordak gave another unprecedented expression: blushed cheeks. Hordak quickly cleared his throat and gently moved Entrapta away from his person.
"Er… yes, well… erm... Well, where have you three been?" Hordak inquired, attempting to deflect what had just happened. Before Brett could respond, Catra quickly butt in.

"Look, boss, we've almost died about ten times in the last few weeks, we just had to save some Rebellion goons… and now we're here." Hordak cocked his eyebrow, then looked towards the forest as Catra whistled for the Rebels to come out. As Adora, Bow, and Frosta moved out of the forest, the Horde soldiers behind Hordak brandished their weapons at them. Brett quickly held up his hands in protest.

"Wait, wait! Hold on! They're on our side!" Brett protested. Catra folded her arms and smirked.

"I mean, are they?" Catra inquired, facetiously. Brett shot her a glare while the Rebels held up their hands in surrender.

"Well, this is going great so far," Frosta muttered as she rolled her eyes. Hordak let out a growl.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Hordak demanded. Catra let out a sigh.

"Lord Hordak. Listen. None of that matters right now. We saw what happened at the Fright Zone. Prime is here and we need all the help we can get if we're going to beat him." Catra snapped. Hordak opened his mouth to speak but then quickly let out a sigh, then nodded. He raised his hands to signal to his soldiers to lower their weapons.

"Very well, Force Captain. So, what exactly is your plan to deal with Horde Prime and his intergalactic military?" Catra returned the agape mouth that Hordak previously had, then put on a scowl.

"W-Well, I dunno! But we're going to need the help-" Catra began before being interrupted by Entrapta.

"Maybe we can make use of the data I gathered from the simulation ship we were on!" Entrapta bellowed. Hordak turned to Entrapta.

"You have data regarding Horde Prime?" Hordak inquired.

"I do! Everything from the anatomical structure of various creatures, to his portal technology, to his self-destruct on his flagship-" Entrapta began before, seemingly everyone, interrupted Entrapta with a choir of probing.

"Self-destruct?!" Everyone demanded. Entrapta took a few steps back and looked at everyone.

"Yeah! I mean, what a flaw, right?!" Entrapta declared, excitedly. Before anyone could respond further, the sound of an arrow being nocked and whizzing through the air, right into another drone, sending it plummeting into the ground, was sounded.. Bow let out a sigh and Adora spoke up.

"We should probably get out of the open before discussing this any further…" Adora muttered. Hordak nodded.

"Very well. Let us make our way to Fort Glenmar to figure out a plan." Hordak advised as he turned to Entrapta who had very quickly moved to the now-downed drone and began pulling it apart, taking various samples. "Entrapta, how fast can you analyze that data?" Entrapta, kneeling, turned to Hordak and smiled.

"Hmm… Difficult to say. But with Brett's help, it should go rather quickly." Entrapta said. Brett smiled and nodded.

"Alright. Let's get to Glenmar." Brett said.

And so they went to Glenmar...

If there was a fortress that was comparable in both size and defense to the Fright Zone, Glenmar would fit the ticket. It was a heavily fortified stronghold as it was created in defense against the Rebellion after the Horde took the Whispering Woods.

As the Horde and Rebel groups approached the thick, concrete walls, the gate separating the group from shelter screeched open, allowing passage. The fortress had several buildings; including a rather large, crenelated structure in the middle, several tents, dozens of anti-air and anti-personnel turrets, and several armies worth of soldiers running around. Upon entering in, Hordak was immediately approached by a Horde soldier that was out of breath.

"My lord… it's good to see you back, we-" The soldier began before looking behind Hordak and seeing Adora, Bow, and Frosta. The soldier let out a gasp then pointed at the Rebels, and added, "Lord Hordak! Th-The rebels! The traitor-" Hordak immediately interrupted him.

"I have neither the time nor the patience to explain myself. Just give me a status report." Hordak snapped. The soldier switched glances between the groups then nodded his head.

