Somewhere in the Whispering Woods

Everything was hazy at first as Hordak opened his eyes. He felt completely soaked and like it hurt all over his body. And as he tried to get himself to his feet Hordak found himself on tiny little beach next to a little stream.

"Curse that horse, inssulent thing had to chase me down a literal cliff." Hordak grumbled as he eventually got on his feet.

As he looked around he saw mostly just variously colored plants and trees that were every shade of blue thinkable. However in the middle of his thoughts the reason for why he fell of the cliff in the first place came back to him. Frantically Hordak checked himself till he felt his satchel which held the crown. Relieved, Hordak started to walk forward until he heard a loud neighbor in the distance.

"Where be ye villain, I shall capture you in the name of justice!" Swift Wind yelled dramatically as he ended with another neigh.

Alarmed Hordak started to run forward despite his pain desperate to get away. For a good few minutes he ran until he was blocked off by a giant rock wall covered in vines. Stressed Hordak grabbed a vine in an attempt to climb it only to fall right through it onto his face. For a moment he was disoriented from the fall until he saw Swift Wind's shadow through the vines. His heart pounded as the shadow walked around sniffing and searching for him.

It seemed like hours that Hordak sat there waiting for the rainbow colored and winged horse to finally leave. But eventually with a great sigh of relief he ran off deeper into the cave until he came into a large sunlit green field. Though that wasn't all he saw a tall brick tower in the middle of it.

For a moment Hordak just stared at it until out of curiosity and the idea of a good hiding place he went to climb it. Once he got there Hordak pulled out two knives and used them to scale the tall tower. With the help of his knives Hordak managed to eventually reach an entrance. He pulled himself in and for a moment rested on the floor to catch his breath, but as soon as he recovered he picked up his satchel. Digging through it Hordak eventually found the crown and admired its beauty.

"You my friend are going to make me a lot of money." Hordak said with a wicked smile until he suddenly blacked out.

Moments later

Once again everything seemed hazy only this time it was only Hordak's head that was hurting. As things got clearer he looked around and found himself tied up to a chair with only one light shining down on him.

"What is the meaning of this, where am I!?" Hordak yelled angrily until he felt the material that tied him up.

Taking a closer look at it Hordak saw it was purple and felt almost like hair. He followed around and saw it completely surrounded him in one continuous strand.

"What is this? Is this hair? Who tied me up?! Show yourselves at once!" Hordak barked.

There was silence for a brief moment until a loud squeal was heard. Hordak looked up to see a young girl falling towards him with a wide smile on her face. Hordak yelled until the girl came to a complete stop in front of his, her hair standing her up.

"Leaping protons! So there are others out side this tower, but you very different from myself! Are you some sort of alien species or is this a mutation of sorts!" Entrapta squealed as she then started to ramble on.

She used the ends of her hair to grab her recorder, a pencil, and a pad of paper.

"Subject is variously colored, with angular ear lobes, and skull shaped cranium…." Entrapta rambled as she poked and prodded at Hordak.

"What the..what are you doing?! Unhand me girl!" Hordak raged as he tried to escape the hair wrapped around him.

"Subject is not human but appears apprehensive to physical contact, possibly a species trait…" Entrapta continued as if Hordak hadn't spoken to her.

"Did you not hear me? I said unhand me!" Hordak roared loudly.

Entrapta screamed and backed up, only to bring her recorder close to her face.

"Subject is enraged when desires are not met." Entrapta said simply as to record her observations.

She then used her hair to simply hold her up and observe from afar. Meanwhile Hordak huffed and puffed until after a while he was more calm and cooled off thanks to the distance Entrapta provided.

"What is this place, girl?" Hordak asked, accepting the fact he couldn't escape for now.

"Subject is inquisitive… this is my home and lab. If I may ask, why is it you are here and how did you find this place?" Entrapta asked quite genuinely as she used her hair to hold her recorder in front of Hordak's face.

"I stumbled into this place and it is none of your business as to why I'm here… What is that?!" Hordak freaked out as Emily suddenly came running up to him and nuzzled him.

"Oh that's Emily, she is just saying hi to you. But one more question, what is this? Entrapta asked as she used her hair to hold up Hordak's sachel.

"Put that down, that is mine!" Hordak barker once more.

And this time he got so angry he jostled his chair and caused it to tip over, leaving him face down on the floor. But his anger didn't deter Entrapta who was consumed by curiosity and dug through Hordak's bag. As she did so immediately her hand drew out a tiara that was silver and covered in purple gems.

"Hmm the subject seems to have a crown of sorts in his bag. Where did you obtain this tiara from sir?" Entrapta said, actually feeling she had seen the tiara somewhere before.

"From a nearby kingdom, now drop it! It's mine!" Hordak bellowed as he struggled in his seat.

