Prince Sky was excited. Today was finally the day of the Fairy Festival. He had been preparing for this day for months, ever since he was chosen to host the festival this year. He made it his personal mission to make this the best Fairy Festival ever!

Dressed in his very best, Sky peeked out his window, and looked out onto the ballroom and saw that the festivities were already underway. The grand ballroom was pink, and decorated with twinkling lights in various rainbow colors. Right in the middle of the room, there was a large ice sculpture of the fairy prince he had custom made for the occasion, imported directly from the Minty Mountains. There was also a bubble blowing machine at the corner of the room. With fairies sitting at it, blowing bubbles and being amused by them.

There were fairies out on the floor dancing, and a live band playing lively fairy music. There were tables lined with fairy finger foods and drinks like deep fried unicorn cheese cubes, sweet fairy water, and various other sweets. There were also plenty of Fairy staff members to tend to whatever the guests may want and need.

Sky closed the curtain, and finished getting ready. The festival host was due to make his grand entrance soon.

When he was ready, Sky made his way onto the balcony, accompanied by sparkling lights he made himself with his own magic. As soon as he did, Sky could tell that something was wrong. The band wasn’t playing music, no one was talking, or doing anything really… And the ice sculpture was melting! The servants weren’t keeping it cold! Sky immediately zipped down the stairs to see what the problem was, and saw that everyone in the ballroom had been turned to stone… Sky grew more and more panicked as he approached each and every guest, to see the same result. They were petrified.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Sky saw something he really didn’t want to see. He found his own mother and father, the king and queen of Feydellia, turned to stone amongst the rest of the guests. “No no no no no!” Sky fell to his knees and started crying. “T-t-t-this can’t be happening!”

With tears in his eyes, he flew outside the castle, and launching magic into the sky, spelled out the word HELP in lights. Someone in this kingdom had to be able to do something.

@Crimson Flame

Even outside, the festival was in full swing. Annoyingly so.

"Is it just me or it each booth gaudier than the last?" Zircon muttered under her breath, glancing over at the lurid-coloured stalls from which enthusiastic merchants advertised their wares. As fairies flitted through air filled with chatter, the crowding didn't help the warmth any, which while not unbearable, was still more that she was used to. And she'd never seen so many sparkles in her life. "I swear I'm still gonna be finding glitter on my clothes a year from now. So much for relaxing."

In that infuriatingly cute way, the corner of Coralie's mouth twitched up. "Y'know, it would be if you'd just let yourself kick back and have fun. I mean, you did enjoy that pine nut cake enough to buy a second slice. And don't think I didn't see you nodding your head to the street music just now."

Zircon folded her arms. "I was hungry is all! And the music was just... irritatingly catchy!" Ok, so the food was pretty decent, even if the baker had been much too cheery. As for the music, even if there was something uplifting about it, that most certainly didn't make it worth dancing to. She'd resisted that inexplicable urge to tap her foot, for crying out loud.

Coralie gave her a knowing look. "Zee, as much as I admire your work ethic, it's ok to... chill, once in a while, so to speak." She chuckled at her own bad pun, while Zircon groaned. "I know you don't have the best memories of leisure and all, but that doesn't make it bad in itself. Speaking of work though, I can't wait to see that sculpture you made!"

Fluttering beside her towards the palace, Zircon sighed. "It says a lot that the prince wanted a statue of himself." She wouldn't be surprised if Prince Sky, along with many other royals and nobles, treated the common folk such as herself and Coralie as out of place here. Despite wearing the fanciest clothes they owned, they'd already received snooty looks from some of the high-born people.

"Well he is the host, and all that detail's sure to be impressive!" Slowing to a hover, Coralie faced Zircon and blushed. "And hey, if it'd make things easier... Once we're there, how about we dance?"

Zircon's air of cool indifference melted away. Well, that had caught her off guard. All she could do was nod and stammer. "S-Sure."

A grin lit up Coralie's face. "Yay! Wanna race to the palace? First one there takes the lead in the dance, you ok with that?"

Although she mentally yelled at herself to keep it together, words failed Zircon again. She nodded once more, the slight warmth in her cheeks indicating they had to be turning berry purple.

"Ok, on your marks! Get set! Go!!" Giggling, Coralie set off towards the palace doors.

Patting her cheeks and covering them with a thin layer of frost, Zircon willed herself to snap to her senses. "Y-You can be a real pain sometimes, you know that?" she called, speeding after Coralie, grumbling as she watched her slip through the doors. The thought of Cori's hands on hers made her stomach flip over and over with nerves. "Alright, you win... Huh?"

Heading inside and landing, she gasped. Nothing could have prepared her for this. No merriment, no music, no dancing, nothing. Just a room full of stone statues. Including, near the entrance, head held high in triumph, hand cupped by her mouth as if about to call to her...

"Cori!" Zircon rushed over and gripped one of Coralie's petrified hands. "No, no, Cori... We were supposed to dance. You were supposed to keep driving me round the twist with that teasing of yours." Tears prickled the corners of her eyes, her frosty facade well and truly shattered. "This was supposed to be fun! Like you said!"

Fists clenched, she darted outside. "Somebody help!" Prince Sky had already leapt into action, creating a luminous signal. Loath as she'd initially been to be in the presence of the arrogant prince, Zircon rose to his side. "What happened?!"

