Well, this was a long time coming. Things are ending for some old conflicts here, but some more will come up after this. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter and make sure to comment on how you feel about it after!

For once in the Ed's lives, they were actually getting a break from some of their demanding issues and were allowed to work on some of their projects. Or, at the very least, they were allowed to plan for some of them.

It was a quiet day in the workshop, except for the occasional pop of an explosion, or the tools moving together. It was eventually broken by Double D, who sighed after looking over his current designs.

"If I have to look at design paper for even longer, I'm sure I'm going to dream about it tonight." He turned towards his compatriots, capping a pen. "Anything you've got done on your end, Eddy?"

"Nothing much. I actually think I got something, though." Eddy lifted a strange looking bracelet up, looking it over briefly. "Not sure if it'll work right, though. Stupid thing keeps malfunctioning."

"What even is that?" Ed wiped off some residue off of his hands, watching as their leader messed around with the invention. He frowned at the cursed gem lying inside of it. "Is that something to power up your magic?"

"More to make sure I actually have magic when I don't have the suit." He motioned towards his back, shrugging. "If our friends in the fearleading team actually secure us a beach episode, then I won't be able to do any magic. And since that might get us in trouble, I figured that having a backup would be important."

"That is good thinking. Better to have it in case you can't wear the suit under your clothing. I suppose you can't really use it if you need a good amount of power, though." Double D looked at the bracelets appreciatively. He gave a shrug of his own. "At least you have some physical proof of your work. I've had a host of ideas I've been stewing over, but I have no idea where to begin. Most of what I'm thinking of is only rooted in theory."

The other two look over the notes. Ed seems pretty impressed. "Seems like a bunch of stuff from comic books. Wait, isn't a lot of this stuff from the Marvel movies?"

"It is your fault that you turned me on to them, Ed." He went over them, squinting at them. "Some of them wouldn't exactly be possible now, but I feel like they'd be fun. At the very least, they'd certainly be useful if any additions to my octo-arms start becoming too complicated."

"I'd certainly stick with some of the cooler ones." Eddy added flippantly. He traced over a few in particular, tilting his head to the side. "Some of these certainly look cool in action."

Double D shrugged. He looked over at Ed, raising an eyebrow. "Anything you're working on, Ed?"

"Just some stuff for my monster form. I kinda wonder if maybe we should add some more stuff to that while we can. I mean, everybody thinks I'm a monster, but they don't really know what kind of monster, and we could do a lot with that." He blinks as the other two look at him strangely. "What? Isn't adapting it a good thing?"

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you're going to give people nightmares at this point. I mean, imagine if the cul-de-sac kids saw any of that." Eddy adopted a grin, which only turned more sinister the more he thought about it. "Then again, I think me having magic would scare them even more."

"If you do add anything else, I'd suggest it's something easily translatable to your human form. An inconsistency could throw some things off." Double D got a curious look on his face. "Or we could just write it off depending on the context. Just something to think about."

"We're going to be really overpowered before we're done here, aren't we?" Eddy received only nods at the declaration. He laughed at it openly. "Jeez, if anyone at home could see us now."

The room got silent after that, though it was only a little bit comforting. The stress had been floating over them the entire time and it was nice to simply get back to old habits. They clearly needed to talk about something, though.

It was Ed that decided to jump into the subject first.

"I'm scared about today." Frank and straight to the point, it knocked them out of their momentary lapse. "It's a pretty big game their cheering for and they really don't want to mess anything up. They need to get this right with the due date for Gloom Beach invitations coming up and it's really eating at them."

"The election isn't going any better. We're still perfectly split on the line between Apple and Maddie, which while a good thing, is still stressful." Double D tapped his foot against the floor, looking off towards Ever After High's direction. "It's gotten to be an emotional election on Maddie's part and we're wondering what'll happen if this ends in a draw or loss. Nothing good, I guess."

