[mazzarts-symphony]

Name change update - Formerly @/cosmiccanineart - this "professional" art blog ended up becoming a fanart space, which was making me a bit self conscious and not wanting to post, but not being able to post my non-fanart/professional work made me look dead (which is also unprofessional). This way I can keep posting entrapdak and other fanart without worrying anymore about ruining my brand or anything lol

[ahollowgrave]

hey please reblog this and list something you really like about your own creative works. thanks !!

[save-the-child-ronza]

emergency meds/food help

does anyone have $10 or anything for my family of 6 living in a terrible tent? we need food and medicine for my sister, medication that helps her recover from severe anemia and acute malnutrition.

this is URGENT as she has been without her medication for THREE DAYS so far. please i’m begging we need help to get through this, anything helps. i’m screwed every which way because even if i found a way to get food i wouldn’t be able to get the medicine.

please consider donating a dollar, it’ll add up quickly.

[save-the-child-ronza]

Help us please

[mazzarts-symphony]

I've just donated $10! I'm sorry its not more For anyone who donates to Ronza $10AUD or more between now and the 30th of June, please DM me a copy of the donation and I will draw you a small sketch of whatever you like to say thank you

[mazzarts-symphony]

Hi,

I'm Safaa, a mother from Gaza 🇵🇸🍉, with the ceasefire, I'm so happy that the war is almost over, but my heart aches for the loss of my children's father and the destruction of our home. Please help me secure my return to North Gaza to provide for my family's needs while I'm back. The situation is catastrophic💔 Donate what you can 🙏🏻 Thank you in advance 💙 Verified by: ✔️ 📌 @90-ghost 📌 @gazavetters, #53 📌 @gaza-eviction-funds (@el-shab-hussein - @nabuls)

Hi Safaa, I'm so sorry you have to go through this horrific war. I've donated a little bit today, I'm so sorry it's not more. I will also share so hopefully others will donate as well.

For anyone who donates to Safaa $10AUD or more between now and the 30th of June, please DM me a copy of the donation and I will draw you a small sketch of whatever you like to say thank you

[clinical-space-podcast]

Reblog if your art project has not, does not, and never will make use of generative ai at any point in your creative process.

[mazzarts-symphony]

Day 14: "Kisses" - Entrapdak Positivity Month 2025!

Entrapta and Imp always prefer a sleep in, while Hordak is an early riser.

5 years on, they've successfully set up the Beast Island Research facility for cleaning up the island as per the Community Service order.

(Catra bought Hordak the mug, but Entrapta updated it)

[mazzarts-symphony]

Coming out of my cage and I've been doin just fine working on my gift for the Entrapdak Secret Santa exchange 2024!!!

Merry Entrapdakmas @kuurankaiho !!! Enjoy! Thank you for hosting once again to the the wonderful @maireadralph !!!

💖Enjoy some of my self indulgent rambles, as well as some detailed close-ups below the cut 💖

(BTW, you will be receiving the unglazed version💖💖💖)

I went with the Vampire route for this gift, cos you know, *gestures* this has nothing to do with indulging in a little bit of my own Phantom of the Opera obsession.

Mum smoked while she was pregnant with me, so I can't write you a full fanfic sorry, but I did write up with a mini blurb to go with the story that popped in my head while drawing this.

The Ruler of Dryl, Princess Entrapta, has received urgent summons from the Empress of Brightmoon to meet with the Rulers council; Eager to strengthen her alliances to protect her kingdom, the Princess sets off. However, during her travels, a storm begins to brew. The Princess's procession loses their way in the storm, her carriage damaged, and she must stay at a mysterious and secluded castle, until the storm abates and her modes of transport repaired - only to realise that she has been 'graciously' received by non other that the enemy of the Empress, Lord Hordak. After exploring the magnificent library, laboratory and grounds, all whilst learning more about the inhabitants of Castle Fright, she stumbles upon Lord Hordak's forbidden private observatory, and despite all warnings, makes her way inside in vain hope to learn more about the mysterious man who captured her affections from the shadows...

[kuurankaiho]

AAAAAAAAAA I just want to scream and smash the keyboard, this is GORGEOUS!!! 😍 (Sorry it took me a wee bit, traveling and working intermittently. ) Thank you so much!!!!

So many details everywhere; the drapes, folds, stained glass, lighting, not to mention the touches and expressions...🥰 Entrapta's outfit is fantastic, Hordak looks most handsome in his Countly attire, and all that jewelry! Furthermore, I see he very much appreciates luxury cushions. 😏 Don't have to guess what'll befall in the bowels of that foreboding castle after her venture into the observatory... More than mere observing, anyhow.

I recently saw Nosferatu and was yearning for some vampire content, so a splendid timing! 😂

Another huge AAAAAAAAAAA

[mazzarts-symphony]

💖💖💖Surprise! 💖💖💖

Happy Entrapdakmas @maireadralph!!!

Every year you have generously donated your time running fandom events and hosting Secret Santa for everyone, without asking for anything in return. This year I wanted to do something for you, because you help make our little corner of the fandom a great place to be 💖💖💖💖💖

Me @ Maireadralph;

💖💖💖 Here's some detailed closeups under the cut 💖💖💖

(BTW, you will be receiving the unglazed version privately 💖💖💖)

[mazzarts-symphony]

Coming out of my cage and I've been doin just fine working on my gift for the Entrapdak Secret Santa exchange 2024!!!

Merry Entrapdakmas @kuurankaiho !!! Enjoy! Thank you for hosting once again to the the wonderful @maireadralph !!!

💖Enjoy some of my self indulgent rambles, as well as some detailed close-ups below the cut 💖

(BTW, you will be receiving the unglazed version💖💖💖)

I went with the Vampire route for this gift, cos you know, *gestures* this has nothing to do with indulging in a little bit of my own Phantom of the Opera obsession.

Mum smoked while she was pregnant with me, so I can't write you a full fanfic sorry, but I did write up with a mini blurb to go with the story that popped in my head while drawing this.

The Ruler of Dryl, Princess Entrapta, has received urgent summons from the Empress of Brightmoon to meet with the Rulers council; Eager to strengthen her alliances to protect her kingdom, the Princess sets off. However, during her travels, a storm begins to brew. The Princess's procession loses their way in the storm, her carriage damaged, and she must stay at a mysterious and secluded castle, until the storm abates and her modes of transport repaired - only to realise that she has been 'graciously' received by non other that the enemy of the Empress, Lord Hordak. After exploring the magnificent library, laboratory and grounds, all whilst learning more about the inhabitants of Castle Fright, she stumbles upon Lord Hordak's forbidden private observatory, and despite all warnings, makes her way inside in vain hope to learn more about the mysterious man who captured her affections from the shadows...

[mazzarts-symphony]

.

[prince-toffee]

Life Is A Highway

Part Two (of Three)

Day Two (of Seven)

The following trip might have been one of the most bizarre experiences in Glimmer’s life, which spoke volumes because her life was anything but ordinary. Over the course of the next few days Glim learned things about the clones she never wanted to know or ever thought to ask. For example, when she woke up next morning, she stretched and dozily made her way to the ship's washroom, still somewhat asleep. She yawned, “Oh, ‘Dora you won't believe the dream I had, heh, I was sent on a road trip through space with Hordak and a bunch of...” Her eyes widened at the sight inside the washroom, “...clones?”

It was V, of course, ‘brushing’ his teeth with a... there was no way of putting it otherwise, a knife. Apparently clone teeth were too sharp for regular toothbrushes, and floss, and attracted tartar like cement. “Do you mind?” He mumbled through the foaming toothpaste.

Glimmer was speechless, her eye just twitched. “Yeah, get in line.” She turned to the other three up against the wall in a line, waiting impatiently. It was no dream. However, that seemed like a quick stop compared to how long it took Hordak to go through his whole hair dye procedure. It felt like he was in there for hours. However, no matter how much he tried he could never get rid of that one streak of white hair that curled and always fell down against his face. It was the only part of his hair that refused to dye blue. Entrapta often remarked how much she loved it, a little symbol and representation of his imperfection. En always reminded him that she loved all of him just the way he was. But for Hordak it represented a much darker thought, the constant reminder of what lay beneath, of who he ‘belonged to’. Constantly attempting to cover up his old life with his new identity, the blue hair, the makeup, the dress, the armour Entrapta and he worked on together. And yet, every time he looked in the mirror all he saw was his Brother.

-     - -

Glimmer had tripped… again, over some discarded armour plates that were just left on the floor (several times mind you), like right now, her face was planted firmly in the floor. A muffled groan escaped her throat, she just... laid there for a moment, and for a moment she contemplated whether she should even get up. What’s even the point? Moe wheeled up to the Queen, “Uhmm... are you alright? Uh-” He turned back to face Hordak behind him, “Your majesty? Right?” He checked with Hordak about the terminology, who simply nodded. “Yeah, okay I got that right.” Mo murmured that part to himself. Glimmer murmured something incomprehensible. Mo just gave a half smile paired with a confused look, “Alright... Okay… Oh-kay.” He hesitated, but turn around, and wheeled himself away giving the Queen some space.

After a moment and a deep sigh, she finally picked herself up, her pinkish-purple, glittery hair all messed up. As she parted her hair and tried to fix it best she could she caught sight of Hordak picking up the littered armour components, like a middle-aged mom picking up dirty laundry after their kids. The comparison was not completely unfounded as the Lord of Metal and Darkness glared up to the dark ceiling where V was lounging about on a bed of loose wires like a hammock, and proceeded to tell him off, “V! What did I tell you about leaving your armour plating on the floor! I'm tired of picking up your life support systems after you! And that goes for everyone in this spacecraft!”

V groaned, closed the book he was reading, and dropped down, “Alright, alright, I'm on it. Geez give over.” Moe rolled his eyes, but made sure Hordak didn't see it. The Queen of BrightMoon, her arms droopy by her side and head down low, slowly made her way over to the couch, her place of residence. And fell backwards onto the soft seating, slouching, her royal etiquette, manners, and posture completely gone. In a way it was nice, a little freeing in a way, no longer having to put on a performance for her court and the public when addressing the masses. She could just relax, I'll be it she would have preferred to relax with her friends, but this was... fine she supposed... her friends. Glim’s eyes widened, a light bulb idea lit up above her. The first smile of the day. She reached down for one of her bags and rummaged around inside, and managed to pull out her holo-pad. She could just call Adora, her friends were in arms reach! Perhaps this trip wouldn't be so bad after all, she could just keep to herself – just ask Adora how her day has been, what she's been up to. She so longed to hear her voice. Only day two, and she already missed her, and... and what is happening here? Why was it taking so long? The loading circle icon kept turning and the system of the pad kept chugging, and – nothing. And then the next message that popped up on the screen almost broke her heart – ‘No Connection’. Alone once more. She scowled at the box delivering her the message. She almost snapped the pad in half. But she just released the breath she was apparently holding in. And her posture went slack once more.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

-     - -

Day Three (of Seven)

Glim had little to do within The Annihilation, it very much felt like watching paint dry, and so as you can imagine the walls of the ship weren't entertaining the Queen very much. So, she turned her head to the art corner and watched Moe dance his pencil brush against the canvas. The clone artist had been studying the void of outer space for over an hour now and copying it onto the blank white canvas and proceeded to masterfully depict all of its natural detail and beauty - specks of stars, swirling gas giants, mesmerising planet rings and asteroid belts, colourful beauty of nebulous, and crashing waves of solar oceans at the surface of suns. Every piece was gorgeous, a masterpiece. So pretty it actually compelled her to speak up, “It's gorgeous.”

“Hmm?” Moe half turned to her, eyes still on the painting.

“I know you don't think it, but it is, it's amazing. You should be proud of your craft.”

“Hmm.” He nodded slightly, “…Yes. I'm rather happy with it. I think I like it more than my regular work, because not every piece of art has a meaning, but this – this one is different.” The clone remarked with a smile.

“Oh? How so?” She asked genuinely.

