( Crawls into my room like a demonic being with a backpack weighing a ton on my back. Throws the backpack across the room and burns it like there is no tomorrow then flops on yhe bed and pasess out from exhaustion.) Freedom….. Sweet sweet freedom….
Ok no really! I had final weeks for my college and boy weren't the mentors kidding. College is a full time experience and takes a whole lot of devotion and dedication. But I passed all my classes with one B and the rest with an A! Yes! Winter break is here so here is my next chapter! And a long one too….. Come on you all know me by now! I love to read and write. That's why my favorite class is English.
neomoon585- glad you understood it. Can't wait for you to see how it connects to the story. And yes, I am certain as well both sides will find light... But a a price.
Jp- You shoukd see the movie when you have the chance. In my opinion, it's really underrated. It may not be for everyone but it's still a film worth watching at least once
T.G- Glad to hear I almost got it right. Don't worry, I made sure to make you a fun charater, I just needed you to be serious for that scene since itvwas life or death situation.
Rebey- Hmmmm... I would wait until the end to see who can be king. Because telling you right now, not everyone will make it to the end of this story...
The girls soon found themselves at the gates of a gray and old looking castle.
"Wow….. This is a…. interesting design," Satin said in a questioning tone. The girls entered and walked towards the main door. Poppy gave a light knock only for the door to crack open slightly.
"Hello?" Poppy peeked inside and looked around first before entering.
As the princess walked across the ballroom, They couldn't help but notice how dark and dim the place was. The thick black curtains blocked any kind of light to enter the place. The walls were painted with dull colors such as gray or brown.
"Well, this is… yea I can't think of anything," Satin didn't like their new homes sense of style.
"Where is our aunt?" Poppy thought out loud. Suddenly, a loud banging sound echoed across the empty room. Everyone jumped and turned towards where the sound came from. One by one, 6 little kids between the ages 8 and 11 ran out a door with supplies.
"Excuse me!" A blond and pale teenage boy ran past them like his life depended on it. Another pale tan girl rammed into Suki nearly knocking her down.
"Oops! Sorry!" She quickly apologized in a frighten tone before running off.
"Gotta move!" A brown skinned boy zoomed past them like nothing.
"ANNA DON'T WANT TO GET PUNISHED!" A chubby girl rammed into every single princess knocking them all off their feet and continued running at full speed.
"Move it or lose it ladies!" A tough looking girl jumped over the girls and followed her friends. The very last one to come out of the door was a very petite girl who was having trouble carrying a heavy bucket of water.
"Wait for me you….." Before she can finish, she tripped over her maids dress and fell over, spilling the entire bucket of water over the 12 princesses.
"Ew, mop water…." Maddy cringe in disgust as she rinsed her hair.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" The little girl picked herself up and tried to help each and every princess up," It's so hard to look where I'm going without my glasses."
The little girl reached into her pocket and placed some round glasses with blue lenses on. Before she can say another word, a harsh voice boomed across their ears.
"Olleasus!" A lady marched out of the room the kids just came out of. She harshly pulled onto the girls arm and pulled her close to her face," What did I say about making a mess of things!?"
"I I I I….. "The little girl stuttered upon her words. She had no idea what to say to her master.
"It's alright!" Poppy was the first to speak and get up," It was an accident!"
"I am her queen. What I say goes and this young maid shouldn't go against my words!" The so called queen let go of the little girl letting her fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry Queen Chef. I didn't mean to go against anything. I was just falling behind my work and…."
"Well, see to it that it never happens again! Remember! Your family owes me! I own you!"
"Miss Chef, please. It was an accident, she didn't see us here," Poppy tried to defend the little girl. Chef glared at the eldest princess as if she had said something wrong.
"And who are you?" She asked in a cold tone.
"We are Queen Emeralds daughters….. Your nieces," Poppy nervously explained to the queen
"Ah yes, My sisters 12 children. I heard you were coming. Your coronation didn't go as planned did it?"
"No…. No it didn't," Poppy bowed her head at the memory 2 days ago.
"As princesses you should know the type of respect you should be treated with by commoners like Olleasus here,"
"Ocellus, my name is Ocellus," the girl said with her fragal little voice.
"The point is, my little oriental maid here is working to pay off her family's debt to me. And her work so happens to be to serve you girls at hand and foot….. But most of all serve me," Chef explained as she patted Ocellus short black hair.
"I'm Korean," Ocellus whispered in response to the word oriental.
"Whatever, since your here, take these ladies to their room will you," Chef pushed the little girl forward and walked away.
"Yes my queen," Ocellus bowed and motioned for the girls to follow them.
As they walked, Chef remained quite making the girls feel awkward with her.
"Don't you want to know our names?" Poppy asked.