"Not to complain, but that whole thing is actually starting to fire things up on both sides. Princess, as far as I can tell, is stressed as all hell and Raven's not doing to hot either." A flare of magic showed Eddy's irritation. He didn't even think about, the action becoming second nature. "I've had to shut down a few things in the past few days. I also think someone's going around and actually trying to start stuff while I'm not looking."

The Ed's sighed, feeling the pressure ease at the admissions. It has been a stressful few weeks and they knew that would pile up on them as things progressed. Double D had been trying to hold back on meddling too much himself but getting involved with an election campaign didn't exactly mean he was relaxed.

"I'm sure everything's going to be fine." Eddy threw it out there, though he did mean it. "I mean, Queenie has to know something about what she's doing, and the other fearleaders are pretty good. The whole election thing won't really matter in the end, anyway. It's just student government."

"I'd say it matters since Rebels are wanting more representation in said student government." Double D started, though stopped and sighed. "Though, you have a point. The end result does end with a friend in charge, it's mainly just the school's reaction we need to worry about."

"And the fearleaders are awesome at what they do." Ed shrugged, a smile moving onto his face. "I thought I'd have to actually join as a male member for a while. I would've done it, no questions, but I don't think I would've been on top of the pyramid."

"You would join." Eddy chuckled. "Remember back when we were in middle school and the cheer squad got you off the football team to make you the mascot? At least if you had to join, you'd have some experience."

"Dear lord, that feels like such a long time ago. We really were just rowdy children, weren't we?" Double D practically giggled, the hatted Ed boy remembering some of their shenanigans. "I suppose that hasn't changed, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Eddy reached out and clapped Ed on the back. "Don't worry about Queenie and the fear squad too much. Like I said, if they get that invitation, we're getting a beach episode."

"You keep saying beach episode like we're living in an anime, Eddy." The smart Ed boy raised an eyebrow, looking at Eddy with a mischievous grin. "It's not like we actually are. I mean, some strange things happening to us aside."

"I think he has a point there. I mean, we do have a lot of things going for us." Ed raised his fingers, counting the many red flags he thought up of. "We're kind of like an Isekai since we're in a magical world now. We're funny, even though people around here think we have mysterious backstories. The author actually based this story off an anime's premise."

"We're getting' into some serious business with the world around us. We've got a lot more friends than we did back in Peach Creek." The short Ed boy joined in, going back to working on the bracelets. "A lot of emotional moments with our co-stars. And, I repeat, a beach episode."

Double D tried to rebuke those statements before beginning to think about it. He opened his mouth and closed it several times before his expression turned to horror. "Dear lord, we're in an anime plot. Our lives are anime."

Ed rubbed Double D's shoulder, smiling comfortingly. "Don't worry, Double D! Anime's are usually awesome! We just have to decide what kind of anime we're in."

"Yeah." Eddy scoffed, brushing off the weird statement with ease. "I just hope we aren't in one of those "subversive" ones. Those end up with people dead."

Double D wasn't comforted by this in the slightest.

It was later in the day when things started to kick off.

The assembly hall for student government was surprisingly large, housing a variety of students as they shuffled in the seats. Eddy and Double D stood near the back part of the room, closest to the main podium. The watched as everyone assembled, moving into every empty space.

"Jeez, I actually didn't expect this many people to show up." Eddy whistled appreciatively, the amount of people genuinely impressing him. "Guess everyone else here is actually excited about this."

"It is a pit of nerves for everyone else here. They see it as another step in the Royal/Rebel conflict, of course they're interested in seeing how it plays out." Double D looked over at Cerise and Raven, who walked out from one side of the stage. "How's Maddie? Is everything alright in there?"

"She's coping. She's been drinking more tea, though, and that's usually never a good sign." Raven moved to stand beside Eddy, easing herself next to the fake sorcerer. "I mean, she always drinks tea, but you can usually tell what her mood is based on what she's drinking."

