Rapunzel and Eugene were still shocked by what they were seeing. Cassandra had taken the Moonstone and she looked (literally) like another person.
Rapunzel couldn't believe it. "Cass... why?"
"Let me explain, Rapunzel." Cassandra began. "When we were in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow, I saw a moment in my past that showed me the truth."
"The truth? The truth about what? What are you saying?"
"She chose you over me!" Cassandra shouted.
Rapunzel looked confused. "She? Who are you talking about?" Finally, she understood. "Are you referring to Gothel? You saw all of this in the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow?" She asked.
"I saw everything, Rapunzel." Cassandra replied.
"Cass, if what you're saying is true, it means-"
"It means I'm Gothel's daughter." Cassandra shouted. "And your destiny belongs to me." The black rocks behind her began to glow blue in front of her again.
Eugene took a step back, as Rapunzel began to approach Cassandra. "Cass... we are friends." Said the princess. "In fact, being Gothel's daughter, that... that makes us closer than friends. It makes us sisters!"
Cassandra chuckled derisively as the energy of the moonstone crackled. "Sisters? My own mother chose you over me. My whole life, I've been cast aside for you." Cassandra said, as the energy from the opal snapped around her. "No more."
Suddenly, the double doors of the room opened. "So, what did we miss?" Lance said, he and the others obviously found a way to remove the statue that was blocking the entrance.
"Lance, not now!" Eugene said, pointing to the scene in front of them.
"Ooh." Said Lance shocked, totally confused by what was happening.
"Cassandra, please!" Rapunzel continued. "Let me help you." She took a couple of steps forward, but Cassandra threw stones at them.
"Stay back!" Cassandra yelled, but Rapunzel continued to approach.
"Cassandra, you've got to give me the Moonstone!" Said the princess. "It is too dangerous! The whole world is at..."
"I said, stay back!" Cassandra yelled again. This time the black rocks hurled Rapunzel to the entrance of the chamber, but her bright hair protected her from the blow.
"Rapunzel!" Eugene quickly approached his girlfriend and gently picked her up. "Cassandra!" Eugene scolded her furiously as he holds Rapunzel protectively. Pascal also looked at her angrily.
The power of the opal crackled around Cassandra, and she stared in wonder at her own hands.
Wielding the Shadow Blade, Adira rushed to the scene and used it to cut Cassandra's black rocks. When she reached Cassandra, Adira blocked her with her sword.
"Release the Moonstone, Short Hair!" Adira said to Cassandra. "You don't know what you're dealing with."
"Neither do you!" Cassandra shouted. With a brilliant burst of energy, she hurled Adira against a black rock.
"Adira!" Lance and Hector rushed worried by her side and helped her up.
In the explosion, the Shadow Blade landed next to Cassandra. She grabbed it and created a black rock sheath to put it on her back. Then she rushed to the door, but Eugene got up to stop her.
However, Cassandra pushed him away and threw Eugene against a black rock. Cassandra ran out of the room and Rapunzel followed her, trying to reason with her. However, when Rapunzel asked her to wait, Cassandra created a cage of black rocks that blocked Rapunzel and Cassandra escaped again. While the princess was trying to get rid of her, Cassandra left the castle, determined to create her own destiny to realize the dreams and glory that she has always wanted for herself. When Rapunzel almost reached her, Cassandra created a bridge of black rocks and when Rapunzel climbed over it to get to her, Cassandra cut the bridge and left. (A/N imagine from the scene where Cassandra ran away after taking the Shadow Blade up to this point, singing Crossing The Line).
With Cassandra gone, Rapunzel, in a strangely cheerful attitude, tried to focus on a method to return to Corona, while Eugene suspects that she is denying Cassandra's betrayal to the extreme. Just then, the party saw a balloon flying towards them and it turned out that it was piloted by Ulf, a mime and friend of Rapunzel who frequents the Snuggly Duckling pub. With Shorty translating the mime's gestures, Ulf informed them that Corona is in danger and Rapunzel realized they had to return immediately.