“I'm painting these for Drag, you know, poor kid misses so much. He always tries to learn as much as he can about each place we visit. He never knows how much time he has, he hates having these blind spots in his mind... I guess this is my way of trying to help the kid feel... more complete.”

“You seem to be doing most of the heavy lifting in that regard.” Glimmer remarked, clearly seeing Moe as the most well-adjusted person among the clones onboard.

Moe smiled warmly as he turned to view the view outside his window, “I wouldn't be so sure about that.” There, out on the wing of the drop ship, hanging on for his dear life, just out in the coldness of space - was V. A huge toothy semi-psychotic smile on his face joyous face. Good thing clones didn't need oxygen. V reached out and caught in his hand a glistening crystal rock, one of many, out of a field of orbiting similar yet unique crystals. Hordak had passed nearby a ring of a gas giant. V popped the future-to-be gift into a pouch on his belt which was built into his armour. His brothers always collected souvenirs from places they've been to, all the places and wonders Drag missed. The boy loved learning, he had an entire collection of pamphlets and leaflets from all their destinations as proof of that. The boy loved knowing, but could never learn all or enough. And so Drag’s brothers collected souvenir after souvenir, The Defects had no home, no place to call their own, so they chose to build a new foundation, brick by brick.

-     - -

Glimmer’s eyes shot open, awoken by noise. It was night, well, what would you consider night in outer space, it was the ‘sleep cycle’ as Hordak put it. Her eyes darted around the setting looking for possible attackers, always vigilant like General Juliet taught her ever since she was a kid. Especially with a handful of untrustworthy clones onboard with her. But she couldn't find them with her sight, they had dimmed the lights in the living room and all had left to their personal bedrooms. Glim didn't know if clones even needed to sleep, or if clones don't but defects do, or maybe they just slept differently. But they had left the Queen to rest in slumber peacefully without distractions. Which was an unexpected, kind gesture. So, who was here with her? That was when she spotted someone, a figure cloaked in shadow. Glimmer scanned it best she could; Pointed ears, red eyes, white hair - definitely clone, but not a familiar one, not one she was used to seeing. She silently and still fully observed the defect without alerting him to her presence – he was holding and staring at one of Moe’s paintings, he was admiring them all and… crying? Gently and quietly sobbing. That was when Glim finally put one and one together, and recognised the clone as Drag, conscious and awake. Probably wondering how much time he had missed this time.

-     - -

Day Four (of Seven)

The Annihilation had come to a halt just in time to save Glimmer from madness. She had been walking back and forth along the length of the ship for hours. Bored out of her mind. The fourth day on this journey through space, of being trapped in a metal box surrounded by the void of space. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to explore, just stuck there, with no friends, and no one to talk to. Moe was nice enough, but there was only so much two strangers could talk about. V was chatty, Glim wished he wasn't, he wasn't annoying or snarky, every conversation was just... depressing. Drag was once again unconscious when she woke up in the morning. Hordak was avoiding her, best he could in a confined space like that. And Lee was just… a ghost, she could barely catch a glimpse of him.

Her back and forth pace continued, every few minutes checking her Chronometer, a bracer on her wrist. The device was a glorified watch with a fancy name and an uppercase letter. Hordak had awkwardly handed it to her to aid her in keeping track of time while in between planets, travelling across the dark ocean. She almost wished he hadn't. Not knowing was better. The device displayed several different times on the screen; How much time has passed since the departure from Etheria. The voyages estimated duration. The current time back home. And the time on the nearest planet.

Things were going along normally enough; Moe was painting something on a canvas. Lee was in the small kitchen adjacent to the living room ‘talking’ telepathically to a very distracted V who was rummaging all throughout the cabinets looking for something.

“Huh.” V remarked, pocking his whole head inside the food cabinet.

“What?” “What?” Moe and Lee asked at the same time.

Lee: “Don’t-”

Moe: “Jinx.”

Lee: “Primedamnit.”

V just continued, “I was doing the daily ration measuring check, seeing what I can prep for dinner, and the food amounts are totally off, we’re burning through our food way too fast. So, either Drag is going on snack runs while sleepwalking or we have a vermin problem.”

Drag remained still and unmoving, a nice, weighted blanket covering him now. The Annihilation was running on autopilot, and Hordak was off in a corner on his own, sat down on the cold floor, charging some device in hand. While Glimmer was marching around, she knew she shouldn't have, but couldn't help but to glance over his shoulder. There he was, the Lord of The Horde, the baron of bedload, the prince of plagues, the dread lord, the man who once held Etheria in a chokehold – now hunched over on the floor, holo-pad in hand, constantly refreshing the screen, a very similar text box was displayed on the screen – ‘No Connection’. He sighed. He was trying to reach Entrapta. But he could not. She was once more an ocean of stars away. The two were torn apart once more. The universe had a diabolical sense of humour. He longed for her voice, so full of passion, excitement, enjoy – she made him feel happy to be alive. At least he had the suit of armour she bestowed upon him, a shield which protected him and soothed his pain. It was a comfort in dark times, a warm reminder that even galaxies away she still managed to protect him. She really was the perfect woman. Hordak smiled at the thought of her. And then once it passed, the bad thoughts returned and the notion of her not being there saddened him further.

There was a sorrow they both shared, for a split-second Glimmer considered connecting with him, but she just shook that absurd notion off.

Suddenly, a beeping came from the ship's cockpit, it seized the attention of both the Princess and the clone Lord as both their heads whipped to the direction of the sound. Hordak left the holo-pad and with a grunt lifted himself up, and strolled to the control panel. Glim followed close behind. “Is that- what I think it is?” She asked slightly on edge.

Hordak hummed as he scratched his incredibly square chin, “Yes. Something just destroyed the decoy ship.” He remarked grimly.

“Uh oh.” V injected himself into the conversation, “Looks like you've got some fans your majesty.”

Glimmer chose to ignored him, “Do we have footage? Do we know if it was the Primusian pirates?”

“We do. But the bait ship was galaxies away, it'll take a few minutes for the footage to travel back to us.”

“Do you think the lack of bodies is going to set them off?” Glimmer asked quizzically.

“Hopefully not. In the meantime, while we wait for the transfer, we’ll restock and refuel at the next pit stop. An upcoming gas station.”

Glimmer’s eyes widened, “We're stopping to get out?! As in, to walkabout?” She clapped her hands together, “Yes! I am in, so in! Let's get out of here!... No offence.” She turned back to the rest of the clones.

Moe shrugged, “None taken. V has that effect on people.” He remarked amused.

Hordak looked unsure, “I... I am unsure. Arriving at a fuelling stop with the supposed dead Queen of Etheria – this could unmake the entire mission.” He remarked awkwardly.

Glimmer pondered upon it, after a second the Queen snapped her fingers, “Not if they don't see me.” Hordak quirked his brow, intrigued. Glimmer smiled, and then she disappeared. No woman stood before them anymore.

V exclaimed, “She got raptured!” Lee just slightly smacked his older brother in the back of the head.

Glim, still invisible, sighed, “No. I'm the Queen of Light. I can bend light around my person, making yours truly, invisible.”

“I didn't know you could do that.”

“No. No you did not.”

V remarked, “So, what? When we talk to you we’ll just be talking to thin air?”

“Nothing new for you then.” Moe responded.

“I do not know.” Hordak replied unconvinced.

“I'm the Queen of Etheria, it's not like you can order me around. I'm literally your boss.”

“Fair enough.” He could not argue. He huffed in defeat.

-     - -

The Annihilation soon docked at (checkes notes) Bibo’s Gas Stop, a literal embodiment of the term ‘the middle of nowhere’ which was the precise wording used on the comical sign at the port where they docked. The moment the bay doors to the Annihilation opened Glimmer practically leapt out of the ship, far too excited about the grungy, filthy, dirty, greasy, rundown space gas station. But she was just desperate to explore a brand new area other than the metal confined box flying through the void of space she was caged. Even though it was an awful place.

“Sweet breathing room, how I've missed you.” Glimmer reached her hands up into the sky as if worshipping the sun. Not that anyone saw that, luckily for her no one witnessed the embarrassment, once again completely invisible.

Moe rolled down the ramp behind, “Eh- your majesty, were ever you are, please stay nearby, we are meant to be your envoy.”

The rest of the crew marched out behind. Hordak’s head panned upwards to examine the curious energy dome encapsulating the station. “Truly fascinating. An energy field incasing a constantly adapting atmosphere all planted on a rogue asteroid which somehow corrected itself on a Goldilocks zone rotation around the system star. Perhaps an Atmo-Sphere Engine, but how does it atmosphere composition adjust to every individual, fascinating. Perhaps equipped with 360° celestial thrusters that maintain the asteroid within the Goldie- what?” The tone changed quickly to his standard cold harsh demeanour as his head snapped to a chuckling V.

 “Fascinating.” V imitated Hordak and cackled.

Hordak rolled his eyes behind the red lenses, his arms and shoulders retreated under his black cape, and turned away from his older brother. “Ugh.” It was clear that being around Entrapta for so long had rubbed off on him. “I'll refuel the ship and get new oxygen canisters for the Queen. Distract yourselves somehow, and do not bother me.” He reached into a pouch on his waist and pulled out a golden credit card, “Go pay for it. And do not attract too much attention, please.”

Before V could snatch the card, Lee took it away and began to walk forwards to the gas station building. With V following close behind, “Alright, but I have to get some extra stuff for the rest of the trip... Don't look at me like that, I do! Scout’s honour!” V crossed his heart, but on the wrong side. Lee just rolled his eyes.

One of the customers looking through the magazine stalls noticed something peculiar; the store doors sliding open without anyone walking in. The alien raised a brow. After a few seconds Moe wheeled in, an awkward smile plastered on his face, he pointed at the sliding doors with his thumb, “Doors, am I right?” And quickly sped off.

Lee waltzed directly to the space-cashier and handed them the card, and raised six fingers up indicating pump six where The Annihilation was docked. The space-teen behind the desk was a bit intimidated by Lee's looming stature, that of a massive rectangle with red eyes. The teen with space-acne swallowed a ball of saliva in their throat, took the card and began the financial transfer. V just stood motionlessly at the cash. Meanwhile, V was rummaging through the store shelves, scrambling and skittering, under his breath chuckling, grabbing various food products off the shelves, huddling a huge massive ball with food against his chest, he could have used a basket or a trolley, but he didn't. He finally arrived at the cash register and dumped the mount of food on the table. “And also this.” V and Lee exchanged looks, “What? Hordak’s girlfriend’s got plenty on that card. I'm sharing the wealth, if anything I'm the good guy here.”

“No.” Lee remarked simply. He pointed his finger back towards the rest of the store gesturing for V to put back everything he had taken.

Meanwhile, Moe and Glimmer were perusing the small aisles of the rundown store, “Look at all of this neat stuff. Galaxy star maps. Antenna muffs. Space-Barnacle remover acid. Eldrich cosmic horror bobbleheads.” Something else drew her attention, “Oh, they have customizable licence plates for ships, eh, none of them have my name on it.”

“You know you're getting excited over gas station trinkets, right kid?”

“It's not just- it's new. All this is new to me. It's wonderful, there's so much to see, so much that you'll never get to see in your lifetime. So many things pass us by every day. And you won't experience any of it in an office in an ivory tower.”

“Where’s all this coming from all of a sudden? Why so invested?”

“I don't know. Because learning itself, discovery itself is… fun you know?”

Moe smiled, “Yeah, I do. The beauty of life and all that. I get it, more than you know.”

“It's just nice not being trapped in my office all day every day, flooded by mountains of paperwork, trapped in that damn box hour after hour running an entire planet. I used to go on adventures and quests! And now I just have to watch the world go by from my castle window.”

“...Maybe this will be good for you.”

“The Cthulhu bubbleheads?”

“No, The- What did V call it? The road trip.”

“Huh.”

Moe pulled out a few white and red circular coins, looking like it was made out of white chocolate. He handed the coins to Glimmer. He picked out a licence plate and presented it to the Queen, “How about a souvenir?” The plate read, ‘Glenn’, close enough she supposed. Glimmer gave a small smile and accepted the gift.

