If I'm honest, I'm not completely caught up on the series, but I saw the episode where Cedric tries to take over the kingdom for real, and I got the idea for this. I do believe it's going to be a trilogy, but there's no promises yet.

On another note, I love Sofia the first! Such a diverse cartoon! Cedric is my favorite character, and this should prove it.

Oh, and to be very, very clear. This is a FRIENDSHIPstory! No romance between Cedric and Sofia! Now that that's out of the way, please enjoy!

Also, this entire story is uploaded in audio form on YouTube.

Cedric groaned loudly, touching his sore head, which throbbed at the brush of his fingers. He sat up blearily, wondering what spell or potion he'd messed up—again—to give him such a strange feeling of otherworldliness. After glancing around for a moment, he did a doubletake. The sky was pink with diamond-like stars sparkling beside a beautiful silver moon high above him, a golden sun shimmering on the far horizon.

"Oh, great, Wormy! I teleported myself!" Cedric growled angrily. "And I'm not really sure where, either!"

Silence greeted him. There was no snarky reply, and Cedric looked around. Usually Wormwood was involved in his mistakes. Where was Wormwood? What had he done? And most importantly, where was he? A purple lump on the ground caught his attention, and his heart nearly stopped.

"Sofia!"

The sorcerer scrambled over, barely noticing the weakness in his limbs as fear settled in his heart. She couldn't be hurt!

"Sofia?" Cedric asked hesitantly. "Sofia? Please get up?"

"Oh, Mr. Cedric, go away. I don't feel well," she said softly, curling up tighter.

"Go away where, exactly?" he mused out loud.

Sofia opened he eyes groggily. "What?" Her blue orbs landed on the gleaming silver ball above them. Slowly sitting up, she looked around. "Mr. Cedric? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, my dear," the man replied, touching his head again. He cringed at the tenderness. "Oh, my head hurts."

Sofia immediately checked her head, finding a similar ache in about the same spot. Cedric watched worriedly as she winced.

"Ow," she said weakly, tears gleaming briefly before she blinked them away.

"Are you going to be okay?" the thin man asked quietly, glancing around the glimmering green and blue grass.

"I think so. Where are we?"

"I still haven't the foggiest, my dear," Cedric said. "Let's see if we can get our bearings, shall we?"

They struggled to their feet.

"Oh, Mr. Cedric," Sofia said with a quavering voice. "My legs feel like jelly."

"I'm not feeling too steady myself," Cedric replied, shaking like a leaf.

He sank back down, Sofia following a moment later. She coughed lightly. "I'm thirsty."

Cedric swallowed convulsively, which brought to his attention his rather parched throat. He coughed, too. "Oh, well…there's a stream over there."

After several more unsuccessful attempts at standing, they crawled over on shaky arms to the water. They took in quite a few handfuls before their thirst was sated then they sat there looking around.

A whinny brought their attention to a unicorn. Sofia stared for a moment the glanced up. "Are we in the Mystic Isles?"

"Impossible," Cedric said dismissively then pursed his lips, looking up at the sound of a roar. A dragon swooped overhead, disappearing into the clouds. "And yet…"

After an hour or so, they got their feet under them and, at a loss for what else to do, started walking upstream.

"I've never been to this part of the Isles if we really are there," Sofia said thoughtfully.

Cedric nodded numbly. She had mentioned once before that she'd been to the Mystic Isles, though she had blushed when he asked how and why, so he had stopped asking. He saw a fruit tree, and his stomach complained, Sofia's following a moment later.

"Hungry?"

"Oh, very," Sofia replied.

Cedric reached up and plucked a big, purple and green fruit, sniffing it suspiciously. "I don't know…It could be magical. It's more likely if we really are where you think we are."

Sofia frowned as her stomach snarled. "Do we have a choice?"

"Not really," Cedric admitted, picking another then walking over to sit by the stream. "To be honest, the water might be magical, too. Not much we can do about it."