"A nearby kingdom! How nearby?!" Entrapta asked hysterically as she then got uncomfortably close to Hordak again.

"Not far from here, and get away from me!" Hordak said struggling once more to get away from Entrapta.

"How long would it take?!" Entrapta asked, getting even closer to the man on the floor.

"Maybe a day's journey." Hordak answered begrudgingly as he gave up avoiding Entrapta at this point.

"Then you must take me there!" Entrapta squealed as she used her hair to pull Hordak up right.

"What! You can not force me too.." Hordak began to say till another voice could be heard.

"Entrapta, I'm back!" Shadow Weaver called out.

"Who was.." Hordak began to ask stressed out till he suddenly black out again.

This black out was caused by Entrapta herself who in pure panic, as she had done earlier, knocked out Hordak with a wrench she had on her. Slightly freaking out she then with her hair and all her strength moved Hordak into a nearby closet. It took her a few seconds but eventually she got the closet sealed shut.

"Entrapta hurry up, do not make me teleport up there!"

"I'm coming!"

Rushing Entrapta threw her hair down and pulled Shadow Weaver up into the tower.

"Why did it take you so long Entrapta, I waited down below for quite some time?" Shadow Weaver asked, suspicious of her daughter's tardiness.

"Oh uh I was busy fixing something and it was too loud for me to hear you." Entrapta lied as best as she could.

"I see, well no matter but I do have some rather exciting news. I found parsnips in the woods and I can make tiny Hazelnut for our dinner later. I know it's your favorite, so I hope you work extra hard to really earn it." Shadow Weaver said as she unpacked her basket.

"Of course Shadow Weaver, which speaking of I think I've found something that could help us with that!"

"This better not be about going outside again, I am quite tired if discussing it. We already decided you are not prepared for such a task and it's best to work with what we have." Shadow Weaver responded quickly trying to dismiss Entrapta's desire.

"Well it actually is but I think I'm more than able to handle myself and I've found…" Entrapta started to say excitedly as she walked towards the closet Hordak was in.

"Haha handle yourself, we both know you are only capable of handling our tech…"

"Please just listen, I think if you just saw…"

"Entrapta we are done talking about this, my answer is still the same as before. You are…"

"But Shadow Weaver if you'd just.." Entrapta started to say desperately as she rushed to the closet.

"Entrapta no!"

"Mother please just give me one.."

"Entrapta stop it!"

"Please if you'd just…"

"Entrapta enough about this ludicrous expedition! You are never leaving this tower ever!" Shadow Weaver roared as she slammed on the table and death glared Entrapta.

There was a great moment of silence as both mother and daughter stood completely still. Within the silence was a tension so palpable you could cut it with a nice and spread it on toast. With a great sense of disillusionment Entrapta dropped her hand, as it nearly reached for the closet door, and looked out the window that even after almost eighteen years she would never leave.

Meanwhile completely exhausted from her telling and outrage Shadow Weaver sat at the simple table they had, her head resting on her hand as she sighed. As she did this in the midst of the silence Entrapta, with a heavy heart, walked towards the window glimpsing at the world outside. Then with her head hung low and submissively she turned to face Shadow Weaver.

"You're right mother, it is a foolish idea, I shouldn't bother you about it anymore. Though there might be something else you could get for me, that might be just as good." Entrapta said trying to seem unaffected, but inside was hurting.

"And what is that, may I ask?" Shadow asked begrudgingly as she looked up at Entrapta.

"The first one crystals, the purple ones from the abandoned temple you found once."

"The Crystals, the trip for those alone is very long, and they are very hard to find. It would take me at least three days to travel and find the exact ones." Shadow Weaver asked almost annoyed and surprised at the same time:

"Well I just figured I could make tech just as great as I did last time. And you could make it my birthday present as well, since it would be that by the time you returned. Entrapta requested feeling rather defeated.

With a deep sigh, and almost a feeling of regret, Shadow Weaver walked up to Entrapta and put her hands gently on her shoulders.

"Are you sure you will be fine here all alone?" Shadow Weaver asked with the slightest bit of concern.

"I will be fine. I've got my tech, my tower, and all that I need right here." Entrapta said trying to pretend like everything was peachy.

"Alright, I will go get the crystals as you've asked for." Shadow Weaver said calmly.

Entrapta then helped Shadow Weaver pack for her journey, both knowing it would be a long one. At the same time they also recharged Shadow Weaver with magic energy for her long journey away from the tower. Once all was prepared, they walked over to the tower window and Entrapta threw down her hair.

"I will return in about three days, keep the tower clean and work on our tech till then. Take care Entrapta and be careful ." Shadow Weaver said as she descended down to the ground.

"Take care Mother, see you in a few days!" Entrapta called out.

Shadow Weaver merely turned and waved then continued down into the cavern. As Entrapta watched her walk off she couldn't help but look longingly at the outside world, a place she'd never been in her entire life. However she then remembered what she still had hidden in the closet.