"I don't see why that's important," Chef shrugged her shoulders.
"We're gonna be living here so I assume you would like to know our names," Poppy stated to Chefs annoyance.
"Fine, name yourselves,"
"Well, I'm Poppy. The oldest," she introduced herself.
"Bridget, second oldest," The girl said with a smile but when chef didn't even look at her, she awkwardly looked back down.
"The names Suki," the curly haired girl told her aunt. Chef glanced over at her but said nothing.
"We're Satin and Chenille," the twins said together hoping it would be funny to their aunt. Nothing.
"The names Smidge madam!" The short girl proudly said.
"My, what a rough voice for a toddler," Chef insulated Smidge shortness. This didn't go unnoticed by her as she mumbled.
"I'm 14,"
"Karma. And this is Maddy and Wisp," The green haired girl smiled politely.
"The names Rebey and this is Harper, the youngest," Rebey revealed.
"And I'm Jocabed. Jo for short," the 11 year old happily said. Chef glanced at the little girl and noticed right away how different she looked.
"You're rather….. Tanned don't you think?" the queen asked.
"I'm adopted. I come from a hispanic background," Jo explained.
"Ah yes, your mother always did have a sense of humor," this comment by Chef confused Jos young mind.
Up the stairs and across the halls, the little korean girl led the group to a big door," This is your room, it's not exactly ready yet."
The little girl opened the doors to reveal the same kids that were running cleaning up the huge room.
"Attention!" Chef cried out. All the kids looked up in worry when they heard her voice. Chef took out a whistle from under her dress and blew into it. She did a certain pattern that seemed to cause all the kids line up in a line. To the rhythm of the whistles, the kids marched like soldiers and lined up in front of the princesses,"On my signal, announce your name and age to my nieces!"
With each blow of her whistle, the kids stepped up and announced themselves.
"Sander! I am 10!" The blond boy announced as he took a step forward then back.
"Silver!" The tanned girl announced," I am 9!"
"Sam! I am 10!" The tough looking girl announced.
"Gallus! 11!" The brown skinned boy introduced himself.
"Ocellus! 8 years old,"
"Anna! 9!" The chubby girl claimed as she marched back in line.
"Good, now I'm sure you don't mind filling in these ladies on my rules around here," Chef didn't exactly ask, more like cued the kids to explain.
"No singing!" Anna said.
"No dancing!" Ocellus claimed.
"No questioning Chefs rules and words!" Silver said.
"Everyone must do their part!" Gallus told them like a soldier.
"No one can or will leave this kingdom without her hineses permission!" Sander revealed.
"Everyone must be in bed by twenty one hundred!" Sam told them like she was in the military. This meant that the princesses had to be in bed by 9.
"And most of all….." Chef signaled them to say the final command.
"No one leaves on the streets after midnight!" All six kids said in unison.
"Why midnight?" Jo asked.
"The streets can get rough at that time," Chef cleared up.
"And not leaving this kingdom without permission? What if a civilian needs to travel? For business, family…"
"Anyone who leaves will be punished. What they need must be told to me!" Chef snapped back at Jo.
"But no singing? Dancing? What's that all about? Why…."
"Curiosity killed the cat my dear," Chef interrupted the little girl," You keep asking questions around my kingdom, it can lead to some unwanted discoveries."
"Like what? What…."
"Anyways!" Chef clapped her hands together to stop the couriose girl from talking," if the chatterbox doesn't mind being quiet for a while, my servants here will gladly give you a tour of this place tomorrow morning. Right?"
"Right!" The young six answered. With that, Chef left the room. The moment she did, the kids gathered around Ocellus.
"Ocellus! What happened to you?!" Sander ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her for a hug.
"I tripped and ran into the princesses," Ocellus hugged her friend back. One by one, all the kids gathered around her and formed a group hugged.
"Did Queen Chef get mad?" Sam asked in a very worried tone.
"No," Ocellus assured her with a smile on her lips, only for it to fall into a frown. She bowed her head and closed her eyes," Not yet of course."
Feeling bad for their friend, the group hugged her tighter before releasing the hug and looking at the 12 girls.
"Your room is almost ready your highnesses," Silver bowed to them as the rest went back to work.
"You don't have to call us that deary." Satin assured the little girl," I'm Satin, these are my sisters, Chenille, Poppy, Bridget, Suki, Maddy, Karma, Harper, Rebecca, Jocabed, Wisp, and Smidge."
"Nice to meet you," Sander was rather surprised at how nice these girls were.
"You seem rather shocked," Poppy took notice right away.
"I… guess you can say that. It's just that we aren't use getting attention from higher classes," Sander answered.
"I must be inclined to agree, as we commoners are not allowed to socialize with royalty," Ocellus added in.
