//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Brotherhood and Sisterhood // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// Celaeno questioned, "So you want me to let the six princes board my ship to get away from their arranged marriages?" Rainbow told her, "Yes. And… if you do this, I'll start coming by more often to help with the cause." "Don't be stupid, you've done what you can and there's no need for you to bargain with me, I will help our princes." she bowed to them. The girls heaved sighs of relief and exchanged loving glances with the boys. Spitfire and Daring saw this at the back of the room and the latter commented, "Six maids fell in love with six princes at the same time… One could say fate was working in their favor…" Spitfire agreed, "It does seem that way." "And yet it seems they are also fated to be apart." Gilda came in on the conversation and scoffed, "I don't see why they couldn't just run away together." Spitfire stated, "If you ask me they're being sensible by not running away with the princes." Daring said, "Perhaps, but it's pretty sad at the same time." Celaeno addressed the group, "We cast off at dawn so it would be wise for you to get some rest in the inn above us." Twilight said, "Which means we should get back to the manor before they discover us gone." she went to Flash and softly told him, "I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your new life." He cupped her cheek while looking at her with sad eyes, "Thank you… and I hope your life gets better here…" he kissed her forehead. Rarity looked at Capper in distraught, "There… there are no words to express of how much I'll miss you…" He cupped both sides of her face and made a sad smile, "I think this will say it all…" he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Pinkie and Cheese wordlessly said anything and embraced each other. Rainbow had a hard time looking at Soarin. "Rainbow… you don't have to put on a brave face for me…" he told her as he touched her shoulder. "I'm not… I just… don't want to say goodbye to you…" He slowly wrapped his arms around her and she didn't put up a fight. Discord held Fluttershy close to his chest and stoked her hair. Tears were on the verge of escaping her. Spike and Applejack exchanged gloomy expressions before moving in an embrace and shared one last kiss. Then the girls slowly moved away and left the tavern without looking back. Fancy was walking down the castle hallway where the boys' chambers were and decided to check on them given there was less than a day of when they would get married. He thought with dismay, This may just be the last moments of them having pleasant dreams of a different life instead of the one they're about to endure… He slowly went into Discord's room first but was shocked to find the prince wasn't in bed! Then quickly he checked the other rooms and like Discord's, they were empty! He gasped and shouted out, "Guards! Guards!" The knights heard his call and ran to him and saluted. "Sir!" the head guard addressed him. "The princes are not in their rooms!" he told them in distress and ordered, "Search the entire castle until you find them!" "Yes sir!" they replied and ran on. Fancy paced back and fore in worry. If the princes weren't in the castle, what was he going to tell the king? Should he even report this to the king, and try to find them on his own before the king found out? It's obvious they ran away from getting married to women they don't love. He went into Spike's room and his eye caught on a letter that was sitting on the desk. He grabbed it and opened it to read. Dear Father and Fancy, We decided to run away because we felt we couldn't marry for advantage. We want true love and we're going to get it. Fancy, we're sorry but know we'll miss you greatly, because to us you were our true father… The boys each had their own signatures at the bottom of the letter. Fancy could feel the tears stinging his eyes from reading the last part of the note. He uttered, "Oh boys…" he clenched the letter to his chest. The head guard came back, "Sir, I'm sorry but the princes are nowhere inside the castle." A deep voice suddenly said, "Then you must search the grounds and hurry, we don't have much time!" Fancy turned to see Tirek towering over the guard to which the knight replied with a gulp, "Yes, Your Majesty, right away!" and he rushed out. Tirek faced his head advisor just as Fancy hid the letter behind his back. "How long before you discovered they weren't in their beds?" "Just a few moments ago." "This is not good…" Tirek snarled and stroked his beard in thought, "The wedding is only a day away and if they're not found by then, the agreement with Lady Chrysalis is off…" Fancy frowned, Of course… the wedding's all you care about… never mind that the boys could be serious danger because of this reckless act… "Did they leave any sort of message?" "No, sire. They did not." he lied as he clutched the note behind him. Tirek eyed him suspiciously and commented, "How odd… They're usually so good about leaving notice…" "Well, if they embarked on something secret, they did not want to leave a trail of some kind so they can be found." "Perhaps you're right…" but he still gave him a doubtful look. The guard came back, "Your highness, we've searched the entire grounds and there is still no sign of the princes!" Tirek grabbed him by the collar and snarled, "Then go out and search the entire kingdom!" "Yes, sire!" he ran out. Fancy told him, "I will join the search." and left. Tirek turned to his personal guard that was standing nearby, "Follow him… He knows more then he's letting on…" The guard acknowledged the request and went. Fancy was outside Lady Chrysalis's