"We're here for not even five minutes, and we get separated. Great," Harmony facepalmed while she and Varian were scoping around the area. Right now, they were just floating in place in case one of their friends came back.
"We've gotta find the others before we run out of air, we have to get to the next trial!" Varian told her in annoyance and he sighed, turning to her. "Let's split up, we'll meet back here after we find them."
"Right," She nodded and they swam away in different directions.
Yong was aweing over some underwater fireworks made out of coral and algae. He then gave a blank look towards his sister, who was still contemplating what to do over Hugo.
"Should I just apologize? No, I can't...I'll just get too nervous," She floated back and forth behind her brother. "I can't even look at him without getting flustered..."
"Why do you keep liking him?" He couldn't help but ask her and she froze. "I mean, Hugo's not exactly the friendly type."
"I know, but...even the not-best type of people are still people. I know you, Harmi, and Varian didn't get on the right foot with him, but...I want to believe that he has a good heart. When I talk to him...I can see that he really wants to make the best out of his life. And not only that, but he has a dry wit that I like, he can make any situation better for me. I guess...Harmi and Varian inspired me with their relationship." She smiled softly after stating this.
"I still don't get it, but if he'll make you happy, then I'll be happy too," Yong replied to his sister.
"Aww, so you do care about my love life," She smirked in amusement, hugging him from behind.
"Eww," He stuck out his tongue, but didn't push her away from him.
What she didn't know was that Hugo was listening in, with a small blush on his face. He swam backwards, not sure what to say or do. Eventually he turned around and swam away, thinking about her opinion over him...
Then he scoffed a bit. "W-why should I care what she thinks?" He asked, scratching his nose nervously. "It's not like it'll ever work...a-and why am I thinking about her, anyway? I still have the rest of the totems to find and steal..."
Though with that last sentence, he was noticeably hesitant over it.
Harmony sighed to herself as she swam past all the merpeople and animals. While this was a sight to behold, and this was definitely going into her journal, she was too focused on finding her friends to really take it all in.
"Man, I wish I had time to think about how beautiful this place is...my sister would love this..."
Suddenly she heard a scream and she looked around in confusion. However, she didn't see anything that matched the sound. "What is...?"
She then looked up ahead to see another mermaid approaching her fast. They collided into each other and they spun around all the way towards some sand and some rocks not too far from the kingdom. They landed with a thud and Harmony sat up.
"Ow..."
"Sorry!"
She looked up to see a mermaid with a turquoise tail, with coral pink lipstick and blue eyes. Her hair was very long, colored brown with pink streaks in it. Her hair was half up and half down, with her top being a white bra. She had skin similar to Harmony, and she had a starfish charm bracelet on her right arm.
"Oooh!" Her eyes shined at Harmony. "I've never seen you here around before! Are you new-"
"Stop right there!"
She glanced over her shoulder as she saw some big, burly mermen coming their way. "We gotta hide!" She grabbed Harmony's wrist and quickly swam away.
"Huh?! Hey, what are you doing?!" Harmony exclaimed in protest before they hid behind a large bush of coral. The mermaid peeked as the men came over to their location, looking around and swimming off. She sighed in relief as Harmony turned to her.
"Sorry about that. They've been on my tail since this morning. My name's Kori!" She held out her hand to the girl.
"Harmony," She shook Kori's hand. "Can I ask why they're after you?"
"I...may have dug myself in too deep by sneaking around in the king's study." Harmony's eyes widened at her explanation. "I had a reason!" She defended, crossing her arms. "But I just met you, so I'm not sure I should even tell you."
"I wasn't going to ask...?" The brunette asked in confusion, snapping out of it and floating away from the coral bush. "Look, it was nice meeting you, but I've gotta find my friends. We have something important to tend to."
"Like what?" Kori swam over to her and she glanced at the mermaid, baffled. If she wasn't going to tell Harmony her own business, why was she expecting to be told anything personal?
"You just met me. I don't think you're on a need-to-know basis," She smirked and Kori gasped.
"Oh, I like you. Tell me what your friends look like. I might be able to tell you where they are! I know everyone here. In fact, several people are talking about the newcomers!"
Harmony stopped swimming, staring at Kori in shock. "Already?" They hadn't been here for very long, but she didn't think news would spread around that quickly. And she really didn't like being talked about; she had experienced enough of that back in Corona when she was still stuck in the castle. When she heard the rumors, she was indifferent to it since she was only a child, but as she grew older, on the inside it just made her feel like she didn't belong at home. And events later on, such as being overlooked during the storm, did not help matters. She eventually did address the problem, but sometimes it would linger...