"You don't need to worry about us honey," Chenille placed her suitcase on her bed.
"We like to talk to everyone. Commoners or royalty," Harper happily told them.
"OH BOY OH BOY!" Anna wrapped her arms around the blue haired girl. Harpers face started to turn into a light shade of blue as the world around her started to turn dark," Oh Anna is so happy that princesses are nice and not cruel like queen!"
Anna hugged Harper even tighter. Harper could hear sweet angelic music fill her ears.
"Anna promises that Anna will do everything she can to make pretty princess happy!" A light! A light was just up ahead, calling to Harper," We will be the best of friends!"
The young princess can see her late grandmother. Smiling and asking her to join the sweet sensation of death.
"Anna! Your gonna suffocate the poor girl!" Sam pulled Anna off of Harper letting the girl fall to the ground and breath. She literally can feel her soul get sucked back into her body.
"So. Where are you girls from?" Sander asked them.
"Rainbow Kingdom. I was supposed to be crowned queen today but….. It didn't go as planned," Poppy said that last part with a lot of force in her voice.
"really? What happened?" Gallus spoke for the first time after the introduction. The young boy had a very tough look to him. He rarely made eye contact with anyone and was really quiet. The girls looked at one another as if asking who was gonna tell him first. Sighing at the fact no one was gonna say it, Rebey pushed the answer out of her.
"Our kingdom…. Kinda…. broke apart….. And got drowned in icy cold water….." right after Rebey said this, everyone heard a loud crashing noise. Everyone looked to the side to see Silver had dropped one of the girls luggage. Her face was paler by the second, her breathing became very unsteady and her eye's were as wide as they can get.
"Your kingdom….. Sunk into the…." Silvers hands became shaky, her eyes widen in fear, and her face was turning pale.
"Silver?" Gallus was the first to notice the girls change in mood. Silver didn't answer. She instead pressed her back against the wall and held onto her heart. Her breathing became rapid, her eyes were as wide as they can get. Even wider. She began to shake her head no and pulled her long black hair as if she was trying to release stress.
"It's…. It's happening…." She whispered in great fear. Gallus dropped everything and rushed over to her.
"Nothing is happening. Your safe. I promise," Gallus held onto her hands but Silver pulled them back and glared at him.
"How can you say that?!" she screamed so loud is nearly shook the room. She slid her back down against the wall and hugged her knees hiding her face from everyone.
"Because it's true. Silver, Nothing's gonna happen to you.
"I…. I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong," Rebey felt guilty for causing this little girl so much stress. All of Silvers friends huddled around her and tried their best to soothe her.
"Nothing that you said," Ocellus made sure to clear it up," Silver has post traumatic stress disorder…."
Before Ocellus can say more, the room was filled with screams from the poor girl.
"Silver! It isn't real! Your not gonna die," Gallus kept trying to snap her out of it.
"She came from another kingdom. Unfortunately, her kingdom got destroyed. From what she told us, her Kingdom sunk into freezing water that froze everything in sight. She's the only survivor," Ovellus tried to explain as fast as she could. At this point Silver was crying rivers of tears. Everyone helped her up on her feet and took her away.
"Sorry we couldn't finish your majesties," Sanders apologized as the others took Silver away," When she get triggered, we have to take her to her room to calm down."
"I'm so sorry. If I knew I would never have brought up anything that would…." Rebey was interrupted by Ocellus.
"It's quite alright princess. There was no way you could have know. If you need anything at all, just give a call with these little strings."
The little girl pulled onto a string that hanged near one of the beds. The string rang a bell repeatedly.
"We'll hear it from our room and come right away. Each bell will summon someone different," Sanders said as he and Ocellus began to leave.
"Hope we can give you princesses the happiness you desire," those were Ocellus last words before closing the door. All 12 princesses looked at each other as if asking what to do now.
"I guess this is our new home now," Poppy said as she placed her luggage on her bed.
"I really tired," Harper yawned. Poppy looked at the time to see it was 11:30.
"It's really late, we need to sleep," Poppy pulled onto her sheets and slipped into bed.
"What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Wisp rolled her wheelchair to her bed. With some help from Karma, she was able to slip in.
"I don't know. But for now we should get some rest. We had a hard day today," Poppy told everyone," Good night girls."
"Goodnight," All the princesses responded. Slowly, each princess drifted to sleep.
At the dock of the kingdom
"Main target spotted," A man told his group. It was only 10 before midnight and a ship full of dirty looking people were sailing their way to the kingdom.
"Should I prepare th' crew captain?" A female asked him.
"Wake em up. We loot th' castle first then th' town," The so called captain ordered his first mate.
