The Princess and the Pauper

Musa sat in the Nighly carriage, looking uncomfortable in her big red dress. Riven squeezed next to her, and next to him sat a squished Brandon. On the opposite side of the carriage, Helia was equally uncomfortable sat in-between Flora and Stella. Flora had been smart enough to change out of the massive gown and into a more casual white mini dress once they saw how tiny the carriage was, but they still had to fit in one.

"So, Musa, you know what to do?" Brandon asked across Riven.

"Oh, yeah, I have it down. But I did have a thought-," she pulled in her dress as much as she could, so it wasn't under anyone's feet, "What if the same guards from earlier are managing the guest list? I'll be recognised as someone from Nighly and I won't be let in."

"If you tell them that you're in the ring of fire then they'll just let you in regardless." Stella stated.

"Why?"

"It's code, part of our family crest, it means that you're close with the family and are above being on any kind of list, as long as the guards are of the Solarian palace, they won't ask questions."

"Perfect, I think." she said nervously. Flora reached over and held Musa's hand, giving her signature caring smile.

"It'll be fine, I know you'll do great," she said, "And hey, how amazing is it that we're sitting in a carriage with royalty?!" she finished with a squeal and both girls laughed together.

"I know, right?! It's insane! It's PRINCE FUCKING HELIA who's smushed up against you!"

"I know, I know! His leg is really warm!" She said, earning a raised eyebrow from the rest of them.

"Right! We're here!" Riven piped up as the carriage pulled outside the entrance, "Musa, if you need us, we'll be sneaking in around the other side. So try not to need us."

"Sweet as ever," she smirked, "I'll be seeing you all later," she pulled herself out of the carriage and made her way towards the guards as daintily as she could.

"Name, place of origin," the guard spat.

"I'm part of the ring of fire," Musa said confidently… ish. The guard looked her up and down, smirked, but nodded.

"In you go, have a wonderful time."

~.~.~

Flora, Stella, Brandon, Riven and Helia made it to the trees on the other side of the cliff. There was a wall separating the private wedding, a brand new and pretty damn tall wall.

"How the hell are we going to do this?" Stella moaned.

"We need to find a spot behind something, and stay behind whatever it is until everyone heads up the cliff for the ceremony," Riven thought out loud. "Hey. Nature fairy."

"Yes?" Flora replied.

"Can you climb trees?"

"Yeah, why? If you want a bird's eye view Stella and I could just fly up there." Flora explained. Riven shook his head.

"Too noticeable, you need to blend in with the trees."

"Fine." Flora shrugged. She selected a tree close to the wall, and started to pull herself up. As she got higher and higher she could see the circus-esque wedding celebration laid out neatly. The whole arrangement was in a perfect circle, with a wide path leading straight up the cliff where she could see chairs and an altar laid out. Around the outside of the circle there were four tents surrounding the lemonade fountain in the centre. From what she could tell, two were for food and two were for the bride and groom to get ready separately. They couldn't hide behind the food tents- they were too busy, so they were out. She didn't like the idea of hiding metres away from Baltor, so she had to figure out which tent belonged to Queen Luna. She squinted and saw Musa asking someone something, and that person pointed at the tent directly in front of the fountain. That must be it. She climbed back down.

"Down the middle, directly in front of the path up the cliff." she puffed, "That's Queen Luna's tent, it's our best shot at not getting caught."

"Excellent."

~.~.~

"Excuse me, Queen Luna?" Musa really didn't know how to approach her, her best plan was to awkwardly talk through the tent door as quietly and politely as she could.

"Who's there?" Luna replied.

"You don't know me but-," Musa sighed in frustration, "Please, I have some really important information about your daughter."

"With respect, whoever you are, my daughter is dead, I don't think I need to know anything else." Luna said sadly.

"That's kind of the thing- she's not. She's alive." Musa said as quietly as she could. There was a long pause.

"Get in."

Musa quickly unzipped the door and zipped it again behind her. There wasn't much inside, but Queen Luna was staring blankly at herself in the mirror.

"I made a promise to my husband that this would never happen. I feel disgusted with myself." she muttered bitterly and turned around to Musa. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes, Princess Stella is alive- and so is Brandon. Me, Flora, the girl who was pretending to be your daughter, Riven, a Nighly guard and Prince Helia dug them out of a hole in Linphea."

"I'm sorry, what?" She was more confused than she had ever been in her entire life. "The girl that was arrested for murdering and impersonating my daughter saved my daughter?"

~.~.~

"How the hell do you expect me to climb over that thing?" Stella gasped appalled.

"I'll go first." Flora volunteered, "Follow my steps." She climbed up a nearby tree, jumped on to the wall and jumped down. A small cry was heard as she hit the ground.

"Me next." Helia said firmly, removing his jacket. He copied Flora as best he could, but she seemed to be a natural. He landed on the floor with ease and looked to Flora; she was clutching her ankle, with tears that she was clearly trying to suppress flowing from her eyes.

"I forgot to bend my knees." she tried to smile. Helia sighed and gently felt her ankle.

"That definitely doesn't feel right." he frowned. "Don't try to walk, you might draw attention to us. I'll carry you."

"You what?" Flora couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll carry you, on my back." He repeated. Flora sighed heavily but smiled gratefully and cautiously wrapped her little finger around his. He smiled back.

Just then, Stella came down.