A young earth fairy flitted through the pink clouds of Feydellia on green and blue wings, her bright purple and green eyes looking upon everything the festival had to offer. “There's a stall to the right with pink cupcakes loaded with even more pink and sparkly icing, piled so high it's like it's trying to be a cupcake castle! And over on the other side, there's a game where you have to pop pink bubbles – oh, somebody just popped one, and sparkles came flying out!” Juniper giggled and pushed her wavy brown hair to the side, and as she did so, multiple pink flowers bloomed from her hand and wove themselves into the loose strands.

She turned around to make sure her father was still following her. It was a shame Dad couldn't see what an amazing show the royal family had put together, but she was doing her best to give him a mental image. “Thanks for taking me here, Dad,” Juniper said sweetly, trying to smile with her voice.

In the distance, the Feydellia royal castle stood tall and proud. Juniper's eyes shone as she took it in. “Feydellia is so big and open compared to Lumina – and so much more pink!”

As Juniper beamed at the castle, a flash of light just above it caught her attention. HELP it said, in flicking lights. Juniper immediately turned for the reaction of the crowd, but many of them were so engrossed in their enjoyment of the festival that they didn't immediately notice. “Help...” Juniper muttered, quickly realizing she needed to be louder to rouse attention. “Help... help!” she called anxiously. “Somebody needs help at the castle! We have to go help them!” She earned a few stares and mutters from the party-goers, a few now staring in shock at the writing in the sky as Juniper wrung her hands. They weren't going fast enough! “Dad, we have to go help!” Juniper cried, then took off toward the castle.

The sounds of festivities are all around- fairies happily chattering, vendors hollering trying to catch the attention of passers, and sparkle-shooting noisemakers going off here and there. Glitter and bright colors are on every inch of the cloudy pink streets. There is also the sweet scent of pastries wafting down the colorfully well-decorated roads. There is so much going on and to see, that would make anyone excited. Especially someone like Sonny who isn't used to such colorful and lively events. He begins to flutter over to a particular vendor that seems to be selling some very intriguing-looking objects. He didn't get far before his wrist is grabbed and he is yanked back to the center of the street.

"No wandering off," A sharp voice of a woman demands as her grip tightens. With a click of his tongue, the fire fairy's annoyed yellow eyes turn to his 'escort'. An older-looking female fire fairy in a lovely violet dress stared blankly back. She seems uncaring of the attitude thrown at her, if not mildly irritated. "Don't need you causing trouble before we reach the castle." She states in a matter-of-fact tone that edge on mild aggravation. With her other hand, she pushes up her square glasses.

"Summa, I ain't no young babe, ye don't need to babysit me," Sonny replies in a deep, gravelly tone. The older fairy is a servant and his tutor from the Pompfey palace, and she is often assigned to watch over him when he goes out since she was the best at dealing with him. Summa merely lets out an exasperated sigh as she stiffly continues to tug Sonny behind her through the festival. Her sapphire blue eyes stared at the sky for a moment. The light tan-skinned fairy appeared done with dealing with him. Her uncaring eyes glance back at him.

"Would stop talking like that, sir, you're not a pirate. Fire Fairies don't do well with water." Summa softly rebukes him as she continues to guide him through the crowd. "And if someone didn't stop you, would have come here wearing tatter clothes..." Sonny's current outfit is a pristine white vest with gold and black slacks which he didn't like to wear personally because of how stiff and tight the fabric is on him. It makes moving around hindering. While the flower crown is a tad girly, Sonny is actually of kind digging it. The only things in his attire he chose is the eyepatch that had a flame design on it and an orange scarf. "So yes, you do need a babysitter. Once we reach the palace you'll be free to explore to your heart's content."

"Bah... boring," he slips out of his deep grumbling tone to moan about this treatment. He is an adult now, he should have more freedom than this. His eye catches booth of interest and he resists Summa's forceful pulling. "Ice cream booth, we should dock and plunder a scoop." This did make Summa pause. Her head turns and stops dead on the pink and yellow color booth with a couple of water and ice fairies inside. Ice cream is quite a rare find in Pompfey so much so that it sells out almost immediately when sold there.

"I... guess it won't hurt to get some." The older woman easily gives in. She quite liked ice cream and it has been a while since she had the pleasure to eat it. The two found themselves waiting in the short line examining the flavors from afar. Because Sonny's attention is focused on getting some ice cream, Summa lets go of him as she reaches to get some money. They are next up in line when she had procures some. Summa turns to ask what he wanted only to find he is nowhere to be found. She exhales deeply as the peppy water fairy asks what she wanted. "Give me a triple scoop."

Sonny, meanwhile, is chasing after a rogue purple star-shaped balloon up above the streets. He catches it with a satisfying smirk before something lights up in the sky that draws his attention. A message in light that spells out 'HELP'. Without any other context, the redheaded fairy zooms off toward the source of the message, letting the balloon continue floating on. Sonny finds himself at the palace of Feydellia. The front gate is opened, and a fairy is looking rather panicked outside. He lands nearby poised in a fighting stance. His eye snaps over the incredibly pale, dark blue hair lady.

"Ahoy Lass, what be brewin'?" Sonny questions her as he scans the area. He eventually notices the ballroom that is completely lifeless and filled with tons of statues. Out curiosity moves closer to examine it further, it is completely silent in contrast to the busy streets. There is no movement, there is a tower of melting ice... and a couple of those statues look a lot like his cousins. Sonny enters the ballroom to take a closer look. These are a perfect recreation of them. He circles them and spots the little exact details the statues have, his brain not registering exactly what has happened.