"Er, yes, of course. Well, my lord, we have had a few skirmishes from Horde Prime's fauna, as well as his drones. We've been able to hold the line… but, we believe that Prime has been using his forces as scouts. And… well…" The soldier looked around then sighed, "the men are a little lost. What exactly is our plan to deal with prime?"

Hordak crossed his arms and let out a breathy groan. Before he could speak, however, Catra spoke up for him.

"We're going to find out what's on some data we downloaded from one of Horde Prime's computers, figure out Prime's weakness, and kick the-" Catra began, though the explicit word she used was immediately deafened by the sound of a cannon that shot down another Prime drone. "-out of him." Catra ended on a strong note. Hordak merely nodded at Catra. He then dismissed the soldier then turned to Entrapta.

"Entrapta, Brett, I will show you to the computer lab so you can analyze the data," Hordak advised. Brett and Entrapta nodded. He then turned to Catra, "and Catra… keep the Rebels in check." Hordak said, grimly. He then took Brett and Entrapta and departed into the main structure.

Soon enough, Catra, Adora, Bow, and Frosta found themselves standing in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a myriad of Horde soldiers moving equipment, keeping up patrols, and various other tasks. One thing that all the Horde soldiers had in common was that, even though they wore helmets, Adora could tell that their eyes were like daggers at the Rebels.

"Well, I feel a little exposed…" Frosta muttered, glumly.

"Try being a Rebel in a Horde fortress." Bow chimed in.

"Try being a former Horde Force Captain-turned Rebe in a Horde fortress." Adora protested as she folded her arms. Catra groaned.

"Look, you three can just shut-" Catra began before all of a sudden, an alarm began sounding.

"Prime's monsters are coming!" A soldier in a watchtower shouted over a loudspeaker. Adora was swift to react when she unsheathed her sword and waved it in the air.

"For the honor of Grayskull!" Adora shouted, transforming into the infamous-to-the-Horde-She-Ra. Upon her transformation, the hustle and bustle of the Horde soldiers mobilizing, immediately ceased. She-Ra looked around and saw that the Horde soldiers were gazing at her in fear and hatred; despite them wearing helmets. Catra looked around as well, a deep scowl stretching across her face. She quickly unsheathed her energy baton, aimed it at the sky, and let several blasts of energy fly towards it.
"HEY! Didn't you hear the guy?! We got Prime's freaks coming our way! Get to the wall! NOW!" Catra bellowed. The soldiers received the message as they went back to their mobilization, running to, and posting themselves upon the wall.

Brandishing their weapons towards the Whispering Woods, they simply waited in uncomfortable silence and deep anxiety. Soon enough, that anxiety heightened, when a boistering roar was sounded from the very same direction. Shudders and gasps were sounded from the soldiers. Catra, Frosta, and Bow made their way up and joined the combatants. Catra brandished her baton, Frosta iced up her fists, and Bow nocked an arrow. Catra looked around and narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, where's Ador-" Catra began before a transformed She-Ra, with superhuman strength, jumped right over the wall, narrowly missing Catra's ears. Once She-Ra landed, the earth quaked beneath her.

Soon enough, another roar was sounded, and a monstrous creature came to match it. Knocking down several trees, everyone facing the monster was at a complete loss of words. It was big, around five times the size of the giant spiders that infested the Whispering Woods. This particular monster was a bright white, neon-green-eyed, round, four-legged, centaur-like monstrosity. Its two front legs were made of some kind of metal. The upper body consisted of four arms, a barrel-chested, human-like torso, two of the arms had hands with incredibly long claws, while the other two had some kind of… cannons attached to them. Finally, adorning the top of its head were horns that ended in a sharp point.

Upon releasing another deafening roar, more of Horde Prime's monsters began pouring out of the Woods. Those octopus creatures, the bull demons, the cyber-snake creatures, as well as clones of Horde Prime, began their assault, running towards the walls. In response, a hail of green, laser fire began flying towards them, cutting many down. A few rockets also flew from the turrets on the walls, and also blew many of the creatures to bits.

