Princess Elena - Blog Posts

...And I miss you, and I’m angry at myself for missing you. But more than anything, I’m just so, so sad.

After all, I realized long ago. The most valuable thing I have is you.

Avalor 50% off

(Everyone is watching watching Gabe swim) Mateo: is it weird for me to think he looks good in that swimsuit. I mean...REALLY good!? ---- Mateo: (walking with Gabe) so anyway I regained consciousness, there's cops everywhere, Naomi's cover in blood and has an ice pick!! (Nervous laugh) it was kind of a weird Tuesday. ---- Luisa: Ms. Gabriela? (Everyone laughs) Mateo: uh...ma'am, Gabe is actually a boy Boy: yeah and we'd never crush on him otherwise!! Mateo: shut up! Luisa: well, since you were absent yesterday Gabe, I am Luisa. Your new homeroom teacher. But that doesn't matter, because I'm basically pointless in this show. ---- Gabe: so is it illegal if I do it in my own pool? Mateo: I don't know. I mean...its sounds illegal but- Naomi: (slides in) What's up sluts!? Guess who just got out of prison!!? Mateo: sluts? Gabe: prison? (They both gasp) Mateo and Gabe: NAOMI!!?? Naomi: Yeeeeeeah! ---- Naomi: dam...we need another member. And I need to get rid of these stupid bird key chains. Maybe if I wether them a bit and call them antiques I can pawn them...Nah! I'll just sell them on my Etsy store. Elena: Ahem! Naomi: huh? (Music plays while 'Hottie Alert' is written all over Elena...metaphorically) Naomi: bitch you gonna be mine. Elena: I beg your pardon? Naomi: nothing nothing!! Hey your Elena right? Can I ask you something? Elena: I assume by the 23 recruiting papers and the 34...swimsuit...bird things in your bag, you were going to ask me to join the swim team. Naomi: yeah but- Elena: I'm sorry but I already joined track. Naomi: but I- Elena: and my stup is coming up in 3.34 seconds so your going to have to make the pitch very quick. Naomi: alright so swim team right!? (A 'sing' goes off in the train) Elena: there it is. (Gets off the train) good day. Naomi: Hey wait! I was actually going to ask you what size color you wear! Come on let me get them digits baby!! Let's make this a thing!! (Watches Elena run home) Naomi: OH MY GOD LOOK A HER RUN!! Oh is should be illegal to be that fine!! Ah yeah~ work them legs! ---- Bonus! (Watches Elena run home) Naomi: OH MY GOD LOOK A HER RUN!! Oh is should be illegal to be that fine!! Ah yeah~ work them legs! Amber: OH MY GOD IS THAT A GUN IN HER POCKET!!? Sofia: I don't think that's a gun...

I think that one moment in "Now's Our Chance" where their foreheads touch is really sweet.

Soooo I saw you're taking requests for mini fanfics 👀 Could I request something with Elena and Skylar? I really love their friendship :>

  “¡Hola Reina!”

 Elena knew that voice, she looked up from the scroll she'd been reading. “Hi Skylar-” But the words were cut off with a gasp. Instead of the blue and gold macaw jaguar she expected to see, before her stood a somewhat shaggy looking fellow with dark hair, bright eyes, and a golden & blue outfit. 

  “Wait, Skylar is that you!?” She exclaimed. 

 He shrugged his shoulders, looking around. “Skylar, who's Skylar? I'm uhh, Tylar, yeah, Tylar the totally normal human!” But the goofy grin on his face betrayed his attempt at a prank. 

 Elena leaned forward “Really? Hmmmmm, you certainly sound like him...are you SURE you're not Skylar?”

  “Oh, come on I didn't recognize YOU when you were a jaquin!”

  “Ha, well you still gave me a shock!” she replied, getting up from her desk, the paperwork could wait, this was important. “So, Mateo made you a human potion?”

 He nodded “Yeah, I thought that if you could have such a great time being a Jaquin, then it's only fair that I try out being a human to see how fun it was. Come on, you can show me how to do human things!”

  “Sure, I have some spare time, what kind of ‘human things' do you want to do?”

  “Well, I’ve never gone shopping before, and if we go then I can get stuff for even more human activities! I saw some really cool looking musical instruments being sold at the market. If I got one for my own, then you could teach me how to play it!”

 Elena clapped “Sounds like a plan!” They both walked out of the room and down the hall together. “The mercado gets pretty busy in the afternoon, so we better get going.”

 He smiled “Then there's no time to lose, right?” They were at the top of a staircase, but instead of taking the stairs, Skyler climbed over the banister and jumped.