At the doc, all the workers were gone and asleep in their homes. Making it easier for the ship to stop by the doc unnoticed. One by one, the crew hopped off with sacks and weapons. One certain crew member was struggling to even take his sword out. He couldn't be any older than 18 like Poppy. He wore a black sleeveless jacket and a brown shirt. His pants were torn, accompanied by some black boots decorated with chains. His light brown hair was cut into a mohawk. Once he slipped it out, he tripped over the edge of the ship and fell straight into the ocean.
"That could've gone well," the 18 year old boy whispered to himself once he swam up for air. He swam to the surface where the rest of the crew was waiting.
"Nice one squirt," the captain laughed," you keep this up you'll be just like me in….. 50 years or so."
"The names Archer," the boy answered back.
"Whatever little bro," the captain rolled his eyes and prepared his sword.
"Why do we always rob this kingdom?" Archer struggled to get back on deck.
"Because, this kingdom may look poor but I read somewhere that there is a hidden treasure somewhere here. A room full of wonders, treasures, magic. And I'm gonna find it," The captain pointed to one direction with his and ordered," Half of you, grab whatever you find in town. The other half, follow me to the castle….. That includes you squirt."
The captain pulled Archer by the collar of his jacket and pulled him onto the dock.
"Why do we always do this? Can't we do anything else but rob towns?" Archer asked.
"That's a pirate's life for ya. If you weren't ready to take on such a job, then you should've just stayed home with your baby friends," His older brother laughed and pushed Archer ahead," Now come on, let's go to the castle."
In the castle
Still unable to sleep, Poppy looked at the ceiling of her room. Plian, gray, dull, the complete opposite of what's she use to. She sighed and tried to get comfortable but no matter what, she couldn't get all these negative feelings away. Why did this have to happen to her. To her family. At this very moment she felt like she was tied down by strings of chains. Not allowing her to move forward and keeping her in one place. It was times like this when she felt trapped. Like everything was out of her control. She closed her eyes and waited to drift to sleep, that is until she heard footsteps scattering across the halls. Poppy snapped open her eye's and lifted her head up a bit. She looked at the door and remain quiet. Sounds of footsteps echoed across the halls.
A part of her told her to go back to sleep, but another part said she needed to peek. To at least see what's going on a report to her aunt right? Slowly and quietly, Poppy slipped out of bed and placed her slippers on. She tiptoed across the room on her way to the door. Holding Her breath, Poppy ge tally placed her hand on top of the door knob. Doing her best to not make a single noise, she turned the metal knob and cracked open the door. Nothing she can see so far. She opened it up even more to the point where she can stick her head out. She was just able to capture a glance of a few shadows passing by on the walls before disappearing in the corner. Poppy moved out of the room and quietly followed the direction she saw the shadows.
As she got closer, she heard a couple of voices.
"What time is it?" A soft voice said.
"Shhh, it's almost midnight," A male voice answered.
"Do you all think these girls can be the ones!" A hyper voice cheered.
"Shut it Silver! We can't let Queen Chef hear us," Once at a turn, Poppy glanced over to see the 6 kids running across the hall. Couriose to see why they were up so late, Poppy hurried behind them.
The kids were acting very strange in her opinion. Ocellus pinned her ear against the walls and was writing in her notepad.
"We've been here already. It's not within the walls of the halls," Ocellus told them.
"It has to be somewhere. King Peppy said we had to find the door or else all the kingdoms in the world will be in danger," Gallus revealed. Poppy gasped at the mention of her father's name.
"Poppy?" The pink haired princess jumped when she heard a voice behind her. She looked behind her to see all 11 of her sisters behind her.
"What are you girls doing?" Poppy whispered.
"Us? What about you? Your here and it's almost midnight," Bridget told her.
"I… I just wanted to see something," Poppy answered.
"What? What is it?" Jo walked past them and was about to walk pass Poppy. The princess pulled her little sister back to make sure she wasn't seen by the others.
"Poppy you ok?" Suki asked. She took a few steps forward only for Poppy to block her with her arm.
"We should go back to bed," she finally told them. She turned all her sisters around and was just about ready to take them away. Until a loud shattering noise echoed across the halls of the castle.
"What was that!?" Wisp gasped. All 12 princesses looked around for a short while before Poppy signalled everyone to run back to their room. Doing as she said, all the girls scurried across the halls and headed back to where they room was.
"What's going on?" Little Harper asked in a frighten voice.
"Just keep runni…." Poppy's sentence came to a halt just like her feet when she saw someone up ahead. She pushed all her sisters behind her and looked ahead to see who it was.
