Gandobi woke up with a groan and glared at the magical alarm clock the princesses set up for him. He swatted the alarm away before getting up, stretching himself, and began to head to the...ugh...babies.
No wonder the Mystical Beasts didn't bestow the Astromancers their mystical powers.
The Astromancers agreed to take turns taking care of the Baby Beasts when everyone was asleep. And tonight was Gandobi's turn.
Hopefully he wouldn't end up like Quazala.
He made his way to the crib where Runeford and Howlette slept. The twin princesses brought it along for the Baby Beasts.
He suddenly stopped when he noticed the small, shadowy figures slowly creeping their way towards the crib.
Acting quickly, the Astromancers encased the invaders in a magical bubble, which also alerted the others in the process.
Upon seeing the invaders, Runeford and Howlette quickly rushed to their respective mommy's arms just as they were about to punish the ones who tried to take their babies away from them.
"Who-wha...?" Nova Terron muttered before he took off his sleep-mask, "Great job, Gandobi."
Gawayne chuckled when he noticed the Star Master was wearing curlers, and on his beard too, "You wear curlers?"
"You still sleep with your blanky?" Nova countered.
"Touche." Gawayne shot back, holding his blanket in his arms.
Em approached the invaders, only to gasp in surprise upon recognizing their faces.
"I can't believe you guys stole Mom's sky rider." Em scolded the invaders, her brothers.
"We asked permission." Halite explained.
"Did she even say 'Yes'?" Em narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
The ship's horns blared, signaling that they're already in their destination; Rudix Hollow.
When the ship landed, Em was surrounded by some very excited dwarves. When Halite and Ferrus appeared near their sister, the drawves parted, revealing their parents, eyes narrowed and arms crossed.
"Couldn't you two wait until your sister arrived?" Citrine scolded, "And what did I tell you about using my sky rider?"
"You let Em ride a mech." Ferrus countered.
"She was responsible, and knows how to ask proper permission." Citrine pointed out. Her composure changed when the Royal Family approached her and she bowed in respect, "Your highnesses. Welcome to Rudix Hollow."
"Thank you." Queen Goodfey bowed back, "But there's no need for that. We are grateful for what you've done for our daughters."
"Well... In that case..." Citrine suddenly enveloped the queen in a hug, much to the embarrassment of her daughter.
"Oh! You really are a hugger." The queen giggled in amusement as Citrine let her go.
"And I apologize for my sons barging in on your ship." Citrine angrily glanced at Halite and Ferrus.
"To be honest Mrs. Goldenbraid, they're actually good sitters." Arkayna pushed the stroller Runeford and Howlette were in.
"Way better sitters than the last one." Zarya added, showing pictures of Em's brothers taking care of the Baby Beasts, much to the annoyance of the Astromancers.
"So we can join you in your quest?" Ferrus asked hopefully.
"Oh no. You're still grounded." Citrine scolded.
"Oh come on!" Halite protested, "We want to be Mysticons too like our big sis."
"Aww." Em resisted the urge to look at her brothers' big, pleading eyes, "Well you guys were better sitters... As long as you promise to be good uncles."
Malachite's eyes widened at the mention of 'uncles' and was held back by a couple of dwarves.
"Who is he?!" He angrily demanded, swinging his fists.
"Dad, we're just going to look for a unicorn egg." Em explained. Behind her, Kasey hid behind Malvaron, "The previous Knight left it in the mines, and I'm going to be its mommy."
"MOMMY?!" Malachite echoed with anguish.
"And we're going to be uncles." Halite added.
"UNCLES?!"
"Oh come on now, Malachite." Unlike her husband, Citrine was taking it well, "It's not like she's getting married."
"MARRIED?!"
That did it!
Malachite wept in despair. She was too YOUNG!
"Oh come on now." Darius patted him on the back, "Sometimes, you just have to let them go."
When his own stepdaughters passed him, fussing over their Baby Beasts, he wept alongside the dwarf, much to the disbelief of their wives.
Why couldn't those Astromancers be more ACCEPTING?!
"We'll give them 5 minutes." Queen Goodfey told Citrine.
"Are you sure it's in there?" A dwarf asked worryingly as the group stood before a path inside the mines that was boarded up with the words such , "KEEP OUT", "DANGER", "DON'T BE STUPID", etc.
"Pretty sure." Em confirmed. At least that's what the voice in her head told her so.
"No one has ever went in there before for years." Another dwarf said.
"And who said no one could go there?" Arkayna asked.
Em suddenly touched the boards, causing the words to glow and levitate before changing into some kind of message.
Em read the message;
"'My dear successor, I humbly apologize for bringing such burden to you. Also, I ask the dwarves to forgive me for deceiving them, but the unicorn egg must be protected at all cost.
