A week went by and Halley found Tucker gradually fading away in her mind. It was...for the best after all. The princess went about her life as normally as she could. Of course that included Allison chewing her out for being so moody lately. Halley supposed her moods had been fluctuating. One minute she was on edge, the next she was upset, another she was angry, then she'd be spaced out, and finally she was herself again.

She assured her friend that she was trying to stabilize things and that everything would be okay. Her friend agreed but only after she made Halley promise to talk to her if she was having issues. She thanked her friend for her concern and life went on.

Other than that, Halley had spent an entire week making a decision. An important decision. Finally she'd come to the conclusion that maybe she should embrace the other half of herself. Be a fish...

Her father was in his study and Halley stood at the door nervously. Pushing away her nerves (He was her father. Why should she be that nervous?) she opened the door.

"Dad?"

The king was sitting in a chair reading over some documents. He looked up, surprised.

"Hey, kiddo. Do you need something?"

"Yeah..." She walked up to him. "I was wondering if you could do something for me."

"What is it?" He asked seriously. Halley cursed herself for being so anxious about asking him. It was a simple question damnit.

"I...was wondering if...um..." Perhaps she was having second thoughts.

"Halley, what's wrong?"

"I want you to teach me." She blurted out. Her father looked confused. "I want you to teach me about our powers. Like you used to. I can't be a good princess— someday queen— if I only embrace half of what I am."

The King's eyes were shining. It looked so much like when her brother made that same expression, she had to smile. That gave her at least some hope.

"So, Dad? Will you—"

Her dad cut her off with a tight hug, "Of course I will." Halley supposed no one had every actually come to him for advice on powers. It was always Star the triplets went to with all types of questions concerning magic. He had just been sitting by for years, Halley realized a little guiltily. He pulled away with his hands on her shoulders, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

She just shrugged. Halley wasn't sure how he'd react to her having an eye opening experience because of some boy she'd met while attempting to run away.

"Well come on." He walked out of the room with her following close behind. He led them down to the dungeons and Halley was starting to get a little wary of her father's intentions. They walked past all the empty cells and eventually they came to a large wooden door with strange carvings resembling a maze of some sort. Her father put his hand into an imprint and Halley watched in amazement as the engravings turned orange before her eyes. Once the door was quite literally glowing with whatever her father was doing, it opened.

Her father stepped casually inside so Halley followed. It was pitch black and Halley unconsciously braced herself for something to attack her. She flinched when her father lit a flame.

"Come on."

The flame he was holding revealed a long winding staircase that Halley couldn't even see the bottom of. She groaned.

"Can't we just jump down?" Halley was pretty sure just using her powers to float down would be much easier.

"If you want to break your neck, then sure. Be my guess." He joked.

"But—"

"This room is enchanted. No short cuts. If we were to even try and get down there without using the stairs, our powers would immediately be cut off and we'd plunge to our deaths."

Halley sighed but followed suit. After about five minutes of walking she was sure that Tom was just messing with her.

"Dad, this is taking forever." She complained.

"It's only taking as long as you make it, kiddo. Enchanted room remember?"

Halley sighed and did her best to push aside her irritation. Sure enough, the end of the stairs came into view. At the bottom was a doorway. When father and daughter entered the new room, the king's flame disappeared and lit the torches around the room.

"Where are we?" Halley's voice echoed.

This is a room your mother and I made a few years before you all were born. Hence the enchanted room part. We made it so one day the kids we'd have would be able to use their powers in here."

"But I've never been here before."

"I only wanted to take you here if you were truly ready. And you are. Aren't you?"

"I think so."

Her father clapped his hands together, "So. Let's begin."

"How do we start?"

"What can you do?"

Halley looked at her hands, "I guess all the basic stuff you taught me."

Tom nodded and without warning he flew into the air and threw a ball of flame at her. She narrowly dodged it and barely had enough time to figure out if her father had gone crazy before he pelted more at her. She jumped out of the way of the oncoming flames. That only seemed to make matters worse. Her father launched a particularly big ball of fire at her. She jumped up to avoid it and fired back with her own attack. Her father easily dodged it but seemed to stop his attacks.