It wasn't anyone she recognized. It was a tall male figure, sliding through the window he just broke. Right behind him entered two more figures. Each with different shapes but the one thing they all had in common was a human skull symbol drawn into their clothing. Knowing they shouldn't be here, Poppy urged her sisters to move back. She waved her hand behind her to signal them they needed to back away. They all did as she wanted and tip toed back.
As they all slowly backed away, Maddy took this as a chance to run. She spun around and sprinted around five feet before accidentally tackling a potted plant causing a loud crashing sound. All the girls cringed at the sound and glanced ahead at the group of intruders. Of course, they looked at their direction, locking eyes with the girls in utter silence.
"... Hi…." Poppy nervously laughed and gave a shy wave. With no reaction, the leader of the group pointed towards them without uttering so much a single word. Knowing this wasn't a good sign, Poppy spun around and pushed her sisters forward," Run run run!"
They all wasted no time. The girls ran to separate directions.
"Who are they?!" Rebey cried out as she ran behind Maddy, and Karma who was pushing Wisp in her wheelchair.
"Pirates! They must've come to rob the castle!" Karam answered. The three girls were running so fast that everything they past by was a blur. It wasn't until Wisp screamed out when Karma realized too late how fast they were going.
"Karma! Stairs!" Wisp shouted at the top of her lungs. Karma came to a big halt. A halt so strong it knocked Wisp off her wheelchair. The poor 11 year old girl rolled down the stairs till she made to the bottom.
"Wisp!" Karam, Maddy and Rebey cried out. The three girls hurried down the stairs to help their sister.
"Over there!" They heard a males voice cry out. Out of nowhere, Maddy, Karma and Rebey felt someone wrap their arms around them and hold them back.
"Hey! Let go of me!" Karma squirmed in the pirates arms.
"You don't know who your dealing with!" Rebey shouted," We are the princesses of the Rainbow Kingdom! Our aunt is the queen!"
" Queen huh?" The captain of the pirates was very intrigued by her words,"Bring them back to the ship! We'll hold them for ransom. Let's see how much that queen would give for her little princess."
"Oh nice going Rebey," Karma glared over at her to which Rebey responded with a nervous smile and shrug. The pirates lifted the three girls up along with Wisp and headed for the door. Not giving up so soon, Karma brought the pirates hand between her teeth and bit down with all her might. As expected, the pirate stopped to grunt in pain letting Karma place her feet back on the ground. She slid out of his arms but the pirate wasn't letting her arm go.
Copying her sisters move, Rebey did the same only this time she was able to slip away and run backup the stairs. Out of instinct, Rebey pulled out her bow and arrow from her nightgowns pocket ready to aim and shoot. Only she had no idea what to shoot. Karma was struggling with the pirate while Maddy was holding on for dear life on a pillar with a pirate trying to pull her away.
Showing up near the stairs, Jo paused at the edge and looked at the sight below. She looked around to see any solution to help her sisters. Her eye's landed at the chandelier above. The giant thing was being held up by some chains that was tied to a lever. The young girl ran to the were the chains was in reach, slipped her arm between the bars of the railing, grabbed it and tied to the bar. As she did all this she was quickly counting in her head and looking at the direction the pirates were at. It took 15 seconds to set it up but soon it was ready, Jo ran towards Rebey who was ready to shoot at the pirate that had Karma.
"Karma! Look out!" Jo shouted as she grabbed Rebeys arms and pointed the arrow away from her target causing her to shoot her arrow towards the lever. Karma looked up to see what her sister had done.
"What did you do that for?!" Rebey shouted at her. The arrow hit the lever causing it to switch down. Meaning that the chains had to pull the chandelier up but since it was tied to the metal bars, the chains pulled onto them. The metal bars began to bend towards where the pirate that had Maddy. Once the pressure was too much, the metal broke away and the chain snapped causing it to fall towards where Maddy and the pirate were. Maddy ducked while the metal smacked the pirate in the face. With the chain broken, the chandelier began to fall
Thinking fast, Karma spun herself to swing the pirate on the spot of the falling chandelier. Just like she expected, the chandelier smashed onto the pirate setting her free.
"Oh," Rebey realized what her older sister did. Jo glanced at Rebeys hands to see the bow.
"You sleep with a bow and arrow in your pocket?" Jo pointed at the bow.
"Emergency purposes," Rebey simply responded.
"What happened? We heard a loud crash?" Poppy cane into the scene with the others. All the girls rushed down the stairs to help Maddy and Karma up.
"Pirates. Chef never warned us about pirates," Maddy told her.
"Maybe Chef didn't want to scare us?" Smidge thought out loud. Poppy counted her sisters to make sure they were all still here.
"Maddy, Karma, Rebey, Jo…. Wait…. Where's Wisp?" The second Poppy said her name, everyone's gaze turned to the open door.
