It feels good to be working on this story again. With that said, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is produced by Dreamworks Animation Television, and both She-Ra and He-Man are owned by Mattel. Blah. Blah. Enjoy.

Chapter 26: Keep It Grey

For the second time in over 24 hours, Lonnie woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. The first time, she found herself in some kind of garden surrounded by men who had parts of their bodies replaced by machines. This time, she found herself in what appeared to be a jailcell surrounded by familiar faces.

"Lonnie? Are you okay?" asked Kyle in that annoyingly timid, yet genuinely sympathetic tone he was known.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm okay." She replied hoarsely, her throat feeling a little raw. "What happened?"

"One of those robot guys choked you until you passed out."

"For which, he is immensely sorry." Said a swaggering and unfamiliar voice from somewhere close by. "I know he looks scary, but Manny's really quite sensitive when you get to know him. Actors, am I right?"

Lonnie turned her gaze slightly to the right and saw another pair of familiar faces standing behind some sort of energy barrier; both of them nearly identical.

"Adora?"

"Hey, Lonnie." The traitor replied awkwardly. "Long time no see."

"I'm probably gonna regret asking you this, but why are there two of you?"

"I'll field this one, Sister Dear." Said the Boy-Adora, still using that swaggering tone from before. "Greetings, Brave Hordesmen. I am Adam. Prince of Eternia. Guardian of…"

"He's my brother." Adora interrupted flatly. "We're twins."

"Adora! You ruined my introduction!" her 'brother' whined, only to be ignored by both girls.

"Since when do you have a brother?" Lonnie asked dubiously.

"Sigh. Super long story. Short version. This is the planet where I'm originally from. Our parents are in change. And we're trying to bring Etheria back into this dimension."

"So it wasn't a dream. Entrapta's machine really does work." The Horde solider surmised; albeit uneasily. "Other planets. Other dimensions. It's all true. I guess Entrapta's not crazy after all."

"At least not about this." Adora replied jokingly, before forcing herself to adopt a more serious demeanor. "Look, Lonnie, I know you might not believe this, but I'm really glad to see you. All of you."

"Yeah, well, you might not believe this, but I could care less what you think."

"Actually, I think you mean you couldn't care less." Adam interjected. "If you could care less, then that means you at least care a little."

"No, I was right. I could care less, because I care even less about anything you have to say."

Sick burn.

So sick that the young Prince nearly doubled over from the shock.

Adora, however, was not impressed.

"Look, Lonnie, I know you're probably still mad at me for leaving the Horde, but you have to understand. There are things you don't know."

"And what don't I know exactly? That everything we were raised to believe is a lie? That we're actually the bad guys? The Evil Horde? Old news."

"Wait, you mean you know?"

"Uh, duh. I mean, what did you think, Adora? That you were some kind of genius revolutionary for figuring out the truth? News flash, everyone who passes basic training learns the truth after their first mission. It's like a loyalty test or something. We've all known the truth ever since Shadow Weaver ordered us to burn down our first village."

Adora looked to Kyle and Rogelio for confirmation and they both nodded.

"But… I don't understand. If you know the truth then why did you stay? Why didn't you try to leave?"

"Probably because the universe didn't give any of us a magic sword or a couple of insta-friends with connections." Lonnie answered derisively. "Adora, most people who 'fail' the last loyalty test don't live long enough to even hop on their soapbox. When I first saw what we were doing to those villagers, I wanted to speak up, but some other rookie beat me to it and ended up with a hole in his chest. So I kept my mouth shut and finished the mission. I buried my true feelings under all the Horde's rhetoric because I don't want to die. So no, I'm not mad at you for leaving us, I'm pissed because fate gave you an easy way out."

"Easy? You think anything about my life since leaving the Horde has been easy?"

"Comparatively, yes." Lonnie answered flatly. "Face it, Adora. You've always had more luck than brains. Growing up, Shadow Weaver never punished you as harshly as the rest of us. And your first day after defecting, you made some very powerful friends. Heck, just look at you now. Hurled across space and time, and you found your real family. And apparently they're rich enough to own a big fancy garden and their own jailcells. Either you were just born lucky, or somebody somewhere really likes you."

Adora suddenly got a strange look on her face. Whether it was anger, shame or something else Lonnie couldn't tell, but whatever it was, her brother cut her off before she could express it.

"Forgive me, Sister Dear, but we seem to have gotten a bit off track." He said as he genteelly brushed her aside and took centerstage. "Gentlemen, M'Lady, my sincerest apologies for interrupting this touching reunion, but time is short, so I'll cut to the chase. You've all been found guilty of trespassing on royal property, the punishment for which is either a fine of 200 gold pieces or two weeks in the palace dungeon. And since none of you have any money, it looks like you're stuck here."