Though the festivities meant Feydellia was uncomfortably crowded, Surge was quite enjoying himself. Between the music, the smells, his innate sense of of the electrical field around him helping him avoid bumping into strangers who were too busy to notice he couldn't actually see them, and his daughter Juniper's thoughtful descriptions of everything, which also allowed him to follow the sound of her voice, it was actually pretty fun. He made appreciative comments whether or not he cared about whatever she was currently talking about, “That sounds a little too sweet. Maybe we should get a snack though?” and “Sounds pretty.”

“I'm glad we came,” he agreed when she thanked him for bringing her. She sounded so happy. In his mind she was still his smiling baby girl, even though he knew that wasn't true (and he could still see when she was older than that). She'd grown up so much. He nodded, then swept to one side to avoid an oncoming multi-fairy sized mass, “I suppose I never truly appreciated it back when we were traveling. We thought a town was a town, even a big one. Just a place to rest between adventures.”

A slight smile crossed his lips, the memories were both happy and guilty. . . then all of the happy bits were washed out of his mind as he heard Juniper calling for help. The guilt melted into swirling fear. His heart thumped. Panicked he reached out for his only child, “June, what's wrong?”

(June being a permutation on his usual habit of calling her June Bug.)

Her explanation that someone at the castle needed help wasn't completely helpful as he sensed her electrical field flying off before he managed to get ahold of her. He took off after her, darting through the air and calling out, “June Bug, slow down! What do you mean someone needs help at the Castle?”

---

“Gotta hurry hurry.” Vyvien was zipping about around an open area just outside of the palace of Feydellia. The area wasn’t set up to be a part of the festivities, and that was be design. The location was perfect for what Vyvien had planned. A cobbled plaza while surrounded by neatly trimmed trees and shrubbery had a clear view of the sky with no obstructions overhead. Slowly descending towards the center of the plaza was a large box, several times the size of the fairy zipping about it. It looked large enough to hold an entire court of fairies inside comfortably. Larger balloons were slowly losing air which controlled the decent until the box rested softly upon the cobbled ground.

She was unlatching different parts of the box, wrenching others, opening up sections, while others fell off. All the while she was doing this, one of her friends was off to the side watching her work on whatever contraption Vyvien decided to bring this time.

“The fireworks don’t start for another couple hours, you know?” spoke up Tyrone. Vyvien’s fire wielding friend was dressed in a stark orange suit with a red undershirt. He had sleek black hair with an orange cowlick and bright red wings that faded to yellow at the edges. Tyrone was creating sparks from his fingers like those of a roman candle, occupying himself not wanting to get in Vyvien’s way while she was setting up. “You can slow down a little. Rain should be back with some snacks. It won’t do you any good to burn yourself out now. Relax a little and enjoy the festival.”

“You don’t understand.” Said Vyvien as she hurried to deflate the balloons and assemble the various knobs and supports. “I promised a fireworks show like none ever seen. Imagine moving pictures made of fire. It’ll be spectacular. I can’t mess up now. I need to make sure everything is perfect. And to do that, I need to make sure that every inch of the frame correct. If even one of the launching tubes is misaligned, the whole thing could explode.”

“Right.” said Tyrone nervously. At least if something were to go wrong, no one would be around to get hurt he thought. He stopped creating embers as he noticed another fairy flying towards them. She had long hair that looked like the fog of rain in the distance. Deep blue wings with white highlight, and a long flowing blue-green dress. Gracefully, she landed next to the handrail Tyrone was sitting on. Her hair settled, resting over her shoulder, and flowing down covering her left eye. Her dress had a slit up the side of her leg reaching her hip, and skirt flared out by the bottom. In her hands she held a white tray piled with different foods and treats ranging from pink cupcakes to skewered meats. The display of mouthwatering and still fresh. Tyrone immediately started to dig into the tray, grabbing a bit of food in each hand. Rain only giggled as she gazed over to Vyvien who was still busy trying down ropes, and bracing up launch tubing.

“Vyvien, dear. Lovely, come have some treats. I brought over a bunch for us to enjoy.” said Rain. When Vyvien didn’t immediately cease her endeavors and join her friends, Rain placed the tray down onto Tyrone’s lap and flew over towards the firework device. Strafing only slightly to the side, Rain held out her arms and waited. In no time, Vyvien flew right up into her outstretched arms like a fish caught in a net. Rain grasped her hard to slow Vyvien’s flight, relaxing more into an embrace. Vyvien attempted to protest, but there was something about Rain’s voice and demeanor that convinced Vyvien that is was perhaps time for a break.

“Sorry sorry, guys. This is the first time I’ve been given the chance to present something at the festival, and I don’t want to blow it.” said Vyvien as she started to dig into one of the pink cupcakes. The thick cone of frosting spreading all over her lips.

“We understand Vy. But you’re going to make a mistake if you keep rushing like that.” Said Tyrone, his mouth full with a filled pastry, fruit filling dribbling down his chin which he used his sleeve to clean up. “We've worked on this thing for months now. I’m sure it’ll run great.”

“I agree. Vyvien, dear, we have the utmost faith in your abilities. The fireworks will be lovely. I’m sure everyone will be impressed.” concurred Rain. Vyvien smiled as the three spent the next several minutes enjoying the freshly prepared snacks. The night was young, and there was still time. Music lingered from the festival and lights danced above the rooftops. Satisfied, Vyvien took to the air once again. She hovered just above where her friends were seated.