manor. This all began when the princes wanted to meet Chrysalis's daughters but instead they found other girls that they assumed were the daughters… They're my best hope of finding the boys… He went up to the door and pounded on it. A few minutes later, a tall woman with a stern look on her face answered. "Yes? Can I help you?" But he could tell from her tone that she wasn't the helping type. "Forgive me, madam, but I must be the bearer of bad news." "Oh? Of what?" "I am Lord Fancy Pants and it is most urgent I speak with the lady of the household." "Lord Fancy Pants? By all means, please do come in." she escorted him in as she said, "I shall go wake my lady." and went on. In moments Chrysalis and Fancy were in the study along with Cinch who asked, "Shall I get some refreshment?" "Yes, that's an excellent idea, go wake up the maids to help you." Cinch nodded and went out of the room. "Maids?" Fancy inquired. Chrysalis explained, "Normally we would summon one maid but for an important guest such as yourself, you deserve all of them serving you." "That is unnecessary, because I'm only staying for a short time given what I'm about to tell you." "Is something amiss with the wedding preparations?" "It's more than that, I'm afraid…" his face went grim, "The princes are missing…" Chrysalis stood in shock and screeched, "What?!" "Yes, they're gone, and we're in process of searching for them." "Well why are they missing in the first place?!" she demanded. "We don't know." he fibbed, "They could have been kidnapped or left on their own accord." She humphed, "It must be the former, for why would they leave just as they're about to get married to the most beautiful girls in the world?" Just then six maids came into the room and Fancy's eyes widened. The maids… there are six of them… Suddenly it's very clear by what Discord said about them making a mistake and fell for different girls instead. Well I certainly can't blame them for making such a mistake… Chrysalis's daughters maybe lovely but these girls are exquisite! And… He squinted when getting a closer look at them, that's odd… why is it I know them somehow? Rarity held out a tray with two glasses on it, "Your refreshments, milady?" Chrysalis slapped it away, making the tray and glasses fall with a crash, much to the girls' surprise. The lady yelled, "You idiot, we don't have time for that!" she commanded to them, "Go and wake up my daughters up, I must tell them some very disturbing news!" The maids quickly went to obey the order. Fancy frowned at how they were treated and addressed Chrysalis, "Don't you think you were rather harsh with them?" "If anything, I wasn't harsh enough." "But why? What wrong have they done you?" "Is it really any concern of yours, Lord Fancy Pants? They are but lowly maids unworthy of your attention." He countered, "Even servants deserve to be treated right." Chrysalis gave him a strange look before seeing her daughters coming into the room, some of them were complaining that their beauty sleep was disrupted mainly Trixie. "Trixie hates getting lack of sleep! So this better be important!" Her mother scowled at her and scolded, "That's no way to speak to your mother! And yes, this is important!" she quickly dismissed the help to which the girls were more than willing to obey and left in a hurry. Fancy then excused himself and left as well but really he did it to catch up to the maids. He called out to them just as they reached the stairs, "Ladies, a moment please." They looked at him in confusion. "I must know, are you the girls that their highnesses, the princes got acquainted with?" The maids suddenly had looks of terror on their faces and glanced at each other anxiously. The one with rainbow hair asked with sweat beading her forehead, "Why-why would you say that? We're just maids, how would we be acquainted with royalty?" The others made nervous agreements except for the blond who bit her lip and turned her head away. Fancy pleaded, "Please my dears, I am in desperate need to find them, now they told me that they met girls that they thought were Chrysalis's daughters and I have reason to believe you're those girls." They exchanged bewildered looks then the girl with violet eyes and hair slowly asked, "Are you the father figure they admired so much about?" Fancy sighed in relief, "Yes… Yes, I am." The girl with rosy hair whimpered like she was about to cry. The girl with blue eyes and curly purple hair told him, "We're sorry that you couldn't say goodbye to them, but… we can't take you to them if you're just going to force them to go back…" "But that's far from the truth! I am proud of them for taking this chance! All this time I thought they couldn't stand up to their father but for them fighting for their happiness like this makes me happy, all I want is to tell them goodbye and to wish them luck." The pink poofy hair girl gawked, "Seriously?" He nodded. The rainbow haired one gave a determined look, "Well come on then! We'll take you to them!" He smiled brightly from this, "Thank you! Thank you ever so much!" But as the girls rushed out with Fancy they didn't realized they had been overheard all this time. Cinch came out of a room and said to herself, "I must inform my mistress of this." and went straight to the study where she saw the young mistresses fretting over how their wedding is ruined due to the princes' disappearance. She went up to Chrysalis's ear and whispered. Chrysalis's eyes widened at her housekeeper's words and sneered, "You're sure?" "Yes. I heard everything." Chrysalis snarled and addressed her daughters, "Girls, it appears that our maids have been going behind your backs by enticing your future husbands to be their