"Um… shouldn't there have been a trial or something?" Kyle asked meekly.

"Ordinarily yes, but unfortunately for the three of you, you're not citizens of Eternia. Ergo, you have no rights, so legally we can do whatever we want with you." Adam replied without the slightest trace of humor in his voice. "However, our father, King Randor, is a fair and reasonable man. And as such, he has given me permission to make the three of you an offer. Option 1: You stay here for the requisite two weeks and then we dump you somewhere far away from the capitol. Option 2: You swear your undying loyalty to Eternia and the Royal Family and we let you become members of the Palace Guard. Your choice, of course."

Upon hearing this, Lonnie made a face that was somewhere between 'Are you kidding?' and 'What the Hell?'.

"Are you screwing with me?" she asked bluntly. "I just admitted that we're the bad guys and now you wanna hire us? Doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, well that's the problem with Etheria. If you'll forgive me for saying so, Sister Dear. Everything is black and white. Good and evil. But here on Eternia we like to keep things grey. And Father believes that anything that could potentially be used against us is a potential asset. Get the picture now?"

"Yeah, you wanna recruit us now so your enemies can't later." Lonnie replied curtly. "It's a smart move, but it also makes you guys seems kinda sketchy. How's working for you any better than working for Hordak?"

"Well, for one thing, you'll be paid." Adam answered with a foxlike smirk. "Only minimum wage at first, but once you complete basic training you'll be granted full citizenship and gain all the rights that come with it; including the right to advance. Plus, as palace guards, you'll receive room and board, three square meals a day, two weeks' paid vacation per year, and the second Friday of every month is Movie Night."

"Sounds like a good deal to me." Said Kyle unexpectedly. "The parts I understood anyway."

Rogelio nodded in agreement, but Lonnie still wasn't convinced.

"Sure, it sounds good. But how do we know one of your enemies can't offer us something better? Or better yet, how do we know we can't get something better on our own? I mean, we are Horde Soldiers. We know how to survive."

"True enough. But full disclosure, this is less about not letting potential assets fall into enemy hands and more about not letting potential assets go to waste."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let me tell you a little story." Adam replied in a manner that could only be described as hammy. "Once upon a time, there was an Admiral in a mighty fleet who sought to glorify himself, and to do this he disobeyed the Emperor he served and invaded a planet that had been declared off-limits. The Admiral thought this would be a quick and easy campaign, until he learned why the Emperor had declared the planet off-limits in the first place; for this was a planet of monsters. After a mere sixty-six days, the Admiral was forced to flee the planet after most of his forces had been decimated, and the Emperor, so enraged by the humiliation brought to his fleet, banished the Admiral to another dimension for all eternity, where he lived bitterly ever after. The End."

"Cute story. Does it have a point?" Lonnie asked annoyedly.

"Yes. The Admiral was Hordak and the Planet of Monsters is this one." The Prince replied in a polite yet blunt fashion. "All your training comes from a bitter, defeated loser trying to save face. And the only reason your Horde has succeeded so well on Etheria is because it's a planet of pacifists with little to know experience with warfare or violence. Back home you were wolves among sheep, but this is a planet of lions. And a wolf cannot kill a lion."

Lonnie hated to admit it, but that last part gave her chills.

"So what you're saying is, you don't think we can hack it on our own."

"No, what I'm saying is that even with all your training, you will definitely be dead within a year, unless you accept our Father's offer."

Kyle gulped as his skin turned a little paler.

"But of course, you don't have to make up your minds right now, you have two weeks before we kick you out of here. However I strongly recommend you think about this very carefully."

And with said, Adora suddenly retook centerstage.

"Great speech, Adam. Real compelling stuff." She said to her brother with a touch of urgency in her voice. "But if you don't mind, there's something important I need to ask them."

"But of course, Baby Sister. Go right ahead."

Adora rolled her eyes, but then quickly focused them squarely on Lonnie.

"Look, Lonnie, everyone, I know this probably isn't the best time, but I need to know. Do any of you guys know what happened to Glim…"

But before Adora could finish, she was cut off by a sudden, irritating sound; sort of like synthesized music mixed with electronic bells. It was extremely unpleasant, but luckily it only lasted a few seconds.

"Sorry, it's my communicator." Adam said, blushing a little bit as he reached into his pocked and pulled out the device in question. "Adam here. Oh, hello Teela. What seems to… What? What? Just now? Well how many… Uh-huh… Uh-huh… I see. We'll be right up. Adam out."

Click.

"Sorry, Sister Dear, but we're needed elsewhere."

"But I didn't get to ask them about Glimmer. Can't this wait?"

"No, it absolutely cannot."

"Why? What's the problem?"

"King Hiss just showed up at our door."

End Notes:

Not my best ending, I'll admit it, but the next chapter should more than make up for it.

With that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one.

Peace.