“Okay okay. There is only a little more to do. I only need to tighten some of the fuses down, and to fill the last tank with some pressurized air. Once that’s done, we can go to the festival proper and have some real fun.” A ring a runes suddenly appeared behind her back. Various symbols with a faint blue glow like some kind of language. One of the runes glowed brighter and then faded from the circle, leaving a gap between its neighbors. A wrench like tool then appeared within her hands. With a smile, Vyvien turned around, but before she could start zipping around again, something had caught her eye. Her friends noticed her hesitation.

“What is it, dear?” Rain flew up next to her friend looking at her with some concern. Tyrone followed shortly after. Vyvien pointed towards the palace. Several lights floated above the marvelous architecture. Unlike those lighting the festivities around the city, these were a call for help. They stood out among the others, spelling the word help. There was trouble at the palace.

“That’s never happened before. I think someone is in trouble.” said Vyvien. “I’m going to see what’s happening. If something has gone wrong, maybe I can help.” she started to fly towards the palace before quickly stopping and turning back. She flew face to face with Rain, but only briefly, handing her the tool Vyvien had been holding. “Do you think you can finish up?”

“Vyvien, wait.” before Rain could finish her sentence, Vyvien had already dashed away. She was fast. Tyrone and Rain knew they would have no hope in catching up with her. Tyrone took a glance at the large maze of parts that rested in the center of the plaza.

“Well, I guess we’re finishing up, then?” said Tyrone.

Rain sighed.

Sky took several deep breaths trying to calm himself. Ok Sky, get it together. It’s prince time! He stood up, smiled, and kissed the hand of the blue fairy that asked what happened. He also kissed the hand of the orange fairy that asked the same question. At least, that’s what he thought he was asking… This fairy talked funny.

“Greetings, I am Prince Sky. This is horrible, absolutely horrible!” He started flying around in circles. “All of the guests have been turned to stone! Including my own mother and father, the king and queen! I don’t know what happened. They were perfectly lively and having fun before, and then when I came down to make my entrance, this!” Suddenly, he stopped flying around, and landed when a realization hit him. “I bet those dark fairies have something to do with this! Our kingdoms have been at odds for as long as I can remember. Never in my life did I think they would be brazen enough to attack us at the Fairy Festival!”

Feydellia

The festivities in Feydillia hadn'd been as vexing so far as Dragon and his crew had feared. While the entire event was a lot more... pink, than Dragon would have liked himself, he understood it as "cultural differences" and this had to just be quiet about it. Luckily for him, he had one of his retainers there with him, as well as his fiancè, Anathema, to keep him in check and to hinder that he accidentally start some sort of scandal with the kingdom. The last thing the dark fairies of Transfeyvania needed now, was yet another reason for people to shoo them all under one bus as a dubious people at best. Besides, she had been excited for this event for months on end, and he wouldn't be the one to stand inbetween his fiance and her current obsessions.

Besides, as mentioned earlier, and while Dragon would struggle with admitting this to himself and to the others, the festivities were quite lovely save for the tacky decor. There were stalls in the streets, and the air was thick with a sweet scent hinting at all the goodies presented below. There were fairies from all over the world present as well, all enjoying themselves and taking in the scenery.

"You know, sir. We would be able to explore more thoroughly had we not been late to the event." his retainer, Alva spoke. "Fashionably late." Dragon corrected her as they flew. "Nobody expecting us, and we have all day, so there is no need for us to rush" he continued. He only got a sigh from Alva in return. While the retainer was very talented talented, Alva was not the kind of fairy to mince her words.

However, the trio's friendly banted of excitement was cut short when a peculiar fireworks of sorts displayed in the sky further ahead, near what Dragon assumed was the Feydillian castle. The fireworks in question, which looked like it was created through magic, spelled out the word Help. Quite a strange display for such an event. Regardless, the group landed in a crowded area full of stalls and booths. It didn't seem that too many of the crowd noticed the possible call for help, as only a small handfull of fairies could be seen heading towards the castle.

After a short while of asking around, nobody seemed to know what was going on. "Allright, i will go and take a look", Dragon decided after arguing with Alva and Anathema for a few minutes. "If it actually is an emergency it would do us good to be on the scene to offer our help, after all.". He then ordered Alva to take Anathema to enjoy the festival until they get more information, after which they were to return to Transfeyvania to inform his father while he himself stayed behind to lend a hand.

Parting ways with the two ladies, Dragon took to the sky and started heading towards the castle. While he had no idea what was happening, he didn't seem very concerned. Knowing this place it was likely just someone having a bad case of Sugar rush.

He would then arrive at the castle and spot a small group of fairies looking distressed. Assuming they might know anything about what was going on, he landed by them, still not noticing how eerielly quiet the ballroom was.

@InnerFlame @Crimson Flame @Yasha

Well, this was the last thing Zircon needed. She bristled as an orange-haired fairy landed in an exaggerated action pose, and addressed her as if this was an appropriate time to act like a pirate. Biting back a snippy reply, she took a deep breath. "I don't even know. I went in there, and everyone..." She gestured towards the ballroom. "Everyone was like that."

When the prince could bring himself to speak, he explained what he'd seen - the king and queen, turned into stone along with all the other guests. That seemed to get through to the wannabe pirate, who dropped the act and headed inside to investigate. Zircon clenched her fists. What was this - some kind of coup? With several innocent bystanders caught up in it, including Coralie? She closed her eyes, as if that would block the mental image of her stone features. Instead, it made the memory all the more vivid.

At Prince Sky's next words, she couldn't help but groan. He had to go and jump to conclusions, blaming the dark fairies. She recalled her visits to Transfeyvania, selling wares. While their culture wasn't as lively as those of most kingdoms, that didn't make dark fairies bad. Many she'd met had been polite and respectful. She knew from personal experience that anyone who didn't fit in with the norm was going to get picked on.

