Star Darlings; The Starlight Mirror

II. The Power of Love!

"I don't understand, I just saved this thing and now it's saying that I'm a princess?" Sage said to herself in her head. "What brings you back here, Princess?" Hoshi asked. "I'm here to find my 11 friends because they all went missing and I didn't know where else they could be." Sage answered. "11 friends? 11 Friends! Maybe the princesses will be reuniting once more!" Hoshi thought. "Anyway, I need to de-transform," Sage said as she raised her Star Pact in the air. "Sagittarius Star Supernova!" She exclaimed. In an instant, Sage returned to her original form. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go look for my friends now," Sage said to Hoshi. Before Sage was out of the little creature's sight, Hoshi zipped all the way over to Sage. "Wait!" It exclaimed, giving Sage a fright. "What if I come with you and help you find all of your friends...S-Sage, as you call yourself," Hoshi suggested. Sage looked into the tiny furball's eyes, and carefully pondered Hoshi's proposition. "Sure." She said, after giving it some thought. "I would be glad to bring you along." 

With that, Sage now had a companion until she found the first of her friends. "So, Hoshi, do you know why Egas was chasing you?" Sage asked as she and Hoshi travelled out of the lavender fields. "It all started when this evil lady who was dressed in all black and 12 girls, one of them was Egas, arrived with 11 other girls. I could have sworn they all looked familiar to me. The lady was telling eleven of the girls to take the hostages all over the Zodiac Realm and commanded Egas to stop me from saving them. She had been following me all over here and it was after an entire day that you came to my rescue." Hoshi explained. It was there Sage realised that the other Star Darlings were taken into the Starlight Mirror by (possibly) Rancora, and were scattered all over! "Oh, My Stars! That explains why Cassie wasn't in her bed!" She exclaimed. "Cassie?" Hoshi asked. "She was among the "eleven girls" you were talking about," Sage replied. She and Hoshi travelled for a very long time, they didn't even realise that the landscape had changed. "What is this place?" Sage asked. Everything wasn't lavender anymore, instead, it was all pink. The sky was a quite lovely shade of pink, and so was the ground. The clouds, trees, and bushes were all shaped like hearts, to Sage, it did seem a little off-putting. 

"This place is weird." Sage said to no one in particular. "I know, but that's the Zodiac Realm for you." Hoshi said back. They walked on the pale pink brick road for quite a while, but then, after a few hours, they happened upon a huge dark pink wall. In the center was a heart-shaped door with a rose-gold handle also shaped like a heart. "All this excessive amount of pink and hearts? I think I have a sneaking suspicion as to who was dragged here." Sage hypothesised. Sage struggled to open the door, as it was locked. "I know there has to be a key somewhere nearby!" Sage groaned. "Look! Three different bushes!" Hoshi exclaimed. Nearby, there were three different rose bushes; one was dark pink with a single light pink rose, another was normal pink with three similarly coloured roses, and the last was light pink with five dark pink roses. "Oh, but there's no way we'll find the key." Sage complained. At the dark pink bush, there was no hint of a key, even after some diligent examination. No such luck with the normal pink bush. However, on the light pink bush, they found the heart-shaped, rose-gold key in one of the roses. "Lucky Stars!" Sage exclaimed. She zipped over to the door and briskly unlocked it. Pushing the door, she was welcomed by a beautiful pink garden of lovely pink flowers, bushes, statues, and...Libby? She stood in the centre of the garden, facing away from Sage and Hoshi. "Libby? Oh thank the stars you're safe!" Sage exclaimed.

"Princes- I mean- Sage! I think it's a trap!" Hoshi exclaimed as Sage ran towards Libby. It was right, but Sage was too far away. When Sage placed her hand on Libby's shoulder, the girl turned around, she had an evil look on her face. "You're not Libby!" Sage exclaimed. The faux Libby dropped her disguise and became the Libby version of Egas. "That's right. I'm Ybbil!" The girl announced. "I knew this was a trap," Hoshi muttered. "Where is Libby?" Sage demanded. "Here." Ybbil answered, presenting Libby. Libby was tied up and couldn't move. "Sage! I'm glad you're here to help!" She mouthed to Sage. "Quick! Use your Star Pact!" Hoshi whispered. "Sagittarius Star Formation!" Sage exclaimed. Following her transformation and speech, Darling Sagittarius was ready to attack. "Sagittarius Shooting Star Arrow!" She exclaimed, ready to strike Ybbil. However, the attack didn't work like with Egas. "You think that piddly little attack would work?" Ybbil gloated. Then, Darling Sagittarius realised that she had the other Star Pacts. "What are you doing?" Ybbil asked. She tossed the heart-shaped compact to Libby. "Libby! Take the puff and shout: "Libra Star Formation!" Darling Sagittarius said. Libby loosened the ropes because they weren't tied properly and held up the compact. "Libra Star Formation!" She exclaimed. Libby patted the puff all over her, which emitted pink love hearts, her costume was exactly like Sage, but with Libra motifs, and was pink, of course. 

"I am the Star Darling, who represents the sign of The Scales! I am Darling Libra!" Darling Libra exclaimed. "How!?" Ybbil exclaimed. "Libra Love-Beauty Ribbon!" Darling Libra exclaimed as a string of pink love hearts flew towards Ybbil, killing her instantly. "No way!" Hoshi breathed.

Author's Note: Libby is my favourite Star Darling, it used to be Vega, but I realised she was a little too similar to my queen, Sailor Mercury, and studying was basically her entire personality, both the books and the web-series. I love Libby because she is gentle, sophisticated, fair-minded (in the books, that is). And also because she's pink, my favourite colour. That said, while I don't Vega anymore, I like Reika Aoki/Cure Beauty because, while she is in a way similar to Sailor Mercury, she has a glaring difference, Reika went through an identity crisis, Ami didn't. Also, I apologise if this chapter seems a bit rushed. It is the way it is though...