The band ascended the mountain road cautiously. Thankfully, there were no more surprises except the errant lava meteor, but those were easy enough to spot from above.

When they finally reached the top, they approached a black granite castle with high pointy peaks and tall foreboding double-doors. Sir Taco used the door knocker just for kicks, but no one answered. It took all four of them shoving together to get the doors moving. With one last heave, the doors swung back and they all fell on their faces.

Key Gullz lifted her head and nervously surveyed the entryway. “It’s dark in there.”

“Who’s first?” Sir Taco asked, jumping up and dusting off his pants.

Candii unpacked four unicorn pearls and gave each person one. “Follow me. She can’t scare me.”

The soft glow led the way forward as they slowly walked behind Candii. Deep into the lobby, Candii admired massive floor-to-ceiling paintings of various locations in the Land of Rock. “There’s Jammertown and Candy Mountain,” she pointed out.

“Oh, and a desert? Maybe that’s what the frozen tundra igloos used to look like!” Key Gullz remarked about a particularly cheery looking one. Little elves with red noses held hands around an oasis.

Thad Penguino spotted a painting of New Rock City. Sir Taco admired a long canvas adorned with the green fields of The Pantry. They came across huge suits of armor that they feared could come to life at any moment.

Admittedly a bit lost, they walked into a warm room with a raging flame inside a massive stone fireplace. The walls were covered in books and flowing tapestries. Candii stepped near one placed a tender hand on it. The artistry was unbelievable. It illustrated a story of magic, fire, and love that she could not quite put together.

Key Gullz stood at her side. “I think they’re telling a sad story. One of love lost.”

Candii let her eyes wander up to the top. A depiction of Morgana floating high above a flaming city was rendered impressively. “Well, it would make sense given the last words of the ogre. But none of that matters. We’re here to right a massive wrong no matter the circumstances.”

Finding nothing helpful in that room, the band climbed a winding staircase into even greater darkness. And then music began to reach their ears. It sounded like a thunderous wind instrument.

“Is…is that an organ?” Candii asked bewildered.

“Ooo! Very villainesque!” Key Gullz chuckled.

“Hurry! This way!” Candii led the band quickly up another staircase as she followed the sound. The ominous composition grew louder as they passed through third, fourth, and fifth floor corridors. They briefly exited the castle and traveled over the ramparts overlooking the grounds. The sun had nearly set and the long shadows casting over the land were menacing.

“We have to end this before dawn. I don’t think my unicorns have much time left. If we’re too late…”

“They’ll stay horses forever, won’t they?” Sir Taco asked.

“That’s right.” Candii had no idea what she was going to have to do once she confronted Morgana, but she was willing to do anything to bring this struggle to an end.

Finally near the castle’s peak, the band faced two massive wooden doors. On the other side, someone keyed the organ.

Candii turned to the band. “Are we ready? This is your last chance to head home. I’ve already asked you all to put yourselves in so much danger. Surely our greatest threat lies beyond this gate. I can’t force any of you to step into the fire with me, but I do ask for your help.”

Key Gullz smiled. She placed a hand on Candii’s shoulder. “We’d never turn back now. We traveled every step of this journey at your side to see it to the end.”

Sir Taco and Thad Penguino nodded.

They each gripped their instruments with their chapped, sore hands.

“Okay! Here we go!” Candii kicked in the door and the band rushed into a regally adorned chapel-like room with a breath-taking candle chandelier impossibly high above. A beautiful blood-red carpet ran through the room and intricate tapestries hung from the ceiling and adorned the walls. A tall figure, shrouded in a cloak and playing the organ, sat at the other end of the room. The figures face was facing away from them.

“She’s good,” Sir Taco admitted.

“Yeah, maybe. She’s alone, so I’m not too worried.” Candii slowly approached the organ and stood only a few steps away from it. The figure abruptly stopped playing.

“Morgana!” she shouted. “We’re here to end your game! We have fifteen unicorn pearls to your fourteen. Give them up and I’ll go home. Resist and I’ll be forced to rock your body!”