"Maddie's been drinking a lot of peppermint tea. I don't know much about it, but I do know that's for stress." Cerise stood by Double D, adjusting her hood as if to hide from the assembly of students. "She's got a good poker face; I have to admit. You wouldn't be able to tell she's stressed about all of this if you didn't know her."

"I guess the other big question is what Princess is doing while all of this is going down." Eddy's eyes twitched to one side of the stage, the one where Apple was meant to appear. "She's been pretty quiet lately. I've tried talking to her, but she keeps saying that she's busy or something."

"As her roommate, I haven't been getting squat." Raven twirled her hair nervously, biting the bottom part of her lip. "On one hand, she's been letting up on the destiny thing lately. On the other, she's been way too quiet. Getting a lot of calls from her mom too."

Double D frowned. "Have you met her at any time before this? Just out of curiosity." At the shake of Raven's head, his expression turned. "Well, hopefully it's words of encouragement. I certainly hope she isn't piling more responsibility onto her shoulders."

"My mom used to room with Raven's mom, meaning she got to deal with Snow White a lot." Cerise leaned in conspiratorially. "From what she tells me, she was just as intense as Apple is now. Something tells me that hasn't changed in the slightest."

"Great, an overbearing mother. Just what we need in our pile of traumata's." Eddy saw the blonde hair and red dress first, shushing everyone. "Hey Princess. You look a little more cheerful then yesterday. Anything special happen?"

"Nothing really. I'm just waiting for the results." Apple shrugged, holding onto a stack of papers. Shifting them around, she looked at them somewhat morosely. "Win or lose, I don't think I'll like how this ends. I'll either lose or more riots start going throughout the school."

"I won't like it either, but I've made my piece with it." Maddie strolled on out as well. To anyone that was close enough to her physically, they would've smelled peppermint coming off her in waves. She extended her hand to Apple, smiling. "May the best candidate win. At least someone qualified will be able to get into the seat no matter what."

Apple grabbed the other girl's hand, smiling graciously. "At least there's that. I really hope this doesn't end any more chaotic then it already is."

"Hey," Cerise pointed to the front of the room. One of the people in charge of the counting came up, shuffling papers of their own. "Looks like we're about to kick it off."

"For both of you." Raven sighed, hanging back even more. She was hiding from the crowd herself.

The two made their way to their respective podiums, cheering and booing following behind them. Maddie seemingly took it in stride, though Apple did have a minor break, surprise showing through. It was wiped away as soon as it was present, though.

The announcer cleared their throat into the microphone, effectively silencing the crowd. Messing with his glasses, brought the papers up to his face.

"I'm glad to see everyone here today." A smile moved onto his face, though it was mostly fake judging from its strained quality. "I can easily say that many things about this election have made it particularly unusual. Not to mention tense."

"Why does that make me think he's about to deliver bad news?" Raven whispered to the others. The wording was throwing her off and she sincerely didn't like it.

"It honestly makes the results all that stranger." This caught everyone's attention as he pulled out a scroll. Numbers were on it, as far as the others in the back could see, but they couldn't see the exact results. "I'd say that, for the first time in the school's history, we're at an absolute tie."

There was a moment of silence before it turned into a loud chatter, to loud arguing.

"Great." Cerise had a hand over her face, sighing deeply. "We just needed one to win. One. Now we got a tie instead, meaning we'll have to deal with another election."

"Not if I have any say in it." Apple motioned for Eddy to come up. "Eddy, can you silence everyone here? I need to make a statement."

The short Ed boy tilted his head in confusion, but only nodded. He snapped his fingers, this time going for a flash that blinded everyone in the auditorium for a few seconds. The yelling was replaced by shouts of surprise and even groans from people whose eyes had yet to adjust to the light.

Eddy put two fingers up to his throat, magically enhancing his voice. "Would all of ya'll just shut up for five seconds?!" The shouts cut down further protests, not wanting any further assaults on their senses. He stepped back, waving lazily at Apple. "You're up, Princess. Dazzle 'em."