Glimmer purchased the souvenir, through Moe of course. She gave Lee the side eye at the space-cash register, it wasn't possible, but it almost seemed like he could see her. They moved on and out. Hordak was hauling new oxygen tanks on board of the ship. “We done?”

“Yeah, put this up somewhere nice.” Moe waved the plate around, Hordak looked at it confused.

“I didn't know you guys needed oxygen.” Glimmer examined the metallic containers.

“We don't. All for you, your majesty.” Hordak replied while wheeling the heavy canisters onboard.

“How thoughtful of you Hordak.” She remarked with a smirk. “Do we... have to go right away? I've barely stretched my legs.”

“Hmm, I don't know, we should maintain our schedule.”

“Could we at least make some other stops along the way? Doesn't it drive you crazy, being trapped inside a metal basement flying through space?” Hordak did not respond. Confined spaces were all he knew; Corridors, ships, pods, labs, the inside was his environment to the point where sunlight at times was an annoyance to him. “Come on come on can't we explore for a bit longer?”

Just then they heard a WHAM, Hordak looked up, his face deflated with tired annoyance. Glimmer turned back to see V come on bursting out from the doors of the gas station, he was carrying the ball of food Lee denied him before, he ran in zigzags, packets of various products slipping through his grasp and falling to the ground. He looked panicked. “Run! Run!” V ran past Hordak and Glimmer.

Hordak narrowed his eyes, “What. Did. You. Do?”

V furiously tapped the lock button on the ramp bay doors, “Don't be mad.”

“What did you do?!”

“I said don't be mad!”

Suddenly, the doors of the gas station slammed open once again. There was the cashier and what must have been the manager of the store with... a laser shotGUN! The manager cocked the gun. Hordak’s eyes widened, “oh no. Everyone inside! Now!” He rushed everyone onboard, practically picking Glimmer up and hauling her in. BLAMO! Laser gunshot. Moe yelped a bit too loud.

Glimmer quickly ducked and scrambled up the ramp into the drop ship, the Queen rummaged in her pocket, grabbing a handful of cash and flung it out the ship, while yelling , “Sorry!” The ramp clamped shut. Thrusters heated up and blasted out plasma fire, and The Annihilation launched off into the void of space. Hordak and Glimmer snapped their heads over to V and glared at him furiously.

V raised his hands up almost as if protecting his face, “OK, OK, I know, I know- buuut let me make it up to you.” He sneered. Glimmer and Hordak gave each other a silent look, their fury steadied.

-     - -

What followed, Glimmer could not comprehend in the moment. The Queen of Light watched the crew of clones unfolded and convert the main living room couch into a dining table. Positioned chairs around for all. Glimmer sat down just as the rest of the crew took their seats, she had taken Drag’s spot. No one mentioned anything, but Glimmer could feel Lee's cold stare, and it said it all. Glim just sat stiffly, unsure of how to conduct herself in this setting, all the brothers were engaged some casual mundane conversation. She looked off to the side, one of the corners of the drop ship had a little kitchen set up; cabinets, cupboards, a chopping station, a hob, and a sink. It was all impressively compact. Glimmer doubted that any of it was standard of a regular Horde dropship, it must’ve been custom made. Looked nice, was that oak? Anywho. There was V, cooking. It was a strange sight. And it seemed like she was the only one surprised by this behaviour. Was this his regular routine?

Hordak was sitting across from her; Glimmer had never seen the ex-Lord of the Horde like this, so casual. He wore a simple, loose short sleeved shirt, a long black dress, and his blue curly hair draped over the front of his tired face. His black eye make-up slightly more messy and worn. His red lenses off, his red irises in the open. The warlord that almost conquered her world, once feared, was now hunched over a holo-pad on the table. He kept refreshing the device, that same loading circle that taunted her did so to him. He looked tired and frustrated. Not knowing why the device was not working. A low grumble escaped him, almost a purr.

“Here we are!” V announced as he placed a plate in front of Glimmer, “Chow down.” He gave a toothy smile, it was genuine, but Glimmer felt a little unsettled none the less. She just awkwardly stiffly smiled at V, V responded by widening his grin even further. Glimmer tried to outdo him but her smile wobbled.

“So... What's this? Poison?” Glimmer quirked a brow.

“It's caviar. Zenbaaran roast meat. Faybian ursa-berry jello. Oombackis rice and veggies. Defrosted crockets.”

“From?”

“The freezer.” He remarked matter of factly, then his voice peaked again, “Bone apple sit!”

“That's not- ugh” Did Lee just sigh telepathically? Can you even do that?

“The stuff you stole? Was food. For dinner?... you cook? Dinners?” Glim couldn't hide how flabbergasted and surprised she was by this simple concept. She just couldn't picture a clone doing something so bland, mundane, and... and kind for his ‘family’. Going about it the wrong way, but with good intention, maybe.

“Not just dinners. It should last as the rest of the journey. Plus, I slapped some cash on the counter, fake money, sure,” he shrugged, “but still.” V sat down without a plate in front of him, and kicked his feet up on the table.

Which Hordak immediately swiped off the table and remarked scowling, “No feet on the table.” His tone shifted from stern to lax and soft, “V may be a loudmouth moron with a weird nose, but if there's something he knows how to do, it's cook.”

“I'll take it. And no electronic devices while we're eating dinner at the dinner table, young man.” V marked to Hordak about the holo-pad on the table. Hordak grumbled, but retreated the pad off the table. V leaned back against his chair.

“And nothing for you?” Glim asked the vulture-like man.

“Don’t care much for it. Not my thing.” V shrugged.

The clones dug in. Glimmer’s eyes scanned the table, still slightly unsure, only then did the Queen realise how hungry she was. She had poor experience with clone dinners, but... the food did look good. She picked up the utensils shaped like a crescent moon, and scooped up some of the rice and veggies, and... Hordak wasn't wrong, V really was a good cook. And soon she couldn't stop herself, the plate was cleaned within minutes, one of the best meals she had in a long while.

-     - -

V honked forcefully slamming down against the air horn on the steering wheel. He was furious. The elder clone rolled down the side window of the cockpit, the atmosphere bubble expanded outward, allowing for V to poke his head out and wave his fist angrily at the traffic up ahead. The Annihilation was stuck in space traffic. Spaceship lanes were created to ensure safe and organised space travel, especially in heavily populated systems. The Defects were now about to enter The Black Donut System, a system circling an infant black hole, a roundabout which utilised gravitational slingshot momentum allowing bypassers to reach neighbouring systems faster. But there was still one obstacle ahead of The Defects, the traffic jam, but that was due to the border control ahead. V yelled furiously at the price of the boarder crossing, “Fifty Romulaks?!?! Where are we crossing over to?! Terabithia?!” Pricey costs these days, capitalism, I tell ya.

The only reason V was even allowed to sit in the cockpit seat was because Glimmer and Hordak had retreated back into the ship's belly into Hordak’s room who had excavated a set of table chess. Which was built into a small circular table located in Hordak's room, he had picked it up a few missions ago from a pawn shop on Autolycus III, he thought it might have been... Fun. Hordak and Lee partook in a game or two from time to time. He had awkwardly asked the Queen if they were interested in a game. Glim just kind of shrugged and agreed, there wasn't much to do, but she wanted to kill some time.

When the chess was activated a board rose up and divided into four layers one levitating over the other. The chess pieces were divided via colour coding – Glimmer’s pawns where pink and Hordak’s were blue. The pawns hovered over the various chequered panels, all shaped as teardrops, constructed from the same crystal-like material. Glimmer’s teardrops where upright with the tail of the drop pointing skyward while Hordak’s were pointed downward. The crystals were dispersed across the boards, they were far into their game by this point. The Queen and the Lord faced off, and were sat on opposite ends, they were both leaning back on their respective armchairs, too afraid to get too close, keeping each other at an arm's length, only getting close to move their pawns.

They remained silent for most of the time, until her eyes shifted up from the miniature battle to analyse her opponent, and after a moment she broke her silence, “So, you've been avoiding me.”

“No, I... no... I simply assumed you'd prefer space in such a limited location.”

“How thoughtful of you.” She remarked sarcastically.

“If you so wish I could leave you to your own devices, and we may cease this game.”

“No, no. I don't mind. It's not like I have anything else to do... I've noticed the holo-pads aren't working.”

“Yes. There appears to be a technical malfunction, though I am unable to discern the cause or how to mend it. I can only hope that my Beloved has more luck on her side back at Dryl.” He sighed resigned, “I wish I was smarter. Everything always seems to hinge on her to be fixed. I wish I could lighten the weight on her shoulders.”

Glimmer moved her pawn forward thoughtfully, “Yeah. I... know what you mean. There are days when I wish I could do more for Adora, help each other shoulder the burden, share the weight of the world.”

“Hmm, so... you and She-Ra Adora...”

“What?! Who told y- What’d you mean?”

“My apologises, I was led to believe that you two were together – romantically. The Warrior of Greyskull was quite open and forward about the subject matter.”

She hid her face behind her opened palms, “Oh Adora…” She looked up to Hordak, “Do NOT disclose this to anyone.”

“I doubt anyone would lend me their ear, or that I know anyone to tell such things to. Why do you see She-Ra Adora’s openness as an issue?”

“It’s not an issue! It’s just- ugh- it’s just there’s so many rumours already, the royal court and the public can be exhausting and intrusive. I just- I just want to spare her from- from the fate of being my partner. Keeping us a secret makes everything simpler.”

“Mmm.” He understood. He related. He would hate prying eyes disturbing the little world Entrapta and he had built for each other in each other’s embrace.

“You probably wouldn’t understand.”

“…Probably.”

“…I miss her so much.”

“That- I understand all too well.”

“…Any update about the baitship?”

“Yes. Our suspicions were correct; Primus pirates.”

“Guess they’ll have quite the shock when they see the presumed dead Queen talking at an intergalactic conference in a few days.”

“That would be the most preferable outcome… What are you planning on saying at the summit? Have you a speech prepared?”

“Don’t remind me. I’ve had to deliver plenty of speeches for an entire Queendom, I’d like to think that over time I’ve gotten better at it. But I don’t know, I’ve never spoken in front of so many eyes. Full galaxies. The fate of Etheria in my hands. I’ve been revising, looking over my queue cards for days now… I still fumble the words sometimes.”

Hordak felt the need, the desire, to add something profound, “In my experience the key to delivering the most effective speeches is emotion; like when I delivered the Horde Manifesto atop Stinger Cliff when I rallied the forces of Scorpion Hill and forged the Etherian Horde on that day and... I- I just realised that might not be... the best example, hmm…”

“Yeahhh. Emotion. Anything else?” She asked with a half-smile.

“Well...” He searched his mind, “I usually left the public dealings to Shadow Weaver.” Glimmer looked like she was about to retreat from the conversation, Dak attempted to salvage it somehow, “However, confidence is key. You must believe in what you're speaking about, and you must show the crowds that you believe, that is where the confidence comes from. But honest passion won't carry you through you're talking to bureaucrats and politicians after all. You must tell them more that they want to hear, offer them something you're in possession of, as far as we know, the only magical world, the holy Armada of Prime under your control. You hold the cards, do not let them forget that.” That earned a smile from Glimmer. Hordak moved one of his pawns down from the top board down onto a pink pawn on a board underneath. Hordak claimed another piece.

“Yeah... I won't.”

“A lot is riding on this conference. We as a planetary species are behind on the evolutionary curb. Being trapped in Despandos, the cataclysm, sent us back. And now those bigger empires are circling like sharks. The universe only ever sees us as a collectible to be owned. We're always the small guy, well I'm tired of that. I'm tired of being small, at the mercy of others. It's time we change that. We hold the cards.”

Hordak realised that he might have gone a bit too far in the wrong direction with his advice, “Uh, yes, but be careful, your majesty. Power has tainted love to your hearts.”

