Fanfic / Catra and Glimmer - Queens of the Horde

"With no friends left, maybe... they could turn to their enemies?"
Posters by Lorvikk

^{Acts II and III poster} 

^{Act VI poster} 

Betrayed, cast out and pissed off, Glimmer and Catra set out together to reclaim their lost queenhoods and get revenge on those who wronged them.

Catra and Glimmer - Queens of the Horde is a She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fanfic by Bagge, diverging from the end of season 4.

Glimmer and Catra hate each other. For as long as they both have lived, their lives have been consumed by the endless war between the Princess Alliance and the Horde. Fighting on opposite sides, the two have often clashed, especially after Adora, the Horde's golden child, left her childhood friend for the Alliance.

Now, however, they find themselves bearing the same plight. At great cost, they have risen to command their respective sides of the war, and found that the consequences of their choices has left them with few friends and many enemies. With the Witch pulling strings on both sides from the shadows, the two will soon be cast out and exiled from all that they know, forced to do the unthinkable; Work together.

But when there is no ally left, you turn to the devil you know. And together, Catra and Glimmer will find that even after reaching rock bottom, there is always further left to fall.

The fic is part of Bagge's Evil Queen Glimmer-series, an anthology of disconnected stories based on playing up Glimmer's pragmatic and machiavellian traits to the point of making her a Manipulative Bitch. Queens of the Horde is the first fic in the series to last for longer than a single chapter.

