The Chair with a Hole in the Back
A She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Story
By Maureen Leah
"Wow. This is just...wow."
A series of electronic beeps and whirrs replied to her. "Well yeah, but that was just - you know, it was just us. And them. But it wasn't all the - this."
She gestured to the banners that were hanging in the corridor, bright and colorful, representing each of the kingdoms of Etheria. "And this too." She straightened the collar of her new official "royal" outfit. A long and flowing combination of a robe and a suit jacket, sleeveless with wide lapels, it covered a mid-length dress and a pair of gleaming black high-heeled boots. The outfit was mostly red and black, the colors of her royal family, and coincidentally of her old Horde uniform as well. However, the red was brighter, the black was a kind of velvet material, and the entirety of it was trimmed and accentuated with a shimmering gold. This was the first time she'd ever worn this outfit, aside from the final fitting. She'd been afraid it would appear too ostentatious, but once she put it on the first time she'd fallen in love with it. She'd never had the chance to dress up in finery like this before, but she loved it.
Even if wearing it, here and now, also made her super-nervous.
Following her to the side was Emily, Entrapta's spherical robot, clambering along on her 3 legs. Emily emitted further beeps interspersed with clicks.
"I'm just not used to being so - royal-y, you know? I mean, yeah, I've got a kingdom now - not sure how that happened - but I'm just a soldier. I can fight and I can throw heavy stuff, and also the lightning thing, but this is different. You know?" Emily tweeted at her. "Thanks for coming with me. I don't think I could do this alone, with Catra spending all her time with Adora, and Entrapta and Hordak working on that crazy ship thing."
Emily whirred. "Oh right! I mean, Entrapta's a princess, right? So she'll be here!" Emily's reply sounded wistful. After a moment, Scorpia replied, "You know, you can always go back to Dryl with her. I know you miss her, and, well…" She hesitated for another moment. "I'm sure I can figure things out."
Emily stopped, and Scorpia stopped too. Emily nuzzled Scorpia's leg, and Scorpia stroked her chassis as best she could with her massive claw-arms. "Aww, thanks little buddy. You're really a great friend, you know that?" Emily gave an enthusiastic beep, and continued her mechanical march down the Bright Moon hall, toward the growing din of voices. Scorpia quickly caught up, her pace a bit more confident now.
She touched the brooch at her chest. Diamond-shaped gold with a red teardrop shape in the middle, it was the signet of the royal family of the Fright Zone. The signet of her family, before they were all but wiped out by the Horde. Glimmer had her people make the brooch for her, but it had reminded her too much of her old Force Captain badge for her to wear it before. This time, though. she'd decided it was probably appropriate this time. She was actually going to be representing her kingdom for the first time, after all.
She'd always known she was a princess, but the idea of actually being a princess, for it to be a here and now thing, something she actually did, was still foreign to her. Whatever her birth was, she didn't feel like she was up to the level of the other people who were going to be at the meeting she was walking to. If she didn't know she had people counting on her, she'd have probably found some excuse to skip it.
To occupy her mind as they walked on, Scorpia once again took stock of her outfit. Perfume and Mermista had worked for weeks on it, designing and redesigning it to be as regal as possible while still fitting her physique perfectly. They'd made it with some super strong material that she couldn't remember (they'd called it something like "skill") so it could stand up to the sharp points on her carapace and especially to her claws. It was kind of like what her old Horde uniforms had been made of, after the quartermaster got tired of her ordering new uniforms every day, but this was a lot more airy and, she realized, a lot less itchy.
And it made her feel special. It reminded her of the first time she'd dressed up. It was for the Princess Prom a few months ago, gown and heels and makeup and all. She grew up a soldier, but she also grew up a woman. Thoughts of that evening, getting a chance to find out what a party was like, getting to spend time with her Catra… though it hadn't all been fun. There'd been work too. Stuff she did for the Horde that she wouldn't have done if she knew then what she knew now. The food was good, though. And she got a chance to try dancing.
"Oh, that was a fun time," she muttered. "And bad, but fun too."
