For the time being, it seemed that the princesses had calmed down. While they were still indifferent about the affair of being queens, they were in better moods than before. The time was now dusk as the princesses ran into each other in the hall. It had been a while since they all had eaten and they were getting a bit hungry, so Rapunzel ordered the servants to make a special feast for them. After it was done, the princesses all sat at a large table in the dining hall. This was good for them, because they had this time to just chat like girls. Once they were at the table and were presented the food, they took the time talk about their previous adventures and experiences.

"So...your stepmother comes to you dressed like an old woman..." Tiana said.

Rapunzel continued. "She gives you a poisoned apple and tells you it's a wishing apple..."

Merida concluded. "And you believe her and take a bite out of the thing?"

"Yes..." Snow White said meekly with a blush.

"Oh Snowy, you should know better than that," Merida said.

Rapunzel scoffed at Merida's recent remarks. "Yeah, like you're one to talk," she said to Merida. "Miss, turn my mom into a bear with a magic cake!"

"Hey! I didn't know it would turn her into a bear!" Merida replied.

"Well the next time you make a deal with a witch, you should choose your words a little bit more wisely," said Rapunzel.

The other princesses laughed as Rapunzel and Merida scrunched their faces at each other and began talking again. Just then, Belle noticed that Pocahontas was having trouble with her various spoons, forks and knives.

"Having some trouble, Pocahontas?" asked Belle.

"Yes, can you help me?" Pocahontas asked.

"Sure, it's quite simple," Belle said. She explained the utensils to Pocahontas in rapid succession. "The carving knife is used for meats and poultry, the butter knife over there is used for butter, that's the soup spoon for soup, here we have the desert fork for deserts such as cakes and pastries, this is your standard iced tea spoon, then you have your teaspoon, tablespoon, salt spoon..."

As Belle continuously went through all the utensils, Pocahontas was trying desperately to memorize them, picking each one up, but Belle's repeated talking made her lose her focus and with many utensils in her hands, she fell back in her chair which forced the utensils out of her hands and made them fall towards her with each knife and fork nearly hitting her.

"I think she got the 'point' Belle," said Ariel before she helped Pocahontas.

Jasmine just rolled her eyes at Ariel's attempt at a joke. Not to mention it reminded her of the time when Jafar once took over Agrabah and almost killed Aladdin. She exposited about it to her fellow princesses.

"Jafar actually made you his harem?!" asked Tiana asked to Jasmine.

"Yep," Jasmine answered.

"And you kissed him?!" Tiana asked.

"Yes..." Jasmine said reluctantly.

"Oh, that's just nasty," Tiana said with a shudder.

"Speaking of nasty, that's the perfect word to describe my stepmother," said Cinderella.

Most of the other princesses talked about their mothers and stepmothers. Snow White didn't really know her mother since she died after she gave birth to her and as for her stepmother, they didn't really have a lot of interaction since she was mostly concerned with her beauty and making her do scullery work, which she didn't mind. Despite their treatment from both their stepmothers, Snow White and Cinderella could argue that at least they taught them to be responsible workers.

"I barely knew my mother," said Aurora. "My childhood was mostly spent with Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. I can only imagine how my mother must've felt all those years without a daughter. Merida, what is your mother like?"

"Hmmm, if I could put it in one word, I think it would be...'proper,'" Merida said in a snarky tone. "She believes a princess should be proper, have manners, and always be perfect."

"I agree with her," said Tiana. "Your table manners aren't exactly princess like."

"What are ya talkin' about?!" Merida protested before she grabbed her bowl of soup and gulped it down, making Tiana and Rapunzel cringe.

Ariel just giggled. "Yeah...I don't know much about my mother either, but my father always said that I reminded him of her a lot," she said.

Soon, Cinderella, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Belle were all reminded of their mothers whom had died when they were very young. Belle remembered how her mother had given her, her first book, which was what made her love books. Pocahontas wore her mothers' necklace to remind her of her. Jasmine didn't know her mother very well, all she had was a golden frame with her picture in it. And of course, Cinderella's actual mother died when she was just a baby. Despite their happy lives as princesses, they always regretted not having known them.

Ariel turned to Rapunzel. "Punz? What is your mother like?" she asked.

Rapunzel began, but stopped in mid sentence. It was funny, she thought it would be easy to talk about her mother, but it wasn't as she directed her eyes away from the other princesses. Each time she tried to bring up the subject, her voice tightened harder and harder.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

"I love you most of all."

"My mother is...complicated," Punz finally said.

Mulan saw that most of her friends currently not in the best moods. "Hey! How bout I make us some green tea?" she said.

"Green tea?" Merida asked.

"Yeah, come on, Cindy, we can make some!" said Mulan.

"I'm not sure I know how to make that, but tea does sound nice," said Cinderella before she and Mulan headed into the kitchen

Belle agreed. "I'll come too," she said as she followed them.

After the mess and commotion had stopped, the guests were all cleaned up and the festivities had continued at the ball.

Just then, there was a ringing at the door. The royal doorman went over and opened the doors revealing a young woman.

"Yes, madam, may I help you?" the doorman asked.

"I'm a friend of Ariel's," the woman said. "She invited me."

"Well do come in, my dear," the doorman said.

The woman looked intently onto the sea of guests, but more specifically, she eyed Fergus who was in a burping contest with his three sons much to his wife's chagrin. As she looked on, she gave a quiet chortle followed by a rather sinister smile.

Cinderella, Belle, and Mulan finished preparing the tea and gave a cup to each of their friends. They didn't have the ingredients to make green tea, so they decided to make delicate tea. Cinderella and Belle were familiar with it, but Mulan herself had never tried delicate tea before. Once they were all served, they gave their tea a sip.

Mulan was among the first. "Mmmm, I have to admit, this is just as good as green tea," she said.

Cinderella and Belle nodded in appreciation of Mulan's comments. They, along with Tiana, Rapunzel, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, and Pocahontas held up their teacups elegantly with their pinkies held up.

"Mmmm, excellent!" the princesses exclaimed.

Merida just held hers with both her hands and sipped her tea, spitting it out after not liking the taste. "Oh gabby! That's bitter!" she said.

"The last time I had tea was when in England where I first met John Rolfe," said Pocahontas.

"What was it like going to England?" asked Cinderella.

"Well it was amazing," Pocahontas answered. "It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Different people, different sights, different sounds, but the best thing I would have to say about being there was getting to know Rolfe."

Cinderella recollected the time when she first met Prince Charming at the ball. How the two of them danced together, even when the music had stopped, and their first kiss. Aurora remembered her first meeting with Prince Phillip, dancing with him along the lake. Belle recalled when she and Adam danced together in the ballroom of the castle. Snow White of when Prince David first sang to her, Jasmine of when Aladdin took her on a magic carpet ride, Ariel of touring the town and dancing in the town square with Eric, Rapunzel of dancing in town and seeing the lights with Flynn, Mulan of falling in love with Shang while in the army, and Tiana of falling in love with Naveen while the two were frogs.

The princesses all let out a soft sigh as they remembered their romantic moments with their husbands. Merida just stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Ah, gross!" Merida said.

Rapunzel, Tiana, Pocahontas, Mulan, Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Cinderella, and Ariel all glared at Merida while Snow White was indifferent.

Back at the ball, Fergus was conversing with the kings and princes, once again talking about the story of how he lost his leg to Mordu with Elinor and the three boys lip syncing to him.

"And then...from out of nowhere, the biggest bear you've ever seen," said Fergus. "His hide littered with the weapons of fallen warriors! His face scarred with one dead eye. I drew my sword and..."

But then, as he was about to finish, the woman came in and greeting the Bear King and his wife and kids.

"Hello," said the woman.

Fergus, Elinor, and the boys turned to the woman who spoke to them. She was a young brunette wearing a dark blue dress.

"Yes? Who might you be?" asked Elinor.

"I'm Vanessa," said the woman. "And you must be Fergus, the Bear King?"

"That I am," said Fergus.

"On behalf of my kingdom, I would like to present you with this gift as a symbol of our peace with the Clan DunBroch," Vanessa said.

Vanessa took out what appeared to be a long object wrapped in a black cloak. She unveiled the cloak to reveal a long sword with a black dragon shaped hilt with two red eyes.

King Fergus and the boys were impressed with the craftsmanship of the sword, however, Elinor was a bit weary for she felt that there was something off about that sword.

"Uh...young lady, what kingdom are you from?" Elinor asked.

"The kingdom of...Eel...esia," Vanessa said.

"Eelesia?" asked Elinor. "I've never heard of that kingdom."

"Oh who cares!" said Fergus. "She got us a nice sword, so I'm not complainin!"

Fergus eagerly grabbed the sword and swung it around while Vanessa smiled wickedly.

Most of the princesses had gotten real hungry and began to chow down on their food, specifically Merida, Mulan, Rapunzel, and Ariel.

Ariel was chewing away at the chicken drumsticks while Mulan was gulping down the mashed potatoes and Rapunzel was eating the dinner rolls in one bite while Merida just devoured anything in front of her. Merida and Mulan decided to have something to drink and drunk their beverages quickly resulting in the two burping. Soon, the two got in a belching contest, each burp louder than the next.

"Oh! That's nasty!" said Jasmine and Tiana, waving their hands across their faces to get rid of the smell of Mulan and Merida's breaths.

Rapunzel and Merida ate through the remaining turkey until it came down to the last drumstick which they both wanted. The two princesses eyed each other intensely, both wanting to get their hands on that one precious drumstick.

For a moment, the other princesses were silent and things at the table were quiet.

As Rapunzel and Merida stared down one another, one was waiting for the other to make a move for they both knew at any moment, one of them could take the drumstick in an instant.

"It's mine!" Rapunzel and Merida shouted as they both went for the drumstick.

It was a back and forth war between the two princesses.

"It's mine!" said Rapunzel.

"No, it's mine!" said Merida.

Merida and Rapunzel did everything from pulling each others hair and putting each other in a headlock. Merida managed to knock Rapunzel down and it looked like victory was in her grasp, but as she went for a bite, Rapunzel roped the drumstick up with her hair, taking it in her possession. However, Merida retaliated by shooting the drumstick out of her hands with an arrow into the wall and ran towards it. But Rapunzel tripped up Merida and went for it herself, but Merida grabbed her by the hair and caused her to fall.

The other princesses just watched as Merida and Rapunzel continued to fight over the drumstick. It was almost as if the two were sisters the way they were fighting. It was kind of amusing to them.

Fergus was still playing around with his new sword along with the boys.

However, Elinor still had her doubts as it related to this Vanessa character. Why would this random woman come from out of nowhere and offer a gift to her husband? And never in her life had she heard of a kingdom called Eelesia.

Suddenly, unbeknown to Fergus, Elinor, and the boys, the two red eyes on the hilt of the sword glowed brightly and the blade glowed purple. Soon, purple rays began to recede through Fergus' veins. It felt as if a deadly cancer was eating away at him.

"Fergus!" shouted Elinor in horror of her husband's pain. "Fergus, what's wrong?!"

"I...I don't...know...ARRRRGGGHHHH!" Fergus shouted, wincing and writhing in pain.

Fergus' eyes turned blood red as purple energy surged around him.

From outside of the castle, Maleficent along with a mysterious figure stood as Vanessa gave them the signal. Whatever was happening, it was obviously a plan of some sorts by the Evil Empire.

As Fergus continued to writhe in pain, his wife realized something was going on.

Vanessa smiled as Elinor turned to her.

"What have you done?!" Elinor said.

"Who? Me? I just thought your husband might want a little change of attitude," said Vanessa.

"What?" Elinor asked confused.

"Because you see, I brought with me some extra guests who you see might favor him, hmhmhmhmhmmmm," Vanessa said with her voice getting deeper.

Suddenly, the doors of the castle burst open and the guests all looked in terror as the members of the Evil Empire stood before them side by side with Maleficent in the middle.

Next to Maleficent was a creature the likes of which no one had ever seen. He was a relatively large, dark blue creature with long, sharp claws, a long thin tail that at the end had a spade shape, and embedded on his forehead, above his belly button, and the top of his hands were red jewels.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, whom had accompanied Aurora, noticed the creature from high and shook in terror.

"Oh dear," said Flora, "It's him..."

"He's escaped," said Fauna.

"But how?!" said Merryweather.

Maleficent smiled out to the terrified guests. "Good evening," she said. "Well now, quite a glittering assemblage. My friends and I were quite distressed at not receiving invitations. An oversight I'm sure. No matter, better that we are fashionably late and we brought some more extra guests."

Thousands upon thousands of shadows littered the castle floor. From them emerged dark, sinister creatures, similar in appearance to the creature that stood next to Maleficent, except they were dark in color and with red eyes.

"Fergus? Would you do the honors?" Maleficent asked as she turned to the Bear King.

Elinor turned to see that her husband was now different from before.

Fergus, now under the control of the Evil Empire, violently swung his cursed sword as the creatures grabbed the guests one by one.