  “SKYLER NO!” Yelled Elena, her fear magic kicking in and pulling him back up before he could hit the ground.

  “Whoops, I forgot humans can't fly.” he said, looking slightly shaken from the realisation. 

 Elena caught her breath, calming her dress back down to red. “Yeah, it's a pretty unfortunate part of being a human.”

  “I'll just go down the stairs the way they were meant to be.” He said, climbing onto the railing and using it to slide all the way down. Then he waved at Elena from the bottom. She shrugged and took the railing slide as well.

 A while later, Elena and Skylar were walking down the busy street, carrying over a dozen shopping bags between them. With Elena paying for the two of them, they had both gone a little bit overboard with their spending but they were having such a good time, they didn't even notice.

 Skylar pointed at the one building they hadn't visited yet. “Let’s go there!”

 “Are you sure? That’s Doña Paloma’s emporium, shopping there might be pretty intense compared to everywhere else we've been.”

 “But we're royalty, so that'll probably make things easier, right?”

 “Possibly?” She said with doubt in her voice, but Skylar was already running through the door.

  When Doña Paloma saw them both enter, she turned away from two of the other customers she had been talking with to give them her full attention. “Hello and welcome to my emporium, Queen Elena. And hello to you as well, I don't believe we've met before?”

  Elena gave a wave that was weighed down by her shopping bags. “Hola Doña Paloma, this is-”

  “I am a Prince from a distant Kingdom, and I’ve come here to do some shopping!” Said Skylar with a big smile. Elena noticed the touch of mischief in his expression.

  “A Prince!” Her eyes lit up with the light of opportunity. “Well, hello there, your majesty.” She said with a bow “You have definitely come to the right place, my store carries a grander selection than any other in the kingdom! Here let me take you on the grand tour.” She took him by the arm and led him into her store.

  “¡Gracias!” said Skylar putting down his bag before walking along beside her.

 Elena followed along behind, as she realized this may have been a bad idea.

 After what felt like hours Skylar had been shown so many interesting things that Elena had to hold him back from buying the entire store. But in the end he had selected a fair number of things to get, including a harp, an extra large bottle of paprika, and a shovel.

  “An absolutely wonderful selection, your majesty. Thank you so much for choosing to shop at my emporium.” Exclaimed Doña Paloma, personally ringing up the goods at the till.

  “You're welcome, your store is really cool! Adios!” replied Skylar once he loaded the final bag into the waggon he had also just bought and began to walk towards the door.

  “Haha, wait a minute, Your Majesty, you have forgotten to pay for those.” She reminded him with a very forced smile.

  He stopped “Oh, well I don't have any money.”

  “You don't have any money!?” She looked shocked, but she quickly regained her composure. “Ah, so I see, His Majesty doesn't carry around any money, that is wise, you wouldn't want to get robbed. So, I assume you have a line of credit you could use?”

  “What's credit?”

  “You…you don't know what credit is?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for the stuff.” said Elena,

 But she ignored her “How do you not have any money or know what credit is?”

 “Well, back in my kingdom we don't need to buy anything, so it's not necessary to have any money. Honestly, I'm not even sure I understand what money is. Why is it considered valuable in the first place?”

  “You don't know what money is!? I can’t believe it; no, I refuse to believe it!” She looked personally insulted. 

  “Here Doña Paloma, this is all the money for the stuff, we’re sorry if we offended you.” She put the money on the counter “Okay, Skylar, let's go.”

  “Wait a minute, Skylar! You are that jaquin prince, aren't you? You have a lot of nerve to pull a stunt like this after what you did four months ago!”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

 She scowled at him “Really? You don't remember how you knocked over my entire display I had in front of the store. Then you said you had to leave on “royal business” before you could help clean it all up?”

  “Oh yeah.” He looked at her sheepishly “Well, in my defence I was trying to get home fast, my dad gets really grumpy when I’m late.”

  “Hmph, well, since you don't have those wings to knock things down anymore, how about you make it up to me now. I need the tops of the shelves dusted.”

 Elena stepped between the two of them, “Look, Doña Paloma, I can pay you back for any of the damages he caused.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Skylar insisted “I want to do this, it’s the responsible thing to do and I've never dusted a shelf before, could be fun!”

  “Good, you can start with that one.” Said Paloma, pointing to the nearest shelf with her fan.

 He walked confidently towards it, then turned back with a confused look “So, do I just put dust on the shelves? There's plenty of dust outside I could get, the Mercado has some really good dust.”

 Paloma smiled smugly “No, that's not quite how you do it, but I'm sure Queen Elena would be able to show you how.”