Morgana’s cackle echoed through the room. She sounded like she above, behind, and below them. She was everywhere at once.

“Where is that coming from?” Thad Penguino asked.

“Fools! You thought you could surprise me in my own lair? No, it is I who will demand the unicorn pearls from you! My fourteen are not enough for my plan. I need them all!”

“Enough!” Candii jumped forward and ripped the cloak away. She was surprised to see not Morgana but two gremlins, one standing on the other’s shoulders. They snarled, snapping their drooling jaws, and hopped down to Candii’s feet. They pranced around her tauntingly. Their quick movements startled her. She was unable to fight them off when they wrested her backpack away from her and sprinted across the room.

Sir Taco and Key Gullz gave chase and tackled the gremlins. After a beating, they retrieved the backpack and handed it back to Candii.

“Nice try, Morgana,” Candii shouted toward the ceiling. “Now, are you going to face me like you did at the ranch?”

“Very well. I suppose every great leader has to step into the trenches and slay her own problems once in a while.”

A bright flash of light filled the room. The band shielded their eyes. Down from the ceiling descended Morgana in a shimmering light. She was surrounded by fourteen unicorn pearls swirling around her like an orbit. She gently planted herself on the ground between the band and the room’s entrance.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it? A showdown of rock prowess? I suppose someone with as pitiful ambitions like your own, to keep a stale unicorn ranch selfishly to herself, would never be able to imagine what great miracles one could achieve with all that magical power.”

Morgana raised her arm and flicked her fingers about. The pearls floated above her. They began to swirl in a circle and accelerated ever faster. She lifted off the ground again. “I truly did wish you would have stayed home and just moved on with your life, but I guess yours will just be another one I ruin. I wonder, when this is all over, if I’ll finally be happy.”

Candii gripped her bass and leaned forward. “Come at me!”

Begin Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler

INSTRUMENTAL

♫♫♫

“Ha, ha, ha!” Morgana cackled. She channeled the unicorn pearls and divined a celestial xylophone at her side. Scores of minions emerged from the shadows above, from the sides, and even, defying logic, from below the carpet with a collection of amps of all sizes.

They plugged in her xylophone with bundles of extension cords and the amps glowed with life from the overwhelming power of the unicorn pearls. The minions assembled in rows behind Morgana and formed a supporting chorus with voices that would not be prized for their clarity but certainly feared for their volume.

VERSE 1

Where … need.

The band jammed on their own amps spewing hard rock way past their safety threshold! The sound was rattling their bones and brought back a hint of nostalgia from their rocking days long ago.

But were they too loud? Were their seasoned bones able to keep it together under the reverberations of this dangerous stunt?

Key Gullz’ beat led the band fearlessly with her diamond drumsticks.

Sir Taco sang the words more clearly than he ever needed to before.

Thad Penguino felt the unicorn hair strings of his guitar smoothly assist with his transitions.

Candii opened her backpack and poured the unicorn pearls out at their feet. The pearls began to glow and give power to their instruments. She turned to the band and smiled.

“That’s it! I can feel the beat! Keep it up!”

CHORUS

I … life!

Morgana’s robes and hair rippled violently in recognition of their amazing performance.

“Not bad, Non-Traditional Key Gullz. But how about this?”

Morgana didn’t even handle her mallets. They magically came to life in front of her, pounding on the xylophone with impossible speed. Their rhythm and clarity was beyond anything the band had ever seen. All at once, her xylophone played the parts of an entire orchestra and she was accompanied with a vast choir of echoing evil minions.

The band slid several feet back as they struggled just to keep standing from the sheer awesome force pouring from Morgana’s concert.

“That’s not all. Why hold back when I’m having such fun!” she laughed with a maniacal grin. Morgana’s unicorn pearls dispersed and flew erratically around the room.

The band tried to keep their eyes on them, but they were too fast to follow. On occasion, one would dart down and hit the members of the band.