In the town
"Let me go!" Wisp struggled to set herself free. All across the town, pirates were running in and out of homes and stores with goods and food.
"Get your hands off my stuff!" At Branches house, his grandmother was swinging around a frying pan at the pirates that were taking her food. It wasn't like they were gonna listen. The pirates grabbed her pan and swung it away from her as they left with their belongings.
"Not so fast!" Branch pulled onto a rope that was hanging from the wall causing a net to pull up and capture some of the thieves," And to think my friends thought I was crazy to set traps in my own house. Ha! Who's crazy now?" Branch walked out of the house to see the pirates were setting all his traps he set up in front of his house. Some got their foot caught in bear traps, while others were tied in nets," Me! Crazy prepared."
With a smirk on his face, Branch took the bags that held their belongings away from the pirates. Soon, familiar screams filled the air. Not too far, he can hear Jp and his friends yelling at some pirates for taking their stuff.
"Here grandma," Branch gave the stuff back to the elderly lady and pushed her back into the house," go to the bunker, I'll let you know when to come out."
"Careful Branch," Rosiepuff gave her grandson a kiss on his head before headed back inside. The pale boy ran to the streets to where the shoe shop was.
On his way, he douged all the bombs and weapons the pirates were throwing. At the shop he can see his friends fight off the pirates.
"Get away you filthy heavens!" Jp smacked them away with a broom he got from the closet.
"Oh, please be careful not to make a mess" Biggie begged as the pirates pushed the displays down," Awe….. I just finished organising those through color."
Mr Dinkles was barking and yapping at all the strangers that were attacking his shop. He pulled onto one of their pants and got dragged out into the snow.
"Whoa Mr Dinkles," Branch pulled him away before the pirates can take him away too.
"Not the face! Anything but the face!" Guy Diamond came running out covering his face with a shoe box. Not seeing where he was going, he rammed into Branch and fell to the snow below," Branch?"
"Guy Diamond, where is everyone?" Branch asked him.
"Bomb!" Coopers voice shouted from the inside. Right away, he saw Jp, Cooper, Biggie and Creek run out with barrels, shoes, supplies and anything they can carry out of the store. Seconds when they left, the shoe shop exploded into bits.
"Oh no," Jp whispered under his breath as he watched his parents family business blow up.
"Back to the ship! Now!" One of the pirates shouted. As the thieves began to run back, Jp and the others ran back to the store to put out the fire. Branch was about to do the same until he heard a scream.
"Help! Help me!" A soft little voice that belonged to an innocent child. The 20 year old boy turned around to see the pirates taking Wisp away. Seeing that she was only kid, Branch ran after them.
"Please, I want to go home!" The little 11 year old was crying tears at this point.
"Quit your complaining!" The pirate got annoyed with her crying. In a split second, the pirate felt a sudden blow to his head. It was strong enough to knock him down and drop the handicapped girl. Wisp saw a brick land near the her and pirate it hit.
"You alright?" Branch asked her.
"Yes. Thank you," Wisp thanked. Branch grabbed her hands and tried to pull her up only for Wisp to let herself fall down on the snow," I can't walk. I need my wheelchair."
"Where's your family?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. We were attacked by the pirates as well. I'm afraid they might have taken them too," Wisp dried a few of her teats from her cheek.
"It's alright. You can be with me for a while until we find them," Branch picked the princess up and headed back to the shop.
"WISP! WISP!" All the girls were running around the town looking for their lost sister.
"You sure he went this way?" Bridget asked Karma who was tracking the pirate that took Wisp.
"Yes, these footprints are the same as the one that took her," Karma didn't take her eyes off the prints for one moment.
"Karma!" Poppy tackled her to avoid a horse that was running and pulling a cart.
"Fire! Move over everyone!" The people on the cart shouted. Karma looked at the footprints and frowned seeing they were nearly destroyed.
"How are we gonna find her now?" Poppy asked with the thought of her scared sister in mind.
"Over there!" One of the pirates pointed at the girls. He was standing with the captain of the pirates and his little brother," Those are the princesses!"
"Oh shoot," Poppy hopped i to her feet and pushed all her sisters to run.
"Archer, lead the group to those girls. Who knows how much ransom we can get for them," Archer nodded at his older brother and ran after them.
The girls were forced to split up from all the chaos that was happening. Carts crashing, fires starting, it was a miracle to even be alive right now.
"Where do we go?!" Smidge asked Suki. The two were running blindly across the streets until they took a turn. The girls soon found themselves in the arms of some pirates.
"Got you!" Archer grabbed onto Smidges arm. The one thing he wasn't expecting was the small princess flipping him over.
"Pick on someone your own size!" She shouted before running off. With the other pirate, Suki struggled in his arms.