"Look, with all due respect, is there any proof?" The words, despite being addressed to a prince, came out a little harsher than she intended. That was when she spotted the young man who had just arrived. She cringed inwardly. The deep red and black of his wings indicated he was probably a dark fairy. There was a good chance he'd just heard all that, and even if he hadn't, things weren't exactly bound to go well between him and Sky.

Juniper paused as her father called out for her to slow down. She obeyed and flew closer, but kept throwing anxious glances behind her. “There's a message right above the castle. It appeared right when I was looking at it – it says HELP in big capital sparkly letters... and... and nobody else saw it right away, and I got scared. Sorry for flying off like that.” She hesitated, then decided she didn't want to leave time for him to argue that it might be dangerous to help, and instead turned back around. “Come on!” she urged, flying at a reasonably slow speed so that Dad wouldn't lose her.

Juniper followed the light to the castle. “Down here!” she piped up so Dad knew why she'd suddenly changed directions. The first thing she noticed was several out-of-place statues of fairies in the ballroom, though she didn't immediately realize the significance of them, so didn't narrate them to her father. There was a small group of fairies chatting nearby, so Juniper flew over to them, realizing that Prince Sky was among them after she was already in front of them. She'd never been in the presence of royalty before. “P-Prince Sky!” Juniper squeaked, hastily bowing. “U-um, I'm sorry to interrupt, I saw the HELP above the castle... and... um... thought maybe somebody needed help.”

At the Feydellia Palace

Shortly after arriving, Sonny's hand was kissed by some blond fairy guy. It was kind of weird. But he wasn't one to judge weird people’s actions. The guy began to go on some kind of spiel first introducing himself as something Sky, and that people were turned into stone including… Sonny's attention was suddenly attracted to some untouched very delicious-looking pastries… His yellow eyes locked onto them… so sweet smelling and in perfect stacks. In the middle of the explanation that he was totally still listening to, he was gathering the food in his arms and stuffed various sweets in his mouth. The fire fairy tune fully back in right in time to hear something about an attack on the Fairy Festival. That got draw him back into the conversation.

“Mmmph thmmpg flmmpf ph mmplk!” Sonny blurted out incoherently with a full mouth. He finished chewing and swallowing a little bit of pink cream at the edge of his lips. Before he could repeat his statement, the girl asked a persuading question that stop him from repeating what he said before. Having multiple times of being accused of things he didn't do, Sonny understood it wasn't good to jump to conclusions. "The lass gots a point. Ye need proof before causin’ a mutiny… there might something around to prove the… the….. the one’s responsible treachery."

With that said he twirled around to examine the ballroom area. Still tons of statues of once fairies, delicious pastries, melting ice chuck... Maybe a new perspective would help him find something. With much vigor, Sonny began zipping around examining the floors, walls, and ceiling. With his sudden stop-and-go movement, he would drop some of the pastries he was still cradling in his arms. Eventually, he settled upon the sparkling chandelier of pink crystals that was mounted on the ceiling. Sonny dropped several more sweets as he pressed his hand on his forehead to give the area another scan. More arrivals, appear, and… did she say something about a prince?

---

Vyvien flew directly towards the palace. As she flew over the streets bustling with fairies of all colors she could see not many of them noticed the vibrant lights in the sky spelling out a call for help. Vyvien concluded that if this many people enjoying the festivities didn’t notice the sign, then it was probably a good thing she did. At the very least someone would come to respond. There probably was not enough time to stop and point out the call for help to the others. Too many of them were enjoying their merriment, and Vyvien didn’t know the circumstances for the help. She didn’t want to start a panic.

As she neared the vibrantly pink palace, her mind raced with different scenarios of what could have happened. It could not have been a small thing. An incident involving only a couple party goers wouldn’t call for a kingdom call for aide. Unless it involved the royal family. In that case, wouldn’t they have a private team of security or doctors on hand? Whatever happened must have involved more fairies than the ballroom attendants could address.

As Vyvien continued pondering what would await her as she rushed towards the open palace doors, she failed to look properly ahead of herself. Notcing a figure standing by the door too late, Vyvien attempted to slow down, but still ultimately crashed into what Vyvien initially thought was perhaps a greeter. Vyvien grabbed hold of a smooth, yet cold and hard surface as she danced around with a perfectly life-like statue of some fairy with her hand cupped by her mouth. Vyvien regained control of her flight and slowed herself to a stop. At the same time, she made sure that the statue she was dancing with was left standing, her feet firmly planted against the floor. Holding her hands up in front of her, Vyvien sighed with relief that the statue wasn’t at risk of falling.

Now that her tango was finished, Vyvien gave the statue a quick look over. Whoever made it was very skilled, the statue was very lifelike. As she backed up she noticed that several other fairies their movements perfectly frozen in time. Their colors had faded into a photograph of masonry. The room was oddly quiet compared to the melodies and chatter of the streets just beyond the palace gates.

“Sorry Sorry for barging in like that. I saw the help sign and thought something terrible might have happened. I came as soon as I could and…” she stopped talking as something soft landed on her head. It bounced off and fell to the polished floor below. It was pastry. Vyvien looked up to see someone standing atop one of the chandeliers that hung high above the ballroom floor. It swayed under his weight as he gazed over the room. Vyvien then saw that several others had either arrived or were already here. Something still felt amiss. Based on the expressions everyone had, Vyvien got the impression that these were not any ordinary statues.