"What was that for!?" She asked him breathlessly.

"I wanted to see what you could do."

She looked down and noticed they were both levitating in the air. Halley was in no way used to moving so quick.

Her father put a hand on her back, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she gave him a small smile.

When they both landed back on the ground Tom put a hand on her shoulder, "Before we go any further, I have to tell you that training with me will be tough. There's no doubt about it. I want to be absolutely sure you can handle this."

"I can. I want to do this." She nodded firmly.

He gave her a smile before ruffling her hair, "Alright then. Let's get started."

...

About a month went by and Halley came to the conclusion that training with her father was...brutal.

When she had school, as soon as she got back training would start. When school was eventually out for the long Stump Day Holiday the Queen commissioned, most of Halley's time was taken up with training. All that to say, Halley was grateful for her father's commitment. She was getting stronger. Stronger than she ever thought she could.

The princess could fly with ease, her strength had increased tenfold, and she had even been introduced to new techniques. For the first time, Halley felt powerful. One day, the king was tied up with his other responsibilities and suggested the princess take the day off. Instead, Halley made the trek all the way down to the dungeons and to the large door. She'd never entered on her own before and was sure that her father wouldn't mind her going in alone. She placed her hand in the imprint. Halley summoned a flame and slowly and steadily, the door's engraving was lit with green flames. She smiled as the door opened for her. Halley mimicked her father and held up a flame as she made her way down the staircase. Every time the length of the stairs seemed to decrease and Halley took that as a good sign. Once she entered the chamber underneath, the torches lit with green fire instead of orange. The light felt oddly comfortable. Even though she was in a room entirely made of stone, she felt warm. Since Tom wasn't there to spar with her she supposed she'd practice meditating. It wasn't a major power move but her father explained that it was a healthy way to channel her energy and regulate her powers a bit. Her father was trying to get her into the habit more since her power level was increasing exponentially.

Halley sat on the ground cross-legged. She rested her hands on the edge of her knees and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and focused on clearing her mind.

Down in the chamber all of her problems seemed muted. It was probably why she loved coming down there so much. There she could leave all the worries of the other kids thinking that she was a freak or weird because she could do things they couldn't. She also rarely ever thought of Tucker anymore.

Good, she thought. No time for distractions.

Halley wasn't too good at clearing her mind. Regardless, her thoughts wandered.

Nowadays she focused on training and being a good princess. As her skill in pyrokinesis increased, her magic seemed to follow. She was learning quicker and she was so close to dipping down she could feel it. Halley grinned to herself a little self righteously. She'd totally left James in the dust. She was positive.

Following that thought, some sort of wave hit Halley. Suddenly whispers were filling her ears.

Freak... Disgusting... Half-breed...

She tried to pry open her eyes but she had no luck. Halley was whisked into a vision of some sort. She was walking the halls of Mewni High. Everyone seemed so much bigger. All eyes were on her. Every single one. She felt naked. What happened to all that self confidence? All that power?

Instantly the crowd closed in on her. She backed up and ended tripping back into someone. She spun around and saw none other than Tucker. She couldn't have been more relieved.

"What are you—" She was cut off when he violently pushed her to the ground.

"What the fuck makes you think you can talk to me? To us?"

The eyes of the onlookers became red and glowing evilly. A familiar face appeared next to Tucker. James. Sword in hand. The two of them were scowling down at her and Halley suddenly felt like she was going to explode. The power came surging all at once and she couldn't stop a stream of flame from disintegrating Tucker and James. She looked on in horror. Once it was all over the students surrounding her cane swarming on her.

Halley opened her eyes with a gasp and fell to the floor. It took her a while to catch her breath. It was like she had been running for miles.

What the hell was that? She thought.

The princess remembered her father telling her something about the importance of humility but whatever it was, there was no way in hell she'd be doing that again. She couldn't go back to that.

Halley looked down at her skirt and saw that her hands left scorched black prints. She hauled herself off the ground and shakily left the chamber.

Once out, she made her way to her room to go change. Halley was walking past the throne room when she heard a loud slamming followed by yelling. She stopped for a moment to listen.