Apple adjusted the microphone, clearing her throat gracefully. "I can't say that I was expecting any of this to happen, but it has. There's nothing that can be done to reverse this." She looked at the crowd, making sure all their attention was on her. "But I see an opportunity here. Since it seems you all want both of us as president, maybe it's time for a change in leadership."

Apple turns to Maddie, extending a hand. "Madeline Hatter, do you want to be co-presidents for this school year?"

Maddie openly blinked at the proposition before thinking it over. "What a mad idea." She then smiled giddily, grabbing Apple's hand, and shaking it quickly. "I'm in if you are."

This brought the crowds mood back up considerably, many of them cheering at the idea. The two presidents bowed before the crowd before heading backstage to meet up with their peers.

"Okay, I'll admit," Eddy nodded appreciatively in Apple's direction. "That wasn't a bad save. I thought I was going to have to light some things on fire before they calmed down."

"And thankfully we didn't have to resort to that." Double D sighed in relief. He was wondering if he'd have to restrain a few people. "It seems like we've been able to keep some form of balance in the school again."

"For now, at least." Cerise grabbed Maddie's hand and gave it a small squeeze before letting go. "Good job out there. Figured you had a good chance to win. Least you won't be doing all the presidential stuff by yourself."

"I appreciate it. I'm just glad we don't have to do anymore campaigning. Dexter wouldn't survive another button attack." Maddie laughed at that, everyone else chuckling along with her. "Though I am going to rely on our more experienced Madame President here."

"I'll do as much I can. It'll be nice to actually have some responsibilities shared between us." Apple was winding down from the insanity outside. She looked to Raven, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry if I'm distant lately. Things have been stressful, and I've been doing my best to deal with it on my own."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad this ended with as little infighting as possible." A ding could be heard from someone phone, causing everyone to turn towards Double D. "Something to share with the class?"

Double D pulled out the iCoffin, looking over the message. His eyes widened and he put it away quickly, moving from his relaxed position. "The game is starting soon and the fearleaders are going to do their routine. Clawdeen's calling us up just in case we want to show."

"Well, let's go! Might as well have something fun to do after this freakshow of an election." Eddy jumped up, already heading towards the door. "Last one there is paying for concessions!"

Everyone else followed suit shortly after, all of them not wanting to pay.

It was a pretty tense atmosphere within the gym. Monster High was going up against a tough opponent today, with many of the casketball players tensing up for an intense match.

Ed almost felt sorry that he wasn't worried about any of that. He was more or less just focusing on getting the girls ready for their routine.

"Hey, Ghoulia?" He looked over the list of items, checking things off. "You sure this is all we need? It sounds good, but…"

"It should be fine. Besides, just because we have a thing to do here doesn't mean we can exactly overshadow the casketball team." Ghoulia took one last swig from her water bottle, putting it aside as she finished checking things out. "Plus, remember, it's still a cheering routine. Not many props are actually needed outside of it."

"I'd add some if Bloodgood would let me." Cleo looked over in the wings, noticing some very surprising guests. "Everyone else showed up? I thought they'd be busy with the election."

"Apparently it ended in a tie and now Maddie and Apple work together." Clawdeen waved at the group, a small pang of anger when she saw how other Monsters were distancing themselves from the assortment of Legends. "Hopefully, they don't feel put out. I think they were looking forward to this."

"I think Eddy's alright. Doesn't seem like he puts much stock into what others think of him." Ghoulia looked over at Double D and the rest. "They just might be a little intimidated by Double D. Not so sure about the others, however."

"They'll be fine." Cleo waved off the concern, the mummy shrugging at the cold nature of her fellow students. "If they say anything derogatory, they'll learn exactly who they're messing with. And by that, I mean me."

"Gee, nice to know that you care." Clawdeen laughed. She moved over the rest of the troupe, if only to make sure Frankie, Lagoona, and Draculaura memorized the routine. "I'm just hoping this turns out right."