“Were these fairies turned into stone?” Vyvien spoke softly. She gasped. She turned back to the one she had almost almost knocked over when she displaced it from the palace entrance. One of the others, a beautiful fairy in a muted blue-grey dress, appeared attached to her. The silvered fairy’s demeanor only reinforced the sinking feeling Vyvien had about the scene. To suddenly be petrified was a horrifying though. Vyvien wasn’t sure how to go about saving them. Regardless, Vyvien was ready to lend whatever aide she could towards that cause. It would be devastating if whoever or whatever caused this were to strike again.

Vyvien noticed that Prince Sky was speaking with some of the others who had arrived before she did. She joined the small group. The prince seemed determined. He had an air of certainty about him, perhaps having an idea of who or what was behind the earthly transformation of his subjects. Now that she thought about it, it was probably him who sent the message in the sky.

“Hi hi. I’m Vyvien. I saw the lights calling for help. How can I help?” Vyvien was the last to arrive from what she could tell. The air was starting to feel a little tense. It was clear no one had a clear idea of what happened. That is except for the prince who was was convinced of something. There was still a lot of uncertainty. “I’m not sure sure of what I can do to help, yet. But I’m at your disposal.”

@InnerFlame @Randomness

And the pirate guy was back, having deemed this a good time to stuff his face with pastries. Zircon bit back a groan. At least he didn't jump to blaming the dark fairies as Sky had done, instead suggesting an investigation, and heading off to search for clues.

With a nod, Zircon followed him to the ballroom - and gasped as someone barrelled in, crashing right into the statue that had once been Coralie. "Be careful!" Voice rising in desperation, she stretched her arm out and darted forward, but thankfully the newcomer had grabbed hold of Coralie in a dance-like move and steadied her. Placing a hand over her thudding heart and breathing a huge sigh of relief, Zircon landed next to the windswept blue-haired fairy, on whom the situation quickly dawned.

“Were these fairies turned into stone?”

In response to the newcomer's question, Zircon gave a grim nod. "Just now. We're trying to figure out how it happened, and who did this." As several pastries bounced off of her head and shoulders, she rolled her eyes upwards at the wannabe pirate, who scanned the area from the chandelier. "Which would be easier without the rain of sweets." Sweeping crumbs out of her hair, she flew around the room, her gaze darting this way and that for any hints.

Though grateful she'd slowed down and explained, Surge still didn't really like the idea that his daughter was voluntarily flying into trouble. Yep, this was his kid alright. Rather than simply trying to stop her, which he knew could backfire, he decided to try to instill some caution in her. Flying as close as he dare to her, he urged, “Alright, be careful. If it seems like something to big for us to handle, just get out of there. You can't help if you're in danger too.”

He didn't really want to tell her it could be a trap. But, well, it could be a trap, right?

She changed direction, he felt it even as she called out to tell him and shifted direction as well. He followed her down noticing several other fairies seems to be nearby, as well as some odd inanimate masses beyond the castle doorway. Someone swept past them. Juniper introduced herself to the the prince. Realizing they were in the presence of royalty, Surge gave a small bow, before asking, “Your majesty, whatever is the matter?”

Other voices followed; claims of accusations, further offers of help, and fairies turned to stone. Quite the mystery.

Surge left Juniper's side, venturing past the palace threshold. He approached one of the lifeless masses, and reached out a hand to touch it gently. It felt like stone, the electrical forces moved around it like stone. That is, stone wasn't generally very conductive unless it contained metal. But the shape, the shape indeed did feel like a fairy. He withdrew his hand quickly in terror and turning his head back towards the others commenting, “They're definitely stone. - Is it just this room? Only the fairies in this area who were affected? Maybe it's something in here? In the food or drink maybe?”

Sky threw his hands up when that ice fairy what kind of proof he had. “Proof? What proof do you need? Dark fairies are known for casting curses like this, and who else would have a motive? Like I said, our Kingdoms have been at odds for a while. It wouldn’t shock me that one of them would do this as a sick joke. I’m going to have a word with the dark fairy king right now!” Sky said that with confidence… that quickly faded. Talking to the Dark Fairy king alone was a scary thought. As much as Sky didn’t want to admit it, she did have a point. He couldn’t barge into the Transfeyvanian castle without something and someone to back him up. “Um… that being said… I do need evidence… I also can’t exactly confront the Transfeyvanian King alone. Mainly because I’m sure he hates my parents.”

Soon more fairies that had noticed his lights came. One young Earth Fairy came up to Sky, and the Light Fairy Prince smiled. “Yes, that was me. As you can see, the guests have turned to stone. Including my own mother and father…” Sky sighed at the thought. Another Fairy came in and pointed out that the guests were indeed stone, and suggested the possibility that it might have been something in the food or drink. “Oh gosh I hope not… The chefs won’t be happy their creations were tampered with…”

Another pretty Fairy dressed in blue named Vyvien introduced herself, and offered her help. “Unless you have a cure for petrification, I’m not sure what can be done… I still think a Dark Fairy is responsible. I’m tempted to go to Transfeyvania and have a word with the king myself! A spell like this would probably leave behind some kind of a Magical Signature. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about finding that would you?”

Then he noticed a cute blonde fairy with red wings entered. Sky approached him right away. “Hello cutie!” Sky kissed the other fairy’s hand. “It is unfortunate we have to meet under such tragic circumstances.”