"Ugh, no, I can't focus on that now! My friends and I-" She paused, looking towards Kori who was smiling at her and she realized she was about to give away that they were not real mermaids. "We...got separated after we swam here to visit! We're...tourists!"
Technically, she wasn't wrong, but she would rather not cause a panic if word got out that they were only humans and not real mermaids. It would cause a distraction, and not only that, she wasn't sure if they were open to humans being there. Seraphina didn't care, but this was her first exposure to the mermaid world.
"Hmm," Kori rubbed her chin and then shrugged, swimming forward. Harmony sighed in relief and caught up with her friend, starting to tell her about them.
Hugo was grinning as he looked at certain treasures on the other side of the sea market that he wouldn't get back up on the surface. Pearls, shells, and even some gold on display were in front of him. He looked up at the vendor and then glanced away, hoping to distract him. "Hey look, some rare coral!"
He fell for it and turned around, Hugo sweeping all of the items into a bag and quickly swimming away. He laughed to himself and got several feet away from the now-angry vendor until he stopped.
Nuru had her arms crossed as she was floating in front of him, an unamused look on her face. "Stealing, Hugo? Really? These people don't deserve that."
"What?" He shrugged innocently from her look. "They can always get more! Besides, I don't see you doing anything to stop me."
"Oh?" She raised a smug brow, looking behind her. "Then I suppose you don't mind if I give your description to those police fish over there."
He flinched and looked over his shoulder, as the same creatures who were chasing after Kori were in the area. He laughed nervously, turning to Nuru. "Oh...we don't wanna bother those guys! H-How about I just give you the bag and you can give it back?"
"Good idea, except..." She took the bag and then tossed it to someone else. "Please return this over there for us."
He nodded with a salute and swam over, Nuru glancing at him. "We're here only for the trial, not to pickpocket. I don't trust you to hand it over yourself."
"I'm just having a little fun! This place is cool, after all."
"Our definitions of fun are very different," She told him plain and simple, earning an eye roll. "Let's find our friends. This spell might not last very long, and we have to search the whole place."
"Relax, princess, we'll be fine—hopefully," Hugo glanced away.
Kori and Harmony swam back at the market, the 16-year-old annoyed. "Ugh, we've been swimming for what feels like forever, and we still haven't found any of them!"
"Mona!"
She looked up and saw Varian approaching them. "Vari! Any luck?"
"No," He shook his head. "It's like finding copper-plated steel," He chuckled and Kori gave a confused look. He then dropped his laughter, noticing her and clearing his throat awkwardly. "S-So who's your friend?"
"Oh! Kori, Varian. Varian, Kori. I ran into her and she's been helping me-"
"Ooh!" Kori interrupted and she blinked as she watched the mermaid inspect Varian. "Cool gills, are you guys freshwater mermaids?"
"Umm, n-no, we're from...out of town! Just visiting," Varian stated nervously and then Harmony cleared her throat.
"Anyway, we haven't had progress either. And this is a huge area, how are we gonna find them?"
"You know them," Kori spoke up, getting their attention. "Don't you know something that would bring them to you?"
Harmony blinked in realization; she couldn't believe she didn't think of this sooner. She and Varian shared a knowing smirk at each other.
"Actually, we do."
Hugo and Nuru were inspecting some animals in the east direction of the city, or rather, he was seeing which ones he could profit from and she was trying to convince him otherwise. "Hugo, the wildlife here roam free without your selfishness. Leave them be!"
"I won't hurt 'em," He waved it off, inspecting a seahorse. "I just...need the support!"
She rolled her eyes at him and was about to argue when a flash hit Hugo's eyes. He flinched and glanced to his right, seeing a flash from past the market out into the open sea. "What...?" He swam past her and she stared after him, baffled.
"Hugo?" She swam after him as he followed the flash.
From the west side of the city, Chang and Yong were looking at several 'human treasures.' "You really want a souvenir from here?" She asked in confusion as his eyes shined.
"These look so cool!"
"But we have these things at home," She deadpanned, especially towards a 'snarfblart' or a 'dinglehopper'. It just painted the ridiculous images in her mind to what length they actually used these items. The same flash hit them and they whipped around, seeing the open sea. "What was that?"
"Maybe something I can keep to remember this place!" Yong quickly swam after it.
"Yong, wait!" She chased after him, sighing. "Brothers..."