 Skyler looked at her hopefully and Elena sighed, they were probably going to be here for a while. 

Are you still taking requests? If so, can you please draw a crossover between Elena of Avalor and Encanto?

They are having fun making music together!

If you are still taking requests can you do li’l Flores cousins (like in Día de Madres)

They're having so much fun at carnival! Queen Lucia even let Elena wear her special tiara! :D

Remember that time in “To Queen Or Not To Queen” when Elena fell asleep in a graveyard?

[Comic script: Panel 1: Elena: Buenos Dias, Victor! Victor: Hola Elena! You're up early, so you can't wait for your coronation today?

Panel 2: Elena: Yes, plus I accidentally fell asleep in the graveyard so I had to walk all the way back here. Victor: …

Panel 3: Elena: Ack! Victor, what are you doing?! Victor: BEGONE GHOSTS!!!!]

I felt this was the only way to capture the emotions of your request and the fear it requires.

[Lineart & edited version under the cut]

Are you taking requests? If you are, could you draw Sirena!Elena? If you’re not, than I apologize for this ask.

Sure! Here you go!

What about you drawing enraged elena in orange-dressed in your art?

Sure, here you go!

I drew this without a reference while I was in the middle of completing paperwork to be able to properly channel the emotions needed for this piece

Elena and Gabe for the ask game, please?

(I have answered this ask for Gabe which you can find right here)

Princess Elena

Favorite thing about them: That she's fun and friendly but also willing to throw hands. Sure, I like sweet cute princesses as much as the next person but it just feels good for her to be able to fight back as well. Her kindness and diplomacy also balance this out really well. She'll be accommodating and try to see things from other people's perspectives, and oftentimes that'll be enough to solve the problem. But if they're being truly awful and unfair then she’s not afraid to stand up for herself and others.

Least favorite thing about them: Her political policies when it comes to incarcerating and/or punishing criminals.* (Except for Shuriki, that was self-defense and justified).

Favorite line: "I don't need to be one of the kings, because I'm going to be a QUEEN!"

BrOTP: Well the 3 amigos immediately come to mind but I also believe that her friendship with Skyler is something that really can't be overlooked. He's there for her whenever she needs to pursue bad guys or just go for a nice fly.

Random headcanon: Elena has always loved horses, and ever since she was little she's always loved riding and brushing them. Another shock that came to her after liberating Avalor was the realization that all the horses that she'd had as a child 41 years ago were now all gone. She was devastated but nevertheless she would need to choose a new horse to be her personal one now that she was crown princess. When she went to the stables a certain horse immediately came up to Elena and started rubbing against her and tried to eat her hair flowers. Elena laugthed and told the horse that she couldn't have those flowers but she could give the horse some different ones. She brushed the horse's hair and decorated it with the new flowers which made the horse very happy. After that Elena knew that this was the horse for her and named her Canela.

Unpopular opinion: *I could rant all day about this, so I'll keep this brief. The palace dungeon looks like it is designed as a series of holding cells and doesn't seem fit to hold someone for any longer than a week. Also while it was never confirmed in the show one way or the other if they would have kept Victor petrified indefinitely if they didn't need him for a practical purpose, the very fact that that could be possible unnerves me. Now while it may not have not have been solely Elena's fault considering the bureaucracy, she never said anything against it either, which does not bode well for me. But this doesn't make me dislike her as a character or label her as a villain, if anything this just shows that even the best rulers can make mistakes.

Songs I associate with them: I Won't Let Go by Brothers Bright - Karma by AJR - The Whole World & You by Tally Hall

Favorite picture of them:

Elena holding a baby butter frog, after saving it from falling, absolutely adorable! 🐸🦋

Elena of Avalor Appreciation Week 2021: Crown

Long may she reign! ✿

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of five Noblins giving Princess/Queen Elena a flower crown. Three of them are in normal from and two of them are in dog form. Elena is in her pink outfit form 'Norberg Peace Prize,' and holding her scepter. She has her eyes closed and is smiling as Jiku puts the flower crown on her head. End ID]

@a-lilacsong

Happy birthday, Lilac!! I hope you're having a great day today!

I got the idea for this fanfiction back in June 2020, but now I was finally able to finish it!✨

What is it about? Well let's just say that it’s about Esteban and Isabel saving the world together. (Any things that may seem odd at first in the story are cleared up by the end).

If Mateo was able to make the Jaquin potion in the show, then his grandfather probably did as well decades beforehand. So maybe “Shapeshifters” wasn't Elena's first time being a jaquin...

Her parents were pretty startled when she knocked the potion onto herself but she still had a nice day spending time with her cousin while Alacazar made the reversal potion.