“Ow!” Candii cried as she was pelted by a series of pearls. The distraction threatened her ability to stay on beat.

VERSE 2

Somewhere … feet!

Candii threw her bass over her shoulder. She knelt and arranged her unicorn pearls in a circle. She stood in the center and wished with her whole heart for a miracle.

“Unicorns! Hear my wish! Lend me your strength!” The pearls began to glow and give speed to the band’s hands. But a fury of Morgana’s own unicorn pearls pelted the band and broke their concentration again.

“Ha, ha, ha!” Morgana cackled.

Candii tried to wish again, but exhaustion began to overtake her and she could not muster enough of an empathetic connection with her team.

She fell to her knees. Her head hung low. Her arms quivered.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Sir Taco said. “We got a situation!”

CHORUS

I … night!

“Get her up!” Key Gullz demanded.

Sir Taco ran to Candii’s side and tried to pick her up.

Morgana summoned her unicorn pearls back to her side and raised her volume output to impractical levels.

Sir Taco cupped his ears and let Candii fall to the floor.

“What do we do now?” Thad Penguino frantically shouted with his fingers slipping with increasing frequency.

“Minions!” Morgana commanded. “Attack!”

Gremlins stormed the band. They hopped and leapt from every direction encircling the group.

Sir Taco tried to push them away, but he was quickly trampled. Thad Penguino swung his guitar and knocked a few minions back, but they overwhelmed him and ripped his instrument from his hands.

They approached Key Gullz, sweat pouring from her brow, but they could not have predicted her fury.

INSTRUMENTAL

♫♫♫

Key Gullz threw her head back and pounded her drumsticks on her celestial drums. Shockwaves blew hordes of minions back. Try as they might, they were not able to approach her.

Candii lifted her head and saw Key Gullz repelling the attack. Her vision was blurred, but she felt hope building in her heart. “That’s it! Just a little bit longer and I’ll…I’m getting up!”

Morgana’s face became twisted. “Who do you think you are? This is between Candii and I!” She summoned a minion and commanded it. “Bring me the final unicorn pearl!”

“What?” Candii cried in shock.

BRIDGE

Up … blood!

The minion rushed back to Morgana with a black box engraved with magical symbols. Morgana opened it and revealed the final unicorn pearl belonging to the most powerful unicorn, Sparkles.

“You fools! I sealed away my trump card in magic-concealing runes to draw you into my trap! You never had the power to defeat me!”

The unicorn pearl flew up above her and she channeled its amazing power into her xylophone. All at once, Key Gullz’ celestial instruments vanished into thin air.

With a broad wave of Morgana’s arm, Key Gullz, Sir Taco, and Thad Penguino were lifted into the air and thrown back into the steel organ. They tumbled onto the floor. They tried to lift themselves but were completely defeated.

CHORUS x2

I … night!

“No!” Candii cried.

She stumbled to her feet and reached for her bass, but it too was missing. Her fourteen unicorn pearls were positioned around her, but their glow started to wane until they finally grew dim and faded to gray. She lurched forward and, in all the chaos, stumbled over some of the pearls.

She lifted herself up and stretched her arm out toward Sparkle’s unicorn pearl floating high above.

“Sparkles! Don’t give your power to her!” she pleaded.

The unicorn pearl became clear and the face of Sparkles the unicorn appeared. Sparkles neighed sadly, helplessly, and the pearl became clouded again.

Candii stare desperately at Morgana. She was totally powerless. “Please! No!”

Morgana cast a piercing gaze at Candii and raised her arm. “Goodbye, Candii of The Non-Traditional Key Gullz. Give my regards to the afterlife.”

She squeezed her hand into a fist and all thirty pearls in the room shone to life, flew up above, and swarmed into a massive ball. With a flick of her wrist, they violently zoomed like an arrow toward Candii.

Candii closed her eyes as all thirty unicorn pearls pierced her heart.

“No!” the band cried.

End Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler