It was a bittersweet morning on Fridgum. As the group prepared to leave, the citizens of the island gathered around them to give one last show of gratitude, especially to Snow White.
Hey stepped forward to present her with a gift; covered in a white cloth. "Princess Snow White, this is our way of saying thank you for saving all of us," she said.
Hey removed the cloth to reveal a miniature statue of Snow White carved out of ice.
"Oh! It's beautiful!" said Snow White.
"Crafted by the finest ice sculptors in Fridgum," said Hey.
"Hey! Why don't I get a sculpture?!" Feemer asked in annoyance.
"Um...you're a rock," said Tiana.
The other princesses giggled.
Merida however, was not in a laughing mood, looking on from the ship as Snow White showed her friends the statue.
"Do you guys mind? We have to get going," Merida said in a serious tone.
Snow White looked up and her and Merida looked eye to eye, but Merida immediately turned away and walked further onto the ship.
Pocahontas put a hand on Snow's shoulder as she gave a heartbroken sigh. "Don't be distressed," she said.
Rapunzel joined in. "Yeah, she just needs time to cool off. You know Merida. Her temper is as fiery as her hair. But not quite as messy," she said, giving Snow White an elbow to her arm.
"Ow," Snow White said subtly.
Though she felt a little better, Snow White was still racked with guilt and wondered if Merida would ever forgive her.
After getting on the ship, the group, with the exception of Merida, waved goodbye before departing.
Out of curiosity, Gothel decided to go outside of the Magic Kingdom to take a look at the other worlds. Her first stop was the Animal Kingdom. As she entered into the oasis, she was rather creeped out by her surroundings; whether it be the shriveled up plants or the previously clear blue water that had now been turned into venomous waste, or the sick animals hanging onto their last breath of life.
But none of that compared to the sight of the Tree of Life. What was once a beautiful, vibrant tree, was now a dead lifeless carcass of rotted bark and gnarled branches. The animal carvings on the tree were nearly melted and barely recognizable.
Gothel couldn't help but cringe.
Just then, she heard a hissing sound coming from near the tree and from out of its rotted leafs came none other than Venomis.
She slowly slithered around the tree, making it more and more sick with her venom before she noticed Gothel.
"Well, well, well, it ssssssseems I have a guessssssst," Venomis said.
"Well you certainly have made yourself at home," said Gothel.
Gothel watched as many of the Animal Kingdom's citizens being chained and dragged by the Shadow Demons.
Venomis licked her lips at one of the citizens and quickly slithered onto him. She bit into his neck, injecting her venom into him. The poison slowly did its job, working its way into his bloodstream and the pain grew more and more intense until finally, he lay on the ground, dead.
Gothel's eyes widened in horror. She figured she was ruthless, but this was taking it to another level. "A little excessive, don't you think," she asked.
"Maybe, but it wasssssss alsssso fun," Venomis said, slithering around Gothel.
A drop of acid dripped from Venomis' teeth onto Gothel's dress, much to her dismay.
"Hey! Watch the outfit!" Gothel said.
"What'ssss the matter? Can't handle a little accccid?" Venomis asked mockingly.
"This dress is over four hundred years old, so suffice to say, it is not easy to come by," Gothel said.
Upon hearing this, Venomis decided to have some fun with Gothel, constantly spitting acid towards her.
"Yesssss, dancccccce little birdie, dancccce!" Venomis said, laughing in cruel glee.
Gothel grew annoyed with Venomis' anitics and decided to walk away, but as she did, Venomis wrapped her tail around her leg and tripped her.
"Oopsss, ssssorry," Venomis said disingenuously.
Gothel growled in irritation.
It was dawn and for a while, things were quiet on the ship. The only sounds that could be heard were the flowing tides of the waves and Merida's sword connecting with the one of the ship's wooden masts.
The red haired lass furiously slashed away, putting all her anger and frustration in each of her strikes as most of the other princesses and the fairies looked on.
Meanwhile, Snow White sat alone; sad, depressed, ashamed. Even though she had been praised as it, she felt like the farthest thing from a hero. And although it was beautiful, she couldn't bare to look at the little carving of herself.
The rest of the group was at a loss, not really sure how to handle the situation.
"Maybe one of us should talk to Snow White and the other to Merida," Cinderella suggested.
Rapunzel agreed to talk to Merida while Cinderella volunteered to talk to Snow White.
"Good luck, dearies," Fauna said to the both of them.
Pocahontas went up to the crow's nest to continue on lookout while the other princesses decided it be best to let Rapunzel and Cinderella try to work things out.
Focused on her angered strikes, Merida didn't notice Rapunzel walking towards her, nearly decapitating her. "Oh! Sorry, Rapunzel," she said before continuing.
"Got a moment to talk?" Rapunzel asked.
At the same time, Cinderella brought Snow White below the ship so they could talk privately.
As Rapunzel got to talking with Merida, Feemer brought the fairies to his attention. "I realize that they have done an 'slightly above average' job so far, but how are supposed to depend on these girls if they continue to argue like this. At times, they don't seem to be on the same page," he said.
"Well nobody said this journey was going to be easy, Feemer, but so far, they have shown their worth and believe in them," said Flora.
"Besides, what's important isn't their fighting, but their ability to overcome their problems," said Fauna.
"Yeah, and based on what we've seen, I'd say there's no problem in that," said Merriweather.
But just then.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" shouted Merida.
"Merida, don't you think you're being a little bit unreasonable?" asked Rapunzel.
"No! She betrayed us, lied to us, and deceived us!" shouted Merida.
"Because she had to, Merida! You would've done the same thing!" said Rapunzel.
Merida hesitated slightly before answering back. "No, I wouldn't! I wouldn't have made a plan behind my friends back and then not bother to tell them what was going on!" she said.
"I admit, I was surprised too at what Snow did, but in the end, it's because of her that we're one step closer to saving the Kingdom. Isn't that what's really important?" asked Rapunzel.
Merida paused for a moment, clenching her fists. "She should've trusted us," she said before walking off.
But Rapunzel caught her on the arm with her hair and pulled her back.
"Merida, come on!" Rapunzel said, pleading.
"No, Rapunzel! Snow White made her choice, now she has to live with it," Merida said sternly.
As Rapunzel and Merida kept talking, down below, Cinderella was trying her best to cheer up Snow White. "Don't worry about Merida. She'll forgive you," she said.
"No she won't and I don't blame her. I hated what I did. Deceiving you all the way I did," said Snow White.
"You did it for the right reasons. You shouldn't hate yourself for that," said Cinderella.
Snow White turned her head to Cinderella with tears coming out of her eyes. "I just wish...I could...make it up to her..." she sobbed, putting her head on Cinderella's shoulder.
Cinderella wrapped her arm around Snow White's head to comfort her.
Meanwhile, on the deck, Tiana looked out to the sea. As she stared at the flowing waves, she couldn't help but think about the time she and Naveen danced together as frogs under the night sky. After letting out a frustrated sigh, she walked over to Feemer and grabbed him.
"Feemer, you're a powerful sorcerer, right? Can't you make a spell that can make us get to the scepters faster?" she asked.
"I'm a rock, remember?" Feemer said mockingly.
"This ain't the time for jokes, Feemer! We've been sailing up and down these islands for five months and only found seven scepters! It could be a year before we find the other four!" Tiana said.
"I understand your frustration, but the best I can do is direct you to where they are. I can't just instantly teleport you to them. I would need to know where each of them are to do that, which, of course, I don't," Feemer said.
The fairies flew joined in the conversation.
"I know it's hard, Tiana, but you just have to have faith," said Flora.
"Faith? Faith isn't getting Naveen or the others out of Golett's filthy claws! And faith isn't getting us any closer to finding the rest of those scepters! For all we know they could already be dead!" Tiana said.
"We will find them, Tiana!" said Merriweather.
Fauna hovered to Tiana and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't lose faith, dearie! Do you think Naveen has lost faith in you?" she asked.
A smile came across Tiana's face and within that instant, all her doubts were gone. She realized the fairies were right. She couldn't lose in Naveen or the others just as they wouldn't. It would still take some time, but she knew eventually, they would find the other scepters and stop Golett.
Just then, Feemer began to glow especially bright, indicating the were close to the next scepter's location.
"Girls! Girls! Our next island is coming up!" said Merriweather.
All the princesses gathered on the deck with the exception of Pocahontas who stayed in the nest, Merida keeping her distance from Snow White.
Feemer's glow grew brighter and brighter until it couldn't get any more bright. From the looks of things, it seemed as though they had approached their destination. However, there didn't seem to be any island nearby.
"So where's the island?" asked Rapunzel.
"I don't see anything!" Pocahontas proclaimed, looking out from the nest.
"Oh, was Feemer wrong this time?" Tiana asked mockingly.
"I'm not wrong! The location should be right here!" Femmer said.
"Well 'right here' is not where it is," said Jasmine.
The group looked around, but there was no sign of the island, just an empty mist.
"Maybe the island is invisible?" Snow White surmised.
"Based on what we've been through so far, it wouldn't surprise me," Merida said in response.
Jasmine and Belle noticed this.
"Well, it's a start," Jasmine whispered to Belle.
Though Merida didn't look directly at Snow White when she responded, it was better than nothing.
Just then, Aurora noticed something.
Mulan started to grow frustrated. "Well if the island is not right in front of us, where is it?" she asked.
Aurora brought everyone's attention to her. "Um...it's...above us," she said, pointing up at the sky.
The group looked up to find, to their shock, the very island they were searching for, hovering right above them. But that wasn't the weirdest part. Not only was the island hovering above them, it was hovering upside down.
"Well there's something you don't see everyday," said Mulan.
"We do," said Merida.