They tried hard to peel the fruit, as it was apparent that they couldn't just eat the skin, but it wouldn't peel. Cedric finally searched for his wand. It wasn't up his sleeve. Panic flared through him, and he knew Sofia could see how frightened he was. She placed her small hand on his larger one.

"You okay?"

"My wand is gone!" he moaned.

Sofia nodded, automatically reaching up to stroke her amulet…or where it should have been.

"My amulet!" she gasped in fear.

"Maybe they're where we woke up?" Cedric asked.

Without another word, they stood and ran back downstream, searching desperately for their magical items. There was no sign of them. When Sofia sat down and began to sob, Cedric almost joined her, his eyes burning and his heart heavy. He lowered himself to sit morosely beside her as he considered the facts.

They were in a strange place, most likely magical, and neither of them had their magical items. They were hungry with nothing to eat but magical fruit, and they probably had ingested magical water. The side effects might take a while to appear, and they could literally be anything. It was such a scary thought that their future was so uncertain. He wanted to curl up and hold himself, but he had to be strong for Sofia's sake.

"What do we do, Mr. Cedric?" Sofia asked brokenly.

"I don't know," he whispered in reply.

They sat there, Cedric trying to keep from crying, and Sofia trying to stop. Their growling bellies finally roused the sorcerer. He helped the princess up and guided her back to the fruit before he pulled a small knife from a sheath at his hip. Sofia sniffled.

"Where did that come from?"

"Wands are a sorcerer's best tool, but even the common man carries a knife," Cedric responded with a nod. "And I made this enchanted knife when I was a child. It has much magic in it. We are very lucky it isn't gone like your amulet and my wand. This might get into the fruit."

Cedric slowly drew the knife across the fruit's skin, wary that it could explode or ensnare him or…anything, really. Whether it was the magic that the sorcerer had suffused into the metal throughout the years, or just the fact that it was sharp, the hard rind was sliced right through. The flesh of their meal was bright red. Cedric took a small, hesitant bite, chewing thoughtfully. It was delicious, sweet and tart at the same time. When he didn't start to claw his skin off, or anything else unpleasant, he offered a segment to Sofia.

"Thank you," she said softly.

They polished off both fruits then washed it down with the stream water before cleaning their hands. Cedric looked around.

"All right, we need a plan."

"We need to stay near the food and water," Sofia said analytically.

"Agreed. We'll stay near here for now, but I think we should explore a little. If it doesn't change on us by the time we wake up."

They walked for an hour, the golden sun crossing the sky rapidly, then settled under the boughs of the fruit tree by the time that the heavens turned velvety black. The stars were brighter and the silver moon, which hadn't left the sky all day, gleamed, turning the world into a mysterious realm of glowing flowers.

Cedric picked two more pieces of fruit and sliced into them again. Sofia gratefully ate her share then yawned.

"I hope we wake up back home, Mr. Cedric."

"I hope so, too, my dear."

He removed his outer robe and covered her up to keep her warm. It was a delightfully cozy night, so he was fine. She quickly fell asleep, tired out by their long walk and the zigzag of emotions. The fruit above them began to glow, and Cedric watched as fireflies began to zip around. They were so many different colors that it nearly dazzled him when they all flashed at the same time.

He watched them for a while then plucked another fruit, sectioning it and eating slowly. The sorcerer figured that he was already overflowing with the magic from the water and the other two pieces he ate, so whatever harm they would cause would happen anyway. Picking at the rind, he considered what he'd told her for a moment as the memories of where they were slowly came back to him. He had confirmed to the girl that he wanted to wake up back home, which was more than he could say of himself the last time he'd been in this place. He had never wanted to leave, and in fact, he didn't know how. Did he really want to go home?

"I hope so, for your sake," he murmured softly as he mused to himself. "But how to get out of here? I never did figure that out the first time…" Sofia shifted, so Cedric decided to stop talking and used his arms as a pillow, cushioning his head as he fell asleep.