As the party prepared to leave, Edmund approached Eugene who was setting up some balloon ropes.
"Uh, son, I-I-" Edmund began to speak, but stopped when Eugene turned to him, looking at him with disappointment. "You know, when I lived at the orphanage, I dreamed that my parents were fearless adventurers who traveled the world to make a name for themselves and I kept hoping that one day they would come back for me. But now that I have my memory back and when I see you, all I see is the man who abandoned me when I needed him." Said Eugene and went back to get more supplies for the trip. Adira ran after her nephew. "Horace- Eugene- Fish Skin, I don't know what to call you anymore, but please let's talk about it." "Maybe another time." Eugene took more boxes and returned to the balloon, leaving Adira sad.
"He'll get over it. He just needs time." Lance told her as he walked closer to her. "I hope you're right. Lance, thank you for being there for him." Adira smiled sincerely at him. Lance blushed. "Oh, come on, let's not exaggerate-" Lance stopped when Adira kissed him on his cheek. "It was a pleasure." He changed his mind.
"Adira! Hector! Come here!" Edmund called his knights. "What is it, Edmund?" Hector asked. "There's something I should have told you to do a long time ago. Stay close to Horace." Edmund said. The two knights nodded, indicating that they agreed.
Soon after, Rapunzel, her friends, Adira, Hector and his animals departed for Corona.
Upon arriving in Corona, the party found that the kingdom was nearly deserted, except for Feldspar, the local shoemaker, who muttered to himself about a new order from King Frederic to mine unusual green crystals. After hearing this, Rapunzel and the group headed to the castle and met the king and queen. But to Rapunzel's surprise, King Frederic and Queen Arianna have no memory of who Rapunzel is. Then, she noticed that the symbol her parents wore was not that of the sun, but another.
Rapunzel stared at it intently. "That medallion, it's-!"
"Saporian."
Rapunzel turned and saw Andrew, the leader of the Separatists of Saporia, at the door. He once attempted to steal a diary containing the Kingdom's secrets and belonging to a past Corona King, but was stopped by Cassandra, Rapunzel and Eugene.
"Hey, Raps. Nice to see you again." Andrew said.
Saporia was a Kingdom with which Corona had been at war for many centuries. But this war ended when the King of Corona and the Queen/General of Saporia fell in love and got married. However, some inhabitants of Saporia felt betrayed and formed a cult called "The Separatists of Saporia" and swore revenge on Corona.
The man entered the throne room. He was soon followed by a group of two violent-looking men and two women. Hector and Adira drew their swords and assumed a fighting stance. Likewise, Eugene took out his dagger and stood next to his uncle and aunt.
"What have you done?" Asked the princess.
"I've taken over Corona." He said. "Or as we now refer to it: New Saporia."
"Long live New Saporia." His soldiers cheered.
Eugene gripped his dagger tightly, grinning. "The only thing you can say 'long live' to is prison as soon as we-" He was interrupted by an explosion that turned out to be a sticky chemical that glued him to the ground. "What the goop!?"
Andrew chuckled. "Oh, we didn't do this alone. You might recognize my former cellmate." Andrew pointed his dagger in a direction.
From the smoke (generated by the previous explosion) a boy of about 15 years old emerged. He had blue eyes, freckles and black hair with a blue stripe. His name was Varian. (A/N I did not include the goatee made with the marker in Varian's bad boy outfit.)
"Welcome home, Rapunzel." Varian said grinning. Rapunzel gasped in shock.
