Sofia the First: Great Aunt-Venture

Visitors

The four girls got to work. Sofia worked on a design for the coach and suggested using glittery and metallic paints. Before anybody knew it, Hildegard's and Clio's flying coaches had flown down.

"Hildegard, Clio, good to see you," Amber smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Sofia asked. "Shouldn't you be decorating your coaches for the Flylight Pageant?"

"We got someone else to decorate them for us," Hildegard replied. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to design our coach," Sofia replied.

Suddenly, Roland, Miranda, and James showed up.

"How's the coach coming?" Miranda asked.

"So-so," Sofia replied.

"We're trying to make the coach look like the fanciest bird's nest in the world," Amber said.

"Didn't you already make the coach look like a bird's nest last year—and the year before that?" James reminded his twin.

"Yes, but this year, it'll be even fancier," Ruby beamed.

"I don't know if you can top last year's coach—besides, what's one more year with the coach looking like a nest?" Roland shrugged.

Sofia was disgusted at her stepfather's agreement of making the coach look like a nest. He sure spoiled his birth daughter a lot—mainly because she looked like a younger version of her birth mother. Suddenly, Hugo's coach came flying down—two of them to be exact. When the coaches landed, Hugo came out with a big goofy smile on his face.

"Hi, Hugo," Sofia smiled.

"Hi, Sofie," Hugo smiled back. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to make our Flylight Pageant coach look like an even fancier bird's nest than last year," Sofia said flatly. "It's ridiculous because ever since I've started participating in it, Ruby, Jade, and Amber want to make it look like a bird's nest every year. It's so boring. Anyway, what do you up to?"

"Well, we have two surprise visitors who want to see you," Hugo revealed.

"Why me?" Sofia asked.

Hugo's older brother, Axel, stepped out and said, "You'll see." He went over to the other coach and opened the door. "Okay, Miss Balthazar."

That last name caught Sofia off guard. "Balthazar?" she asked. That was her last name. She heard a woman saying, "Please, dear, call me 'Dottie'."

A grown man stepped out of the coach, and he helped his girlfriend out—and to everyone's surprise, this woman looked just like Sofia.

"Aunt Dottie?" Sofia gasped.

"Hello, Sofia!" Dottie smiled.

Sofia was so happy that she ran over and hugged her aunt tightly. Almost everyone was shocked.

"You're such a big girl—beautiful, too," Dottie smiled.

"Aunt Dottie?" Amber gulped.

"My daddy's little sister," Sofia said. "I haven't seen her since the funeral." She turned to Hugo's family asked, "How did you even find her?"

"She and Jason were washed up from a shipwreck outside our palace last night," Queen Samira replied.

"We had to ask Grimtrix to use a magic spell to warm them up and heal them from that horrible chill they caught from being in the icy water," King Garrick chimed in.

"Jason?" Sofia asked.

"That's right—this is my fiancé, Jason," Dottie said.

"Nice to meet you," Sofia said.

"Nice to meet you," Jason gushed, pinching Sofia's cheeks. "Oh, you're so adorable, I could just eat you up!" He blew a raspberry on Sofia's cheek.

"Don't even try—I don't taste very good," Sofia joked.

Everyone laughed at Sofia's little joke, except Amber, Ruby, Jade, and Roland.

"Dottie, it's so good to see you again," Miranda smiled, hugging her sister-in-law.

"Indeed, and it's been so long—Sofia has grown since the last time I saw her," Dottie remarked.

"We'll be taking them back to Freezenburg this evening—we thought you'd want to spend some time with your aunt," Hugo said.

"That's nice, Hugo, but Sofia is helping us with the Flylight Pageant coach," Amber said.

"Forget it—the Flylight Pageant happens every year, and there's no knowing when I'll get to see Aunt Dottie again, especially since we live in different kingdoms," Sofia declared.

"You'll probably get to see her again next week—that's when we'll be getting married, and maybe you can be Dottie's maid of honor," Jason suggested.

"Oh, I love the sound that," Dottie smiled.

"Me, too, but I don't think I can wait that long," Sofia said.

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Dottie asked. "Let's go and have some fun." She and Jason went off with Sofia.

Hugo's family, Miranda, and James were rather happy to see Sofia this happy. But Amber, Ruby, and Jade were a little surprised that Sofia blew them off to spend time with an estranged family member while Hildegard and Clio were still shocked that Dottie looked like an older version of Sofia.

"Dottie sure looks like Sofia," Clio remarked.

"Indeed, you'd probably mistake her for Sofia's mother at first sight," Miranda remarked.

"Sofia sure is happy to see her," Roland remarked, trying to hide his discomfort.

"That's because they haven't seen each other since her father's funeral," James pointed out. "I think we have a clue to what Sofia would look like as a grown woman."

Amber, Ruby, and Jade couldn't believe what had just happened. They really wanted Sofia to join them, and they had an idea.

"Sofia has a point—this fancy bird's nest thing is getting old," Ruby declared.

"Yeah, let's decorate the coach like a fancy ship—a galleon or schooner," Jade suggested.

"Great idea," Amber smiled. "Let's get designing."

Amber, Ruby, and Jade turned the large piece of paper over and started to come up with a new design. James and Hugo were starting to wonder if those girls were jealous of Dottie.