Cautiously with Emily, who had to come out of hiding to her side, behind her and armed with a wrench she approached the closet. Ever so slowly she creeped forward until she could at last touch the door and threw the door open. Immediately a still unconscious Hordak fell face first, and still tied to the chair, onto the floor. Sheepishly Entrapta tapped Hordak but still no response, she still continued to try to wake him up but nothing worked. But then Emily walked forward and, with the use of a mild taser she had, lightly tazed Hordak.

As the electricity ran through Hordak's body he woke up yelling. After the razor finished he just laid there breathing heavily and groaning in pain.

"What did you do to me!" Hordak grumbled angrily.

"Just a mild razor to help bring you back to consciousness, now I have a proposition for you!" Entrapta said excitedly as she ran and dragged Hordak, with her hair, behind her.

Once they came to a stop Hordak just looked ticked off beyond belief.

"You knock me out unconscious, electrocute me, take my...wait a moment… Where is my crown?!" Hordak barked.

"I have hidden your crown but if you'll simply listen you can get it back!" Entrapta explained as she grabbed her hollow map.

Hordak just stared strangely at this odd long haired girl before him, unable to understand how his anger didn't scare her like other people. But it also made him realize that fear wasn't going to work on this strange girl, so he'd better listen.

"Huh fine, what is this proposition you have for me?" Hordak asked feeling he was going to greatly regret this.

"First allow me to show you something!" Entrapta squealed excitedly as she dragged, now upright, Hordak to a blank wall.

She then pulled out her hollow map and let it shine on the wall in front of them.

"As you can see from my map here there is a great source of energy coming from a nearby place, where I assume is the kingdom you obtained your tiara from. Now in a few days a series of floating lights will appear in the evening…"

"Are speaking of the lantern release the kingdom does for the princess?" Hordak asked, not particularly interested but clarifying what the strange girl was saying.

"Lanterns! Well that certainly answers a lot of my questions, but besides the point. I propose that you take me to this kingdom so I can study its source of power as well as see these lanterns for myself. Then you will return me here and I will return your tiara and satchel, do we have a deal?" Entrapta asked as she walked towards Hordak, her hand extended out.

"And why should I help you when I could simply escape and take the crown back for myself?!" Hordak asked not wanting to return to a kingdom that was already looking for him.

"Well unless you have a way to untie yourself and know where your crown is, this is your only option."

For a moment Hordak thought over his options of helping Entrapta yet risking life time imprisonments or even death. But he also could just book it and get out of this place, yet also lose the crown. For a solid minute he thought until at last Hordak came to a final decision.

"Ughhh fine I will take you to the kingdom to get back my crown." Hordak said quite begrudgingly.

"Wooooh yes!" Entrapta squealed excitedly as she untied her hair and started to swing around.

Meanwhile Hordak just face palmed himself wondering in terror what he'd just agreed to.

Outside the tower

Hordak, at last free from his shackles of hair, stood outside the tower, his arms extended upwards as Emily was lowered down.

"Remind me why exactly we have to bring this pile of junk with us!" Hordak yelled up at Entrapta as he caught Emily and with all his strength lowered her bulky body to the ground.

"She is not junk and because she is my friend. Besides all those factors she'll prove quite useful for our journey." Entrapta yelled down as slowly let her hair down to put Emily down gently.

"How is a wobbly one tone pile of scrap going to serve us well?" Hordak asked as he untied Emily.

"She's a world in progress and has had her share of failures, but she's better than any other machine I've built because she's improving. So she and I learn more together." Entrapta started not understanding why no one had the patience to perfect rather than be perfect.

Hordak just kind of rolled his eyes as he undid the last knot around Emily, freeing both her and Entrapta's hair. After being set down and untied, Emily immediately went up and nuzzled Hordak's leg lovingly and thankfully.

"Awe look, she likes you!" Entrapta said happy to see Emily making friends.

Hordak lightly scoffed at the machine's affection but nonetheless returned it with a simple pat on the top of Emily's orb shaped body. Emily made a mechanic like purr indicating she liked Hordak a lot.

"Are you coming down now girl!" Hordak yelled, mostly just trying to ignore the machine trying to love him.

Entrapta looked down nervously, never before had she left her tower. Never before had she even been outside, this was the first time. So with a deep breath and a tight grip on her hair Entrapta jumped off the tower ledge. As she slid down her hair, the wind rushed around her causing her to laugh out of pure joy. Faster and faster she descended down until just before she hit the ground Entrapta stopped. Nervously she looked at the ground and cautiously extended her foot till it touched the soft grass.

Losing all her inhibitions she let go of her hair and just felt the grass with her feet. After that she went nuts and started to run around exploring all the wonderful new sights and smells around her. She couldn't believe it after all these years she was out of the tower and….free!