Emily beeped another query. "Oh nothing, just thinking about stuff. Good stuff, mostly." Another electronic query. "Nervous. I mean, it's not like I don't know everyone who'll be there, you know? And we all fought the Horde together, and I even got to sing-" She stopped herself. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Anyway, this is the first real royal thing I have to do that isn't all 'Let's clean up this mess the Horde made of our kingdom', you know."
Emily let out a series of whistles and beeps. Scorpia laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Guess I won't have to use you as a chair this time." She leaned toward Emily. "Unless you want me to." Emily let out a curt reply that sounded halfway between a buzz and the sound of something heavy being dropped in mud. "I was kidding! C'mon, we're going to an official thing here! Watch the language!"
"Hey Scorpia!" Scorpia and Emily stopped, just in time for Frosta to bound toward them. She was in what looked like her normal overcoat-and-trousers outfit, though with some kind of sparkly piping around the collar and sleeves. She also had a medallion hanging from her neck, with an elaborately-shaped white snowflake set in blue.
"Hey kid!" Frosta rushed up to her and leapt into a big hug, which Scorpia gladly reciprocated. "Haven't seen ya in a while!"
"Yeah, we're still doing a lot of fixing things in the kingdom. Prime really made a mess of things."
"Yeah…" Scorpia said, trailing off. The memory of the chip, the whirling voices in her head, all dominated by Prime's silken daggery voice. She didn't like to hate, didn't believe in it, but she hated Prime for what he did to her.
"Oh wait, silk, that's right! How could I forget a thing like that?"
"W-what?" Frosta said.
"What?" Scorpia said. "Oh, never mind, just something I remembered that I forgot before." Frosta nodded, a bit hesitantly, but after a few seconds they continued on. "So…" Scorpia started. She touched the tips of her claw hands together. "I've, um...never really been to one of these things. Like, in an official capacity. Is there something we're supposed to do? Like, you know, say a Pledge of Princesses or something before we sit down? Or make, like, an offering?" She gasped. "Oh shoot! Were we supposed to bring a dish to pass?"
Frosta stared at her for a moment, and then laughed. "You are too funny!"
Scorpia gave a false, forced laugh. "Y-yeah, that's me. But really, do we have to say a chant or something?"
VVVVV
Scorpia was, at first, intensely relieved to see the Council chamber, looking as she'd remembered it. Then she noticed there were a lot more people there than she'd expected. From that, the much more crowded number of chairs around the table, and the number of different banners she saw circling the wall…
"There are a lot more princesses here than I thought there'd be," she said.
"I know, right?" Frosta said. "This is gonna be great!" She cleared her throat, and then strode off toward a group of princesses, only a couple of whom whom Scorpia recognized.
"Emily, this is...a lot of princesses."
"Hey Scorpia!" Her eyes were immediately drawn to Perfuma. She had stood from a chair and was waving to her. Scorpia's heart fluttered to see her. "Your seat's here!" Perfuma gestured toward the empty chair next to her.
"Hey Perfuma!" Scorpia said, raising a claw in greeting as she made her way from the door toward her. She was suddenly stopped by a shout from well below her eye level. She'd almost knocked over a creature who stood only about halfway between her knees and her hips. The creature had blue hair, pale yellow skin, and large pointed ears. "Oh man, I am so sorry there, little guy. I totally didn't see you there."
The creature grumbled under his breath and then marched away, head upturned. Scorpia, watching her step as she continued on, finally reached Perfuma and took the young woman's delicate hands into her own claws.
"You look absolutely gorgeous," Perfuma said.
"T-thanks," Scorpia said, looking away as she felt her face get hot. "I-I'm still a little nervous about this."
"Don't be," Perfuma said. "This'll be just like before. I mean, there are a few more of us now, but we're all friends here." She gestured to the chair again, and Scorpia sat down. She noticed then that the chair had a hole in the back of it, the perfect size and location for her tail to fit through. "I had them custom make that for you. So you'd be more comfortable."
Scorpia blushed even more deeply and looked away, seeing Perfuma take her own seat out the corner of her eye. "You are just the best, ya know?" She glanced at Perfuma, who was smiling widely at her. She cleared her throat. "So, um...any idea what this is gonna be about?"
Perfuma tilted her head. "Didn't you get the agenda? It was supposed to come with the invitation."