"I'm done! I don't need you!" It was James.

"James you're being crazy."

"Excuse me? I am a prince. You're just some lowly general that I can replace if I please. You cannot talk to me like that."

The footsteps got closer quickly and Halley was barely able to move out of the way before James threw the doors open and stormed off with Marco not far behind.

"Marco, what's going on?" Halley asked.

The general sighed and finally stopped chasing after her brother, "James isn't satisfied with his training anymore. He got angry and said that I wasn't training him to his fullest and I said he was being immature then...that."

"Oh..." She trailed.

"How's your training going, by the way? Your parents tell me Tom's training you now."

"It's going well, I think. Dad's tough."

"No surprise there." He chuckled. "If you'd excuse me, I think I should find, His Highness before he hurts someone."

"No Marco, I'll go find my brother."

The human blinked, "Well if you're sure Halley, be my guest."

Halley went off in search of her irate triplet. She could hardly believe there seemed to be no trace of him after five minutes of wandering the halls. James usually left nothing unsmashed during his "reins of terror" that were happening more and more often. Halley eventually had to give up looking. It was odd if her brother to just up and disappear. But no one had been hurt or killed yet as far as she was concerned.

...

Halley figured she should get out of the castle. Her new princess-ly agenda consisted of her getting to know the kingdom better, whether anyone liked it or not. She supposed she had her newly found self-confidence for that.

After changing into a light blue winter dress with cotton laced hem, her warmest matching boots, finally topping off the look with a periwinkle coat and a braid, Halley headed into the kingdom.

Since it was the snowing season, the streets were covered with Mewman children playing to their heart's content. Halley just quietly observed, walking out of their way. No one paid her much attention given that her horns were hidden under her hat. But really, Halley wasn't going for an incognito look. She wanted to at least try and gain the citizens trust instead of staying cooped up behind the castle walls. It was a risk, definitely. Especially since she had decided to go without any royal guards but it was a risk she had to take.

The princess milled around for a bit and ended up in a part of the kingdom that obviously didn't receive too much care. The children playing there were wearing a little better than rags. Halley thought they'd be cold but it didn't seem to bother them as they were just as happy and spritely as the other children. A group of kids no older than maybe six ran across her path. A little girl, presumably younger than the rest by the way she was struggling to keep up, tripped up on some snow and fell right on her face. Halley froze as the girl pulled herself up and her eyes started to well.

Before the girl could burst into tears, Halley bent down and tried her best to comfort her, "Hey, hey... It's okay. Did you hurt yourself?"

Halley involuntarily braced herself for the girl to scream and run away but she looked up at her and nodded.

"Where does it hurt?"

The girl pulled the fabric off her dress up to reveal a scrape on her knee. Halley lightly put a hand on her knee. It was ice cold. The scrape wasn't anything major and she supposed the cold added to the pain factor. She ever so subtly warmed her knee and pulled out her wand. The girl's eyes lit up as Halley summoned a bandage that wrapped around her knee.

"Woah! You're magic!"

"Uh huh," She smiled kindly.

The girl stood herself up and almost got into Halley's lap. (It did throw her off a little.)

"What's your name?" The girl asked.

"Halley. What about you?"

"Hope."

Halley smiled, "That's a pretty name. Do you want to go back to your friends now?"

"Oh! My friends!" Hope shot up and ran off out of Halley's sight. The princess got up. That went...well actually. She went to continue her walk but she hadn't walked two steps until Hope trailed by the other kids came running up to her. Hope hugged Halley's legs.

"This is Hallsie. She made me all better with her magic!"

Halley nervously waved at the onlooking children.

"Hallsie! Hallsie! Do it! Show them! Do the magic!" Hope hopped up and down.

"Wait a second Hope—"

"Look you can do it on her!" With that, Hope pushed a girl down onto the pavement. The girl held her bleeding arm and glared angrily at Hope. She seemed very intent on not crying in front of the others.

Halley bent down and showed all the kids the spell she used to take care of Hope. Once she was done everyone was ogling the bandage in awe as if it would grant them a wish if they looked hard enough.

