Get the box and get out, get the box and get out, get the box and get out, get the box and get out...
This sentence has been running through Twilight`s head for the past few hours as she climbed the cliff. Suddenly she was pulled from her thoughts as her foot slipped. The young monster let out a quick yelp and grabbed on to the next rock to stop herself from falling. Letting out a small sigh, Twilight regained her footing and continued climbing.
Twilight has been climbing the cliff for about a half an hour. The wind was strong and snow flew around the girl. Her dark cape flowed around her as she clenched her teeth against the cold, her hood being blown off her head long ago. Her limbs were getting tired and her throat was running dry. Despite it being a week since she met the Avarian brothers, she was still a little sore from the wounds she received during her escape. And now she was climbing a cliff to break into another castle while she just escaped from one. Life sure works in fascinating ways.
But at the moment, Twilight noticed that the ledge was getting closer. Twilight let out a small cheer and pushed herself to climb the final way up. She grabbed the ground and pulled herself up, flopping down on her back and taking deep breaths. Finally! Twilight sat up and untied the water cantine from her belt and drank down large gulps to satisfy her thirst. Twilight wondered for a second why Dennis couldn't come but then remembered that he and Ludo were taking care of something in the monster village.
Twilight tied her water back on to her belt and took out her wand. Just last night, Ludo had told his story about his history with the wand and her mother. Twilight was honestly surprised that Ludo considered Star his frienemy despite the countless times he got his butt kicked. But it was also interesting to hear about her mother from another perspective. Ludo`s version of her is much crazier and go-lucky than Glossaryck`s, who described young Star as a blonde ditzy princess with swords. The girl had to giggle a little at their different yet similar opinions.
Getting back to the task at hand, Twilight stood up and looked at the castle in front of her. It was certainly big but not as huge as the one she lived in. The first thing Twilight noticed was the lack of guards or servants. Maybe they were all inside? Or did they not work outside of the wall. The Butterfly pulled her hood up again as she started walking towards the building. The ground was covered in thick snow, making walking a little hard. Twilight was grateful her boots were tall since the snow couldn`t get in. And her cloak was warm enough to keep the biting wind at bay.
Finally reaching the outer wall of the castle, Twilight took out her wand and drew a rectangle shaped area on the bricks and walked through the wall. She quickly ducked behind a bush but when she took a look around, there wasn`t a guard in sight. Where are the guards? Do they don`t have any? Twilight thought as she quickly ran from the wall to the front doors of the castle.
The young monster raised her hand to push the door open, only to hesitate for a moment. Is this right? But Dennis and Ludo have helped her so much. They gave her food, shelter, new clothes and treated her wounds. Shaking her from the clouds of doubt, Twilight took hold of the handle and pushed the door open.
To her luck, the hallways had many pillars that were very close to each other, creating a perfect scouting route for Twilight. She ducked from pillar to pillar, trying to locate a place the Avarian family would put Ludo`s belongings. It was obvious that they wouldn`t put it somewhere nice. Maybe a broom closet. Or the attic? Twilight was too deep in her thoughts that she didn`t notice two voices coming down the hall.
"I honestly can`t thank you enough for coming. We have been having this problem for months!" Shouted a grainy woman`s voice. "I will admit, you did contact us at an odd time but I will see what I can do to help." The other was also a woman but she had a much softer tone and with a dignified accent, similar to Twilight`s own speaking intellect. The monster girl quickly used her claws to climb up the old pillar to the supports under the ceiling.
When she looked down, she saw two women with crowns walking by, one an Avarian. The other was mewman. The Avarian wore a dark purple dress with long sleeves and a worn out crown. But the mewman wore a light blue gown with a warm cloak and a golden crown on her nearly white-blue hair. But that wasn`t the thing that couth Twilight`s attention. The mewman royalty had two diamonds on her cheeks, similar to Twilight`s crescent moons. This was Moon Butterfly! The current queen of Mewni!
Twilight felt panic taking over her as she placed her hand on her racing heart. She also felt a familiar pain start to bloom between her temples. This was not good. The young girl tried to steady her heart but the two queens decided to stop walking and continued to stand in the hallway, discussing, what seemed to be, an issue regarding the snow and the poor quality of the castle. Twilight tried to climb further back, trying really hard not to make any noise which proved to be hard since the wood squeaked with every slight movement.
She was almost in the clear and was about to climb into the air shaft to make her escape but then she hears something interesting. "Speaking of family, have you heard from my sons?" the Avarian asked Moon. "I got a letter from them last month, saying they are doing okay. Oh, and Ludo asked about his belongings in this castle." she answered as she looked out the window as if looking at Ludo`s and Dennis` house. She had a small smile on her face.
"Really? Instead of asking about his siblings and his dear parents, Ludo wants to know about his trash? The stuff that sits in a box in the bottom of the fountain? That damn brat..." and the monster started walking again, muttering insults the entire way. Moon sighed as she followed the other woman and left the hallway.
Twilight`s eyes went wide as she learned that important bit of information. So the box was in a fountain? And by the sound of it, Ludo`s own mother threw it there. Twilight felt a bang of anger at that thought but quickly calmed down, reminding herself she had a mission to fulfill. Climbing down the pillar, the girl made her way to the window in the opposite wall. There was the whole view of the entire courtyard. And there, right in the center, was a big fountain. It was the size of a big pond and was decorated with Avarian statues with two big ones overlooking the courtyard. It was probably the royal family with their many children.