"Agenda?" She glanced to Emily, who was standing just behind the space between her and Perfumal's chairs. "Emily, did you see-" As she turned her chair to face Emily behind her, she was interrupted by a screech. She turned back to see Sea Hawk, standing cover in front of Mermista, at the chair to her left. The barb at the end of her tail was inches from Sea Hawk's frightened face. "Oh, shoot! I am so sorry!" She spun her chair around, moving her tail well away from Sea Hawk. "I did NOT realize someone was there."
"Will you chill out?" said Mermista, pushing Sea Hawk off her. Her voice, as always, held the sound of eyes rolled up in annoyance.
"Oh hey, guys! How-" Mermista waved at her to interrupt, and without a word pointed behind her. "Oh no, oh no oh no."
"I-I'm fine," Perfuma said, Both hands actively holding Scorpia's tail away from her face. "Just-you don't need to be so nervous, okay?"
"Y-yeah," Scorpia said, curling her tail around the chair and cradling it with her claws. "I guess I get a little tail-whippy when I get anxious, huh?"
"Maybe we should have made you a sheath for that thing," Mermista quipped. Scorpia laughed nervously.
"All please take your seats. This first meeting of the Council of Princesses is about to come to order." Castaspella, Glimmer's aunt and head sorceress of the kingdom of Mystacor, had projected her voice as she stood at the seat to Glimmer's right.
"Well, here goes nothing," Scorpia muttered.
Perfuma laid a hand on her. "You're going to do great." That made Scorpia smile just a little.
She scanned the table, first noticing Glimmer several seats away, with her father King Micah seated to her left and Bow standing behind. Micah had finally gotten a haircut and beard trim and actually looked like a king instead of a castaway. Bow, standing behind and between them, appeared slightly uncomfortable in what looked like some kind of royal guard uniform.
Adora and Catra, as Scorpia expected, weren't anywhere to be seen. Strangely enough, as she watched the other attendees take their seats, neither was Entrapta. These absences left a few empty seats at the otherwise very full table.
"Your highness, fellow Council members," Casta said, "May I introduce our friends in attendance." She started facing individuals around the room. "Princess Spinnerella. Princess Netossa. Prince Loo-kee. Princess…"
Scorpia listened to the names, and she came to understand that she really hadn't the foggiest idea who many of these people were. She wondered if there was a cheat sheet someone had that she could borrow.
"...Princess Mermista. Princess Scorpia-"
"Hi," Scorpia said, before she could even think to stop herself. She bit her lip hard.
"-Princess Perfuma," Castaspella continued, as if Scorpia hadn't spoken. "Princess Frosta..." She continued calling roll as her gaze moved around the large table. Scorpia was surprised at how many princesses, princes, and other royalty there were, though she did remember seeing a lot of them back at the Princess Prom. "And our gracious hosts," Casta continued, "King Regent Micah and Queen Glimmer."
Glimmer stood. "Thank you all for coming. On behalf of our people, I welcome you all to Castle Bright Moon. I hope that here, today, starts a new day for Eternia, where we can all move past the dangers and prejudices of the past and on toward a brighter future.
"I know we are all busy with reconstruction, but it's important we come together to start planning how we can best help each other, and show our people that we are doing everything in our power to bring life back to normal."
There was a round of polite applause from around the table, but interrupted when Scorpia raised her claw and cleared her throat.
"Uh, hi. Hi Glimmer, I mean, your Queen - Highness - Glimmer...Ma'am." She started to stand, but her legs refused to work so she chose against it. "Um, where's Entrapta? Princess Entrapta? This kind of seems like an important thing for her to be at."
The applause halted. All eyes in the room were now on her, aside from Bow's, which were buried in his hand, and the ones belonging that tiny guy she'd tripped over earlier.
"Didn't you read the agenda?" Mermista muttered to her through closed teeth. "It's, like, the first thing I did when I got it."
"Uh, to answer your question, no. I did not do that."
"We'll be getting to that shortly, Sco- Princess Scorpia," Glimmer said. Scorpia could tell she wasn't trying to sound patronizing, though she felt like she deserved that.
"R-right, sorry," Scorpia said, sinking further back into her seat and fiddling with her tail again.