Halley turned to Hope, "You can't just push people."

"It's okay. That's my sister."

Halley shook her head, "That doesn't matter. Trust me, you should never try and hurt other people."

Hope shuffled her feet, "'Kay..."

"Hey!" One of the boys in the group spoke up. "Why do you have three eyes?"

"I don't know, why do you have two eyes?"

The kids giggled and gathered around her.

"Where are you from?" Hope's sister asked.

Halley turned in her spot in the snow and pointed to the castle in the distance, "There."

"Woah!" They all said at once.

"Do you all live around here?" Halley asked.

"Me and Ginger live over there," Hope pointed to a tiny cottage on the other side of the road.

"Hey lady, you have something on your face." A girl with missing front teeth said.

"The flowers? They're supposed to be there?"

"Why?" Hope asked.

"Well I'm the princess."

"Nuh uh!" Another little boy said. "You can't be the princess!"

"How come?" Halley asked.

"Why would the princess be here?"

Halley laughed, "I wanted to visit. Is that okay?"

"Do something only the princess could do." He challenged.

"Okay," She shrugged. Halley held up her hand and summoned a tiny green flame. She waved it around for the group to see and formed a tiny star that bounced out of her hands and spun around before disappearing.

"She is a princess!" Hope exclaimed, hugging Halley tightly around her waist. She flinched, Halley never spent any time really with little kids. To have one hugging her after five minutes of knowing her gave her a warm feeling inside.

Having gained the groups approval, they shot all sorts of questions at her.

Ginger: "How old are you?"

"16."

The kids took turns sharing their ages and Halley was surprised to find out that the oldest wasn't even six years old yet, the youngest being Hope at four years old.

The boy whose name was Donnie: "What do you do I the castle?"

"You'd be surprised by how boring it is there. I'd much rather be playing."

(They laughed.)

Hope: "Do you live by yourself?"

"No of course not. I've got my mom and my dad and my brothers."

The girl with the missing teeth, her name was Heather: "I used to have a brother! He got sick though, but I didn't really know him."

"I'm so sorry." She realized she had been insensitive.

"It's okay." Heather replied cheerily. Halley still felt bad for bringing it up.

The other boy. Carter: "Do you fight with your brothers?"

"All the time."

Hope: "I fight with my sister."

(Ginger confirmed the statement.)

"But in the end you should remember that they're family and you should always make up."

Ginger: "Even if their being big dumb stupid babies?"

Halley rolled her eyes, "Especially if they're being 'big dumb stupid babies.'"

The kids laughed and Halley joined in. Carter sneezed and then Heather coughed but they continued laughing. Sensing their frigid body temperatures, Halley had raised her own body temperature, warming them up. Aside from her worrying, she was having a pretty good time.

That is until a door slammed open. She and the kids looked across the road.

"Hope! Ginger! What are you two doing?" An older woman walked across the street.

"Nothing Mommy." Hope responded, burrowing deeper into Halley's arms.

"Girls—" Their mother stopped and looked at Halley. Then the reaction she had been expected came.

"Hope, Ginger come here right now."

"Why?" The sisters whined.

The mother lunged for Hope and pried her from Halley's arms. Hope started to scream.

"Mommy no! Stop! Let go!"

"Hope it's okay—" Halley started.

The little girl sobbed, "Halley! Save me! I don't wanna go!"

The mother restrained her daughter, "Hope we're going home. I don't want you out here."

"Mommy look!" Ginger piped up. She showed her mother her bandaged arm. "Halley fixed it when I got hurt. Hope too."

Their mother looked between her daughters and then to Halley and her gaze softened.

"Girls I know you don't want to go but we have to get packed. I told you all this."

Ginger got up and sadly walked over to her mother, "We just wanted to play one more time."

"Well say goodbye." Their mother murmured softly. She set Hope down on the ground and she rushed into Halley.

"Bye Hallsie. Bye everyone."

The kids sadly muttered their goodbyes. Halley felt like she was missing something.

"Will I see you again?" The four-year-old asked.