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of baby jaquin Elena and baby Esteban. They are both happily napping. End ID]

This is a Secret Santa gift I made for someone on a Discord server. 

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Sofia, Elena, and Luna from Sofia the First/Elena of Avalor. End ID]

Elenaomi Week | Day 7

When visiting a kingdom that has snow in the winter, Elena and Naomi are gifted a scarf it's far too big for one person to wear! Oh no, whatever shall they do?! Actually, it seems that they know exactly what to do...

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Elena and Naomi, holding hands in a gentle embrace as snow falls around them. They are both wearing winter coats and they are sharing one large purple scarf. End ID]

A Monstrous Encounter

I had this crazy Elena of Avalor dream on August 28th, so I decided to turn it into a fanfiction. This is 70% what happened in the dream and 30% dialogue I added for context and jokes for levity.

Note: I have the trigger warnings in the tags, this Fanfic does have a bit of violence and blood in it so I would give this a PG-13 / T rating. Reader discretion is advised.

Note 2: For some reason when I had the dream the entire landscape was in various sunset colours, the trees were purple, the sky was red & yellow and the grass was orange & pink.  So if you want, you can imagine it like that.

Note 3: In the dream I wasn't exactly sure when it was set, so I just decided to set it after the final. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A few months after she became Queen, Elena was touring the kingdom. She was making stops in all the different towns so the citizens could see their new Queen and she could make sure the towns were running smoothly. Elena had brought along Naomi, Gabe and Mateo, as well as a few of her Royal Guards and servants. So far, the tour had gone on without a hitch, but that was all about to change.

  In a small country village, Elena and her friends were about to go to Village Hall for a meeting with the Town Council, when a horse ran up to them at full speed and stopped. On it were Lieutenant Felipe and a young Private. Felipe looked exhausted and the Private was crying, and they both looked very bruised up.

  Gabe ran up to meet him. “Felipe, what happened!?”

  The Lieutenant tried to give as coherent a report as he could. “General, I have to report there's a monster at the edge of town. It was huge and round and slimy. Last time I saw it it was on the north corner of the pig farm owned by the Estrada family. It's been eating the livestock of the townspeople. When Private Fuentes and I went to evaluate the situation, it attacked us. I tried to use some spells to stop it but it seems to be immune to magic. Then it attacked Fuentes and… I was able to pull him out of the way in time but the monster killed and swallowed his horse.”

  The private looked at the General, his eyes filled with tears. “I'm sorry General, if I had been faster, Peanut would still be…”

  “It's alright private you did all you could do. All you need to do now is get your injuries checked.” Gabe assured him.

  “Yes Sir.” Fuentes replied, his voice still shaking

  Then Gabe continued on in a slightly more military tone, but you could still hear the intense concern he had.  “Lieutenant Felipe, take Private Fuentes to have his injuries taken care of, have your own injuries checked, and then call for backup.”

  “Yes sir.” He saluted then rode off towards the medical facility

  The other three who had watched this scene unfold were shocked, they knew something had to be done.

  “By the time backup gets here someone else could be attacked!” Exclaimed Mateo.

  “He's right, we should deal with this monster right now!” agreed Elena.

  “I second that.” Added Naomi with a nod. “We must avenge Peanut!”

  Gabe looked at how the three of them were just raring to go, he hesitated for a moment and then sighed. “I guess it's yet another mission for just the four of us.”

  “Maybe we need a name like Team Ava-four.” said Mateo trying to lighten the mood.

  Gabe just sighed and continued, “We know that this creature is immune to magic, so we will all need to equip some physical weapons before we go find it.”

  They went to their supply carriage and each got equipped with a sword, a dagger and a crossbow. Then they got on their horses and rode to the farm. Once they arrived at the south corner of the farm, they didn't tie the horse's reins to a pole. Instead they  just told their horses to wait for them to come back, they did this just in case the monster tried to attack them, the horses would be able to get away unhindered.

  Then they carefully made their way to the north corner, making sure to keep watch as they approached it. Then they saw an odd shape in the distance. They carefully stepped behind a large boulder and looked out at it. There was no mistaking it, this was the monster.

  It was sitting on the ground, its eerie black eyes open and ever staring forward.  It was at least 3 meters tall while at rest. It had a round body with a huge mouth, bigger than the mouth of any creature should be. It was bright purple and yellow and covered in clear oozing slime. It was blob shaped and looked like some kind of hideous melted frog.

  “I've never seen a creature like that in any of my books before,” Whispered Mateo, “At least not that I can remember.”  

  “What do you think we should do?” Asked Elena.