"That was an ordeal!" She hissed, checking her nails. Brandon followed shortly, and Riven finally.

"Perfect, nice one, Flo." Riven gave her an approving nod. "I guess all we can do now is wait."

~.~.~

"It's been very strange," Musa explained, "but I can assure you that Flora never meant any harm to come to you or your daughter, she was asked to impersonate her by Brandon, to buy him some time."

"So who tried to kill Stella then?" Luna asked.

"Baltor." Musa sighed, "He's been stealing from the palace, with the intention of marrying Stella and becoming king. When that couldn't happen, he made an excuse to try and marry you, by trying to bury your daughter and Brandon."

"It all makes sense now…" Luna sat down, "As my advisor he has access to all my assets, that includes the vaults… Oh my goodness I should have been more careful!"

"I hope this doesn't compromise anything I've said, but I'm super happy you believe me." Musa laughed.

"I can tell you're not lying," she smiled, "Where's Stella though? As a confirmation, I need to see her. Now."

"I need you to do something." Musa changed the subject, "I need to know that you'll do everything you can to keep that ring off your finger, because confronting Baltor until there's nowhere he can run would be dangerous."

"Okay, okay. But please, I need to see her alive."

"Okay, alright, I'll go see if I can find her." Musa left the tent, but as soon as she finished zipping up, someone held a hand over her mouth and covered her eyes. Her eyes got heavier until she blacked out completely.

~.~.~

"What can you see? Are they starting to walk up the cliff yet?" Brandon whispered to Stella who was peering around the tent.

"No- they should go when Baltor comes out of his tent, but I haven't seen anyone come in or out of there in a while." She said, clearly frustrated. She backed away and looked back at Brandon. "They should be going any minute, but no-one's moved."

"I guess we have to keep waiting then." Riven groaned.

"Where do you think Musa is? She can't have been talking to Queen Luna for this long, we told her to keep it quick." said Flora.

"Something's not right." said Riven. Maybe it was time to take things into his own hands.

~.~.~

Musa slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark- the tent was dark. She recognised that she was still at the wedding. Directly ahead of her she saw Baltor spinning what looked like some kind of Earth weapon in his hands. She then realised that three girls were standing around her, one with dark frizzy hair, one with extremely long brown hair and one with a long, white ponytail. She also realised that she had been tied to a chair with rope, regular rope. How primitive.

"Ah. You're awake." Baltor stood up, "We haven't even known each other for a day and I've already knocked you out twice," he chuckled.

"Ugh, what do you want?" Musa spat.

"Rude." he said, "Don't take me for an idiot. I know about your plan. I know where you're friends are hiding, and I'm afraid that by coming here, you've walked into a trap."

"Bravo. So what do you intend to do now?" Musa asked sarcastically. Baltor didn't reply to her question but laughed and got uncomfortably close to her face.

"You act confident, but I can see you shaking." he stroked her neck with the tips of his fingers, "You shouldn't have gotten involved, you filthy orphan immigrant." he hissed. Musa's breathing got heavier as she felt the space around her close in.

"You know what this is?" he held up the oddly shaped weapon, "It's the Earth version of a regular laser gun. I had some business to attend to on earth, which is when I first saw it used. A man aimed this at his victim's head, pulled the trigger and boom. There was blood everywhere. This is the way human's who don't know magic choose to fight their fights- the most violent planet in the universe if you ask me."

"What of it?" Musa said through her teeth, "Why are you doing this? People are going to notice; there ceremony should have started ten minutes ago!"

"You and your friends still don't seem to understand how serious I am." He stood back up and looked down at her, "I will rule Solaria. If you and your friends get in the way again, someone's going to die."

"Let's hope it's the right person." Musa smiled, and kneed him in the crotch. He fell to the ground with embarrassment clear on his face.

"ICY!" he yelled. Icy, who hadn't really been listening rolled her eyes and took the gun off Baltor.

"Sorry, music pixie, that was one mistake too many-," she aimed the gun, but before she could secure a steady shot it was slapped out of her hands.

"RIVEN!" Musa exclaimed in relief. Riven tried to fight off the three women and looked back to the door.

"Flora, her hands!" he called.

"Right!" Flora fell in and crawled next to Musa, quickly undoing the ropes.

"Musa are you alright?" she asked. Musa nodded.

"I'm fine, you?"

"Ankle's a bit broken, I can't walk, but I'm okay." she explained.

"Why didn't you get someone else to come in and do this then?" Musa asked. Flora just smiled.

"So you can owe me."

"What was that, Linphean? Baltor pulled her away from Musa by the back of her dress and on to her back, "Did you say your ankle is broken? Let me check which one-," Baltor slammed his foot on to her clearly damaged ankle and relished in the scream that followed.

"FLORA!" Musa exclaimed, jumping up and punching Baltor in the face, "TRY THAT AGAIN YOU OLD SACK OF-," Baltor kicked her to the ground before she could finish her sentence.

"The good ones are always too emotional. Darcy?" Darcy stopped struggling with Riven and threw Baltor the gun. "Thank you. Now- who's first?"

Baltor felt the gun shake in his hands- moss and leaves started to sprout from impossible places, the floor was starting to look overgrown and the walls were being reclaimed by vines and weeds. This was a sight so rare that Baltor couldn't help but laugh- this is what happens when a Linphean gets angry.

~A/N~

SHiz BE geTTin CRay