"Knock them dead! Break a leg, but not really!" He looked over at Cleo as she walked past, smiling. "Good luck out there."

"I don't need luck." The mummy flicked her hair, moving towards the rest of the troupe. "This is all going to be down to skill, and I'm the best there is."

"Is nearly falling on your face after doing a flip your best then?!"

As Cleo responded to Clawdeen's insult, Ghoulia moved up beside Ed, taking her place next to him. She watched them go with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems like some tensions are being lessened. Been a while since they had bickered like this." The zombie sighed deeply, though it was a content one. "I guess competition is one thing that'll unite anyone. Well, unless it's against each other."

"Yeah. Like gravy and butter on toast." It wasn't one of the weirder things he could've said, so Ghoulia let it slide. "You think this video contest thing will work out?"

"To quote a cliché, if my calculations are correct," She brought out her iCoffin, showing some complex equations. "If the video's posted at the right time, with the right keywords that play to FrightTube's algorithm, then we should have no problem. I can't predict everything, but as long as they do their part, we should have this done quite easily."

"I understand literally none of the equations on there, but I believe you." Ed did his best to blink the equations out of his memory before they could do lasting damage to his brain. "Then everything relies on the fearleaders today?"

"Yep." Ghoulia looked over to see Frankie drop one of her hands, which she hastily picked up before anyone could see. "No pressure whatsoever."

The game was called for halftime soon enough, the players getting off the field. Ed made sure to high five Clawd and Deuce as they got off, along with keeping an eye on the rest. Manny steered clear, for obvious reasons.

The girls themselves made their way out, taking in some of the cheers from the crowd. Some, particularly Cleo and Clawdeen, did get some satisfaction hearing their other friends cheer them on too. They got into formation, standing in a straight line. A song started playing up on the loudspeaker after they finished.

[Note: Play Ava Max – Kings & Queens]

"If all of the kings had their queens on the throne,

We would pop champagne and raise a toast.

To all of the queens who are fighting alone,

Baby, you're not dancing on your own."

The line moved as one, all getting behind Cleo in unison. Somehow, through the power of perspective, they seemed to disappear behind her, but before people could wonder what happened, they raised their arms, all in different positions, not getting in the way of each other. Cleo did so as well, the arms all moving in haunting unison.

The formation was broken as, in pairs, the girls cartwheeled out from behind her again.

"Can't live without me,

You wanna,

But you can't,

Nah-nah-nah."

The team split off into three groups, consisting of Clawdeen/Draculaura, Frankie/Lagoona, and Cleo by herself. The stronger member of the teams lifted up the lighter members, who stood on their hands with one foot and extending their legs above their heads. Cleo, in true extra fashion, started doing front handsprings closer to the audience.

"Think it's funny,

But honey,

Can't run this show on your own.

I can feel my body shake,

There's only so much I can take,

I'll show you how a real queen behaves."

Draculaura and Lagoon suddenly flipped forward off the other fearleaders hands, landing gracefully to start front handspringing to Cleo. Reaching her quickly, they leaned down, rapidly lifting Cleo up. At the apex of the lift, Cleo was thrown into the, backflipping and landing into the waiting arms of Clawdeen and Frankie.

"If all of the kings had their queens on the throne,

We would pop champagne and raise a toast.

To all of the queens who are fighting alone,

Baby, you're not dancing on your own."

The group collapsed into a single line again, this time with Draculaura and Lagoona on the farthest sides. They did back handsprings, getting behind Clawdeen and Frankie, before lifting them up much they did for them. This time was much quicker, with them flipping backwards. Cleo did the same, back handsprings ending with her flipping back and twisting in the air as she did so.

"Disobey me, then baby, it's off with your head,

Gonna change it and make it a world you won't forget."