"But it's a very important question, and thank you for bringing it up. It's...something we should all be ready to discuss soon."
And there was the patronizing tone. She thought it was, anyways, Hard to tell - Scorpia was too embarrassed to trust her interpretation of things.
Scorpia tried to pay attention as Glimmer went through the meeting items, of which she of course had no clue, but she had a hard time concentrating. She'd already screwed up once by not reading some agenda thing, and that was even before she got here. Then she called attention to it in front of everyone, including someone she doesn't even know. Some princess, huh? she thought.
And then there was Perfuma right beside her. She glanced over and just gazed at her for a moment. So elegant, even though she hadn't dressed up for this thing. So regal. Things I'll never be, Scorpia thought ruefully. Perfume was so good at encouraging Scorpia, giving her confidence, not just by her words, but by her example. She seemed to have that all down pat.
If not for Perfuma, she might not be able to resist fleeing the room right now.
How do you do it? she thought, still gazing at Perfuma. How are you just so perfect? Is it something in the water down in Plumeria? Wish we had some of that in the Fright-
"...Catra are leading the effort there." Scorpia was snapped from her daydream as the name of her old crush echoed through the room. She blinked a couple times and scanned around for whoever was speaking. "Princess Scorpia, how are things on that front?"
She immediately felt all eyes on her yet again, and the blood drained from her face. Front? Front of what? Like a battle front? Or a storm front? Crap crap crap-
"Princess Scorpia?" This time she knew it was Glimmer's voice. "Is everything all right?"
"All right? Y-yeah. Yes. All right. On the front. The front is all right." She paused, the silence in the chamber deafening. "V-very...um...front-y. Like it's supposed to be. Yup."
Perfuma squeezed her arm. "They want to know how the rebuilding is coming in the Fright Zone," she whispered.
"Oh! O-oh, right, the rebuilding! Know what, I've got notes for that!" She turned back toward Emily, not noticing that she once again nearly whipped her tail into Mermista as she spun her chair. "Emily," she hissed, "you got my notes?"
Emily spat out a single sheet of paper from a slot just under her eye. Scorpia yanked it out a little too hard, eliciting a yelp from her robotic assistant. "Rebuilding, rebuilding," she muttered as she scanned the sheet. "Dismantling Horde HQ ruins are ahead of schedule thanks to Adora's team. The Black Garnet's new location has been cleared and they're building the new mono...lith for it. We expect to move it out of the ruins by the end of the week." She continued reading the paper in monotone, not daring to look up. "All the new plants that appeared after the Failsafe have helped clean up the soil, and-" she paused, wishing she'd taken the time to read this before now, "samples are still being analyzed, but in the main industrial zone the soil is down to...to - whatever this means, I don't understand it - Ozone is down to 50 parts per billion, and sulfur di- dix...sulfur something is down to 43 parts per billion. So yeah, that's pretty good, I guess." She glanced up from the paper. "That's it."
"Thank you, Princess Scorpia," Glimmer said, nodding and giving a wink. Scorpia felt a little relief at that. "How about refugee status?"
"Refugee status, refugee status," Scorpia said, re-scanning the paper. "Crap, it's not on-" She flipped it over. "Oh, here it is. Old Horde forts have been repurposed to house refugees returning from the Crimson Wastes and get them food and medical attention. Many are opt- opting? Is that even a word? Whatever. 'Opting' to stay in the Wastes, and we've been sharing all the usable Horde gear we can find."
She paused for a moment. "That's - that's all I had written on here. For real now."
"Thank you, Princess Scorpia," Glimmer said. "I think we're all glad to hear that your people's home is coming back as quickly as it has."
There was another squeeze on her arm and she glanced over to see Perfuma gazing at her. You did great, she mouthed. Scorpia just blushed and glanced away.
"Princess Mermista, how are the people of Salineas doing?"
As Mermista started droning on in her perpetually-bored tone, Scorpia released the huge lungful of air she finally realized she'd been holding in. That was hard. Like, way hard. Like, telling Hordak you'd screwed up hard. She thought she was all right when she had to do briefings as a Force Captain, but this was different. Like if she'd been briefing Hordak...or a whole room of Hordaks. She felt a shiver when she remembered these meetings were going to be happening every month. Maybe Perfuma would practice with her.