“That's a bit hypocritical coming from you, isn't it?” That had Hordak return to silence, “What if it happens again? Some 2-bit visionary coloniser decides to come over for a spoonful of sugar and conquest. What chance do we have? What if we fail the next time? We need to be ready, we need to show the rest of the universe that we mean business. And we need allies for that.” Glimmer leaned in and reached out for a pawn on the lowest layer and moved it forward two spaces attacking Hordak’s piece and taking one of his pawns. Once defeated the teardrop faded to a dark grey. “So four days on the road now so to speak.” Hordak replied with a ‘hmm’ his way of acknowledging what she said wordlessly, not knowing how to respond, he didn't have the experience to socialise with people properly. “I think I've started to understand you all. Moe's the artistic, carefree spirit, who just wants to enjoy the beauty of the world like Peri. Drag seems to be an innocent kind soul, the heart of your merry band, the glue, kind of like Bow. V has a hard time showing how much he cares, but he does, sort of like Mermista, but don't tell her that, she'd be furious. But Lee, he seems to like to keep his distance, and give me furious stares from afar. Something you want to tell me?”

Hordak rolled his eyes and sighed annoyed, “I assure you he does not dislike you. My older brother... struggles to articulate some… issues he has.”

“Such as?”

He had caught another sigh escape his lips, he massaged the bridge of his nasal cavity, “Lee is concerned with the concept of nation building. After the Fall of Prime, your world became a refuge for our people. Lee wishes for Etheria to become our home, and a safe haven for all clones. He's been growing frustrated with how slowly it's been moving forward.”

“Slowly? In the past few months haven't we allowed you and your brothers to stablish government communities? Pass clone rights. Dryl helped clone settlements gain fresh water, electricity, everything. The Alliance has supported the clone communities even through all the unrest, and all the demands for your head.”

“The Alliance has not supported anything, they have remained quiet, in order not to enrage your supporters. When the hive mind fell, those who were present at Etheria where free to explore their true selves, live in freedom, comprehend the concept of freedom. But the horde was vast, countless of my brothers across the cosmos suddenly without a voice in their head, lost. Some must not even know Prime is dead. We could-”

“Bring them to Etheria? And how many exactly is ‘countless’, Hordak? Etheria can't support millions of refugees, the overpopulation would be devastating.”

“The Horde is no more, all Horde infrastructure, the commanding figure gone, these clones are left amidst a cosmos that despises them.”

“Rightfully so.”

“This is about saving lives! Etheria is the only semblance of safe haven for clones in a universe that wants to eliminate them! And overpopulation is not an issue, the entire Etherian population only takes up 27% of the planet, centralised on a single continent.”

“Which is supposed to mean what? That one day you can outnumber us 5 to one? Surround and replace us?”

“Replace?! A man who needs a suit of armour to get out of bed will replace you? A demigod elitist who only cares for her own domain?! There was a reason why Scorpion Hill turned so swiftly against you and the core Queendom's!”

Glimmer stood up abruptly, she slammed her hands against the board toppling a handful of pawns. “You wanna try that again?” Her eyes flashed a pinkish-purple, and the lights within the room began to flicker and go haywire, “You think you know me, but you're just a pathetic recluse, you don't know anything.”

“I know enough. I know that you have a container of Etherian soil to maintain your powers, to eliminate us in case we become an inconvenience to you.”

“You- You went through my things?! I have to defend myself against a group of monsters somehow! What else can I expect from a machine created for conquest!?”

“You think you know me.”

“I know enough.” Glimmer took off her mother's earring which always hung from her left ear. The last piece of her mother she could physically still hold onto, and from a position where her pawn once dude, she used the earring to knock Hordak’s king over.

Glimmer marched out of the room, with the doors sliding closed behind her. Hordak sighed with the full force of his misery. He just sat in his chair, his head bowed, for a few silent moments. “That went poorly.”

A voice sounded from inside his head. Hordak jumped, “Ahhh!” He turned in panic around to see Lee standing behind him, “How?! - How did you - where did you c- there aren't even any shadows in this well lit room!”

Lee wordlessly walked over to Glimmer’s opposing chair and sat down. Lee observed the chess board, coming in mid battle, a conflict unfinished. “I am disappointed in you boy.” Hordak rolled his eyes, here we go again. “Do not roll your eyes at me! I am unable to voice my thoughts, my opinions, my wishes and my troubles. Is it too much to ask for my more able-bodied brothers to help me voice my mind?”

“No, brother, but I- I tried, but I- I do not possess... the vernacular to convince her to aid us.”

“Enough excuses, boy. The fate, the well-being of our race is at stake. We stand at a crossroads. And you are the only one who can bring about positive change for all our brothers. You are family to royalty, you are a leader of men, your name it means something here, or it can. You have the power to influence… to save us… do you... do you understand that?”

“I- Of course I do, I just can't-”

“No, boy. No more excuses. Put in the effort. The people of the Queen seem to respond to emotion and openness – appeal to her with emotion and openness. Show her that we are people, that we are not monsters. Show her our true nature.”

“…I understood. I will attempt to- No, I will… I will.”

“Good,” Lee smiled, “That is good, kindly brother.” His hand hovered down to the several pieces on the floor, and picked them up, “Now then, shall we have a friendly game?”

“I have yet to beat you.”

“You will get there soon enough, practice hones skills.”

“My scientific theory is that you simply enjoy to watch me loose.”

“Hehm, non-sense.”

-     - -

“Keith, I’m pregnant.”

“I knew it.” V remarked aggressively at the reveal taking place on the TV screen – another one of V’s soap operas, as obnoxious as they were the others had to unfortunately admit it was entertaining television. The thing was V wasn’t even watching the screen, he was too busy studying the inside of one of the cupboards in the kitchen corner.

Glimmer stormed out of Hordak’s chamber room, of course there was nowhere for her to go on such an enclosed space. She stormed past Moe who’s greeting went unnoticed, and she made her way to the couch where her luggage rested. From her bag she pulled out a glass orb containing a sample of earth from the grounds of BrightMoon, she closed her eyes and focused her mind, channelling the magic of her home planet through her body like a conductor and thusly materialised a pink bubble around herself covering the couch and isolating herself from the rest of the ship.

“Sooo, does that mean... no more TV time for us?” V muttered while his head was still stuck in the kitchen cupboards looking for something.

“Guess so. That's just the effect Hordak has on people... I know I say this enough times to make it a catch phrase, but what are you doing?” Moe asked confused at his brother's continuous rummaging in the cupboards, and cabinets. The kitchen corner was a mess. Again.

“I told you, I've been checking our food rations, and unless Drag is waking up in the middle of his sleep cycle and midnight snacking, there's definitely something here with us.”

-     - -

That damn loading icon. That spinning circle at the centre of the blurry screen had been taunting her for days now. She got angry just by looking at it. She groaned to herself, facepalming and slowly dragging her palms down against her face, leaving the holo-pad on her lap. “I hate this place. Oh, I hate everything.” She was alone, that was what she believed. Utterly alone. And then-

“It can't be that bad.” The Queen's eyes widened, and her hands parted, that voice! So familiar and sweet! Glimmer looked down to see the smiling face of her partner. Adora looked a little rough around the edges, but even with scratches and scrapes and a little bit of dirt on her she still looked radiant and godly, and beautiful.

Glimmer almost teared up, “Oh my stars, it worked! You're here! I tried calling you for days! You wouldn't pick up! I was so worried! I missed you so much, Dodo.”

Adora's eyes rolled upwards to confront the ceiling in order to avoid Glimmer’s face, her face turned to the side, and a warm blush rushed across the valkyrie’s cheeks, “I missed you too, firework.” The most powerful woman in the universe, she could easily face off against the greatest monsters in universe, yet she often struggled to accept compliments and face her lover when smiling. That was Adora. “I wish I could kiss you right now, you wouldn't believe the day I've had.” She remarked brushing a strand of golden hair out of her face.

“Tell me about it. But I don't get it, why couldn't I reach you?”

“From what I understand, and mind you I'm no Entrapta I clock every fifth word she says, is that we were out of range, that off world mission I told you about? The signal from your pad could only reach to Etheria, not beyond it.”

“That explains that I suppose... so? How was your day?” Glimmer asked in a mundane fashion.

That drew a chuckle from Adora, “Oh let me tell ya those suspicions were correct. Turns out a version or a fraction of LightHope transmitted itself to an off-world facility in order to reconstruct a backup of herself and launch a counterattack against Etheria to reclaim it. Good thing Entrapta caught the signal and went with us. Otherwise, we could have been caught completely off guard.”

“Ennie went with you?”

“She did. She thought having a project on her hands would help her get her mind off of... ‘Things’. She's having the time of her life; the entire moon was like one massive server room, she'll be sifting through First Ones files for months.”

“And how are you doing?” Glimmer asked worried, “I know it can't be easy around all that First Ones stuff.”

“Oh, it's alright I've come to terms with all that long ago. I'm not my ancestors, all I can do is move forward and be better, and hopefully undo all that was done. They can't use me as a weapon now.”

“Tell me- tell me about home. What's going on with all of you guys? What's new?”

“Haha, oh, where to start? Frosta has been missing you, she's trying to keep everyone in line for you until you get back. Peri's been spearheading the whole reforesting initiative, alongside Scorpia. The Fright Zone has never been so... pleasant? Bright and colourful. Vibrant and full of life. Flowers the likes of which you have never seen! Scorpia’s rallying ex-Hordesmen to cooperate in the new government. Meri and Seahawk have accidentally burned down another ship port, it's really becoming a problem, really. Bow’s getting his dads to actually converse with BrightMoon’s educational sector and shake hands with your dad starting up a new initiative to improve education programmes across all the Queendom's. Spinnerella and Netossa are dealing with some trouble in their court, some family member of Spin’s accused Net of marrying into the throne and money for greedy and selfish gain. Spin is more or less trying to hold Net back from pummelling them into the ground. And Catra, she's been quiet, finding herself, working on her anger, re-connecting with the whole MagiCat Queendom at the core of the planet thing. It's a whole thing. And you? What's new with you?”

“Ugh.”

“Oh, that sounds good.” Adora remarked sarcastically and playfully.

“I don't know how long I can hold out here. These- Hordak is driving me crazy! I- I just don't know why you thought this was a good idea, Dodo. Why do you have so much faith in him?”

Adora paused for a moment, her eyes shifted as her thoughts tried to form themselves into sentences in her mouth, perhaps this was the first time she had spoken her thoughts out loud on this subject, “Well... he saved me, Glim. When I was a child. This seemingly heartless, pure evil, warlord with no concept of what a child is, the hand of an evil God, found a crying infant in a field, he wasn’t looking for it, didn’t know what it was, and yet, he chose to pick me up and bring me to safety – this crying baby, brought it with him. I wondered why. If not for him, I wouldn't have made it. Not me... not us… not anything – no universe saved. All because of a single random act of kindness from a stranger. There- There must have been some good in them.”

“Heh, that's you to a tea – that endless belief that people can be good. It could be the most wonderful attribute about you.” The Queen of Light smiled dreamfully. “I, sometimes, wish I could be like you.” She admired her girlfriend with stars and sparkles in her eyes.

“I'd argue you are. I mean you trusted me, a Horde trooper, and here we are.”

“I suppose you're right.”

“Hey, look, Entrapta and the rest of us will board a ship and we'll B-line it straight to you, but it'll just be a while. But... please give him a chance, the way you gave me.” Glimmer contemplated it, not that she really had any choice, “Plus, I need someone to walk me down the aisle aaand it's slim pickings.”

“Hehehe, wow, you're not walking down the aisle, I'm walking down the aisle, I already promised my dad.” She remarked smiling.

“We’ll arm wrestle for it.” Adora always somehow managed to lighten the mood and lift spirits.

“Somehow that seems fixed.” Glimmer remarked with a smile as she reached into one of her bags in search of a sandwich to nibble on, and was met with in opposing nibble. Glimmer yelped, the bubble around her burst, and Glim leapt up off the couch. The Queen flailed her right arm in an attempt to shed something of her person – some mass which had bit down on her middle and index finger. The jaws of the attacker relented, and they fell back on the couch.