Varian was a teenage alchemist who Rapunzel asked to solve the mystery of her hair. She, Eugene, Cassandra and Varian became friends, until one day a terrible blizzard hit the kingdom and nearly destroyed Corona. During the snowfall, Varian had come to Rapunzel to ask help for his father, but she had to send him away and when Varian returned home, he found his father frozen in amber with a note in his hand. Feeling betrayed by Rapunzel, Varian swore revenge against her and all those who turned their backs on him. Sometime later, he pretended to have forgiven Rapunzel and then revealed to her that he used her to steal the Sundrop Flower (the same flower that healed the queen). Eventually, Varian realized that Sundrop was no longer the flower, Rapunzel was. Varian launched an assault by sending his pet raccoon Ruddiger (which he had mutated for a temporary duration), but this attack was only a diversion to kidnap the Queen. After the kingdom realized what had happened, a counterattack was organized against Old Corona, which was surrounded by Black Rocks at the time. Rapunzel and King Frederic decided to sneak into Varian's house separated from the kingdom's army to save Arianna. Unfortunately, the alchemist had foreseen their arrival and trapped Rapunzel and her father, while launching an army of automatons on the kingdom's forces. Varian revealed his plot to kidnap the queen as mere bait to lure Rapunzel to him. Varian threatened to encase Queen Arianna in the same amber his father was trapped in if Rapunzel did not use her hair to free his father. However, Rapunzel's hair did not work against the amber and the kingdom's forces defeated the automatons. Varian was devastated that he no longer knew how to save his father; then, he vented his anger on Rapunzel by controlling a giant robot, determined to take revenge on the princess again. Then, in a moment of revelation, Rapunzel realized how her Sundrop energy could control the black rocks. Varian violently charged towards Rapunzel in anger, only to have Rapunzel smash his robot through the black rocks, much to his fury. Defeated, an unstable Varian was arrested by the castle guard.
"Oh, I see you've already met my new friends." He said as he approached the Separatists.
"Ah, Varian, my most trusted adviser." The King said in a cheerful tone.
"Varian?" Rapunzel turned to her parents. "Mom! Dad! Uh, don't you remember what he's done?"
The princess looked back at Varian when she heard him laughing. "No, no. They don't."
"They don't remember?" Rapunzel asked. Then she looked at the old woman next to Varian with a wand with a gem in the center. It was a Saporian Wand of Oblivium: a wand that erased the memories of anyone it struck.
"*gasp* That's a Saporian Wand of Oblivium! You have erased their memories!"
"Me? *giggle* No, not really. Actually, as you know, I'm all about the science, but, uh, Clementine here, she added a bit of, uh, texture." Said Varian.
"Magic." Said the woman.
"Yes, today the King and Queen. Tomorrow Corona. I'm synthesizing the wand's power into a gas that will erase the memories of everyone in Corona. And I named it Quirineon, so no one will ever forget they turned their back on my father." Varian said angrily.
The eyes of Adira and Hector opened wide for what the boy said. They approached Eugene. "Nephew, don't tell us he's..." Hector asked, whispering in Eugene's ear. "Yes. He's Quirin's son." Eugene said. The two knights returned to watch Varian. However, before they could tell him anything, the Separatists charged the attack.
Eugene threw his dagger high and freed himself from the substance by jumping out and landed doing a somersault and when the dagger was about to arrive, Eugene braked and took his dagger. After that, he charged Varian and they started dueling.
"Varian, listen to me. I know you're angry, but please stop. Your father wouldn't want this, I know this!"
"You don't even have to mention my father!" Varian shouted angrily and pushed him away.
The battle continued until Varian and the Separatists put the princess and her friends against the wall (literally). Rapunzel told Varian to stop the Separatists, but he refused. At that moment, Andrew threw an alchemical bomb that when it exploded destroyed the wall and dropped Rapunzel and the others outside the castle.
After suffering defeat at the hands of Varian and the Separatists, Rapunzel and her friends tried to find a safe place to hide until they can formulate a plan. Just then, Xavier, the local blacksmith, revealed himself along with other citizens who had not left the town. Xavier revealed that the king had ordered all his subjects to mine the crystals for Varian's chemicals. They wanted to rebel against this order, but to do so would have been an act of betrayal. However, Xavier stated that now that Rapunzel is back, they have a chance to save Corona.