"Of course." Halley smiled brightly. With that, Ginger and Hope scampered across the road to their house. Their mother bowed, "Thank you Princess for helping my girls."

It wasn't friendly but it wasn't spiteful either. Halley stood and bowed as well, "It was no problem. Your daughters are wonderful."

The woman nodded and left. The kids, after giving Halley numerous hugs and exchanging goodbyes, scattered and Halley figured she'd make her way back to the castle.

...

The snow started to fall steadily by the time Halley reached the castle. She cut through the garden to get inside quicker. She was about halfway to the door when a statue's head came crashing down in her path. She jumped back.

Halley looked up and saw the beheaded warnicorn statue, and none other than her missing brother panting heavily behind it.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" She screamed.

James looked over and saw her standing there, he obviously hadn't even noticed until then. He jumped down and sheathed his sword, not answering her. The action brought her to remember the vision she had earlier. She shivered.

"Hello? I'm talking to you. You could have killed me!"

All her brother did was scoff as he examined the broken head. Halley rolled her eyes. He obviously wasn't in the mood to care.

"Have you been out here the whole time? Marco was looking for you earlier."

"That sad excuse for a general? Who gives a shit?" James kicked a piece of the head and it crumbled.

"James, he's trained you since you were like eight. You owe him some respect, don't you think?"

"I've outgrown General Diaz. I have no more use of him."

Halley crossed her arms, "You're acting like a real asshole. We've known Marco for forever. He's like family and you have the gaul to just disrespect him like that?"

"I am a prince." He shouted. Halley didn't notice that she took a step back. "I am above him. I don't owe him anything."

Halley stared at his backside, honestly at a loss of words for a moment.

"You'd think a prince would show at least some semblance of being humble." She moved to walk past him but he turned on her, sword suddenly drawn.

"As for you." He hissed. "You think you're better than me don't you? You're no princess." The tip of her sword was at her chest. Three months ago, Halley would've been certain that James wasn't going to do anything. Now though, there was an insane look in his eyes.

"James..." She looked down at the sword tip. "What are you doing?"

He didn't say anything, just fixing her with a cold stare.

She put a hand on the sword and tried to pull it away, "James—"

He thrust the sword closer so she could feel the blade even with her coat on.

"How is it that you're going to rule exactly? You of all people." The insanity was subsiding but Halley didn't want to give him any reason to strike out again.

"You know why. I was chosen."

"You know just as well as I do that you aren't any Queen."

"What because of how I look?"

He narrowed his eyes and he took his sword off of her. A devious smirk, devoid of any good intentions, came upon his face. "How's about a spar with, Her Majesty. Like the good old days."

Halley wondered if she could make a break for it. She looked at James.

No, she thought. He'd probably kill me if I ran away. Literally.

Instead of engaging in combat with her insane brother she calmly walked around him. She thought she was home free. She should have known better.

James quickly came around and drew his sword across her face. Blood dripped down the cut on her face and her hands shook as she went to wipe it away.

"Get...away from me." Her voice shook.

"I challenged you."

"Get away from me."

"I won't be ignored." He shot towards her.

Halley clenched her fists and they ignited in green flame. Her brother flew across the garden into a stone wall when she punched him. The wall cracked but she knew her brother could take the force. That didn't stop her from freaking out. She ran up to him.

"James! Are you okay?!" Her brother grunted and fell to his knees in the snow. She reached out a hand and saw that it was still engulfed in flames. She tried her best to put it out but she couldn't get any control of it. Her father told her about this. That her power could reach a point where even she couldn't control it. She didn't notice before but she was seeing green. The flames were coming out of her eyes. She began to panic, that is until James grabbed her by her coat collar. She gasped and her flames extinguished.

"You'll regret that." He released her and she stumbled back into the snow. She looked on as her brother limped away and out of sight. Halley looked up to the castle, feeling the hairs on her neck stand on end.

In one of the castle windows Halley could have sworn she saw Aunt Etheria smiling down at her.

...

I really liked writing this chapter, Halley's thriving for once and spends some time with some cute kiddos. And also James is probably insane so we'd better look out...

Thanks to all of you for your kind reviews and support! They mean the world to me!