If you were willing to cross this path, then you are a more worthy Mysticon Knight, a title I am unworthy of for I wasn't able to face the mistake I was forced to create. I wish you luck on your quest.'"
"Oh Kafras." Nessira sadly mused. She only wished she wasn't so easily tempted by the darkness.
Em continued;
"'Also, I should warn you that during my time here, I was so overwhelmed with, over-guilt(?) that I over-trapped(?!) the way to the egg. If you brought a search party with you, I apologize for the scratches, burns, cracks, fractures...'"
"Okay!" Nessira stopped Em, "That does sound like Kafras."
"He always had a way with traps." Nova added.
Quazala chuckled, "Remember that time he rigged your birthday present just to bring you to the venue?"
It didn't bring him to the venue, but it did bring him to a forest filled with giant bats.
The previous Knight wrote more, but Citrine skipped to the important parts. The more she read, the more she wondered if her daughter's predecessor was too... careful.
"'Your predecessor, and previous Mysticon Knight, Kafras.'" Citrine finished. She turned to her sons, "You sure you two still want to go through this?"
"Sure do." Halite confirmed.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Ferrus shrugged.
They weren't kidding about Kafras and traps.
On the way, the group was almost shot by poisoned arrows (made Doug babble like an idiot), almost fell into a row of sharp rocks, almost got incinerated by beams of light, almost fell in a pool of lava...
Uhhhhh...
Yeah. It's a path completely FULL of TRAPS.
Luckily for the group, it finally end... Wait no. They just got separated.
"I know he was overwhelmed with over-guilt but... KA-FRAS!" Nova Terron exclaimed when he, the Goldenbraid Family, and Kasey were separated from the others.
"And Yuna." Kasey added, pointing to a notice on the wall;
"'Yuna's idea. Not mine.'"
"And YUNA!" Nova added.
They decided to continue on the path, hoping there aren't any more traps.
When they came to the end of the path, they gasped at the sight before them;
At the end was a small grotto. Colorful crystals hanged from the ceiling, illuminating the room in its glow. Many plants and flowers filled the grotto. In the middle of the room, flowing from the ceiling was a small waterfall which spread into a small pond that housed small animals like fishes and frogs.
When Em took a closer look at the waterfall, she could see something floating inside;
The unicorn egg.
Em too a step forward, only for her dad to push her back.
Malachite fell on the ground, impaled on his chest was some kind of dart with a message;
"'Safety precautions. Not a poison dart. Really.'"
"There's something wrong with that boy." Malachite muttered in a daze.
After making sure there were no more traps, the family moved on towards the egg; Kasey supporting Malachite on his shoulders along the way.
The group stopped at the edge of the lake. Em was mesmerized by the way the egg reflected off the surface of the water. It almost felt like, the egg was calling to her.
Em's eyes glowed a faint pink as she stepped in the water. Her brothers tried to call out for her, but their parents wordlessly told them to let her be.
As soon as Em touched the surface of the waterfall, the entire grotto was engulfed in a bright light.
When the light died down, she found herself lying down on the pond with something heavy on her chest.
She managed to move her head up, only to find a small, white baby unicorn with a pink mane on top of her, happily wagging his tail.
"I...am not worthy."
Why couldn't he stay?
Ever since that day, he was all alone.
Sure he had company, but he couldn't join them. He was trapped inside his eternal darkness, waiting for the day he could finally break free from his shell.
But that day never came.
Then, she came along.
He could sense her. He could sense her pure heart, her strong will.
She's perfect.
He couldn't stand another minute waiting for her.
It's a good thing too, because his eternal darkness began to spark.
To his great delight, he was finally free!
Free! FREEEE!
Free to finally be with his mommy!
The foal nuzzled his mommy's cheek, causing her to giggle. Em stood up and cradled the foal in her arms while she caressed her soft, pink mane, "Hey there, Gemstone."
"Aww. He's so precious." Citrine cooed as she and the others approached the foal.
"Yay! We're uncles!" Ferrus cheered.
"We gotta get jobs." Halite muttered.
Gemstone eyed the others curiously. Were they his mommy's family? Does that make them, his family too?
The foal jumped into Citrine's arms and greeted her with a wag of his tail. Then he landed on Ferrus' head. Surprisingly, the boy was able to support his weight.
"I wonder what awesome powers he has." Halite laughed when Gemstone landed on his head.
Gemstone jumped off and trotted towards Malachite. The burly dwarf sheds a tear upon seeing the unicorn foal, "I'm a grandpa."
The foal's white horn glowed pink, momentarily engulfing Malachite in the same color before disappearing moments later.
To the dwarf's surprise, he no longer found himself weary. Plus, he can move!
Rejuvenated, he grabbed his entire family, including Kasey and Gemstone, into one, big hug.
Nova awed at the warm scene before him. When he noticed Gemstone staring at him, he screamed like a little girl.