The two groups followed the flash past a cavern, a bed of coral, and some anemones, at different points of time. Eventually, they were surrounded by nothing...until Yong and Chang swam to a stop once they saw their friends.
"Guys?" Chang asked in confusion. "What are you doing out here?"
"Finding whatever treasure I can keep until it's really valuable!" Hugo rubbed his hands together. None of them noticed a net rising out of the sand, capturing all of them. "Hey!" He looked up to see Varian and Harmony holding onto the rope above them.
"Thanks for telling me your friend gets distracted by fake pearls," Kori held up her bead bracelets and then a mirror, holding it up to the bracelet, which was what the flash was.
The two set them free, but now they were stuck since they didn't have a map or anything to help...
"Well, now that we're all back together, any clues as to where we're supposed to be headed?" Hugo spoke up, Varian and Harmony glancing at each other. Hugo raised a brow at them, holding out his hand to the duo. "Alright, let's see the journal, maybe it can help us."
"We're underwater, if you hadn't noticed. We don't have it, it must've fallen into the cave when we got sucked in here," Harmony rolled her eyes. "And I didn't memorize the directions."
"Oh, that's just great! We're stranded without any sense of where to go, and all because you two keep the journal hidden so that we don't read it," He argued back and Varian flinched, glaring at him. It was the same look in his eyes when Eugene had hinted at his father being under the control of the Mind Trap.
Kori rubbed her chin upon Hugo's last few words.
"Keeping anything hidden? Listen, Hugo, if you're accusing us of something, we're not hiding anything!"
Nuru, Yong, and Chang glanced between them, feeling a bit awkward. "If you have a problem with how his mother's journal is helping us, say it to our faces," Harmony pointed at him angrily.
Kori swam in between the three eagerly, stopping the fighting.
"Oh, I can help! Me, me!"
"How?" Hugo asked her in confusion.
"I was looking into a cavern in the king's study...which is treason," She admitted to them and they looked at her wide-eyed. "Anyway, I stumbled across a scroll that might help you guys out! We would just...have to sneak in and take a look."
"Why do you need it?" Yong couldn't help but ask.
Kori smiled sadly upon hearing the question. "I grew up mentored by this kingdom's mage, not knowing who my parents were or why I'm not with them. I don't remember much about them, to be honest, and my mentor Phoebus doesn't know anything about them. I had no friends, and everyone always looks down on me because they think of me as the 'privileged orphan.' Everything is documented by the king so that people may discover it one day should this kingdom perish and remember our history. I wanted to find where the vault was where we keep our documents so I could find out about my past...but then the guards discovered me and I bumped into Harmony."
Their eyes saddened at her, even Hugo sympathizing with the mermaid. It wasn't like she had bad intentions, she just wanted to know more about herself...
"We're sorry, Kori...how about this? If you help us get to that scroll, we'll help you find out about your parents," Harmony offered her and she beamed.
"Really?! Oh, this is gonna be great! Oh, but wait," She frowned in realization. "The study is most likely heavily guarded now after I broke in...and the castle is the hardest place to get into here."
"I can help with that," Hugo smirked proudly.
"Oh, for once, the great Hugo wants to help someone out of the kindness of his own heart," Varian teased, hands on his hips. Hugo gave him an angry pout as the others laughed at him.
"Thank you, humans."
They blinked in surprise, turning to Kori. "What?! No, w-we're like you," Varian laughed nervously, giving the others a look.
"Yup! Totally from the sea and all..."
"No humans here!"
"Just regular sea people and...stuff."
"I know you're not from here," Kori smiled playfully, leaning in towards Harmony's face to examine her. "Your physics are a major giveaway, they're way too different. But don't worry, I'll keep it a secret. Especially since we have the Great Varian and Harmony! Your automaton invention I hear is really great."
"Great! Let's go," Hugo waved them forward, swimming off. Nuru stopped him and he was about to protest, but then he saw the faces of the two. They looked very uncomfortable and a bit sad even. He froze and then swam back up to them. "Guys? What...what's wrong?" He held out a hand.
"Can we...not celebrate what I did with those?" Varian rubbed his arm.
"Why? Everyone appreciates how you fought back against everyone to save your dad-"
"That's not how I want to be remembered!" He squeezed his eyes shut and everyone fell silent. Harmony bit her lip, looking away. "It's not...it's not something I want for my name."
"...That's why it took you so long to meet up with us, right?" Hugo finally asked, the two looking up at him in surprise. He suddenly looked very sympathetic. Hugo didn't know if it was because of his own upbringing or what, but he suddenly felt like the group...felt like his people. They had hidden depths to them that made him backtrack about getting the totems for Donella.