"At least we still have one," Archer took the princess from his crew member and studied her," Hmm, princess of the Rainbow Kingdom. Pretty face, curly locks, bright eyes…. You should be worth a lot to someone. We can sell her away to…."
Before the pirate can say another word, Suki kicked him away and placed all her weight down causing herself to slip away from the pirates grasp. She got up right away and ran across the deep snow.
Back with Branch, the group was almost done putting out the fire. Wisp watched from a safe distance.
"Wisp!" She heard a familiar rough manly voice. Wisp turned around to be greeted by a loving tackle," Oh your ok!"
Smidge squeezed the life out of her.
"It's good to see you too Smidge, where are the others?" She asked.
"They're looking for you," Smidge answered before looking around her surroundings. Her face soon turned pale at realization," except Suki was right behind me."
"You left her behind?!" Wisp shouted in worry.
"Everything alright?" Branch came up to them.
"One of my sisters is lost!" Wisp told him. She held onto her heart tightly, just thinking of all the things that can happen to her,"What if she's been captured? What if they enslaved her already? They can force her to be part of their crew! She can become a dirty pirate and steal everything in sight and…."
"Whoa easy there girl," Cooper came into the conversation," We'll find her. Where did you see her last?"
The boys looked at Smidge.
Back with Suki, the girl was running across the icy roads. She lept over broke buildings, and ducked under some stands. One of them, she jump over the counter of a stand that was selling fish.
"Pirate!" The elderly man that was in charge of the stand swung a fish towards Suki like a weapon.
"Whoa, I'm not a pirate!" Suki tried to explain as she douged his hits. She ducked down and grabbed a basket to shield herself.
"You won't lay a single hand on my fish babies you survey dog!" the old man cried out as he smacked the basket with his fish.
"Your insane man!" Suki slipped under the stand and ran off. Unfortunately, some guards from the castle were running by.
"Pirate! She went that way!" The old man told them.
"Thanks for the tip," the captain of the guards headed to where he pointed.
Running at full speed, Suki found herself taking a turn to an ally.
"Hold it right there thief!" Through all the screaming and explosions, Suki can hear the voice of the guards call out to her. She turned around to see they were catching up to her. Not seeing where she was going, Suki tripped into another stand that was selling jewelry.
"Who are you?!" A young paranoid woman screamed when she saw the princess," Are you a pirate!? Answer me!"
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to run into your store," Suki tried to apologise through the woman's scream of terror. The lady grabbed whatever she can find and hit her as hard as she can.
" Pirate! Thief of the sea!" The lady screamed. Suki crawled away from her only to be caught by one of the knights.
"Where are you going!?" He pulled onto her arm.
"Please! Let me go!" Suki begged," I'm not…."
"You're coming with…." before the knight can pull Suki any further, a tripped over some barrels that were rolling towards him. Feeling confused, Suki backed away only to be pulled again by her arm. Only this time she was pulled onto a platform by Cooper who found her first.
"Hold on tight!" Cooper warned the girl as he pulled out his knife.
"What are you doing?" Suki watched as Cooper cut the rope releasing the wooden barrels on the other side sending the platform they were on up.
"Stop right there!" The knight ordered only to be knocked down by the barrels. The platform stopped at the top of the building letting the two hop off and rush away.
Back with Poppy and her sisters, the 11 girls had found their way to each other again. They were rushing around town desperately looking for their last sister. Right after Smidge told them everything, the girls hurried to find her right away.
"Suki!? Where are you!?" Poppy called out to her.
"She's not at the market," Branch came back running to them.
"You sure?" Poppy asked him.
"As sure as I can be. Don't worry. My friends are searching downtown, and every shop there is. One of them is bound to find your sister," Branch tried to assure her.
"We couldn't find anyone!" Biggie came back with Guy Diamond," We searched all over downtown."
"She's not in the central area," Jp came running back with Creek.
"She's not downtown! At the market! Workshop! Where else can we look!? Uptown?!" Smidge cried out and flopped down on a bench.
"LOOK OUT!" a female voice screamed out.
"Huh?" Smidge looked up and the second she did, she was greeted by fabric and wood collapsing on her.
"Smidge!" All her sisters cried out. Everyone huddled around where the crash was.
"What!... What happened!?" Smidge dug her way out and scanned the area, ready to attack anyone who landed on her.
"Sorry Smidge, got carried away," Suki moved all the debri off her along with Cooper. Once the two dug out, everyone heard the footsteps of the soldiers that were coming.
"Oh shoot," Cooper whispered to himself. He grabbed Suki's hand and sprinted to one side only to crash into another knight.
"GOT YA!" The knight held onto Coopers and Suki's arm," You two little pirates thought you can escape huh?"