  “I say we try shooting it with our crossbows. If we get a little closer the bolts would probably do some major damage.” Suggested Naomi.

  “That sounds good, we will move to that area over there behind those trees where we will get a much clearer shot.” Said Gabe readying his crossbow “We should approach it with caution.” They moved closer to the monster until they were as close as they could get, while still being behind cover. “All right,” ready your crossbows and...NOW!”

  Four bolts shot straight into the monster's head and lodged deep, although it didn't seem very disturbed by it.  The monster looked at them with it's bulging eyes for a moment before it suddenly hopped up in a burst of speed and began to chase them. They were just barely able to start running away from it when it jumped at them.

  The monster chased them down the hill towards a pond, quickly gaining momentum on them. “Let's split up around the pond and regroup behind those trees!” Yelled Naomi, pointing across the water at the other side.  

  The group split to run around to the two sides, Naomi and Elena going to one side, Gabe and Mateo on the other. But the monster continued its chase, now with a target in its focus.

  Mateo was a slower runner than the others and they all realized it too late. He dropped his crossbow and grabbed his tamborita ready to cast a speed spell on himself. But before he could he tripped on a wet clump of grass at the edge of the pond, dropping his tamborita as he fell to the ground. The monster leapt behind him and with one fast movement gulped him completely into its mouth.

  “MATEO!” They screamed as their friend disappeared from view.