"Fergus, stop!" shouted Elinor, trying in vain to get through to her husband.

The led by the Evil Empire and the mysterious creature, the demonic soldiers infested the ballroom. King York and Queen Tera attempted to flee, but to no avail as they too were captured.

The members of the Evil Empire laughed jovially. This was only the first step in their master plan. Soon, they would have control over Corona and then Atlantica, France and all the other kingdoms. With their combined force, nothing, not even the princesses would be able to stop them.

The creature also gave a wicked chuckle as he eyed Maleficent.

Meanwhile, the princesses were engaged in an affair of their own. It was something that had tested their meddle and resolve. Of this contest, only two remained, Tiana and Mulan.

Toe to toe, face to face, Tiana and Mulan stared down at each other with burning intensity as the other princesses watched cautiously.

"OK, this is it," said Tiana.

"It all comes down to this," said Mulan.

"Only one will remain standing," said Tiana.

"You ready?" asked Mulan.

"Oh, I'm ready," Tiana responded.

The two took deep breaths, their hearts rapidly pounding, butterflies in their stomachs the size of eagles.

Sweat poured down both of their faces...

Their bodies were shaking relentlessly...

They readied themselves...

Got into their positions and then...

"FINAL ROUND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! GO!" Tiana and Mulan shouted. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Tiana came out with paper and Mulan with scissors.

"Mulan wins!" the other princesses shouted.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Mulan exclaimed.

Tiana groaned in disappointment.

The princesses seemed to be having fun together, but their fun was soon cut off when they heard the distant sounds of screams.

"What was that?" Tiana asked.

"I don't know, but it sounds like it's coming from the ballroom," said Belle.

"Let's see what it is!" said Ariel before she rushed off.

The other princesses followed after and made their way to the ballroom where they discovered the dark demons. The creatures had already taken most of the guests.

"What are those things?" asked Mulan.

The princesses did not know what to make of the creatures, but as they saw the way they violently apprehended the guests, they knew that someway, somehow, they had to help.

"We can't just stand here and do nothing," said Ariel. "We have to help them!"

"But what can we do?" said Aurora.

"I don't know, but we have to do something!" said Ariel.

"Well I don't know about you lasses, but I'm going in!" Merida said, bringing out her sword.

"Me too," said Snow White.

"No, Snowy, it's too dangerous," said Merida.

Just then, Rapunzel turned to see two of the creatures had her parents.

"Mom! Dad!" Rapunzel shouting. "Those strange creatures have my parents!"

Cinderella scouted the area. From her look, there were at least 45+ monsters. With odds like that, she knew that a direct assault would be just plain suicide. She knew that they needed a plan. "We'll rescue them, Rapunzel," she said. "But we have to think this through, we can't just-"

However, Merida, Pocahontas, Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine, and Rapunzel were not interested in plans as Rapunzel went for the two creatures that had her parents. Jasmine, Merida, Mulan, and Pocahontas swung off the balconies and went to engage the creatures.

Jasmine laid down a hard punch and a kick to a couple of the monsters, however, it had little to no effect. As a creature was taking a guest, Pocahontas came in and hit it with a spear.

Merida slashed away at a number of creatures with her sword while Jasmine continued to fight more with her bare hands.

York and Tera were about to be taken to the creatures' leader when they were met by Rapunzel.

"Hey uglies! Leave my parents alone!" Rapunzel said.

The princess wrapped her hair into a lasso and tripped one of the monsters by the leg. The other went after her.

"Mom, Dad! Run!" Rapunzel said as she herself ran from the creatures.

"Rapunzel!" shouted Tera, fearing for her daughter's safety.

Tiana ran toward the King and Queen. "She'll be fine!" she said. "You guys need to hide!"

Tiana hid the royal couple where they couldn't be seen.

As Cinderella observed Jasmine and the others fighting, she realized that eventually, they would be overpowered. They needed another way to take them down. She look around until she spotted the drapes and from this, she got an idea. "Tiana!" she said. "Follow me, I have a plan."

Meanwhile, Snow White looked on, seeing her friends fighting off the monsters. One part of her was happy to see them doing so well, and yet another part of her couldn't help feel a little...useless inside because she wasn't able to do anything.

Merida blocked one creature's attack with her sword and managed to push it back. With the creature down, Merida raised her sword, she was grabbed by a large hand that came from the last person she expected, her dad.

"Not so fast, lass," Fergus said before he threw Merida to the side.