Spoilers up until the end of act 1 are unmarked

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Queens of the Tropes

• Abstract Apotheosis: Shadow Weaver somehow usurps Light Hope's position as the primary controlling intelligence of Etheria, making her close to a goddess with power over the elemental princesses and the various First One systems.
• Abusive Parents: Shadow Weaver is a bastard in all senses of the word, seeing the children she guides (or rather manipulates) as little more than tools to mold as she sees fit. Catra is still dealing with the fallout of her abuse and Adora is treated as a puppet with no agency of her own. In chapter 56, Shadow Weaver reveals that Glimmer is her favorite of her four "children", which did nothing to stop her from usurping her and leaving her to die in a ditch the first chance she got.
• Act of True Love: When he learns that Entrapta may still be alive on Beast Island, Hordak decides to sacrifice himself to close the portal, staying behind in the Void Between Worlds, as he bears absolutely no doubt that Entrapta will find a way to save him.
• Ambition Is Evil: Shadow Weaver's stated goal is to become an elemental princess, and gain the magical and political power that comes with it, and she refuses to let anything stand in the way of that goal. She is also not satisfied with merely one princess. Downplayed, since the two main characters are also driven by ambition, though callng them heroic is a bit of a stretch.
• The Apprentice: While in the Crimson Waste, Glimmer picks up a kid with talent for sorcery named Jack and takes them on as her apprentice. Over time their relationship turns more into that of a mother and kid.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: In Chapter 27 Shadow Weaver invades Catra's dreams. Glimmer kicks her out.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Glimmer and Catra run into big desert beetles that eat magic. Later, Glimmer use them to fuel one of her more spectacular spells to make it rain in the desert.
• Cliffhanger: Bagge is fond of these.
  • Chapter 26 ends with Jack seemingly killing Glimmer.
  • Act V ends with Glimmer and Catra succumbing to Beast Island's influences, only for an arrow to hit one of the vines just before they pass out.
  • Chapter 55 ends with Glimmer contacting Shadow Weaver through a magic mirror, addressing her as Queen and saying it's time they talked while the rest of the new princess alliance leave for war.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Shadow Weaver calls Glimmer the "least disappointing one" of the children she saw fit to invest herself in.
• Damsel in Distress: Catra and Glimmer take turns saving each other. They both note that they find it kinda hot.
• Demonic Possession: A favored tactic of Shadow Weaver. Since she can't take the princesses' powers for herself, she compensates by using the entire princesses as puppets that dance to her whims. She has demonstrated this on Huntara, Mermista, Perfuma and Adora.
• Despair Event Horizon: Catra and Glimmer reaches it thanks to the signal of Beast Island. They are only saved by a timely intervention by Bow and Scorpia. Catra also confesses that she was close to give up in the beginning of the story, before she met Glimmer.
• Divine Right of Kings: Glimmer invokes this in the beginning of the fic. Her attitude to power evolves throughout the story.
• Driving Question: What kind of a queen does Glimmer want bo be? In the start of the story her answer is 'Not my mother'. Towards the end, it has evolved into 'Not Shadow Weaver either'.
  • Her very last act of defiance when she destroys the Moonstone adds a third aspect of the answer: 'Not the Shining Princess either'.
• The Dreaded: In general, princesses are this to the Horde.
  • Glimmer, after demonstrating just what she's capable of in the Crimson Wastes, gains a reputation as The Shining Princess, a terrifyingly powerful sorceress who can take down armies by herself. As Lonnie explains, while the Horde may respect Catra, they fear Glimmer.
  • Offscreen, during the first half of the story, Frosta manages to become this for the Horde forces attacking Snow. She is most smug when she learns about it.
• Evil Chancellor: Glimmer styles herself as this in the Crimson Waste, before she manages to establish the idea of her and Catra as queens on equal terms.
• Framing Device: The fic is framed as a theater play, starring Catra and Glimmer as the main characters and Double Trouble as the narrator. Each act opens with DT performing a monologue about the plight of the two queens, and Bagge writes "cast interviews" on tumblr. Glimmer and Catra are still in a relationship outside the play.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Shadow Weaver rules Bright Moon with an iron fist, having turned it into a kingdom of dark sorcery and expanding her power through possessed princesses. Glimmer is better, but only by comparison, tossing allies to the wolves for small failures and keeping a core of fanatically loyal followers to weed out dissent. Unlike Shadow Weaver, she gets better.
• Go Through Me: Both Catra and Glimmer has their moments of standing between their girlfriend and certain death.
  • In Chapter 17 Catra stands between Glimmer and the bandit camp that are prepared to cut her throat.
  • In Chapter 41 Glimmer creates a dome of power to stop a shadow possessed Mermista from drowing Catra and everyone else on the Horde ship she is on.
• King of Thieves: In the third act, Queens of the Crimson Waste, Catra crowns herself Queen of Bandits by the virtue of beating up any contender for the crown.
• Kirk Summation: Glimmer lays one on Shadow Weaver in chapter 56, pointing out how Shadow Weaver is neither a conqueror nor a ruler, and despite her love of pulling stings, her puppets keep cutting them. Not to mention that she again and again is content to sit and do nothing but lightly meddle while opportunities pass her by, first with the Horde and then with Bright Moon.
• Lady-In-Waiting: Glimmer styles her personal guard after this in an effort to change the power structure of the Crimson Waste and to bridge the perceived power imbalance between her and Catra.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The act breaks are not shy about addressing that this is a fanfic based on a show. Double Trouble addresses author's notes as "the note on the door" and mentions specifically that the story starts near the end of season 4. The reason it's just this and not Breaking the Fourth Wall is that the Framing Device means that the show itself may also have been a play in this universe, and DT is simply addressing that.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Bow certainly thinks so. The extent to which he is right is discussed throughout the story.