For a moment, the soldiers took courage in their seeming victory. Though the tables would quickly turn once the clones of Horde Prime brandished their weapons and began firing their own lasers, striking many of the Horde soldiers, sending them off the walls. Two rockets from the lord of the creature's arms also flew towards the Horde's turrets, causing them to explode, and throwing many soldiers off-balance. Still, both sides were beginning to take heavy casualties.

It was then, that She-Ra went into action, holding her sword behind her and charging towards the creatures. Her heart pounding, and her anger surged, She-Ra let out a vindictive scream as she passed by her first creature; one of the bull demons. Running right past it, her sword sliced it down the middle, completely severing the top and bottom. Many creatures focused their attention on She-Ra. Though every one of them that attempted a melee attack met their demise between lasers of the soldiers, and She-Ra's brutal swordsmanship.

A few clones aimed their rifles at She-Ra and attempted to fire, only to suddenly be encased in ice. She-Ra looked back to see Frosta several meters behind her, to the right.

"I've got your back, She-Ra!" Frosta yelled. She was about to be pounced upon by one of those snake creatures, though it was beautifully struck by an arrow. The arrow pierced its fin-shaped head, and exploded from the inside, sending blood everywhere. She-Ra looked to her back left to find Bow there, as well. He gave She-Ra a wink, and nocked another arrow, firing multiple arrows in quick succession at the various creatures.

The Horde soldiers on the walls were incredibly impressed with the Rebels' fighting spirit that their courage began growing. They continued their fight, firing laser upon laser against their mutual enemies. One by one, Horde Prime's monsters were being driven back, and soon, it was time for their leader to take a fall.
"Frosta!" She-Ra shouted as she made a beeline towards the main monster. Give me an ice ramp!" She-Ra demanded. Frosta gave a nod firing a flurry of ice, fabricating an upward-facing ramp towards the monster. Right before She-Ra got to the ramp, she added, "Bow! Get its arms!" and per She-Ra's command, Bow nocked and fired two arrows in succession. As the arrows whizzed through the arrow, they exploded and balls of green, sticky balls that slapped against the demon's arms and bound them in goo. With its arms out of commission, She-Ra ran towards, and slid up the ramp, sword pointing downward. As she descended from the flight she gained from the ramp, she thrust her sword down. The sword plunged deep into the heart of the monster. While in, She-Ra also activated the energy in it, bursting a ray of rainbow-colored energy right out the monster's backside, ending its life.

In addition to slaying the monster, a strange aberration occurred from its death. A jolt of electricity shot at She-Ra, sending her flying off the monster. That same jolt seemed to bounce from monster to monster… and seemed to deactivate them. Octopus, Snake, Clone, and Bull. Each one fell, completely incapacitated. Bow and Frosta were busy trying to make sense of the sudden deaths of the creatures, but Catra was focused on something much more important...
"Adora!" Catra shouted, jumping from the wall, landing gracefully on her feet, and sprinting towards She-Ra. She-Ra was smoking, though when Catra made it to her, She-Ra let out a few coughs, indicating life. Catra was tearing up a bit but giggled lightly upon seeing her friend alive. She-Ra opened her eyes and a small smile formed on her face upon seeing Catra.

"Heh… Hey, Catra." She-Ra said. Catra quickly threw herself atop She-Ra, wrapping her in a hug.

"I swear if you die, I'll kill you." Catra declared, nuzzling the side of She-Ra's neck. She-Ra coughed a bit then laughed.

"I'll hold that to you…" She-Ra giggled, slowly transforming back into Adora.

While those two were having their moment, Bow and Frosta were inspecting the creatures that had gone down. Bow, in particular, was ripping some of the metal cybernetics from the creatures, finding that there were fiber optics, servo motors. After inspecting the metal objects, Bow hollered for everyone to come over. Catra helped Adora up, and they and Frosta made their way over to Bow.

"Check this out… these things really are cyborgs," Bow muttered as he looked towards the main monster. "Hm… and when you killed that big monster, it seemed to release some kind of electromagnetic pulse. Wow…" Bow switched glances between the creatures and the main creature. Catra let out a scoff.

"What an idiot… why would Prime create monsters with such an easy weakness?" Catra demanded.