“What! What is it!? I can't see! Glimmer!” Adora exclaimed from the screen of the holo-pad. The clones all gathered disturbed by the commotion. They all circled the couch, in an effort to apprehend the rodent which somehow managed to sneak onboard. Then the said rodent poked their head out from the cover of the couch cushions, his face still dirty from the sandwich he chowed down on. And they were all met with a familiar set of yellow eyes as well as a pair of chubby cheeks and messy curled grey hairs.

V smiled a toothy grin as he picked up his only nephew, “It's the boy!”

Imp had somehow snuck aboard. He gave a little burp and wiggled his little baby feet. He had no idea how much trouble he was in.

The End (of Part Two)

[dearbelovedlover]

Hordak and glimmer are on each others throat 24/7 and i love them for that.

(Also, i sense hMMMM PARALLEL??? BETWEEN ANGELA AND LEE? WHA??? XCUSE ME?)

[spopbigbang]

And that, my friends, is a wrap on the 4th Anniversary SPOP Big Bang! 

We had just under forty brand new fanfics and fanart go up over the last week (with a few latecomers still to come), so many beautiful works of art and amazing stories!

In many cases, people went above and beyond with multiple works of art and multi-chapter fanfics much higher than the word count minimum and we can't thank our wonderful participating artists and writers enough for not just being wonderful to work with, but also sharing your beautiful creations and love of SPOP with everyone!

A big thank you also to the mods of the SPOP Creative Flex discord for letting us use their space to run this event and helping with the influx of new people who joined for the event. And of course a big thanks to everyone who has shared and interacted with the stuff made for the Big Bang to encourage our fandom creators! 

If you missed anything posted this week, you can find everything in the Big Bang Collection on AO3 as linked below.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Many of the stories are still on going so make sure you subscribe and enjoy the new content as it trickles out.

Happy finale-versary everyone!  

<3 your Big Bang mod, @tippenfunkaport

[prince-toffee]

L I F E I S A H I G H W A Y !

Written by Prince-Toffee (me)

Art by the absolutely supreme @themazziah @cosmiccanineart

Created as part of The @spopbang 2024

Before we begin, I just want to say thank you to @themazziah for creating this absolutely gorgeous piece of art that you're looking at right now. It was so good in fact that I was inspired to rewrite the story to incorporate it into the narrative. When writers and artists were being paired up, I was sure I'd be left without a partner, but after you said that I was your first choice I was honestly so moved and touched. Thank you for picking me. Nothing I write could ever express how lovely it feels to read a kind comment like that. And that's why I'll try to get back into writing Entrapdak fics, it's been a while, and I'd love to do more, the world can never have enough Entrapta and Hordak in it. (and Glimmadora, my first time writing them, hope I did okay) Thanks, Mazz, I hope this story gives you a good few chuckles.

Second of all, thank you to all the organisers of @spopbang I may not know many people there well, but right from the start people were nothing but kind and helpful, and this event is a beautiful gift to the fandom. You guys are absolutely amazing!

Finally, on a more personal note, this is a three parter, I could only manage to finish Act One before the deadlines as I was working on my final university assignments at the same time, and now I'm finished and free! And I can't think of a better way to celebrate! I'll try to get the rest of the story out as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy this little space road trip.

Life Is A Highway

Act One (of Three)

~One Year After The Defeat of Horde Prime

CloneTown, or as the inhabitants of the settlement chose to dub it, Doormat, was a small shanty town at the foot of Mount Dryl on top of which Castle Dryl stood. The doormat of Dryl, of Etheria, of the universe, Adora assumed that was the intended joke. The warrior of light examined the sign closely, a hastily put together sign stood before her, it read: ‘Welcome To’ with CloneTown crossed out. A separate board, made of wood not matching the rest of the sign, was nailed underneath, on it carved crudely was ‘Doormat’. Adora never knew clones had a sense of humour, then again, it wasn't like she spent much time among them. Or at all. As She-Ra, the Protector of Etheria, she visited many villages on the continent, observed as many cultures of as many people as she could, opened her heart and reached out a helping hand to all... all except the newest refugees of Etheria. Every time she had ventured to a clone settlement, she felt unease - most villages across Etheria worshipped her (so to speak, and that invited its own unique forms of exhaustion), but when she set foot on clone grounds, she felt unwanted, which of course, she was. Perhaps the unease emerged from the fact that all the staring eyes that silently watched her stroll into town as she did so now, all belonged to the same face, the face of her old master. One she worshipped in her youth, but no longer. But that didn't matter now, now she was walking down the muddy roads of Doormat, and attracting quite a few puzzled, angered glares. Adora approached in her normal form, strolling up as a 9-foot-tall glowing, radiant, goddess might have been a bit too much. Not that it mattered too much as she still stuck out like a sore thumb, she was the only non-clone in the village, nothing she could do about that. The warrior was cloaked in torn and tattered robes, a hood obscuring her face, so at least they didn't know who she was.

Soon enough the Warrior of Grayskull happened upon her destination, Bar Nefcy, a local, clone-ran establishment. She got a bit lost, but Entrapta’s directions were correct. There was a hanging sign spelling out the bar’s name in uncharacteristically bright pink paint. Almost acting as a centrepiece of the town. From what she heard about it, the establishment acted as a sort of neutral ground for clones: regs, defects, and whatever came between. And as she entered the establishment, she wondered whether that mentality and ideology would extend to her. And almost immediately she got her answer as the chatter throughout the room stopped, all the various patrons turned to look at her, a sea of red and green eyes staring into her. She wasn't exactly scared, if anything came down to violence, she had plenty to keep herself safe, including the enormous broadsword channelling cosmic energy that would transform her into the most powerful woman in the universe. Adora made her way over to the barline and sat herself down, each of her footsteps making the wooden floor creak, which could be heard over the silence.

She attempted to stay invisible and stay silent until her contact would show up, however that turned out to be unlikely as she caught a glimpse of her bartender, a small “Oh!” escaped her and she immediately regretted it, and felt awful about it. Adora’s bartender did not look like a regular clone, he was downright bizarre, he was overgrown with vines, flowers, and moss, all intertwined and weaved into the clone’s being. Where his eyes would be, now two thick vines ran outward spreading into a patch of moss and grass atop his head. Effectively rendering the man, blind. Admittedly, she stared for a bit too long, but she didn't think he'd know.

“Well?!”

“?”

“I may be as blind as a bat, but my hearing is as good as ever. I heard you walk in and sit down, the floorboards are on purpose. So? What’ya want?”

Adora gulped, and put on her best diplomatic voice, “No drink for me, sir. I only ask permission to stay in your bar for- I don't know, uh, a few more minutes. I'm meeting a... friend, shall we call him. A clone. I'm a friend! An ally!” Whoof. She never had to pull that card out before. The bartender didn't seem to look convinced. The diplomatic voice slipped halfway through all that. “Please.” She finished with an awkward smile on her pinched face.

“Uh huh, look this is a clone-establishment, not for… natives. You're unsettling my clientele, so if you'd be so kind and find the exit as I can't, ya know on the account of a magic flower growing out of my face. Good day, Princess.” Wait he knew? How? Was her voice that recognisable?

Just then another voice rose from the back of the bar, from a far corner booth, “Ah, come on Manny! I thought this was a ‘neutral ground’ and whatnot. You gonna denie the guy their poison? They're just trying to get through today like the rest of us.” The bartender, who Adora now knew was named Manny, groaned in annoyance, if he could roll his eyes, he would have. Adora turned around to see where the voice was coming from. There, far in the back, in the corner booth, set an elderly patron a clone no doubt, he spoke with the same voice. But he too looked downright bizarre, unlike all the other clones. This clone was thin, like a skeleton, he looked sickly. (A defect, they were called, she believed, though not entirely sure). The lower half of his face looked normal enough, well for a clone that was. But the top half of his head was a glass-like red dome with some strange displays flashing inside like a radar monitor. And not only that, protruding out of his face was a long witch-like nose, sharp as a knife. Almost as sharp as the red teeth that formed a, what was meant to be a friendly, smile.

The clone wore a mechanical suit (of armour?) that framed his skeletal features. His feet were kicked up on top of the table. His feet resembled… clamps? Like mechanical vulture talons. There was another clone at the corner booth with them, but they had their back turned to Adora, they were clearly uninterested in this interaction. The vulture-like clone stood up and wobblingly made his way over to Adora. It was clear he was drunk. But from Manny’s reaction she gauged that this was his default state. The bird-like man spoke up again, “Leave the freak alone. ‘Serve all, not one’, right?” The woman noticed that the clone acted as if he had a cup or glass in his hand... But he didn't, there was no drink in his curved hand.

“V,” Manny spoke, so that was his name, “Should have known this freak was with you, something always happens when you're around here. Trouble seems to follow you wherever you go, and you always bring it here. So why don't you take your royal friend, and go lead trouble away from here.”

“I won't cause any trouble, I promise.” Adora proclaimed, she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, she placed the page onto the table and slid it over to Manny. “I'm actually here on behalf of the Queen, to hand you this Establishment License to let you run your business officially... it was illegal before, just so you know. As a show of gratitude and togetherness.” Adora gave her best smile. Manny just looked at the piece of paper and groaned, he turned around and walked off with the paper in hand, grumpy. Adora swivelled around back to V, she awkwardly thanked them, “Hey, thanks, uh, V was it? For taking my side. And I'm sorry I caused a commotion here.”

“Eh,” He waved dismissively, “Don't take it too personally kid, Manny over there's still a little peeved that you turned him and a bunch of others into walking compost heaps back when you turned The Velvet Glove into a giant tree, heh.”

“I- I did that to him?”

“Oh, not just him, every clone hibernating in a pod and whatnot. Thousands.”

“Oh, gods, what have I done.” She murmured to herself, she combed through her hair, a thousand yard stare on her face. “I'm so sorry... I didn't know I was unwelcome.”

“Eh,” He shrugged, “Don't take that too personally either, neither is he.” V pointed behind him with his thumb towards the doorway. Adora followed the thumb to the silhouette in the door frame. Hordak. Her drinking partner had arrived.

The Ex-Lord of the Horde entered the establishment and silence befell the bar once more, the collective of eyes glared at him and followed him as he slowly made his way over to the warrior Princess. Not too different of a reaction that they greeted Adora with. V just then realised there wasn't a drink in his hand and so he moved out of the way to give Hordak room to sit down next to Adora. He did so. The villain maintained silence, Adora thought it was to seem intimidating, but in reality he simply had no idea how to talk to people, and was too awkward to be the one to begin the conversation.

Hordak was cloaked in a black cape and hood. His blue, curly, fringe poking out from under the hood. Another thing she just now noticed about Hordak was that his eyes were different, usually fully blood red with black makeup around, just now realising that those must have been contact lenses of some sort, because now she witnessed his real eyes. Soft and organic rather than the glass shields which is what their texture usually looked like. Now his corneas were fully pitch black with black pupils and bright blood red irises, the way they shifted about it somehow made him far more emotive. He was clad in matte black and gun metal grey plated armour with neon red highlights running throughout. No Horde symbol on his chest plate however, The Wings of The Vampire where nowhere to be seen. What Adora didn't see was the First One's crystal embedded within his armour powering his entire suit. He wore the same double slit dress he always wore, thighs on full display. That was certainly a choice.

Adora spoke up first, “Sooo, ahem, I'm sure you're wondering why I asked to meet with you.”

“Yes.” He spoke with his deep, smooth voice, “Entrapta, my dearest, did not disclose why you wished to meet. And why here of all places. I am usually summoned to BrightMoon by the Queen.”

“Weeeell, I thought meeting here might make you feel more comfortable. Heard this place serves drinks to anyone, guess... guess not.”

“Hmm, indeed. I do not drink here. I am unwelcome. I do not blame anyone for that belief. My shunning is just.”

“I thought you'd be a hero to your people, especially after killing Prime and all.”

“You killed Prime. I'm surprised many of my brothers haven't turned to worship you She-Ra Adora.”

“It's just Adora. And more people ‘worshipping’ me is the last thing I want.”

“And as to why many of my brothers hate me? Well, everyone has their own reasons. For many I will always be that authority figure, a High-General, sending them off to their deaths. For others, like Manny here, good man that Manny, they believe my... ‘campaign’ here has led to your people hating them. I destroyed any chance of a peaceful coexistence. I am keen to agree with him.”

Adora didn't disagree, but there was more to it. She did not want to unpack all of it just yet so she chose to instead change the topic of conversation, “Hordak. The reason I wanted to meet with you... I have a job for you.”

“I imagined as much. However, it is usually the Queen who imparts assignments upon me and my brothers. Why this- breaking of routine?”

“Because this concerns the Queen. This ‘job’ isn't her idea, it's mine, in fact, it took a lot of convincing to get her onboard.”

“And the mission is?”

“A road trip, so to speak.”

Hordak quirked his brow. “Ooooh-kay.”

“There is an Intergalactic Conference in the Summit solar system, few galaxies away. Glimmer needs to attend in the next few days. It's quite possibly the most important event in Etheria’s history.”

“And what does the conference pertain to? If I may ask?”

“Securing Etheria’s status in the universe. Glimmy wants to appeal to The Council of The Known Universe and have Etheria recognised as a developed-enough world to join The Council. Ever since Etheria had been freed from Despandos it has been at the mercy of the rest of the universe. As a magical mediaeval world, Etheria’s has been seen by the rest of the universe as ‘underdeveloped’ and ‘primitive’ and as ‘defenceless’. Becoming a part of The Council will grant us safety. Their technology advancements. Limitless food and medicine - access to planets they’ve constructed dedicated solely to agriculture and harvesting. Respect among other worlds. Protection from other tyrants across the cosmos like Prime. Make sure it never happens again. The Council of The Known Universe, turns out, was established to create a barricade against tyrant empires like Prime and The Galactic Horde. Etheria needs protection like that, but there's a problem.”

Hordak placed a hand against his chin as he pondered on the matter, “The Primusians.”

“Yes. You've heard?”

“I have, through the ‘grapevine’ as you would call it; clones talk, or think (telepathically), especially here. V doesn't keep anything to himself. Primus pirates have been assaulting crafts around the system, many of them clones seeking home off-world. They've been quite active since our ‘stunt’ with the Minister of Armament and Defence. You're afraid they have their sights set on the Queen. Making transporting her a major risk.”

“Yeah, you got it. I knew you'd catch on.” Hordak shot her an inquisitive look as well as a bombastic side eye, “Anyway, the plan is to send a new unmanned decoy ship on the route to the conference. Pirates explode it, and hopefully they'll think the bodies got incinerated.”

“That's that then.” Hordak remarked satisfied.

“Yeah, except Glim still needs to make it to Summit. And that's where you, and your... team comes in. I hear you have a ship, don't know how, but you do. You'll escort Glim on the longer way around the Black Donut system and deliver her to the conference on time.”

“That will take days.”

“One week exactly. One way each. That's why I’m here now, the Queen’s orders.”

“It does not sound like the Queen would be thrilled about this idea. My brothers can be... a lot.”

“She isn't. But she knows it's the right thing to do.”

Hordak sighed. “Adora why would I-“

“Because you owe me.” She suddenly became incredibly serious, her glare at Hordak hardened, and Hordak fell silent. He really did. Freeing him from Prime’s influence. Dropping in a good word for him at his trial. He most likely wouldn't have been with Entrapta at all without her. He simply nodded in agreement. “And... because I love her.”

“And you would trust me to keep her safe?”

“The same way I'll keep Entrapta safe while you're gone... So? Deal?”

-        - -

Day One (of Seven)

“No. No deal.” Glimmer remarked defeated. “This is a bad- ugh- I don't like this plan, just stating that for the record.” The Queen of BrightMoon spoke to the holo-pad, arguing with the screen. On the other side of the screen was a smiling but slightly scared Adora. Glimmer marched through the corridors of Castle Dryl, the never-ending labyrinth, that Glimmer was 80% sure was constantly shifting, trying to confuse her. It didn't help that she was constantly going down, deeper into the mountain. Entrapta was the master of traps after all. But Glimmer continued on her path anyhow. She had a map display hovering over the holo-pad that clearly outlined where to go. And surely this wasn't a trap, a planned scheme to assassinate her, right?

“I know what you're thinking; It's not a trap.”

“I- wasn't thinking... that.” She squinted at the map overhead, “I swear the corridors are moving, how is that even possible. It also doesn’t fill me with confidence that Entrapta called this, ‘The Basement’.” The monarch wore her traditional purple outfit, glittering cape, golden accents around the belt, shoulder pauldron, and of course her royal tiara. Her stern look faded away and a sadness took its place. “Why couldn't you’ve come with me?”

“~Oh, StarLight, I'm sorry. I want to always be at your side, and I would be if I could. But the strange signals emanating from the Crystal Castle, it could mean LightHope’s back. And if LightHope is back, which her is she? And why would she be transmitting off-world?”

“So you'll be on the other side of the universe.”

“As soon as I'm done I'll B-line it to you. Just- just wait for me. You're in good hands until then.”

“...I wish I could hold you, I miss you already.” Glimmer's words brought a warm smile to the She-Ra’s face. Adora turned away, avoiding eye contact, a blush rising across her face.

“I miss you too. But please, trust me, it'll be okay.” Adora turned to look at something out of the holo-pad’s view, she sighed, “I have to go. I love you. See you in a week.”

And the transmission terminated.

Glimmer sighed. Already missing Adora’s voice. She believed she was approaching her destination, a large mechanical door stood before her. The GPS on her holo-pad indicated that she had reached ‘The Hangar’. “Okay.” She accepted the journey ahead with one word. Glimmer swiped the touchscreen on her whole pad, the bypass code got transmitted to the control panel at the doors ahead. The green light indicated the door unlocking. And the metal doors slid upward with a hiss. A light spilled into the corridor, so much so Glimmer had to shield her eyes with her hand. She took a step inside and almost tripped over immediately. She looked back to see what it was, and noticed that the floor was littered with a variety of… strange and seemingly unrelated things; Pipes, cables, and various other pieces of machinery, she guessed. There were also art supplies; Paint buckets, brushes, canvases, and spray cans. As she turned around to face forward once again she ducked immediately as she was almost closelined by a low hanging clothing line, various photographs hung up along it. Various landscapes from the brief glimpse that Glimmer caught of it.

“Look out.” A familiar voice called out, but it came from an unfamiliar character. Glimmer followed the voice to match it to the clone face. The man wasn’t even looking at her, which meant she must have yelped quite loudly at some point. She re-composed herself and made her way to the clone, the closer she got, the more details revealed themselves to her. The man was, in fact, a clone, he had the same voice and Hordak’s face, but that was almost where the similarities ended. The tuft of hair on top of his head was dyed in a patchwork of every colour, it was quite strange seeing all that colour on a clone. But the most defining characteristic was the fact that he was wheelchair bound due to his two missing legs, amputated just above the knees. The defect was sat in front of a sizable canvas, a paintbrush in hand and in the middle of creating a new painting. The painting was, no doubt about it, gorgeous. It depicted Doormat, at the foot of Mount Dryl. The light that had blinded Glimmer earlier when she entered had come from the massive open hangar bay doors letting the daylight in. She assumed that was where he got the photos and references from.

“It's beautiful.” She remarked.

“What? This? Thank you, but no, it's just a warm up, and it's hideous. I think I might be having an off day. See that tree?” The clone pointed to a perfectly fine tree on the painting.

“Right.” She should have probably introduced herself, “I'm-“

“Cargo.” He finished.

“Not how I'd like to put it. But yeah, I- uh- I’m Glimmer.”

“I know. You’re the Queen. You send me and my brothers on suicide missions.”

“Yeah... uhmm, yes, soooorry about that, and you are?”

“Moe.”

“Moe. I'll- I'll remember that. Is Hordak here?”

“He's with Entrapta, doing… whatever mad-scientists do. Making time travelling microwaves that send your meal forward in time to when it's already done?”

“Heh, it's Entrapta, it wouldn't surprise me. She can do anything she sets her mind to.”

The joke seemed to resonate with the artist, he smiled, “We're taking off soon, Dak’ll be down in a bit, feel free to get set up on the ship, try getting used to it, the trip’ll be a few days long.”

“Thanks.”

Glimmer turned to the ship in question, The Annihilation it was called. It was a Horde troop carrier dropship repurposed as a mobile home to The Defects as they recently began calling themselves. Looks like they were really owning it. The dropship had a new paint job, no doubt thanks to Moe, an angry face painted over the cockpit, angry eyes and a row of sharp teeth. And a mural on the side of the hull, abstract, but unfinished, she presumed. The ship had Christmas lights hung up all along it, a TV satellite dish on top, and a footpath leading to the lowered ramp into the loading bay. The Annihilation was surrounded by a white picket fence, turf of fake grass, a small cheap fountain (kinda ugly, with a gnome spitting out water at the centre). And a mailbox at the front, not that anyone ever sent in any mail, it was all very cute however.

The Queen of Light made her way into the loading bay, up the ramp, and quickly realised it was... A living room? A TV, a couch, and a carpet. All bolted down so it wouldn't fly out presumably. She was surprised at the mundanity of it all, she was expecting something far more alien or militaristic. While her head was in the clouds she tripped yet again. She growled at her own clumsiness, “What? Do I have two left feet today? What now?” She looked down at what had tripped her up and she almost jumped out of her skin. It was a man, slumped over, on the ground, leaning against a wall, a cable lodged into the back of his head. He was silent, he wasn't moving. Glimmer’s thoughts raced madly; He's dead. They killed someone and stuffed him into their ship. She was looking at a corpse right now!

Then a voice came from above, “Heh, you know that happened to me once.” She looked up to see a skinny man hanging upside down from the ceiling like a bat, he smiled with his bright red fangs, “Mortar shell. Blew me into pieces. Turns out I grabbed someone else’s leg! HA!”

“...Wh- What?”

“Two left feet! We all match so the joints just pop in! Customizable action figures, batteries sold separately.” V cackled to himself as he descended from the ceiling and landed before the monarch. Glimmer wasn't sure how to respond, or what she was looking at, some sort of birdman? She was at a loss for words, since her mind was still on the potential corpse at her feet. “V.” He indicated himself with his hand.

“Is this a dead body?!” She pointed to the clone on the floor in panic and anguish. V craned his neck to look past the Queen. V waved it off matter of factly.

“Eh, don't worry about Drag. Kid’s just taking a nap.”

“So I shouldn't be worried?”

“Oh, well, no, you definitely should. ‘Nap’ so to speak. The truth is far more horrifying. You see little Drag is in a state of constant rapid brain degradation the curjigger he's hooked up to continuously recreates his brain through... woff nanobots? I don't know, Dak’s the one who does machines. The boy fainted not long ago, so he'll be out for a good while.”

“How long is he usually out for?” She still asked panicked.

“Uh, I don't know, varies, sometimes hours, sometimes days, whatever the story needs really. I'm sure he'll be back by the third act.”

“... What are you talking about?”

“I don't know. Anyways, make yourself at home, but not too much, the chaotic mess is on purpose.”

“The ‘I know where everything is’ type of organisation system?”

“What? No, I don't know where anything is, it's just to annoy Hordak. Sometimes I dump buckets of mud and dust inside just to see how furrowed his brows can get. Ha! He gets so angry.”

Glimmer just now noticed that V had patted the couch as he made his ‘make yourself at home’ statement. “Wait, I'm… sleeping on the couch?” She remarked in disbelief.

“Weeell, yeah, what did you expect?”

“A room?!”

“Ahhh... No. Heh. No.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Hey, it's not that bad, this is the best spot on Anni! You got a perfect view of the TV (which has channels from the next three galaxies). A few itchy blankets and who knows what wonders hide between the couch cushions; Just today I found Drag’s goldfish’s food... Oh shoot, I knew I forgot something.” He tapped his chin.