@Tangy@Randomness@LuckyBlackCat@LuckyLudor@Yasha

Feydellia

It was quite the scene of distressed-looking fairies standing there as Dragon arrived. Upon drawing closer he had overheard a very pink fairy he assumed was the prince say something about the dark fairies attacking the fairy festival. What? The festival had been attacked? Well that would explain the Help written out in the sky moments before, allthough as far as he knew, no other dark fairies besides him and his antourage had been in the city at that time, and there certainly were no evil plots brewing.

It wasn't just the blatant accusation itself that bothered Dragon, but rather the disdain in the prince's voice as he spoke. The kingdoms being at odds was also news to him, allthough it might be that the royals of Transfeyvania were in some age-old feud the rest of the kingdom didn't know of. Regardless, this was exactly the kind of blatant bigotry Dragon could not stand for. However, he could lecture the prince later as apparently, there was an attack happening.

Landing outside of the ballroom a few feet away from the gathered group, one of the fairies, a pale blue fairy with blue hair noticed him getting there and immediatly looked very uncomfortable, which just made what Dragon had just heard more real. He sighed to himself as he took in the scene.

Stepping back however, he suddenly stepped on something soft and squishy. Immediatly scared he somehow stepped on the royal pigmy-cat or something, he looked down only to be relieved he had stepped in a dropped sweet. Well, maybe relieved isn't the right word, he now had pink frosting on his black formal shoes. He sighed deeper and wandered into the ballroom, determined to find the culprit, all while his sullied shoe made that gross sound shoes make when you stepped in something sticky and continue walking.

The ballroom was uncharacteristically empty and quiet, save for the ongoing conversations between the prince and the other fairies right outside. Were there even an attack happening? Was it all a ruse? Or was it one of those prank situations that ends in a huge dance party in a different ballroom? It wasn't easy to say for sure, but he did spot who he assumed was the culprit for the dropped sweets, and it was... a Pirate? That's so cool! Dragon was in awe for a moment, looking at the fairy with uncharacteristically childlike wonder. He then shook his head and decided to listen in on the ongoing conversations.

He got back out into the hall outside the ballroom just in tide to hear a newcomer ask "Were these fairies turned into stone?".... Whet? Stone? Assuming he heard wrongly, he prepared to speak up, but someone else did so before he could.

"Just now. We're trying to figure out how it happened, and who did this." the blue fairy he had noticed earlier spoke. "Which would be easier without the rain of sweets.". Her sentence was amplified by the sticky sound of Dragons foot as he stood next to her. There was a lot of chatter and speculation about what was going on, and while Dragon slowly got caught up in the present, it didn't feel real to him just yet, even though he could see the silhouettes of stone statues ere and there around them.

“Unless you have a cure for petrification, I’m not sure what can be done… I still think a Dark Fairy is responsible. I’m tempted to go to Transfeyvania and have a word with the king myself! A spell like this would probably leave behind some kind of a Magical Signature. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about finding that would you?” the prince said in response to one of the other present fairies who asked for what they could do to help. The prince's response made Dragon physically ill. It was very common knowledge that the dark fairies magic was literal, and not some sort of mysterious "everything bad you can think of" potof curses and miasmas. Part of him wanted the prince to take this to the kingdom. If nothing else the king and his men would have a hearthy laugh before giving the prince a very strict wake-up call.

The prince then finally noticed Dragon standing there besides the blue fairy and walked over to him. "Helly cutie" he said teasingly as he took Dragons hand in for an introductory kiss. The kiss left a sticky spot on Dragons hand as if the prince had been chowing down on something very sugary not too long ago. “It is unfortunate we have to meet under such tragic circumstances.” he then continued. Dragon just kept glaring daggers at the prince, not at all moved by his sudden change of tune. He then flexed his wings for a moment to demonstrate that he had in fact, heard Everything the prince had said about the dark fairies.

---

Vyvien stood puzzled. From the small chattering the fairies were having with each other, it was clear that no one had anything definitive. This was made especially evident with Prince Sky jumping to conclusions. Then again, she couldn’t really blame him for being irrational. His own parents were turned into stone along with every other guest to the palace. A garden of lifelike statues might be serene in any other setting, but here, in the music-less hall, it was morbid. And with no knowledge of how it happened, it was difficult to say when it would happen again. Either way, something had to be done.

“A cure for petrification?” repeated Vyvien. She closed her eyes in thought. Vyvien had multiple ways with dealing with stone, but that usually involved either dissolving it away, or asking an earth fairy to deal with it. Neither would help with the marble trapped fairies. Well, maybe an earth fairy could do something about it. For the other question though.

“Don’t don’t have anything handy for petrification. I’m not sure where I would begin for that one. But I can help identify the magic. I mean hopefully I can. I never needed a tool like it before, but I think I can make something for it. I’ll just need to visit a workshop, if you have one near by. I could probably bind some crystal and calibrate it to. Oh, I’ll need different magic aspects to calibrate it. But once that’s done, it might be able to detect lingering magical energy and identify it. Maybe it should be done by percent, luminosity, number of streamers? Maybe maybe…” Vyvien prattled on about how she would invent a magic detector slash magic identifier. Vyvien was too lost in her own schematics that she failed to see that Prince Sky had left her to introduce himself to another of the late comers. After a bit of time, Vyvien caught herself.

“Sorry sorry. Please stop me if I go on too long. Sometimes when I get an idea going, I won’t stop talking about it.” There was a feeling of tense emotion in the air. She looked to where Prince Sky had wandered. Now the tension made sense. Vyvien fluttered over to Sky and the dark fairy. She landed on the ground, at either side of the two. One had the sparkle of endearment, and the other had the glare of a viper.