  “LEVALUQ!” yelled Gabe aiming his tamborita at the monster's mouth, but it was no use, Mateo was completely inside it and there was nothing that the spell could grab onto. It just seemed to be absorbed into the monster's slime. So without a second thought Gabe ran at the creature and started slashing at it with his sword. Naomi and Elena joined him, desperate to save their friend.

~~~   Mateo was surrounded by oozing darkness. He tried to breathe but got a nose full of noxious smelling slime instead, so he held his breath. The monster's mouth was closed in all around him and he barely had any room to move. He started to struggle but it didn't feel like it made any difference to the compressing walls around him.

  Then he remembered the dagger. He grabbed it with one hand and plunged it into the monster's tongue. The walls kept moving around him but they didn't feel any less constricting, and he was running out of air. He continued to stab but he could feel his strength draining away from him. His thoughts became a flurry of panic “I need to get out of here, I can't die like this, please!!!”  He continued to stab until he didn't have the strength to hold on to the dagger any longer. ~~~

 The three of them continued to slash their blades into the monster’s flesh. It still held its mouth shut even as blood splattered out from its wounds. It tried to jump into the nearby pond, and that's when Gabe leaped up into the air and plunged his sword deep into its back, determined to save the wizard before it was too late. That was the mortal blow. Finally the monster stopped moving and fell To the ground, finally defeated.

 Naomi and Gabe each grabbed one side of the fallen monster’s mouth and yanked it open. Elena lifted Mateo out. He wasn't moving. She started hastily brushing the slime off his face while using her other hand to push on his chest trying to resuscitate him.

  “MATEO WAKE UP, PLEASE!” She cried.

 Suddenly he began to cough and blink his eyes open. Tears continued to stream down the young queen's face but now in relief rather than despair. “I thought I lost you.”

  “Thank goodness you're alive.” Said Gabe who is now kneeling beside them.

  “We need to make sure all the liquid is out of the throat, if he's able to talk that means he can breathe properly.”  Naomi then she turned to Mateo and asked “Do you think you can talk?”

  He nodded, then he breathed and said “Well that became a pretty slimy situation!”

  There was a moment of silence, and then they all laughed (in spite of the pun being terrible). They were all just so happy that Mateo was alive. They moved into a big group hug.

  Suddenly Naomi broke out of the hug and jumped up. “The meeting!”  Shouted Naomi, “We never told them that we were going to be late!”

  Elena sprang to her feet “Oh no you're right! Quick, if we move fast we might be able to still make it in time!”

  “But Elena, you-” Gabe started saying but was interrupted.

  “Don’t worry Gabe, I trust that you will be able to take Mateo back to town and report to the townspeople that the monster has been defeated.” Then she whistled for the horses. All four of them came running and Elena's horse, Canela stopped right in front of her.

  “Elena I think he meant-” Started Mateo.

  “You can tell me later Mateo, just go get some rest, you need it!” And with that, she jumped on her horse and she and Naomi rode off at a thundering pace.

  “So,” said Mateo turning to Gabe “Do you think they'll notice that they're covered in monster blood before they get to the meeting, or after someone screams and faints at them?”

  “I'd say the latter.” Said Gabe, as he watched them ride off into the distance.

  “Probably, wait a minute we're ALL covered in... blood…”

  Gabe caught Mateo right as he fainted.

  He checked that Mateo was okay and then smiled “Well Elena did say you needed a rest.”

  Mateo blinked open his eyes and groaned a little in disgust as he looked at his clothing. It would take some major spells to get these stains out.

  He found his tamborita lying near him, brushed the dirt off it and put it back in its holder. Then Gabe carefully helped Mateo on to his horse, then the two of them both rode back to town.

Little Black Dress

On April Fool's Day of 2020, I posted this Fanfiction onto the EOA Discord server under the gauze that it was a summary of an upcoming episode. We were all very anxious for any news about future episodes, and I was able to fool some people with this. I wrote this before “Crash Course” came out so all the “main plot things” that happened in this were just me guessing and making jokes about what could possibly happen. Originally I thought of just doing a little description, but pretty soon it turned into an entire plot summary. I just thought of all the things that would be cool to see in the show, as well as some things in my personal life, and wrote it all on April Fool's Day itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Here's the introduction I did for it, straight from the server itself:] Hey guys I just found this full on plot summary of the Elena of Avalor episode that comes after Crash Course! So don't read this Unless you are ready to get spoiled big time!

Ready for spoilers? Okay, here we go! The episode is titled “Little Black Dress” Mini description is: “Elena and Naomi have to find a way to stop Elena’s new dress colour and power, Meanwhile Gabe, and Mateo try to stop Ash, with help from an unlikely ally.”

That description makes it sound really good but wait, I have the whole plot summary so here you go: [Synopsis under the cut]

It starts off at the castle, we see Elena, reading a book in her room. Naomi comes in and asks what book she is reading while also making the bed, since now Naomi's technically out of an official job so she's been trying a lot of stuff around the palace to see what job sticks. We even get a little montage of this. It turns out Elena is reading a book that Naomi recommended to her and is almost finished,  Naomi is happy to hear that, and decides to leave Elena in peace until she's finished reading.

But just as she's about to leave the room she hears Elena's scream and she runs back into the room to find that Elena's dress has turned black!  All of the light seems like it's being sucked out of the room while a feeling  of the deepest despair comes over them, but Naomi is able to make it across the room and sing a bit of love always to Elena, which gets her back to normal. Then Naomi asks Elena what happened, why did the dress change colour like that?