Please don't be like the other two!
He braced himself for the worst when Gemstone lit up his horn.
Yet, for some strange reason, he suddenly felt...at ease.
Aww. Why was he afraid of such an adorable little critter in the first place?
"That's it? He's a doctor?" Halite remarked in disappointment.
"Not really an awesome power." Ferrus added.
Suddenly, the wall broke, and out came in the others.
Although...they were acting different. And weird;
Arkayna and Zarya were fighting each other, Gawayne was happily skipping with a crown of flowers on his head, Doug and Choko were crying, Malvaron and the other Astromancers looked gloomy while Proxima giggled non-stop, and, to Nova's nostalgic terror (he has issues), Nessira and Bane were waltzing in a love-sick trance.
Everyone seem to be oblivious to the others' moods.
Malachite checked his map and confirmed, "Looks like they found the mood gems."
Nova ducked as an arrow whizzed over his head. He screamed and ran as Arkayna, Zarya, and their Beasts, who are currently not in their baby-forms, chased him.
"Healing's good right about now." Halite countered his previous statement.
Gemstone lit up his horn, only to be snatched by a happy, skipping Gawayne who twirled him around while telling him how cute he is, prompting Emerald to give chase.
"Nessira?" Bane knelt before the Astromancer, "Will you marry me?"
"I object!" Nova exclaimed, still being chased by the twin princesses, "And you two said you weren't going to get married until you have achieved COMPLETE ATONEMENT!"
Em pounced on Gawayne, only to miss when he blissfully leaped out of the way. The prince kept twirling around with Gemstone, until he tripped on Ferrus, causing him to let go of the foal who landed safely in Halite's arms.
"Aww. You guys are good uncles." Em baby-talked as she took Gemstone back in her arms.
Gemstone aimed his horn at the crystal ceiling, zapping it. The light from his horn reflected off the crystals and zapped the ones who were affected by the mood gems, snapping them out of their influence.
"Have I been crying my eyes out?" Doug asked in confusion.
"And...why...do I feel like...I used up...all my air?" Proxima asked weakly as she laid on the ground.
"Long story short." Em replied.
"Wait. Where's Nessie?" Nova asked with worry.
To everyone's surprise, Nessira and Bane were holding hands while standing on top of a giant lily-pad in the middle of the pond. Just as they were about to kiss to seal their union, Gemstone zapped them.
Bane blinked until he realized what he was about to do and groaned, "Why does this always happen to me?!"
"Okay. Let's get out of here before anything else wrong happens." Nova advised.
Unfortunately, the Alphamancers attacked.
In the midst of the battle, Em lost her mech when a spell caused her to trip. She tried her best to protect Gemstone, but soon both of them were cornered by the Alphamancers.
The next thing they knew, her mech saved them. To her surprise, it was driven by both her brothers.
"Time to rock and roll!" Ferrus grinned mischievously.
"I wanted to say that." Halite complained.
Em was really impressed by the way her brothers were beating up the Alphamancers.
Now it's her turn to join in the fray.
"Battle Unicorn, charge!"
The unicorn bracer engulfed both Mysticon and Beast in its light;
As Gemstone grew, Em's ponytail grew longer and gained pink highlights. Her hands were covered in pink metal gauntlets while her feet were covered in pink metal boots. To finish off her transformation, a tiara that resembles a unicorn's horn adorns her head.
An Alphamancer zapped the ceiling above Em, causing a huge piece of it to fall on top of her!
Everyone gasped in shock…until the giant piece splitted in to two, revealing Em. Armed with a pink lance that resembles a unicorn's horn.
"Nice." Em swung her new weapon around, "Now who's next?"
Em rode on Gemstone as she blocked everyone of the Alphamancers' attacks with the tip of her lance while Gemstone blasted them with her powerful horn.
In the end, the Alphamancers were defeated when they were pushed into cavern where the mood gems were.
"Oh. He's so cute." Arkayna cooed along with Zarya as they fussed over Gemstone, who was currently in Kasey's arms, much to the jealousy of their Beasts.
"You'd make a great dad." Em complimented as Gemstone snuggled Kasey's chest.
"Pick-axes first before drills, Pootinkle." Malachite got between her and Kasey, much to his daughter's annoyance.
"I have to admit;" Citrine turned to her sons, "You two were really responsible out there."
Halite grinned, "So does this mean…?"
"No." Citrine disapproved gently, "When you're older."
Oh well. A few more years wouldn't hurt.
"One more Beast to go." Nessira announced.
"Piper's home." Zarya exclaimed with excitement, "Gardenavia."
"We can't wait to see the place were you grew up in." Arkayna beamed, "I bet everyone's excited that you're a Mysticon. "
Piper chuckled lightly, "Yeah. Excited."
If only they would be.
I have got to finish this story already! Last chapter!