own…" "WHAT?!" they screeched in shock. Sunset yelled in disbelief, "But-but that can't be true!" Cinch told her, "I'm afraid it is, Miss Sunset, I just listened to them about knowing the princes and where they are now." Sunset could feel herself going weak in the knees and thought miserably, Have I been mislead? The sun was about to rise and Celaeno was escorting the boys to her ship in the harbor. "There it is, your highnesses, your ticket to freedom." They marveled at the large boat as she told them, "Wait here while I get everything ready." and boarded. The boys looked at each other then the village behind them, they hated leaving it in this state but they couldn't do anything about it while their father was in power and they absolutely hated leaving their beloveds behind but they knew they had to respect their girls' choice no matter how much it hurt them. Celaeno called out, "Okay, come aboard mateys!" With smiles on their faces they started up the plank until suddenly a voice shouted out. "Boys! Wait!" They turned in surprise and uttered, "Fancy?!" Soarin asked, "How did you find us?" He replied, "That's not important," he slightly looked to where the girls were hiding at a distance in an alleyway. "What is important is why you didn't tell me about this in the first place." Spike pointed, "Because we knew you would stop us." His brothers agreed with him. "Oh boys… I know it seems I side with your father on many matters but I don't enjoy them in the slightest. I've been against this arranged marriage from the start! And… if you want to run from that, I could never hold it against you." They gapped at his words and Flash slowly said, "So… we have your blessings?" Fancy smiled, "Absolutely." And held his arms out. Spike didn't waste a second and hugged him, he was shortly joined by Cheese, Flash, Soarin, Capper, and finally Discord. The girls were sniffling from the emotional scene, even Rainbow but no one commented on it. Fancy moved back and declared, "Now go, while you still can." With a final sad farewell to their mentor and father figure, the boys got on the ship. Celaeno yelled out orders to her crew to begin casting off. But just as she was about to give the final command, a squadron of guards began to surround the dock! A guard shouted, "Halt! By order of the king, that ship must not leave the harbor!" The princes gasped and looked down to see Fancy was stunned by this development, making them believe that he had no knowledge of this. The guards boarded the ship and arrested the crew and captain while they surrounded the princes making sure they stayed put. The girls saw all of this in horror and Dash yelled, "No!" and started to rush over but Applejack held her back with all her strength. The boys tried to order the guards to release them but were ignored as they were forced back to the dock. There they beheld a sight that made them quiver. Their father. Tirek was glaring straight at them before turning to Fancy, "Well done, my advisor, you found them before it was too late." Fancy wanted to object but held his tongue knowing it would only make the situation worse. As he stated with down casted eyes, "Yes, milord…" Tirek turned back to them with an angry frown, "Do you have any idea of how much damage you could have caused?!" Flash retorted, "We did what we had to!" Soarin added, "We cannot marry girls we don't love!" "How dare you speak that way to me! I should have you punished for that!" he held his hand up like he was going to hit them till an eerie calm came over him, "But… considering you have unknowingly led me to the pirate that's been stealing my trade goods these past few months, I am willing to let this transgression go providing of course you'll come quietly and marry Lady Chrysalis's daughters…" The boys exchanged looks and looked around. There was no way their father would let them get away so easily, he would force the guards to bring them to the castle whether they want to or not. They knew they had no choice but to accept defeat and hung their heads. Tirek saw their submission and smirked, "Good… very good…" he told the knights, "Escort them back to the palace and make sure they stay there…" The guards urged them to move them forward and they started to go until a chorus of voices cried out, "Stop!" The boys gapped seeing their girls run up to the king. Twilight addressed him, "Your Majesty, the princes did not run away on their own, it was our fault that they even considered it!" Flash yelled, "Twilight, what are you doing?!" and tried to move past the guards' spears but was kept back. Tirek scowled and asked, "Who are you girls?" Rarity answered, "We are Lady Chrysalis's maids, and because of this, the princes met the wrong girls whom they thought were their betrotheds only to find out the truth later." Tirek questioned his sons, "Is this true?" The boys looked away and didn't reply. "So… it is…" he faced the maids again. Pinkie spoke up, "The princes were led astray by us so if anyone deserves punishment, it's us." Fluttershy pleaded, "So please don't take it out on them…" Applejack stated, "Take it out on us…" Rainbow added, "Whatever it is, we'll take it…" The boys gawked at their words. Tirek frowned some more before ordering his guards, "Take them away…" The princes shouted, "NO!" and tried to reach for their beloveds but were held back. Fancy watched the whole thing in dismay. He admired the girls' courage but was sadden by how they doomed themselves. As the girls were led away from the boys, they hung their heads in shame while the princes had tears brimming in their eyes from seeing them go. Discord uttered softly, "What have they done…?" Capper solemnly replied, "No… what have we done…?"