"We're not pirate's. I promise!" Suki tried to explain but the knight wasn't listening. He threw Suki to the side and into the snow so he can pin both Coopers arms behind him.
"Take the boy," the knight tossed Cooper into the knights arms," We have a lot of unfinished business with this streetrat.
"No! Let him go! He didn't do anything wrong!" Suki hopped onto her feet and tried to convince the knights. She pulled onto one of their arms only to be pulled back by two other knights.
"Fiesty one," one of the knights held onto her arm while the other held onto her other arm. Suki kept pulling and kicking, trying to set herself free.
"What are you doing?! That's our sister!" Poppy cried out. She was about to rush to them but a line of knights held all 11 princesses back.
"Take the girl away!" One of the knights ordered. He pulled out his sword and slowly made his way towards Cooper,"We'll deal with the boy right now."
"What?! No!" Branch pushed himself in front of all 11 princesses but the knights still held him back. He was able to see the knight hold up his sword high into the winter air. Aiming straight for the poor boy," He isn't a thief! He never stole anything!"
Feeling like there was no other way, Poppy ducked under all the knights and slipped between their legs. The moment the knight swung his sword down, Cooper shut his eyes and prepared for the worst. Poppy dashed in front of Cooper and and spread her arms to shield him.
"Don't hurt him!" She commended. The sword cane swinging tiwtdd Poppy face causing her to cringe at the thought of being slaughtered. When she didn't feel the sharp blade slice her face, Poppy cracked open one eye to see the edge of the sword was nearly touching the tip of her nose.
"Who do you think you are?" the knight commanded to know. Poppy gulped down her fear and cleared her throat.
"I…. Am Poppy….. Princess of the Rainbow Kingdom and the niece of Queen Chef."
"Princess?" The knight repeated in confusion as he pulled away the sword.
"Niece of the Queen?" Jp gapsed along with the boys.
"Princess of the Rainbow Kingdom?" Branch whispered to himself in disbelief. One by one, the guards put away their swords and bowed on their knees to her.
"Forgive us your majesty. We heard about your arrival but we weren't expecting you to be here so soon. We would never do anything to upset anyone from the higher places," the captain sounded like he was pleading for his life. Poppy looked down in surprise at how everyone reacted. She couldn't tell if they were quivering from the cold or in fear. No matter what, Poppy cleared her throat and spoke up once again.
"Release my sister and her friend," the guards did as she ordered.
"Poppy!" Suki ran into her older sisters arms," I'm so happy you found me."
"From all the people she could free she choose this street rat," the captain scoffed as he pushed Cooper to the side of the snow.
"He's not a street rat," Branch mumbled as he pulled helped Cooper get back on his feet. What they didn't see was the necklace slipping out of Coopers back pocket. Once on his feet, Cooper began to walk away with his friends. That is until one of the guards shouted out.
"Hey! What is this?!" The guard picked up the necklace by the silver chain. Everyone looked at his direction.
"My necklace," Suki gasped. The guard tossed it to the young princess," How did it get here?"
"What were you doing with the princesses necklace?!" The captain pointed his sword at Cooper.
"I…. I… i was gonna give back! I swear!" Cooper put up his hands as if he was surrendering to them.
"Stealing from citizen is one thing, but stealing from the royal family is another!" The gard signaled for the rest of his team to arrest the boy.
"No, he isn't a thief!" Branch tried to say but it wasn't like anyone was gonna listen. The guards pulled Cooper's hands against his back and prepared to take him away.
"To The dungeon! The queen should decide what his punishment for stealing from the royal family should be," following his orders, all the guards pulled the boy away from his friends.
"Wait! You can't do this!" Jp ran up to Cooper but the captain pulled him back," He's just a boy!"
"What are you gonna do to him!" Branch demanded to know. The captain glared at the raven haired boy for talking so demanding to him.
"The day after tomorrow we'll have orders from the queen. But I wouldn't hold my breath," The captain of the guard pointed towards where the guards were dragging Cooper," People of his kind don't usually get set free easily in this kingdom."
"His kind?" Suki repeated in a questioning tone.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Jo asked. The captain of the guard looked down at the little hispanic girl. He studied her features but mostly on her tan skin. He kneeled down so he can be face to face with the 11 year old.
"It means your one lucky girl. Because if you weren't considered royalty then people of your skin color would be treated lower than dirt," with those words, Jos eyes widen in fright. She wasn't sure of what to make of these words. The guard stood up and left with the rest of his team.
That's all folks! And remember how I said this was originally a mlp fanfic? Keep an eye out for any mlp reference and easter eggs. I feel like since it was originally for mlp, might as well pay tribute right? If you spot them, don't be shy to say so, I would live to see any mlp fans here…. And besides, I like the name Ocellus.