They turned up in a single file line again, Cleo disappearing from view. They did the hand appearance routine, but this time with Cleo's arm's somehow getting closer to the front of the line. When they were done, she had appeared in front of it, switching with Draculaura.

"Oh, no damsel in distress, don't need to save me,

Once I start breathing fire, you can't tame me.

And you might think I'm weak without a sword,

But I'm stronger than I ever was before."

Cartwheels and were done once more, though quicker and smoother. They all moved back each facing the audience in a V formation, before moving forward at a sudden fast pace. The farther back in the V, the slower they ran.

"If all of the kings had their queens on the throne,

We would pop champagne and raise a toast.

To all of the queens who are fighting alone,

Baby, you're not dancing on your own."

A small reverb rang out, showing the song had been edited. A small, simulated explosion from the song signaled the fearleaders to finish running. Clawdeen and Frankie slid in on their knees, Draculaura sliding in and stepping onto their shoulders. Cleo was last, moving herself swiftly onto the latter two's shoulders until they were in a pyramid.

"If all of the kings had their queens on the throne,

We would pop champagne and raise a toast.

To all of the queens who are fighting alone,

Baby, you're not dancing on your own."

As the final notes went out, Cleo jumped forward, flipping, and twirling before landing and doing the splits onto the gym floor. The other girls followed suit, getting into final formation as the last lyrics played out.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh."

A mass amount of cheering reverberated from the crowd as the fearleaders got up slowly from their routine. Each of the girls bowed before moving back into to their place before the cheer had started.

Ed leaned to Ghoulia, still clapping as he whispered to her. "Do you think that'll work."

Ghoulia smiled cheerfully as she turned off the recording, already backing it up to several different drives for editing later. "It's perfect."

They had this in the bag. They were sure of it.

Bloodgood, as always, remained in her office as she watched the livestream of the girl's performance. She smiled as it went perfectly, a bit of warmth lifting her metaphorical spirits as she saw how pleased they were of themselves. She almost wanted to congratulate them then and there but knew that she should wait until they got the response back from Gloom Beach's contest creators. Though, she couldn't help but feel pride all the same.

Things had progressed pretty well in the short time school has started. Bloodgood figured the gamble with the boys would pay off somewhat, but everything was going smoother then expected. The girls themselves had done plenty of work of their own, securing their own hands into stabilizing tensions in both schools. Hell, barely anyone was focused on the vampire/werewolf conflict at this time.

Of course, she did realize that this progress wouldn't continue forever. The students were still just that. She couldn't rely on them to fix every issue, nor did she want to. They had lives to live outside of that and putting it all on them to fix things would only make their effectiveness reduce in the long run.

She already went over this with Eddy. He seemed okay with the thought, so she decided to go forward with preparations.

Bloodgood looked over the information at the latest application. It was a simple, but impressive, one that showed a good amount of experience handling school matters and actually smoothing over relations between Monsters. Had not black marks on his record either, which was rare since every teacher had their bad days.

With a sigh, she moved her hand to the buzzer, pushing it. "Send in the next applicant." She said brusquely, putting the profile to the side. The interview was always the hardest part.

A tall blonde man sauntered into the room, a charming smile on his face as he sat down in the chair opposite to her. Bloodgood put on her most professional look, putting out her hand. "I'm glad you were able to make it in today. Sorry if it's a bit later then the original time, but things have been pretty busy around here."

"Not a problem." The man, otherwise known as Van Hellscream on his application, smiled wider. "I'm just glad to be here."

He paused, tilting his head to the side in a confident way she couldn't help but like. "So, where do you want to begin?"

This little arc is coming to close soon. Or at least, it will in one sense. The next couple of chapters will be like an intermission, though expect the next arc to be a little more action packed. I'm moving on to a movie and I think some of you will have a good idea what that is.

Also, writing cheer routines is somehow harder then writing fight scenes. I'm not sure how that fits, but it's something I figured out while writing the last part of this.

Anyway, have a good day and hope to see you all in the next chapter!