Elena takes a deep breath and explains to Naomi that the book ended on a cliffhanger, why had she not told her that this book ended on such a big cliffhanger! Naomi tells her that she'd read the book so long ago, she had sort of forgotten the weight of the cliffhanger at the end. Naomi tells her that she had once checked before if there was a sequel to this book, and there wasn't, but she's pretty sure that the author is planning one. Elena retains her composure, but you can tell she is still deeply disturbed. But it's time for the Grand Council meeting now, so she goes to the Grand Council room. Cut to the Grand council meeting, Doña Paloma and Julio are already there, arguing over kingdom finances, when Elena comes in and apologizes for being late. Her grandparents start to fill her in on what has been happening in the meeting when Doña interrupts them. She tells Elena how they've been arguing over whether to spend tax money on relief to chocolate farmers who are having trouble with a fungus that's been growing on the chocolate trees making them less productive. She believes the farmers should spend their own money on anti-fungus measures for the trees but Julio disagrees, so what does she think they should do?

But Elena's dress turns black,  almost all the light gets sucked out of the room and strong winds begin to blow, everyone gets under the table. Her grandparents are able to calm her down and ask her what happened. She explains about the new dress colour and that the mention of fungus reminded her of how that book ended with half the characters getting possessed by an evil mushroom that was bent on taking over the world, and not knowing would happen next was filling her with suspense and dread. Julio recommends that she go find the author of the book and ask them how it ends. Elena thinks that's a great idea and decides to do that with Naomi.

Just as she's leaving the grand Council room she bumps into Mateo and Gabe, they tell her that they have some important security matters they need to share with the Grand Council, so they can get the green light to go ahead with their defeating-evil plans. “Just do whatever you must!” She tells Mateo and Gabe before leaving with Naomi to go find the author. They take this to mean they can do ANYTHING they feel they need too.

We follow Gabe and Mateo down to the dungeon where they go to Carla’s cell. She's petting the dog and looking out the window when she hears them come in. She turns and is quite surprised to see them. They tell her that they are planning an important mission that will stop Ash, and her gang, but they need her help to pull it off. She tells them that she will only help them if they de-stone Victor. They agree that they will do that once the mission is completed, as long as she doesn't double-cross them. Carla says they have a deal, and asks them what the plan is.

Gabe explains to her that the guards have sightings of Ash’s gang on the coast of Avalor in a certain village, which means that there is only one place they could be going… “Los Diamante!” finished Carla. It was one of the most famous card game playing houses and music lounges in the entire Everealm. It was run by a gang of criminals and Malvagos led by El Destello. They are so powerful that during Shuriki’s rain they were still able to operate, because they could destroy any Royal Guards or other threats to the place.

It would be a disaster if Ash got them as allies, so Gabe and Mateo decided they would try to convince El Destello to join the good guy side (or at least not join Ash). But they knew they wouldn't last five minutes in that place without a criminal who could help guide them through it, and that's why they needed Carla.

Carla told them that  her father had told her all about this place before, and that the place had a strict dress code they would need to follow before they got there (“They don’t let Guards or nerds in there” she said). The dress code was formal suits and dresses. So they got changed and then rode some Jaquins to Los Diamante, and went inside.

The place was very ritzy, and it still had that Avaloran style architecture to it. There were guys playing Go Fish at the tables, people ordering drinks from the counter, and a big stage where an Avaloran-style jazz band is playing. Everyone had a Churro in their mouth. Mateo went to the drink counter and ordered an apple juice, but the guy behind the counter said they didn't have any, but they did have tomato juice, and chocolate milk. Mateo realized they were in the deep end now.

Suddenly Ash, Esteban, and Chatana walk in, all of them dressed up in super fancy outfits. Ash walked up to one of the burly looking criminals standing by the door and asked to see El Destello, so she could give him an offer he couldn't refuse.  He said that she would have to wait half an hour for him to finish with his  accountant upstairs before he could see anyone. 

Carla, Gabe, and Mateo (who had hidden under a table when those three came in), heard all of this and knew they needed to come up with a plan to stop this.

Meanwhile, Elena and Naomi were in the middle of town looking through the town records, to see if they could find the author's name and address. One of the clerks at the building asked them what they were doing and they explained to her their situation. She said she knew where the author lived (whose name was Q.W. Southland)  and gave them her address, but told them that the author was planning on leaving Avalor for Norberg today, so they better hurry.

They both ran to the author's house, but they saw that they were too late, a carriage was already leaving the house with Southland inside! Elena refused to give up, so she and Naomi hopped into an empty cart, and attached a large sheet to it like a sail.  Elena mustered up her feelings and the strong winds blew,  blowing their cart towards the carriage.  The carriage sped up in reaction to this, and now they were in a full-on chase scene,  zooming through the streets of the city towards the port. Finally, the carriage stopped right before it fell into the water but Elena's cart fell into the water and she and Naomi had to swim back to shore. They were just in time to reach Southland before she got on the ship. 

Elena begged to know the rest of the story, but Southland explained to her that she wasn't going to tell any of her readers anything about the next book until it was published, even if they were a princess. Elena would have to wait another eight months like everyone else.

Elena and Naomi were deeply saddened. Elena said that she wished there was at least something she could have to keep her occupied until the next book came out.  Naomi looks like she has a moment of inspiration, and tells Elena that she needs to get home and that she should go back to the palace and wait for her there. Elena is confused by this, but sees her friend’s enthusiasm and agrees.

Meanwhile in Los Diamante, El Destello had finally finished with his upstairs business and had come down to the lounge. Ash walked over to him and began to tell him about who she was and about her plans for the most powerful group of dark wizards ever. Suddenly Carla jumped out and interrupted her, she told El Destello that she heard he liked music (why else would you keep a music lounge open during Shiriki’s rain?) and that she was a great singer and dancer.