"None. Zero. That's how many." Scorpia snapped her attention back to the present to see the little guy she'd tripped over earlier, cross-armed, shaking his head. "They appeared out of thin air on the first day and they destroyed what we'd kept safe from the Horde for years." He cast a sour-looking glance Scorpia's way. "We lost a lot of innocent people in those first attacks, not least of whom was my sister the Princess of Great Marsh." He paused a moment before continuing, "There is plenty of room elsewhere in Etheria. Our people are still mourning the ones those clone things took from us. They can find somewhere else to live."
The council chamber started rumbling with murmurs. Scorpia couldn't understand everything being said, but it didn't sound as if anyone was particularly happy with the claims he was making.
"Calm down, please, calm down," Micah said, hands raised. "Prince Loo-Kee is well within his right to choose who is and who is not welcome in his kingdom. As everyone here has done at one time or another during the Horde wars."
The murmurs continued, but a bit more subdued.
"Wait, what just happened?" Scorpia asked Perfuma.
"I can, like, hear you all the way over here," Mermista said. "We're talking about number 3 on the agenda now. 'Habitation for Refugee Clones.'"
"Oh, so finding somewhere for all those Prime clones to live."
"Uh, yeah."
"Well, geez, that prince guy doesn't seem very nice about it."
"They isolated themselves after the first rebellion broke up," Perfuma said. "They live in the Great Marshes, which didn't have much the Horde wanted. But then Prime came and...well…"
"These clones are bad seeds," Loo-Kee said over the din. "They may seem innocent now, but remember what happened to the first clone that arrived and had to find something to do with itself?" He glanced at Scorpia. "It became Hordak, for the slow among us, and we all know how that turned out."
"Hey, hang on a minute here," Scorpia said. "So - what? That's it? We're not gonna help them because one of them had problems and turned bad?"
"I don't care what you all do. The Great Marshes are to remain Horde-free. And former Horde-free." He glared unblinking at Scorpia.
"Prince-" Glimmer started.
"Whoa whoa whoa there," Scorpia said. "So now you're just gonna go back in your hidey-hole and nobody else comes in? What about all the 'help each other out' stuff that we came here for?"
"Scorpia-" Glimmer started.
"You wanna talk about 'former Horde'? I grew up in the Horde because they took over my home. My family gave up because they couldn't win that fight. And guess what? They all got wiped out but me. And what about Catra, huh? Or She-Ra? She-Ra's former Horde. She not welcome either?"
She stood partway out of her seat. "Look, pal, I don't think you know these folks around this table as well as I do, but princesses don't just go hide in a corner and let others get hurt. They help out, and they care, and they pick you up when you get knocked on the ground."
Loo-Kee rose from his own seat, nostrils flaring "Who do you think you're-?"
"No, you listen. You want to go hide away again then go ahead. But I'm not gonna let a bunch of innocent clones who couldn't even control themselves get made homeless because you're afraid. Did you ever get a chip in your head? 'Cos I did. And it was awful. I couldn't stop myself from hurting people and it was the worst thing ever for me. These clones all had chips too, and it was the same with them.
"So you just send all those clones to the Fright Zone. We'll take care of them there because that's what the princesses taught me, and that's what I'm gonna do for them. 'Cos they took me in when I didn't have anywhere else to go and they didn't even really know I was a princess at the time and they didn't have to take me in but they did because that's what a princess does."
There was silence in the room for a long moment, and Scorpia, after catching her breath, sat back down. A clap broke through the stunned silence. Then another. Then a roar of them. A cheer from Frosta, combined with a raised fist. Scorpia suddenly got very self-conscious and rubbed the back of her head. She noticed Perfuma gazing at her again, this time with her hands clasped in front of her widely-grinning face and starry eyes.
Loo-Kee looked like he desperately wanted to retort, but he apparently thought better of it and sank back into his chair.
"I-uh...I think that settles that matter, then," Glimmer said. "Princess Scorpia has graciously offered to accept any and all refugee clones from the Marshes. I trust this is good enough, Prince Loo-Kee?'