Merida stared at her father with confusion as he closed in on her. "Dad?! What are you doing?!" she said.

The other princesses saw this as well.

"Merida! It's not his fault!" said Elinor. "He's under some kind of spell! It's that sword!"

Merida looked up and noticed the sword that Fergus held. "Who gave him that sword?!" she asked.

"It was some woman named Vanessa," said Elinor.

Immediately, Ariel knew just who Elinor was taking about. "Ursula..." she said.

Cinderella's predictions came to be as the creatures had finally managed to take down Merida, Pocahontas, Mulan, Ariel, and Jasmine. Also the two other monsters had Rapunzel cornered. It looked as if the end was coming for the princesses. Just then, the sound of a whistle was heard. The creatures and the princesses turned to see that it was coming from Cinderella standing with Tiana, who had taken the drapes and made them into some kind of net. Cinderella and Tiana took the drapes and covered most of the monsters.

But Shan Yu was having none if it. With a mighty scream, he jumped up in the air and slashed at the drapes with his sword.

Facilier called forth his shadows and the shadows grabbed the princesses.

The other two creatures again closed in on Rapunzel. Noticing this, Snow White realized she had to do something, even though her body was trembling with fear.

The creature to Rapunzel's left raised it claw and went in for the attack, but then a voice from behind caught them. The two creatures turned to see none other than Snow White.

"Leave her alone..." Snow White said meekly.

"Snow White! Get out of here! Run!" Rapunzel shouted.

But one of the creatures had already turned their attention to Snow White who fell back and backed away.

Meanwhile, the King and Queen hurried through the hallways. They had gained a fair amount of distance, but suddenly found themselves stopped dead in their tracks.

"What? I...I can't move..." York said.

"N-neither can I," said Tera.

Dr. Facilier appeared before the King and Queen with his typical swagger and cocky grin. "Well, well, well, lookie here," he said. "Please tell me you two were not looking to just run away? Why we haven't even been properly introduced."

One of Facilier's shadows had grabbed the royal couple's shadows, keeping them from moving.

"Dr. Facilier, at your service and you will be coming with me," said Facilier.

Facilier's shadows dragged Rapunzel's parents through the hallways, then through the ballroom towards the doors where their daughter saw them.

"Mom! Dad!" Rapunzel shouted.

Suffice to say, the situation was not looking its brightest. As hard as the princesses tried, the could not get the jump on the monsters. Cinderella and Tiana eventually ended up getting caught. Merida's father was under mind control and Rapunzel's parents had been taken. Also, all the guests had been captured.

Suddenly, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather sprung into action.

"Princesses! Cover your eyes!" said Flora. "Now!"

The princesses covered their eyes and with their magic wands, the three good fairies unleashed tiny sparks of light that blinded almost everyone in the ballroom.

With the opportunity, the good fairies returned to normal size. Flora led Merida and the others away from the creatures.

"Let's go!" said Flora.

Fauna went for Snow White while Merryweather went for Rapunzel.

"Follow me, dear," Fauna said to Snow White.

The three good fairies and all the princesses were together and the fairies knew they had to escape while the Evil Empire and the creatures were disoriented.

"But my dad!" said Merida.

"And my parents!" said Rapunzel.

"You can't help them now!" said Merryweather. "We have to go!"

The three combined their magic and formed a multicolored circle around themselves and the princesses, after which they all disappeared in a veil of light.

Once the smoke had cleared, the Evil Empire saw that the princesses were gone.

"Where did they go?" asked Jafar.

"The good fairies must have taken them," Maleficent concluded.

"We have to go after them!" Shan Yu bellowed.

"Patience, you buffoon!" Maleficent scorned. "All in good time. But for right now, we shall continue with our plan."

Jafar brought Maleficent's attention to something. "But what about the..."

But before he finished, Maleficent finished Jafar's sentence for him. "The crystal septors? They will be taken care of soon enough."

Maleficent then walked off with the rest of the villains. Shan Yu reluctantly followed, eagerly wanting to get his revenge on Mulan sooner rather than later.

The creature who was in charge of the others continued to eye Maleficent intently. Gothel noticed this and became rather suspicious. Something did not feel right about him.

Nonetheless, the Evil Empire left Gothel to take control of Corona while they set off to control the other ten kingdoms. The first step of their plan had come to fruition and now it was time for the next step. So far, things were looking up for the gang of villains and with this new found power, it appeared that nothing would be able to get in their way.