Carla said that she and her team (Mateo and Gabe) would challenge Ash and her team to a music contest, and that whoever lost wouldn't be able to get help from El Destello or his gang. El Destello thought that sounded like a great idea and agreed. Ash, still surprised by this turn of events, wasn't going to back down from a challenge and also agreed.

So the music contest began. Ash and Chatana sang a Peggy Lee-style song called  “Touch of a Feather'' with Esteban playing guitar to back them up. It's lyrics show that it's a really good villain song, referencing Ash’s ambition and Chatana’s yearning for a world she can control. It went off without a hitch, except for when Chatana did a spin and her wings knocked Ash, and Esteban off the stage at the end of it.

Carla sang a Nancy Sinatra-style song called “These Violet Times” with Mateo and Gabe singing backup (Gabe also had a trumpet solo at one point). The lyrics reflect Carla’s feelings about her past and hopes for her future (They also make some not-so-passive-aggressive jabs at Ash).

El Destello said both songs were good, but there was only one winner. He beckoned Ash and her team over to him. Ash smiled, said she was glad to have won, and asked if this meant that he would accept their deal of a partnership?

He told her no, she had not won. He just summoned them over to tell them that they had five minutes to leave before his gang would throw them out. Ash was shocked, Esteban then teleported them out of there before Ash had a chance to do something violent.

El Destello congratulated team Carla on the win. Mateo asked if this meant he would never colaberbate with Ash, and he said “Of course and that from now on whenever they came back to Los Diamante, drinks were on the house.”

Gabe and Mateo were happy that the mission had gone so successfully, and thanked Carla for her help. She asked if this meant that they would free Victor now, and they said yes. “What are we waiting for” yelled Carla as she grabbed them by the hands and dragged them out to the Jaquins, to get them back to the Palace as fast as they could.

Back at the Palace, Elena is sitting in her room tuning her guitar when Naomi walks in with a bundle of scrolls and papers in her hands. She tells Elena when she had finished that book a long time ago, she had been destroyed by the cliffhanger ending as well. So she had written a whole bunch of fanfiction about what could happen next. Then, with all the crazy stuff that's happened in the last few months she forgot about it. She said it's not as good as another book but at least they have it. Elena smiled and said that it's just as good as another book, but then she asked Naomi, “You did complete these right? They don't end on cliffhangers too, do they?”

“No,” Naomi said with a smile “I made sure of that.”

The episode ends with Gabe, Mateo and Carla in the palace garden. Mateo is holding a small vial which he then hands it to Carla, saying she should do the honour. She runs over to Victor and says:  “Finally you can be free, Papa!” She holds the potion above his head and pours it on him. And just as the potion touches his forehead- the credits cut in and you have to wait until next episode to see what happens next.

So that definitely sounds like an episode I would want to see, if only it were real… Happy April Fool's Day everyone!

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[And now for a bit of a retrospective on that piece. Reading this again really takes me back. Back then I was so worried about Carla and Victor, sometimes I wondered if they'd even get a redemption arc at all. But as the moral of this episode goes “Fanfiction and other fans make you feel less bad about waiting for new content.” And writing this did make me feel a little bit better about everything.

Oh yes who can forget the “ what if black is an emotion colour” theory.  most people were taking that to really angsty places, but I decided to do something a little closer to home for me. There was a certain book series [Wings of Fire] that I had in mind writing the plot with Elena. Because I really did feel those emotions when it left off on a cliffhanger. And that was kind of the same with the show as well.

I always liked it and shows and movies where they have parodies of 1930s gangster movies, so I decided to do a kid-friendly parody version of that. I always love the fancy outfits the characters have in those. I realized that churros look like cigars from a distance, so that's why I mentioned that. I was also really hoping for another villain song, and for Carla to confront her mom. So I just fused the two together.

In my mind when I was writing this I imagined that Pili and Tziloco were in another section of Los Diamante, that was meant for Animal Companions, waiting for the rest of Team Ash to finish. And at one point they play some kind of card game against the Jaquins. But I didn't know where I could smoothly fit that into the summary, so I left it out.

Also I just want to explain the title, I decided on it because 1, Elena's dress turns black in this. And 2, a little black dress is a term that's often used for describing simple, yet fancy dresses that some women wear, and that would be fitting for the other plot of this story. So it's sort of a pun!]

I'm still not over The Lightning Warrior, so here's a picture of young Elena, Victor, Esteban and Isabel cooking together.  (Whatever it is they're making, it's going to end up a lot more peppery than the recipe originally required it to be).

[Image ID: A coloured pencil and ink drawing of the above-mentioned characters from Elena of Avalor, cooking together in the palace kitchen. Elena holds a large mixing bowl while Victor mixes it with one hand and shakes pepper into it with a pepper shaker. Esteban is holding up Isabel so she can reach a high shelf to retrieve a jar from it. End ID]

Hide and Seek in the palace garden.

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Esteban, Elena, and Victor, from Elena of Avalor, as children. They are playing Hide and Seek in the palace garden. Elena and Victor are hiding in front of a yellow rose bush. Esteban is at the base of a tree in the background looking for them. End ID]

I noticed that Elena’s dress (post “The Magic Within”) turns orange when she's mad, light blue when she's calm, and pink when she's feeling love, just like Charoca and Charica do when they feel those emotions. 

That thought inspired this comic.

I drew this picture for the Elena of Avalor 2019 Secret Santa, it was really fun to draw and colour!

Close-ups under the cut

Mingo, Zoom, and Estrella ⬆

(I colored Elena’s hair flowers to match the baby Jaquins. Also, she is wearing globe earrings that were given to her by Mateo.)