“Wait wait. You think the dark fairies had something to do with it? Isn’t it a bit odd that you’re… But, you’re okay talking with… Nothing? Well, alright then.” Vyvien turned to the dark fairy, “I’m Vyvien. We must have just missed each other initially. I think we’re just all in shock about what happened, But I’m glad you’re here to help. With more of us working on it, we’ll figure out what happened in no time. Right, Prince Sky?”

Vyvien flew up into the air. A ring of different runes appeared behind her back, in which one disappeared, and a screwdriver magically manifesting within her hand. “I’ll get to working on that magic identifier thingy. It might help us find some clues.”

@LuckyLudor @Crimson Flame

Another fairy approached, a green-winged man with a scarred face, and it took Zircon a moment to place where she recognised him from. Surge, a traveller who'd visited the Minty Mountains a while back. He'd bought a few souvenirs from her, and asked her questions about the mountains, seemingly an avid explorer. Except when they'd met, he hadn't had those scars over his eyes. Injuries sustained while adventuring? He seemed used to being blind at least, navigating with ease as he examined the statues with his fingers.

At his theory that it could be the food and drink, Zircon gave the pirate fairy a panicked look, before reminding herself that couldn't be the case. "I doubt the food or drink has anything to do with it. Cori, my friend, she was only in here for a few seconds, and..." She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, could hardly bear to look at the statues, but she had to keep searching for clues.

Overhearing the prince bad-mouthing the dark fairies yet again - then going on to call the moth-winged man a cutie - she sighed and flew over. Did he have no idea he was talking to, and offending, a dark fairy? Did the guy's wings, or his glare, not give it away? "Your Highness, I don't see how shadow magic could turn anyone into stone," she pointed out, backing up Vyvien. Dark magic had to do with literal darkness, not curses. "Maybe we should go to Lumina though? The earth fairies may know of a cure for petrification."

As Prince Sky explained that he put up a HELP signal because many guests had turned to stone, including his own parents, Juniper quickly looked down upon the ballroom and her hands flew to her mouth in horror. Uncannily realistic stone statues littered the ballroom, frozen in time. Surge went down to check them, relaying that it wasn't just a trick of the mind - they really had been turned to stone. Juniper listened as the prince immediately blamed the dark fairies. Gosh, Juniper hadn't realized that the dark and light fairies hated each other so much, to turn welcomed guests into stone...

But then Prince Sky immediately dropped the accusations to greet a 'cutie'. A young blonde fairy with black and red wings was just standing there. Juniper blushed - he was kind of cute. No, no, focus... A female fairy with light blue hair and goggles was rambling on about a cure for petrification. Juniper listened hopefully for a bit, but it was a little above her level of comprehension. A darker blue female fairy with transparent wings dismissed Sky's notion that the dark fairies had anything to do with it, and suggested instead that they investigate Lumina. Lumina? Oh... right, stone magic. Juniper didn't have the gift for it herself. She glanced at the fairies gathered and surmised she was probably the only earth fairy there. She flew closer to her dad before speaking. "Oh, u-um, yes, I know lots of earth fairies who specialize in stone magic... but I've never seen anybody be turned to stone before..." She started suddenly as if realizing she'd forgotten something. "Sorry, my name is Juniper. My father and I live in Lumina." She nodded at Surge. "Maybe Mrs. Greypetal could help." Juniper smiled and perked up. "She's like, a million years old." For what it was worth, it was meant as a compliment to her experience, though in hindsight Juniper would be glad that Mrs. Greypetal wasn't around to hear the gross exaggeration. "She used to be my school principal before she retired, and she knows all about stone magic!"

The cute fairy extended his wings, and Sky giggled. “Aw, you’re wings are so pretty!” Sky couldn’t really tell what type of fairy he was, and didn’t get a chance to ask him before the others started talking. It was suggested that the Earth fairies of Lumina might know something about this petrification. Sky wondered what motive an Earth fairy would have to attack the castle at the Fairy Festival. But then it was mentioned that the Earth Fairies might have a cure for this, and the girl knew an elder who was familiar with stone magic, Sky’s eyes lit up. Maybe he wouldn’t have to set foot in Transfeyvania.

Sky nodded. “Very well, we’ll take a trip to Lumina, and have a word with this Mrs. Greypetal. Once we find a cure, we can free the guests, and then perhaps my mother and father will know how to handle finding the culprit. They have more experience in this kind of thing than I do. In the meantime, as crown prince, I’m in charge.” Sky cringed at the thought of having to lead people. Hopefully, this elder could produce a cure quickly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will get the carriage set up.” Sky flew off.

—-

Moments later, Sky came back pulling a gold and pink carriage pulled by pastel colored unicorns with sparkling fairy wings. “Hop on everyone. Unfortunately, the driver’s been petrified too! Which means I have to pull the carriage myself. It shouldn’t be that difficult. The unicorns are trained. Juniper, you’re going to be the navigator. I assume you know more about Lumina than I do.”

The ride to the Luminous Forest was bumpy to say the least. The unicorns may have been trained, but Sky was not. He wasn’t paying too much to driving, and was flirting with Dragon. “So, what kind of fairy are you cutie pie? Most of the others are obvious, but I can’t place where you’re from?” Then they nearly crashed into other fairies that were flying about before Dragon could give an answer.

“Watch where you’re going!”

”Sorry!”

And then the unicorns whinnied, and Sky had to calm them down.