"...Yeah. Everyone back in Neserdnia was surrounding us up there, and...celebrating the wrong things. I mean...Vari acted that way towards Corona and my sister because of mistakes," Harmony hugged herself.
"My father needed help...Rapunzel said she couldn't. So I took it out on her and her family, when...it was my fault. And after I realized that and forgave them, how did I repay them?!" Varian squeezed his eyes shut, clenching a fist. "By erasing their parents' memories and almost blowing up people that cared about me..."
Kori felt awful as she looked away, looking like she was gonna cry.
"And I...rebuilt an automaton with instructions from Vari, but I didn't know it at the time," Harmony pinched her nose. "So when it came to life and started attacking the ones I love, it just felt horrible...I never wanted to do that to them, and yet I was easily forgiven by my sister when I didn't deserve it."
Hugo rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He wasn't sure what to do since they lived different lives than him. While both of them lived with people having bad misconceptions about them, their actions supported those misconceptions for a while. And when they finally managed to prove themselves so they could break away from the rumors, they were being celebrated for the things that elevated their dark pasts.
"But despite those things...you both have respectful jobs, and you've both changed since then," Nuru spoke up softly. "The things that you did...no one could really understand, so they focus on the wrong thing. But that doesn't mean you didn't contribute to saving your home from Zhan Tiri or didn't make up for your mistakes."
"Yeah! You guys saved Corona a bunch of times!" Yong exclaimed happily. "That's what really matters."
"And you'll continue to do great things together," Chang added in.
Both of them felt a little better, but not by much. Hugo looked away briefly and then he swam forward to look at them. Seeing their faces made him feel...weird, but in a good way because their expressions told them that they were very similar to him—wanting to do more, and yet failing.
"...Plus est en vous, remember?"
The two looked up at him in shock and everyone stared at him, equally surprised that it was coming from him. "Isn't that what you guys strive for? That's something we should all believe, because...all of us want to do great things."
Harmony blinked as she looked towards the ground, and then she looked up with a small smile. His words helped the girl remind her of her sister a little, and it felt like Rapunzel had inspired her a little. "Yeah...that's right. So...Kori, what do you need us to do?"
"Follow me!" She gestured to the city and the others swam after her. Varian and Harmony stopped Hugo by grabbing his arm.
"Thank you, Hugo, for what you said," Varian told him gratefully.
"Yeah...we really needed to hear that," Harmony smiled at him.
"Oh, that? Pfft, I just...didn't wanna deal with your emotions, we've got a trial to find," He tried to wave it off, but they knew he was lying, he just wanted to help them out of his own choice.
"Sure," Harmony stated sarcastically and they swam off after Kori. Hugo stared at them, wondering why he did it. Maybe he just felt bad for them...maybe it was because they had been through a lot like him...or maybe...he was finally learning what it meant to be a friend.
Suddenly, Yong heard a voice, glancing behind him. It sounded like angelic singing. He glanced back at the others and got curious, following after the sound. Chang looked behind her, flinching in alarm. "Yong? Where are you going?"
The others looked back and saw him getting further and further away. "Yong, get back here!" Varian called out as they went after him. Kori was at the rear as they got further away from the kingdom. She realized where they were going once they passed an anchor, gasping sharply.
"Uh, guys?" She called out nervously, but they didn't listen. The singing was starting to mess with their heads, and they couldn't help but be enchanted by it. They silently kept swimming. Kori grabbed Hugo's arm, trying to pull him backward. "You really don't wanna go there!"
Up ahead about 100 feet away was a pink siren with wild and big pink hair, who was singing to them...but she was in front of a large trench, and down below was a large shark waiting to eat them. Kori pulled Hugo's arm again, but it felt like she was pulling a bag of bricks since he wouldn't budge. She panicked a little, floating in front of the group to try and get them to stop. They swam right into her and she fell onto the ground. She looked up as they were reaching the shark, with Yong at the edge.
"No!" Kori looked around, but there was no one else around. She looked at Harmony's hair and got an idea. "Harmi, HELP!"
Her hair activated, getting out of its style and soaring over to the singing siren. It wrapped around her mouth, stopping her from singing. Once it stopped, the others stopped swimming. Harmony shook her head, groaning.
"What?" She murmured and Yong looked down, screaming as he swam over and hugged his sister. The shark growled at them, swimming forward and snapping its teeth. Harmony immediately took charge and pushed her friends away, quickly swimming past the shark. It growled at her and chased after the mermaid, who dragged the siren along with her.