“I'm in Hel. I died, and now I'm in Hel.”

“HA! Not yet. But The End is coming. Soon!” V waltzed away saluting her away as he ventured off to check up on his younger brother’s fish.

“Wait! Can't I have Drag’s room? Or is his room the corridor?” She asked sarcastically.

“Sorry, Candy Floss, he ain't interchangeable. You’ll just have to deal with it.” The doors to Drag’s bedroom closed and he was out of earshot.

“...Great. Perfect. Great idea, Adora. Thanks, hun.”

-        - -

“I wish you could stay.” Entrapta sadly remarked.

Hordak took a moment to reply, he looked away and down, “... As do I, Beloved.”

It was another day, another mission and once again the universe had decided to tear them apart as it often did. It was especially bittersweet and tragic as the couple had plans for today, family picnic, so to speak. Entrapta sighed as she soldered the motherboard in front of her, their mask down and covering her face, “I was really looking forward to working on the power couplings for the hyper light telescope. I bet we can see the Lynks system from here! I heard rumours that they've managed to construct an entire artificial star! It powers their two nearest colonies!... I- I can wait for you... And we could do it together when you get back, how long can the escort be? Two?- Three days?” She tried to keep up a genuine smile.

“We estimate a week to the Summit system, and one week to return.” Hordak hid most of himself under his cape like a weighted blanket, “I know how much you love star gazing, you shouldn't have to wait for me. You should enjoy yourself without me.” He reached out for Entrapta’s hand. Entrapta let go of the soldering iron, and accepted the taloned hand of her partner. The Ex-Lord of the Horde softly massaged her hand, his thumb moving in circles.

She gently squeezed Hordak’s hand in return, “But I'd love for you to be with me. Us, together, you know?” She snuggled into Hordak’s chest, leaning her head against him. Dak held her hand and placing his other hand against Entrapta’s back, a gentle touch, “That's the life I wanted for us.” She murmured lowly, almost a purr.

“I know.” Hordak spoke solemnly.

“...It feels like we're apart every day now. I thought things would get better… and here you go again.”

“I know. But this request- it came from-“

“Adora, I know.” Entrapta lifted her mask, revealing a small smile, “That's the only thing I like about this.” That made Hordak raise one of his brows, “You, opening up to her, it's cute. She's a good girl. I'm glad you're making new friends.” She patted Hordak’s chest.

“Well, I wouldn't go that far-“

“Hordak.”

“Ah!” Hordak jumped, scared by the voice inside his head. The clone turned around to find Lee, another one of his brothers, just standing there – Menacingly. “Lee! How did you- ? Where? Why?!”

“We have a problem.”

*Italics indicate telepathy – Toffee*

“What?”

“The Queen is currently in our home.”

“Yes, she is the cargo.”

“…Why was I not informed of this?”

“Because you wouldn't have liked it.”

“We are transporting (possibly) the most powerful woman in the universe - that is going to turn heads, and paint a target on our backs. Are we not meant to be secret task force?”

“That is why we and the She-Ra are the only individuals aware of this mission. And, were you not the one who urged me to establish a more trusting relationship with the rulers of this world? Do you not think that a favour such as this would aid in improving relations between clones and natives?” Lee pondered on it, he nodded. He would have grunted if he could, unfortunately for Lee, his entire lower jaw was missing. By far his most noticeable and unique feature.

“...Sooo? Are we-? Is this-? Are we done? I'm just getting half of the conversation here, just so you know.” Entrapta poked in.

Suddenly V also appeared out of nowhere behind Hordak, “Hey we have a problem.”

“Gahhh! Where did you?! How- What?! Ugh. Yes, we know; the Queen.” Hordak face palmed.

“What? No. It's Drag’s goldfish, it's dead.”

“What? I thought you were feeding it.”

“I thought Lee was feeding it.”

“Well, I thought Moe was feeding it.”

Hordak sighed, face in his hands, “Fine, we'll figure it out on the road, just go, get out of here.”

Lee just looked at him, and turned away, “I'll be on the ship. I'm assuming all the relevant mission information is on board?” Hordak nodded. “Then I will be there, studying.” And the clone disappeared as soon as he appeared. V followed.

“He's scary good at that.” Entrapta remarked.

“Hmm.”

“I don't think he likes me.”

“They’ll come around...”

Both of them stood there for a moment, in silence. “So... you should probably get going.” Entrapta remarked sadly, not ready to let go again so quickly.

“Mmm.” Hordak looked around the lab, “Where is Imp? I wished to say goodbye to him before departing.”

“Probably hiding, lil rascal hates to see you go. He misses you you know.”

“I know…” A sadness washed over his face. 

“Look, I know you're at work, the last thing you need up there is me. But-”

“I would spend my entire life at your side! I love your voice. I adore your beautiful mind. And worship your heart for all the love you have offered me. You are not a hindrance!”

“Okay, okay, haha.” She looked down at the ground with a warm blush on her cheeks, “I know, I get it.”

“You think so little of yourself, I know how you are. And I do not appreciate it.” He landed a soft kiss on his partner's cheek. Which drew a chuckle from her.

“OK, OK, enough! You know I can't take compliments!” She exclaimed joyously as she smooshed his cheeks with her soft gloved hands.

“It is my duty as your lab partner to remind you of your worth, your beauty and your wonder, and that is just a scientific fact. Now, what- uh- what were you going to say before I rudely interrupted?”

From a large pouch on her utility belt Entrapta fished out a small Rubik’s cube-like object, which shifted in her palm and unfolded into a large two-handed holo-pad, and handed it over to Dak, “You know how I've been working on the intergalactic communications array?! So, I've been working on downsizing it and managed to incorporate it into a screened device - this holo-pad will allow us to stay in touch, even worlds apart. It’s only a prototype, of course, but it should work perfectly.”

What a loving gift. Entrapta always bestowed such wonderful presents, Perfuma proclaimed that it was her love-language. Hordak did not understand what that meant exactly, but his mind wondered, how could he further ‘communicate’ in this ‘language’? “Beloved, I- This is a most thoughtful gift, but... it is standard protocol to not take any contraband that could possibly link us to and could be traced back to Etheria in case the ship is breached... but, I suppose with the literal Queen of Etheria on board, that rule does not apply.” He smiled. Entrapta matched the smile.

“I will call you, when you're on your way, later today.” She raised on her tippy-toes and kissed her tall partner on the cheek, “Keep you company.”

“I would appreciate it.”

         Hordak and Entrapta lost themselves in each other's eyes as they often did, they wordlessly embraced in a warm hug. Their foreheads found each other, eyes closed, they allowed themselves to smile just a little.

         “I love you.”

         “I love you, more.”

         “Scientifically impossible, I love you far more.”

         “No, I love you more!” They giggled softly to each other.

-        - -

Glimmer had unpacked, to the best of her abilities, that is to say she was pecking at one of her packed lunch sandwiches and marked the couch as her territory by placing her luggage all over it. The Queen was now just sitting on the couch, slouched. This was going to be a long trip, she could tell. So she tried to distract herself by glueing herself to the TV. Unfortunately, the channel she was watching was broadcasting from an alien system with a language she did not understand. She could infer from the tone of the voice and the acting what was going on. It was some sort of telenovela, ooorr a reality TV show? No, Glimmer had no idea where the remote was. So that was it, her life for the next week. Hopefully Adora and the rest of the Princesses would take her on the way back after the conference.

         “Oh, nice, that's a good episode.”

         “What?” She turned back to see V standing behind her like a dad at a BBQ over a grill, a coffee mug in hand.

         “Sapphire Lakes. Great show. A handful of wealthy women who pretend to be friends are locked up in a small lake house for a week where they scream, lie and backstab each other for a cash prize. It's truly peak television. Tiffany's just confronting Jade about cheating with Keith.” He pointed gleefully at the screen.

         “How do you know all this? It's not even in Etherian?”

         V taped the side of his head, presumably where his ears would be, wait, did he even have ears? “Air-Vibration Translators. Convert any nearby language to clone speak.”

         “Huh.”

         “Your majesty.” Glimmer’s eyes followed the voice to the clone entering the drop ship, it was Hordak. Long black cape covering his body and draping behind him on the floor. His battle armour underneath, no longer bearing the symbol of the Horde, but rather the symbol of Dryl, purple gear with a star at its centre. Proud property of his wife. 

         “Hordak, finally. I wanted to speak with you.” Glimmer spoke up.

         “Lee here?” Dak turned to V.

         “Yeah, he’s in.” V replied, still glued to the TV screen.

         “What? I didn't see anyone enter.” Glim remarked confused.

         “Yeah, that's Lee. If he wants to, you won't see him all week.” V shrugged.

         “One can only hope.” She murmured.

         “I see you've already gotten acquainted with the crew. Uh- Make yourself at home, I suppose. We depart soon.”

         “Uh- Thanks...”

         “...”

         “...”

         “...Soooo, How- uh- how are you?...”

         “Yeah, I'm- I'm good- I'm alright... How... Are you?”

         “Good. Good...

         “... Yeah.”

         “... Alright, let's go.” He awkwardly turned around and departed to the ship's cockpit.

         V stopped on the way, “Hey, Daky, beloved brother of mine, my favourite person in the whole wide cosmos.”

         “What do you want?” Hordak sounded tired already.

         “Can I drive?”

         “No.”

         “I'm a pilot! I was a pilot back in the day! I'm good at flying. I'm a pilot... Can I-?”

         “You are not touching my ship.”

         “But you let Entrapta work on the ship!?”

         “That, dear brother, is because she's competent.”

         Glimmer huffed as she leaned against the couch cushions, “This is going to be a long week.” She returned to her slouching.

         Hordak marched up the small steps that led to the cockpit which was a narrow space; and sat one on the front seat, the pilot seat from which one would steer the ship via the steering wheel and the numerous unlabelled buttons covering the control panels on either side of the wheel, some blinking, some not. (How Hordak knew to press what, was beyond this trans-fourth-dimensional narrator.) V attempted to flick a switch, but his hand was slapped away by Dak, who didn't even take his eyes off the panel. V frowned like a toddler that was denied cookies from their mom, and he fell down onto the back seat of the cockpit, the navigator seat. The navigator would advise routes throughout space and monitor the status of the ship.

         A finger taped Glimmer on the shoulder, she turned to see Moe, now on board, “Can I take some of these?” He asked, pointing to the pillows on the couch.

         “Uh, yeah, sure.” She handed the clone the pillows, and watched him make his way to Drag. Moe climbed down from his wheelchair and gently moved his brother to lean forward, still unconscious, and placed a pillow behind his head. He wanted to lift his younger brother and place another pillow under him, but Moe, being a defect, was unable to lift his weight. So, he was surprised when Drag did lift up. He looked up surprised to see that Glimmer had lifted the comatose clone up by the underarms. Moe was pleasantly shocked for a moment, but continued and placed a pillow for Drag to sit on and one to lean against. Glimmer lowered him, and helped Moe up onto his wheelchair. And pushed his wheelchair to the couch.

         “Thanks- Bay doors.” He pointed to a big red button with a lock image on it. Glimmer pressed it, and the ship’s ramp receded in and the heavy shutter doors sealed them in, and would seal the void of space out. “Thanks.”

         “No problem.” They returned to the couch.

         “He's always sore when he wakes up.” He remarked worryingly. The gesture was cute, that little act of kindness surprised Glimmer.

         V’s voice echoed through the ship, “Non-clones and gentle-clones please take your seats as we're about to rocket ourselves into the void of space through a wall of fire surrounding the planet, so we're all probably going to die, so say your prayers to whatever deity you believe in, won't matter though because we live in a nightmare world where there truly is no god.” He announced cheerfully. A loud smack could be heard and an “Ouch.” from V.

         Hordak’s voice came through, “Ignore him.”

         “You’ll get used to that,” Moe spoke up, “That's like Dak’s catch phrase.”