Loo-Kee mumbled something, and then nodded.
"Great. Now onto Item 4, the matter of Prin-"
"Excuse me, Glimmer," Micah said, touching the queen's arm. He leaned in close to her and started muttering something Scorpia couldn't hear.
Perfuma leaned in toward Scorpia. "You did great!" she whispered.
"R-really?" Scorpia whispered back. "I kinda..it feels like I mighta been a little hard on the little guy."
"Nah," Mermista said, leaning in. "He was really being kind of a jerk."
"And you handled it really well!" Perfuma continued. "You stood up for yourself and others. You really showed everyone you're a princess!"
"Aw, shucks," Scorpia said, blushing.
"Everyone," Glimmer said, recapturing Scorpia's attention, "I think this is enough for now. We've made a lot of good progress here today, but it - we should take some time to get to know each other outside of official business. We invite everyone to adjourn to the ballroom for snacks and tea, and the advantage of all the amenities here in Castle Bright Moon."
People started to stand, and Scorpia followed suit. As people began to walk around the table, she got some smiles, a couple stared, and a couple who seemed to be afraid to even look at her.
She was struck again by Entrapta's absence. "Seriously though," she said to Perfuma and Mermista, "why wasn't Entrapta here?"
"You really need to read the agenda next time," Mermista said. "She was Item 4."
"Item 4?" Scorpia said. "So - why did we stop then? Hey, Glimmer!" She shouted across the table, and jogged around the table as best she could in heels, intercepting Glimmer as she, her father, and her aunt had continued chatting. "Why didn't we talk about Entrapta? Wasn't that the next thing on the agenda?"
Glimmer drew in a breath. "We - I figured it would be best if we stopped for now, because things were getting a little...awkward."
Awkward...because of me, Scorpia thought.
"Scorpia," Micah said, putting a hand on her arm, "we will have more time tomorrow to discuss Entrapta. But many of these people haven't met each other before, and we thought maybe we'd handled enough hot topics for the first meeting."
"So - I messed things up then."
"No, of course not!" Glimmer said. "You did great! Just what a Princess should do. Loo-Kee and some of the others - they stayed out of the new Alliance because they thought we'd fail. When Prime came, he crushed everyone. A lot of them are still hurting."
"Oh," Scorpia said. "And they blame Entrapta."
"Some of them do. That's why we couldn't invite Entrapta today. We decided it might make things very uncomfortable for her with us having to talk about what some of the kingdoms want done with her."
"Wait - what do the other kingdoms want done with her?"
Micah sighed. "There are those who want her to stand trial for helping the Horde. The majority don't, but...if we're all going to work together, we have to take everyone's concerns seriously."
"Wait," Perfuma said as she walked up from behind Scorpia. "So Entrapta's going to be on trial?"
"We're going to convince as many kingdoms as possible that it won't be necessary," Micah said, "that she's made up for her mistakes by being the main reason we won against Prime."
Scorpia sighed. "This princess stuff is really complicated."
"Yeah," Glimmer said. "But I think you're doing a great job. C'mon, let's go to the ballroom. You should try to talk to a few people, let them get to know you. Maybe even give Loo-Kee a chance."
"Ok, that sounds...really good." She turned to Perfuma at her side. The other princess nodded and smiled, and, arm-in-arm, they headed back toward the entrance to the Council chamber, Emily now in tow. As they passed it, Scorpia took another look at the chair in which she'd been sitting. The chair with a hole in the back.
I guess you and I are going to get to know each other a lot better, she thought, as she and Perfuma continued on toward the corridor, and to Scorpia's new life not as a soldier, not as a warrior, but as someone who would stand up for people who couldn't stand up for themselves.
She liked the idea of that.
VVVVV
Somewhere…
/ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL ACTIVATION T-MINUS 14 MILLION 424 THOUSAND 978 SECONDS/
/ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL ACTIVATION T-MINUS 14 MILLION 424 THOUSAND 977 SECONDS/
/ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL ACTIVATION T-MINUS 14 MILLION 424 THOUSAND 976 SECONDS/
~~TO BE CONTINUED~~
Part of the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series: "One Last Road Trip", by Maureen Leah