"What is she doing?!" Hugo exclaimed as they watched. "Is she crazy?!"
"No," Varian smirked at her as he saw something in the distance. "Just the smartest girl I know."
He just looked confused and then he saw why. Harmony swam towards a bunch of coral surrounding what looked like a field of pearls. Her hair manifested around her as she let go of the siren and she dove into the field. The shark's eyes shined at them and he dove straight in, dragging the siren with him. Yong gasped and they waited, growing a little worried...but then a ball of hair came out of the field, and the hair moved away to reveal Harmony.
Everyone except Varian sighed in relief. "Why'd you do that?" Chang asked once they joined her and her hair shrunk. Harmony dusted herself off. "And where are they, I thought you'd get eaten!"
"Pfft. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that one," Harmony jerked a thumb behind her, revealing that the pearls were actually jellyfish. The shark and siren were left screaming in pain with jellyfish stings all over them. "They'll be okay."
"Alright!" Yong high-fived her.
"So that was a siren..." Nuru murmured, Kori nodding.
"Sirens get a kick out of hypnotizing other mermaids to play practical jokes, but that one works with that shark to get it food, so people tend to stay away from this area."
"Noted," Hugo glanced away.
They swam back into the market, as they had to pass through there to reach the kingdom. Kori swam between Varian and Harmony as she led the way. "I'm really sorry for bringing that stuff up, you guys. I didn't know-"
"We're okay," Harmony interrupted her with a small smile. "It's...not stuff we're proud of, but we'll get through it."
"There's nothing we can't get past!" Varian said in determination, and then they came to a stop at the kingdom, which was surrounded by guards with tridents, and they looked very sharp. "I may have to take that back..."
"I didn't know it was THAT bad," Kori sighed a little, pouting. "How are we going to even get in?"
"Not a problem," Hugo stated as he swam past, and they stared in confusion.
"Oh no, he's gonna mess it up..." Yong groaned at this.
"Well, be ready to make a break for it..." Nuru murmured with crossed arms.
"Come on, guys. Have a little faith," Chang told the group. Hugo was hiding something behind his back, and he pulled out a conch shell. He stopped in the middle of the guards, who saw him and charged forward.
"Stop right there!"
He took a deep breath and blew into the conch shell, playing a soothing melody. All of the guards stopped short, staring at him as he continued to play. Slowly, their eyes got drowsy, causing them to drop the tridents and they slowly fell onto some coral, falling asleep. The others except Kori stared down at them wide-eyed.
"Alright!" Kori clapped for him as he bent down and grabbed a key to the front door. He swam back to his friends, arms crossed with a smug smile.
"Well that was easy."
"H-How did you even...?" Harmony stammered in disbelief.
"Oh, this?" He held up the shell. "It's a Sleep Conch, duh. You know how many people have tried to find this thing to sell it?"
"So then how did you buy it?" Varian rose a brow.
"Oh, I didn't buy this thing."
"Then how did you get it?" Yong wondered curiously, Hugo sweating a little with wide eyes. He didn't say anything for what felt like a minute.
"...On second thought, yes I did buy it," He said quickly, his friends giving him a blank look. That could only mean that he stole it from either someone or from a stand. But they'd deal with that later. They looked towards the castle, which was large and grand. There was a path surrounded by coral and anemones leading towards the castle, which was colored in light blue and white, with several towers, and it had several opened holes instead of windows. The group swam past all the guards, glancing at them to make sure none of them woke up.
"This is actually kind of fascinating," Varian commented quietly. "And this is a temporary spell?"
"I think only 5 minutes. Apparently they won't remember any of this," Hugo answered, Yong poking one in the face and snickering.
"Yong," Chang warned him and he flinched, going over to join them. Once they were in, they were surrounded by portraits of the royal family, with a red carpet hallway. Kori glanced around the place.
"We gotta head for the scroll room in the king's study."
"A scroll room? Don't the books...you know, get wet?" Harmony asked and Kori smiled.
"Our mage enchants it every year so that we're able to read them underwater." She headed down a hallway and then a shadow appeared from another hall. They gasped sharply as they heard voices.
"On behalf of my student, I apologize for her behavior." Kori flinched as she realized it was her mentor Phoebus.
"Hide!" She hissed at them.
"Hide where?" Harmony asked in disbelief.
"I don't know, just hide!" She pushed them away. Kori hugged the wall as they walked in from the left, not seeing her or the others. Nuru was holding a painting, Harmony was hanging up from the ceiling with her hair, Yong was hiding behind a vase, Hugo was hiding underneath the carpet, and Varian was hiding behind a pillar.