Meanwhile, Varian was working hard to perfect his Quirineon formula, but the result was a powerful explosive. The Separatists decided to use the formula in its current state, as Andrew felt it could be more useful this way.
Meanwhile, at Xavier's workshop, Rapunzel was making a new pan (that the other had been destroyed in the previous battle) and Eugene noticed the anger on her face. He tried to talk to her again, telling her that she was not the only one facing Cassandra's betrayal. Rapunzel agrees with him, just as Xavier asked her to join the others in formulating a plan. She promised to be there, but then ventured alone, returning to the castle and being secretly followed by Pascal. However, Eugene discovers that his girlfriend has escaped and so, along with Lance, Adira and Hector, they go looking for her.
Using stealth, Rapunzel and Pascal made their way through the castle and managed to avoid many Separatists until they reached Cassandra's room, where she was reminded that her best friend was no longer her best friend and eventually burst into tears over the recent betrayal. But then she was captured by one of the Separatists and thrown into prison.
"Varian." Rapunzel turned to the alchemist. "How could you do this?"
Varian approached the cell. "I want you to know, I wish it didn't come to this. But when someone trusts you and you betray them, well, this is what happens."
"My kingdom needed me. I couldn't do anything about the amber, and I had to stay. I never meant to break my promise to you, Varian. We were friends." Said the princess.
"That's the beauty of my plan. In the end, when your memory has been erased, we can be friends again." Said Varian as he walked away from the cell.
"But you're only making it worse. None of these people did anything to you." Rapunzel said.
"It's not what they did to me." Varian told her, then he turned his back. "It's what I did to them. And there- there is no way that they will ever forgive me." There was remorse in his voice, showing he repented of his actions.
"How do you know if you don't give them the chance?" Asked the princess.
"I took their queen prisoner, I threatened their princess, I helped these guys take over their kingdom. You think anyone's gonna give me a second chance? I don't think so." Varian walked back towards the cell and stopped in front of Rapunzel. "No, making them forget is the only way to fix what I've done."
Andrew approached Varian, grinning. "Yeah, there's been a slight change of plans, buddy." Moving him away from the cell. "Now that she's back, we don't have time for you to get your memory formula right."
"We are still using the formula you've curated. Quirineon explodes. It will turn Corona to ashes." Clementine said.
Varian was shocked. "What? No! We agreed nobody would be harmed!" Enraged Varian.
"Relax, Varian. You don't want to end up on the wrong side of history?" Andrew said.
Varian looked at Rapunzel who was giving him a pleading look.
"You're right." Said the boy. "I'll be on the right side of the history. Rapunzel's side!"
"Ah well in this case..." Andrew grabbed Varian, opened the cell door, threw Varian in and closed the door. "Let's move. We launch the airship in 20." Said the leader of the Separatists and they left. (A/N I removed the bath chemical ball's scene because I thought it would be too embarrassing).
A short time later, Rapunzel was trying to break the bars of the cell while Varian became depressed.
"All I ever wanted was for my father to be proud." Varian said in a broken voice. "Of course, if he were free from the amber now and saw everything I've done, well, he'd be ashamed."
Rapunzel seemed to empathize him, and approached him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "*sigh* Look I know how much it hurts to have someone you trust let you down. I mean, after you go through something like that, how can you ever trust anyone again?"
"I don't know. That that's why I thought maybe if I can make you forget everything that happened, you know, we could be friends again. Learn to trust again. But I guess life doesn't really work that way." Replied the alchemist. He and Rapunzel looked at each other and smiled.
"Okay, this is very sweet, but, honestly, I'm offended. I can't believe you were going to break into something, and you didn't even ask me. It's kind of my thing."
Rapunzel and Varian turned and saw Eugene smiling outside the cell with Lance, Adira, Hector and Max by his side. The former thief pulled out a lock pick and soon the cell door opened.
"Thank goodness you're here!" Rapunzel ran up to her boyfriend and hugged him.
Varian, head down, was about to leave the cell, but was stopped by Lance. "And where do you think you're going, little man?" Varian stepped back even further when he saw Hector and Adira looming menacingly behind Lance.