• Mama Bear: Some mercenaries get the bright idea to attack Catra's and Glimmer's surrogate kids Jack and Frosta. They become very dead very quick.
• Mordor: Brightmoon under Shadow Weaver has this aestetic, cloduded by shadows and populated by possessed people.
• Might Makes Right: The rule in the Crimson Wastes. Whoever is strongest, fastest, or most cunning can take whatever they desire, while those who cannot are left behind to die. This system ends up being beneficial for Glimmer and Catra, since they are both strong, fast, and cunning. Shadow Weaver also shares this philosophy, albeit at a grander scale, seeing the entire world as a system of old trees falling for the new, the strong devouring the weak.
  Glimmer: That's all there is, then? The rulers of the world climbing on each other's corpses, just like the thugs of the desert.
• Mythology Gag: In chapter 47, Glimmer and Catra go to Beast Island together, something that also happened in Bagge's first glitra fic, We Won't Die Here.
• Noble Fugitive: When Shadow Weaver usurps her kingdom, Glimmer, former Queen of Bright Moon, is reduced to a refugee traveling the roads hiding from patrols.
• No-Sell: In Chapter 54 a shadow possessed She-Ra shrugs off everything the princesses and the Horde can throw at her.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermista in mermaid form, possessed by Shadow Weaver and empowered by the Heart of Etheria stops the Horde's fleet all by herself by her control of water.
• Parental Favoritism: Shadow Weaver tends to position herself as a mother figure to various kids she sees potential in, and blatantly has favorites among them. Catra has always been the least favorite, barely worthy of her notice, followed by Adora, Micah, and she claims in chapter 56 that Glimmer was her favorite, or at least the "least disappointing".
• Person of Mass Destruction: A princess empowered by the Heart of Etheria becomes a sheer force of nature, capable of incredible feats of strength beyond those of the greatest sorcerers. Mermista can sink an entire fleet by herself, while going through the Whispering Woods while they're under Perfuma's domain is a death sentence.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Catra and Glimmer get in a few good ones
  • More of a post Asskicking Oneliner, but in Chapter 17 Catra gets a highly effective one after she killed the thugs that threatened to kill Glimmer and prepared to kill every other bandit that had captured them.
    "MINE!!"
  • In chapter 27 Glimmer fights off Shadow Weaver
    "Shadow and nightmares, that's all you are good for," Glimmer snarled. "But Shadows are nothing - just the absence of light. And whatever you think you might have taken from me I'm still..." -strong, white light radiated from her hands- "The Princess of Light! (...) "And I'll see you burn before I let you hurt Catra again."
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: After Entrapta's 'death' Hordak, decides to destroy the world rather han let Horde Prime have it.
• Power Incontinence: Shadow Weaver tricks Glimmer into casting a spell which makes her extra sensitive to the magic of the world, which forces her to take in more magic than she can handle. Especially when the moons are up, her connection to the moonstone makes her extra sensitive.
• Power of Love: Each of Shadow Weaver's possessed puppets in act 6 are broken out of it with this; Adora by Catra reminding them of their childhood friendship, Perfuma by Scorpia awkwardly asking her out on a date, and Swift Wind by his bros Sea Hawk and Bow making dumb horse puns.
• Realpolitik: Glimmer's brand of diplomacy as Queen of the Horde. She strongarms Plumeria to give provisions to the Horde in exchange for 'protection', withdraw said protection from Thaymor after an attack from the rebellion and sells Mermista's kingdom to pirates.
• Rightful King Returns: Glimmer seeks to reclaim her throne in Bright Moon as her main goal, though what kind of queen she will be she has yet to decide.
  • In a way this is also how Catra's return to the Crimson Waste is framed. Of course, the ruler of the Crimson Waste is defined by Might Makes Right.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Some desert thugs decide to kill Glimmer. Catra, despite being tied up and half dead herself, breaks her ropes, kills two of them and only refrain from killing the rest because they yield and allow her to take over the gang
• Not-So-Safe Harbor: Salineas is presented at this, with every conquering faction having to navigate pirates and corruption.
• Secret Police: Glimmer's 'Ladies in waiting' evolve from her personal guards into this, with them snooping around the Horde for any sign of 'disrespect' to their queen. Compounded when Glimmer teaches them magic.
• Shipper on Deck: Double Trouble is very enthusiastic about Glimmer's and Catra's relationship, to their occasional annoyance.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: As a running gag in chapter 58, people keep sneaking up on Bow and Sea Hawk. First Jack and Frosta, then Spinnerella and Netossa.
• Storming the Castle: Glimmer and Catra do this twice, first with the Fright Zone, then with Brightmoon.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Catra and Glimmer quickly passes through this relationship stage on their way from 'Enemies' to 'Lovers'. It doesn't take them long to discover how fun they have kicking ass together.
• The Unfettered: In the penultimate chapter, Shadow Weaver decides that she's had enough of manipulating the princesses and simply goes in for the kill, figuring that it will be easier to just kill them all and wait for new ones to be born. It makes her a lot more dangerous.
• Unfortunate Names: Shadow Weaver at one point mocks Glimmer's name as "An uninspired name given her by a foolish father and an unworthy mother".
• The Usurper: The story kicks off with Shadow Weaver usurping Glimmer's throne. Catra and Glimmer then progresses by taking the thrones of Crimson Waste and the Horde before returning to Brightmoon with a vengeance
• Villain Team-Up: While there is no trust or love lost between Hordak and Shadow Weaver, they do team up to take out the common threat that is Catra and Glimmer.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Shadow Weaver seems to expect Catra to be grateful for SW having let her exist in the Horde.

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"It's a bitch when Adora is right, isn't it?"