         “Is your brother, the bird one, always like that?”

         “No, he's usually worse. He's on good behaviour since we have a guest over.”

         “Are we- going to experience some turbulence? No offence to your brother but anything he makes is usually held together by duct tape. Are we about to turn into a giant fireball? He loves big fiery explosions.” Glimmer asked concerned, recollecting about the Fright Zone.

         “HehHa! Yeah that sounds like Hordak, alright.” He wheeled himself over to a front corner of the ship which had a standing canvas, some small cabinets at the side supposedly housing some art supplies. There was also a small circular window at the corner framing the view of the outside. “The Annihilation has been through a lot, but you won't find a more reliable (and lucky) ship in The Holy Armada! You won't even feel the take off.”

         “How do you know?” Glimmer asked unconvinced.

         “Come take a look.” He just pointed to the window. Glimmer, confused, waltzed over to the window, her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. A blue surface, rippling and kicking up as the ship zoomed past; a river, then fields of trees, zipping by. They had already launched. Mount Dryl shrinking into the distance.

         They had launched from the side of the mountain, out of the hangar bay doors, cloaked by Entrapta’s holographic disguise field. Soon they surpassed the clouds, and pierced into the atmosphere. For a moment the window became coated in fire and flame. And then it passed, and now the Queen of Light stared out into an endless black void reaching out into infinity. Across the blackness were white speckles; stars, distant suns, sustaining worlds and civilizations all of their own, Etheria a distant speck to them all.

         Before they could leave Etheria behind there was one obstacle left; a barrier of warships guarding the planet from the upper atmosphere. An impenetrable wall of hull and fire power. The most powerful warships that side of the galaxy. After the Fall of Prime over a year ago the clones were freed from his control, left to aimlessly wander Etheria - for the first time in their lives without purpose. The clone population was stranded on Glimmer’s magical world, the Princess Alliance weren't about to just let their invaders take back their war machines and leave to who knows where, or worse, turn the weapons back against Etheria. So, at first the warships over Etheria were disabled. But over the following months, as Entrapta established communications with various systems, and rumours began to spill out. A sizeable number of them coming from the clone grapevine. The refugee clones slowly began to form pockets of community around Etheria. The Princess Alliance never stood against it, and even helped establish those pockets, BrightMoon was always involved in combating homelessness, a programme started by Glimmer’s mother, often allowing homeless citizens take shelter and live within the walls of BrightMoon castle.

         Within the clone settlements many managed to establish contact with the outside, smuggling becoming a major enterprise. Clones being the main item smuggled off world. Through Hordak various rumours reached her; Word of various larger neighbouring systems eyeing Etheria with watering mouths. Smaller less developed planets often fell prey to larger powers, Glimmer wasn't about to let that happen. And the answer was right under her nose. The clones knew how to operate the worships, of course they'd be supervised by BrightMoon knights, but to her pleasant surprise the clones dedicated themselves to their posts rather quickly and without much convincing or argument. They were desperate for a mission, for a purpose. And so, Glimmer gave them one; Protecting their new home.

Glimmer sighed, “I'm going to be honest I would’ve felt much better about this if the starships could escort us... No offence, uh…”

“Moe.”

“Moe.”

“Short for Mosquitor.”

“Oh.”

“I'm guessing the point of all of this is to stay unseen, and not to attract much unwanted attention.”

“It is. Heh, not to mention the reason why we're going to The Council of the Known Universe is to make allies, it’d be hard to do that if we just pulled up with a starship overhead. Don't want to prove the threats and fear mongering rumours correct.”

“Didn't you just reason your way out of the predicament?”

“I suppose I did.”

“Also, those aren't starships, heh, you haven't seen a Starship yet. Warships of The Holy Armada are impressive, no doubt about it. But starships are unfathomably enormous. Giant rings, large enough to surround an entire sun, draw power from it, often acting as a shipyard constructing warships for the Prime’s endless conquest. They’re pretty, in a horrifying kind of way.”

Glimmer couldn't even imagine something of that scale. Things like that often made Glimmer put things into perspective of how small and secluded Etheria was. How little she was in the vastness of the cosmos. It frightened her, but she chose not to think about it. But unbeknownst to the Queen that phobia had led her actions subconsciously. Many people are guided by fear, even kings and Queens, whether they know it or not. Glimmer, whether right or wrong, was stepping along the path of fear.

Glimmer’s eyes scoured the dark space and managed to spot a small brush of green among the canvas of black, the only spot of colour in space. “Huh.”

Moe took note of the response, “What? The Velvet Glove? Huh, looks different than when I last saw it, greener!”

“Yeah, that might have been my and my friends’ doing. My… friend, Adora, kinda,” Glimmer scratched the back of her head, “Turned the ship into a giant tree.”

“With many of our brothers still within.”

“Yeah, sorry about thaaAAHHH!” The Queen of Light embarrassingly shrieked as she noticed a third figure standing behind them silently. A man missing his lower jaw. He narrowed his blood red eyes, their wrinkles around his eyes more visible. Glimmer covered her mouth like an old Victorian maiden. “Sorry. My bad. Sorry. Hehe.” Lee seemed unamused. The old clone’s pupils lit up and he turned to Moe. Moe turned back to face him, his pupils lit up too. The two stared at each other without a single word spoken for a moment or two. Glimmer’s eyes shifted between the two. Are they buffering? What's going on?

Moe returned his gaze to the Queen, “He– ugh, welcomes you on board and wishes you a pleasant stay. And is honoured to be in the presence of royalty, especially one of whom allows us to stay on your world.”

Lee signed with his hands, clearly some sort of sign language, Glimmer managed to make out some of it, but not enough to further the conversation, “I'm sorry I don't know sign language, I- I should but I don't.” She remarked sadly.

Moe translated for his brother, “He just wants to discuss with you- uh- some matters.” He sounded a little awkward and nervous. Lee gave him an angry look for not translating fully. Moe just shrugged.

Outside across the depthless night a streak of light zipped across their view, Hordak spotted it, and moved to tail the craft. It was the decoy ship. As a mediaeval planet-locked civilization BrightMoon had no spaceships with which to cross galaxies. Which was why Adora got Entrapta to step in, and she was all too overjoyed about it. Being the genius she was, Entrapta fished out a crashed Horde ship fixed it up and customised it, now sporting the colour scheme of BrightMoon; purple, pink, and gold, even a painted mural of Glimmer on the hull. You couldn't get more overt than that, if this bait wouldn't work, Entrapta didn't know what would.

That was a lovely day, Entrapta and Hordak made a whole day of it, a date, that was what normal couples did so they thought they'd try it out too. And it was wonderful. Just them working together, bouncing ideas off of each other, problem solving, like two lobes of the same brain working in tandem. It was like a dream. Hordak would cherish this memory for years to come.

Hordak pulled up behind the decoy ship. With a single press of a button the clearance codes were transmitted from The Annihilation to the warships. Then; quiet. This moment was always horrifying. The silence. The wait. Hordak and the rest of the crew knew the codes were correct, Glimmer approved them herself, but each time Hordak’s mind briefly flashed to the thought of; What if the codes were wrong? If the warships would open fire, they would be dead in seconds - if not instantaneously vaporised by the battery lasers then they would freeze in the void of space. Seconds ticked away. They waited for the go-ahead; Hordak tense, V, behind him, completely relaxed and indifferent - the fear of death had left the old clone long ago, and then...

A green light lit up on the control panel. And the barricade of warships began to part like the Red Sea. And the tightness in Hordak’s chest disappeared and he released a sigh of relief. The two ships bypassed the armada wall and soon after separated, Glimmer watched the bait craft shrink into a dot out of the window and disappear. Soon the armada faded from visibility as well, and they were off on their voyage, no turning back now. Nothing but an endless stretch of darkness.

“Well, I guess there's no going back now.” She stepped up to the cockpit and looked on at the eternal night ahead.

V put his feet up on the pilot chair ahead, annoying Hordak, “Why so gloomy your highness. They should call you Gloomer. We’re here to have a good time! You know this is a road trip, and you know what that means!”

Dak: “No.”

Moe: “Oh Prime.”

Lee just turned around and left to his room.

V opened a compartment in the chair he was sitting on and pulled out a CD, and practically crawled over Hordak to get to the front control panel and slid the disc into a rectangular device. Glimmer believed it was called a CD player. And so music began to play from it. A country song come on not that our protagonists knew what that was exactly. The song began:

‘Life is like a road that you travel on,

When there is one day here and then the next day gone,

Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand,

Sometimes you turn your back to the wind’

Hordak face palmed, unable to escape the sound of the song, trapped in the pilot's seat. He had clearly heard this song a thousand times before. “I can't believe this.”

‘There is a world outside every darkened door,

Where the blues will not haunt you anymore,

Where brave are free and lovers soar,

Come ride with me to the distant shore’

Glimmer bowed her head down and sighed, “This is my life now... for the next week... No going back.” She echoed the words to herself once more. She turned and waltzed back to the couch defeated.

‘We won't hesitate, to break down the garden gate,

There's not much time left today, yeah –

THE DEFECTS, FEATURING QUEEN GLIMMER OF ETHERIA, STARRING IN:

‘L I F E   I S   A   H I G H W A Y  !’

‘And I want to ride it all night long.’

End of Act One (of Three)

___

Next Time on LIAH

"I've been checking our food cabinets, some thing's eating our supplies, some thing's here with us."

Dun. Dun. DUN!

---

"Don't be mad!"

"What did you do?!"

"I said don't be mad!!!"

---

"Is that a shotgun?!?!"

---

"Fifty Romulaks?! Where are we crossing over to Terabithia?!!"

---

"Keith... I'm pregnant."

"I knew it."

To Be Continued

[mazzarts-symphony]

I was very lucky to work with you on the @spopbang event! Like I gushed to you over discord, I've read heaps of your Hordak, Entrapta and SPOP analysis and fic, and I loved what you have brought to the fandom, so thank you for working on this with me 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Big thanks to the organisers again, thank you very much for all your hard work!

[prince-toffee]

Guess who's participating in the @spopbang and is really bad with time management? This guy!

And I also have the honor of working with the amazing, absolutely incredible @cosmiccanineart !!!!!

[mazzarts-symphony]

I'm excited for my first Big Bang event! Here's a lil preview;

This was fun to work on, can't wait to share the whole thing!

[kuurankaiho]

Secret Santa for @cosmiccanineart. Full piece beneath the cut. Premise: what if Hordak and Entrapta had possessed more time aboard the Velvet Glove after Prime's demise... The poses aren't super interesting, but by the time I got a better idea, I would have run out of time.

[mazzarts-symphony]

Thank you so much, I love it!!!! As far as I'm concerned, this is officially canon

I love everything about this, the shading, lighting, linework, everything!!!

thankyouthankyouthankyou

[mazzarts-symphony]

Happy Secret Santa 2023 @niuniente !!!

Needless to say I was just a little bit giddy with delight when I got one of my absolute favourite Entrapdak artists for Secret Santa this year!

Thanks for all your amazing artwork over the years, and here's to a happy 2024!

(big thanks as always to @maireadralph for organising the Secret Santa once again <3 <3 <3

[maireadralph]

It's that time of the year again - time for another Entrapdak Zine!! Hurry Hurry grab your copy from the little Google Drive link here

This issue comes in at a file size of 193.6mb and contains 43 page of fan fics, fan art and even a fan comic - that's a heck lotta fan luv!

So don't forget to send some some luv back to the lovely people who made this all possible!

Over here on Tumblr that's:

@kuurankaiho, @solcaeruleus, @danitza-drtc, @madgirlmuahaha, @luna-tiel, @rheesvandar, @forestfairyunicorn, @cirusthecitrus, @cosmiccanineart

and from the Instagram:

plain_black_canvas

Mostly returning peeps with some new persons which is so lovely to see! Anywho now's that wonderful time for you to all RELEASE THE ENTRAPDAKS and post all your Zine work. Thank you all for being so patient, now let's flood the internet with Entrapdak LUV!!

And remember back issues can be found here!