Looking both ways, Twilight tried to open the window. It was unlocked. She could look for an entrance but she wanted to do this quickly and the fastest way was going straight to the fountain through the window. The monster placed her hand on the glass and pushed, the window swinging open under the pressure. Twilight climbed on to the windowsill and saw the drop to the ground was longer than she thought even though she was still on the first floor.
But she didn`t have any choice. Taking a leap of faith and targeting the nearest bush, Twilight jumped. The air rushed around her as she fell towards her chosen landing spot. Taking a deep breath, she waited for the painful landing but Twilight didn`t expect her wings to act on their own. Her small mewberty wings broke through her dress` fabric and started flapping repeatedly. The girl was couth off guard by her hidden wings but soon realized they were breaking her fall. Using all of her strength, she flapped her wings even harder and finally made it down. But instead of falling from the sky, the fall felt like falling from her bed in the morning, which was better than getting hurt, again.
When Twilight got back on her feet, she made sure she wasn`t spotted. Finally deciding it was safe enough, she dashed to the fountain. Looking into the cold water, she spotted a wet shoebox in the water. That made Twilight`s blood boil. Ludo may have done bad things but he didn`t deserve to be treated like this by his own mother. Twilight tried to ignore the biting cold as she stepped into the fountain water and walked to the box`s location. She reached into the water and lifted it up. She pushed the soaked cover aside and looked inside.
There was a pair of dimensional scissors, two skull pendants and a group photo of Ludo and his former monster army. But it was badly damaged by water and other substances in the fountain. Twilight felt angrier than before but the remembered a restoring spell. She quickly took out her wand and cast it on both the picture and the box. The image was clearer now and the young monster got a better look at it. The ones in the front of the group were Ludo, a frog monster, a crab monster and a giraffe monster. There were more in the picture, like a bear one and even a flower. But what got her attention was Ludo`s expression. He was smiling. Sure, it was full of evil intent but still a happy smile. Twilight let a small smile of her own show before she placed the photo back into the now repaired box next to the other stuff. She tied the box up with the piece of rope she brought and climbed out of the fountain.
"What the hell are you doing there?! Stop at once, you criminal!" came a high pitched screech from behind her. Before Twilight could turn around, she felt a magical blast hit her back and send her off, flying back into the large fountain. This seems oddly familiar... Twilight thought to herself as she pushed herself up. Looking down, she saw the paint drip down from her face, revealing her cheek marks. Twilight adjusted her hood and hair the best she could before turning around.
The Avarian queen was standing further away with a pissed off look on her ugly face and Queen Moon was standing on the fountain`s railing. "Who are you and why are you here?" Moon asked with a calm but dangerous voice. Twilight saw that the gate was just past the two women, so her only means of escape was to fight through them.
Instead of answering, the girl took out her wand and sent her own blast to the two queens. It wasn`t meant to hit the but land just close enough. When the two of them got distracted, Twilight made a dash through the cold water to the gate. But Moon recovered faster than she thought and started running towards her, shooting spells right at the monster. Twilight fought back the best she could while dodging. But fate wasn`t on her side. One of the stronger blasts hit her side, the same spot her mother had hurt a month ago. Letting out a pained yelp, Twilight slowed down her running. Moon used this opportunity and shot out a big blast. Twilight noticed the ball of magic coming and quickly ducked away but her cape got hit, burning off from her back.
Moon saw the girl crouched on the ground as she held her side. Her dress was badly burnt where her spell had hit her and it looked painful. The girl`s long purple hair shielded her face and something she was holding close to her chest. "I will ask you again. Who are you and why are you here?" the older Butterfly tried again. "You wouldn`t like the answer..." came a raspy voice from the monster. Her long, lizard-like tail curled around her legs, like trying to protect herself from the queen. "I promise you I won`t hurt you anymore. Just answer me and we will see what we will do next." Moon said with a gentler voice, noticing the girl shiver. Moon concluded she must be cold from landing in the water and being wet in the middle of winter air without her cloak. She needs to get inside, fast. The Mewman queen thought as she walked closer to the young monster.
"Please, you are clearly cold and hurt. Please, let me help you." Moon tried again. Twilight just shook her head but didn`t move from her spot on the ground. She needed to get away before her identity was discovered but she hurt all over and her legs were on the verge of collapsing. It was so cold.
Moon was starting to get worried. The girl`s shaking got only worse and her skin got only paler. At this rate, she will have to force the young monster into coming with her. "Let me help you." Moon said again, with the gentlest, motherly voice she could muster. "Fine.." came a quiet reply from the child. Moon let out a sigh of relief as she walked even closer to the monster. "Thank you for allowing-" the Butterfly stopped dead in her tracks as the girl looked up. And the sight shocked Moon.
The monster girl had pale blue skin, dark purple hair and blue-golden eyes. But that wasn`t the part that made Moon uneasy. The monster had cheek marks. Two dark blue crescent moons staring right at her. And that wasn`t the only thing. She also had a wand. The Butterfly family wand, holding it against her chest with some sort of shoebox. The girl only gave a smile, showing her sharp teeth. But the smile wasn`t mocking or anything of the sort. It was a sad smile, a tired smile. Like this young girl has seen all the troubles of the world and was ready to accept her rotten fate. It was understanding.
"Who are-" but the Mewman queen`s sentence was cut off when the Avarian queen appeared behind the young girl and hit her square in the head with a large brick, knocking the young monster out cold.
The last thing Twilight heard before blacking completely out was a lot of shouting.
I got the box...
But I didn`t get out...