If Brittni were around, she would explain that because of Horde Prime's pride, he saw these creatures as imperfect, and the only way to perfect them was to 'fix' their 'impurities' using technology. Ironically for Horde Prime, all of the technological components used to 'perfect' the creatures ended up being their downfall…

Moving on, Bow the team gathered samples of some of the components as well as some living tissue, then made their way back to Fort Glenmar. Upon entering through the gate they would see that many of the Horde soldiers had already made it down to greet them with cheers and praise.

"Yeah! We did it!"

"Good job, Catra!"

"Whoa! She-Ra saved us!"

"The Rebels actually did it!"

All of these words permeated through the minds of Adora, Bow, and Frosta. Being against the Horde for so long, a mix of emotions were presents. Most especially, understanding began taking place. In response to the praise from the Horde soldiers, the Rebels and Catra smiled. Adora in particular could not help but grin at this situation and even spoke in favor of it. After all, she was once part of the Horde, and so, there was still a piece of her heart that dwelled within it.

"You see? We are capable of working together!" Adora declared. But this touching beginning of unity would have to wait, as the Rebels and Catra would make their way into the main quarters of Fort Glenmar and navigate to the computer lab. Soon enough, they were all reunited with Hordak, Brett, and Entrapta.

Entrapta was having a ball going from computer to computer, doing research… but also just pleasing herself with the joy of technology. Brett was taking it a bit more seriously, typing away at the data.

"Hey, we heard a commotion outside. Everything okay?" Brett inquired. Catra smirked, folding her arms.

"Nothing we couldn't handle." Catra grinned. Brett nodded. Bow then presented the samples he had taken from the creatures outside. Hordak stepped up and peered closely at the components and let out a light groan.
"Hrm… I know these parts quite well. Part of my armor consists of this…" Hordak muttered. Meanwhile, Entrapta was swinging around the ceiling pipes with her hair, while holding a tablet.

"Wow, oh, wow! The tech that Horde Prime has is just beyond amazing! I-" Entrapta began before realizing that everyone was giving her a strange look, "right, sorry." Entrapta said, gently letting herself down on the ground.

"So, like. Did you figure out a way to stop Horde Prime?!" Frosta demanded.

"Even BETTER." Entrapta declared.

"What could be better than beating Horde Prime?!" Catra demanded with a groan. Brett spoke up then.

"Well, we've managed to both find Horde Prime's main flagship and get the codes in order to get into it… the only problem is that it's still in space. But, we also found out something really interesting about all of Prime's creatures." Brett began.

"They're all cybernetic and can get taken down with an electromagnetic pulse?" Bow inadvertently finished Brett's sentence. Brett blinked a few times in surprise then smiled.

"Well, yes. That's exactly it." Brett said, hopefully.

"Well, how are we supposed to get to his ship?" Adora inquired. A piercing laugh appeared to the side of Adora's head that belonged to none other than an upside-down Entrapta right next to Adora's ear. She again let herself down from the ceiling and spoke.

"Easy! We outfit a Horde jet with First One's tech!" Entrapta declared. "However, the only First One's tech that I can think of that's available would be in Bright Moon. So! Let's head there, and-" Entrapta was then interrupted by Hordak.

"Bright Moon?! Those fools would never allow us safe passage in their kingdom!" Hordak snapped.

"He's got a point…" Brett muttered.

"Well, maybe we need to put aside our differences… and unite against a common enemy." Adora declared moving to the middle. "We've been fighting for so long and now we've become weakened from the fighting… alone, Horde Prime will take us all out… but united, we might stand a chance." Adora declared. She looked around and saw everyone slowly becoming convinced. Hordak let out another sigh then stepped up to Adora.

"Very, well. If we take a jet to Bright Moon, we will immediately be shot down… so we'll need the Rebels with us in order to convince them to allow passage." Hordak advised. Adora nodded.

"We'll do it. How soon can we leave?" Adora inquired.

"Immediately." Hordak declared.

Meanwhile…

"She's going to hate me… Glimmer muttered, sadly.

"She won't. Trust me…"