"She may be getting a bit too close for comfort," The king stated as they didn't look into the hallway, thankfully. "If she finds our secret scrolls-"
"I assure you she won't. I'll have a proper chat with her whenever I run into her," Phoebus assured as they disappeared down the hall. The group sighed in relief, peeking down the hallway as the two mermen disappeared by entering double doors.
"What are the secret scrolls?" Harmony asked Kori as she swam into the hall.
"No one knows, that's why they're a secret," She remarked in a duh tone, the others facepalming.
"Never mind. Let's just find the place before the spell wears off," Varian shook his head and Kori swam in the opposite direction. They finally reached a large door with a book symbol on it. Kori opened the door and they saw books on every single shelf, along with tables, chairs, and a large desk for the king. There was also a door behind the desk, Kori swam underneath the desk and stopped in front of the carpet laying there. She lifted up the carpet and revealed a key, which she used to open the door. She opened it up, revealing thousands of scrolls lined up on shelves.
"Which one is the right one?" Varian wondered to their mermaid friend, who swam to a book at the opposite side of the room. There was a bubble floating above the book.
"This is gonna help us find what you're looking for. I just have to concentrate my magic on it." They watched as her hands surrounded the bubble, her hands glowing blue. A lot of words were scrolled through from the bubble and it stopped on the word 'trial.' A scroll glowed from the right bookshelf, getting their attention. It floated out its compartment and landed in Harmony's hand. Kori then did another search and another scroll from the bottom on the left bookshelf went over to her. Harmony opened up the scroll to see that it was a map, along with a message.
"It says here that there's a secret entrance here that leads to the trial," Harmony pointed at the path drawn out. "And it says 'Once you find what you're looking for, you must destroy what was left behind'. The journal said that too, but what does that mean?"
Varian glanced at Kori, who was frowning. "Kori?" He swam up to her, seeing why...
Her scroll was blank.
"This doesn't say anything about where I came from..." She murmured sadly and they stared at her in concern. She then took a deep breath, swimming past them. "Well! Guess I was never meant to know..."
"Kori," Nuru spoke up and she froze. "That doesn't mean we won't stop looking."
"Yeah," Chang smiled at her. "We can just always ask the king or your teacher."
She gave them a weak smile and then they emerged out of the scroll room, looking around the study.
"I don't see anything," Hugo stated as he looked at the map and Kori swam forward to a red book on the left side of the room. She took out the book and the space behind it glowed blue. The group looked in on shock as the shelf entirely moved away to show a secret tunnel. It was dimmed in blue light, so it wasn't entirely dark. The group glanced at each other.
"Being an assistant to the mage, you get to learn about all the secret stuff," Kori smirked and they stared at the tunnel.
"No turning back now..." Varian took a deep breath, swimming in. The others followed him and Chang was the last one in. As she did, her bracelet fell onto the ground, and when the bookshelf entrance closed, her bracelet was still sitting out. Someone swam up to the bookshelf, looking at the bracelet...
Angel: I have...no excuses or a proper explanation of my absence over this story, and I definitely can't sum it up in an author's note. But long story short, if you really want to know the details or if you're not aware of why I was gone for so long, I wrote a journal on Deviantart (just look up my name and go to posts underneath my name, it's titled VHAT7K Hiatus). Now that over half a year has passed since I've updated this, I've had time to process the...uncomfortable circumstances I had over moving away from this story. And now I'm just somewhat hopeful that now I'm back, I won't have to deal with something similar to the incident ever again.
But if it does happen again, then it will not only make me VERY pissed, but it will make me regret writing this story to the point where I won't touch it ever again. And that's something I don't ever want, especially for everyone else. Because if someone's gonna make me THAT uncomfortable, it'll just make me feel emotions that I don't like whenever I'm writing, which will result in me avoiding writing for the story.
And I know that's probably not gonna make sense without reading what happened, but trust me, after you read my journal about it, it needed to be said. And also trust me when I say that I can't sum it up here, because it's a LONG story.
Though I hope those who were patiently waiting for me to return have been looking through Deviantart, because several artists; ceallen956, Yellowdrake26, and CosmicSpaze, have been contributing lots of fanart on this story alone! Characters, pony versions of the main six, certain interactions from several chapters. Go check them out, especially if my name is mentioned, because they've done a lot and I appreciate them so much for it! And happy one-year anniversary to the story!