"Guys, we're going to have to trust him." Rapunzel said.
"How can we trust him, princess? He's a-" Hector started but was cut off by Eugene who cleared his throat and looked at him sternly. "Okay, fine." He resigned himself.
"Uncle, he's the one that made the formula that the Saporians are about to drop on Corona. If Rapunzel says we need Hair Stripe, I will trust both of them." Eugene said as he walked over to Varian and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Believe it or not, you're not the only one freeing Quirin from the amber." Eugene smiled at him and Varian smiled back.
Everyone left the prison. They arrived at the castle courtyard where there was an airship on which some Saporians were loading barrels full of Quirineon. Andrew ordered one of his soldiers to lead the King and Queen, locked in a carriage, away from the kingdom to implement the plan. Rapunzel sends Eugene and Lance to follow the carriage while she, Adira, Hector, and Varian focus on thwarting Andrew and the Separatists before they can use the Quirineon to destroy Corona. Rapunzel, Adira, Hector, and Varian hid just as the airship took off and Andrew dropped the first of the bombs from the bridge. However, thanks to Rapunzel's hair, they managed to grab the barrel before it could fall and explode. Afterwards, Rapunzel, the two knights and Varian went up to the bridge, fought the Separatists and defeated them thanks to Varian's alchemical spheres and Varian disabled the airship. However, they were losing altitude rapidly, and if they crash, the Quirineon will explode and destroy the town anyway.
"That single burner cannot generate enough heat to keep this ship in the air. If it crashes, it will destroy all of Corona." Varian said.
"Oh, great! Do you have any bright ideas, genius?" Hector growled.
"Maybe we could use the Quirineon." Adira suggested.
"Yes! Yes! Heating the Quirineon will increase the temperature enough for the balloons to rise. We just have to get it high enough so that when it explodes, it doesn't destroy the city. Rapunzel, Hector, Adira… you guys need to get off the ship. Guys, I've gotta clean up my own mess."
"No way! We're not leaving you here!" Adira said and Hector nodded.
"Varian, you don't have 70 feet of magic hair that will protect you!" Said Rapunzel. "I'll stay here. Hector and Adira will help you down to the ground. It may be your mess, but it's my kingdom."
"Out of the question, princess!" Adira shouted. "We won't leave you. Besides, if anything happens to you, Fitzherbert will be more angry with us than he is now." Hector added.
"*sigh* Fine." Sighed Rapunzel. "I want you guys to watch out for any falling barrels. Use my hair to catch them and do your best. Once we're high enough for this, you'll just have to hold them all up. Okay?" They nodded and so they put the plan into action. After putting all the barrels under the burner, all that remained was to wait.
Meanwhile, while the saporian was driving the royal carriage as far away from Corona as possible, Lance and Eugene had trouble opening the doors, as Eugene lost the lock pick in the confusion. Eugene realized that they needed the original key to open the door and distracted the man on the roof of the carriage, while Lance tried to restrain the horse he was pulling, only to loosen the reins. Eugene ordered the saporian to hand over the keys, but he refused. On this, Lance tied him with severed reins and drove the freed horse away, dragging Kai behind, but forgot to take the key. The runaway carriage was eventually sent to a cliff, but was retrieved by Maximus and Fidella. However, the saporian was not so lucky, as he was pushed off the cliff and the king and queen got out of the carriage, unaware of what had just happened.
On the airship, Rapunzel and the others felt they had gotten high enough to be out of danger and used the remaining propane to explode the Quirineon, while Rapunzel used her hair to protect herself, Adira, Hector, Varian, and Pascal from the explosion. As they fell to the ground, they used the princess's hair to swing from a ledge and land safely.
Eugene and Lance came to meet the others, and Eugene hugged Rapunzel. "I knew you'd make it." He pulled away from the embrace and looked at her. "It's all over."
"Not yet. There's still one promise I need to keep." Rapunzel said.