StarryTamara – Hope Comes in Pairs, Ch. 2

Summary: The Rainstone and the Snowstone choose new riders to join the Jewel Riders.

Archival Note from The Jewel Riders Archive: This story is presented as it was originally published on Stormy’s “Avalon” fan site in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is presented for archival purposes and for the enjoyment of the Jewel Riders fandom. If you are the author of this story and wish to have it removed from the Jewel Riders Archive (or wish to share more!) please email us at archivist@jewelridersarchive.com. Happy Reading!


Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders

Hope within the Ring

By:
StarryTamara

Disclaimer: Whatever was on TV belongs to Bohbot; Trina, Silverwind, and Brightwater belong to Stormy; and the rest is mine. No money is being made, no copyright infringement intended. Enjoy!

Chapter 2:

New finds mean new hope.

 

Author’s note: This chapter may seem a bit boring, but it gets better in the next one. K? This is just b/c this is when the 2 new Jewel Riders come in so it’s a bit….well drawn out and boring. Bare with me though. It *will* get better.

 

Gwenevere looked at the Rainstone in her hands.

 

“I wonder who the Rainstone Rider will be, and if she’ll be nice,” she said.

 

“I’ll bet so.Go ahead. Tell the jewel to find her,” Tamara urged.

 

“Together. Both of us,” Gwen instructed.

 

They held the jewel with one hand each and chanted:

 

“Take us to your choice

Before it is too late!

Before Kale comes around

And delivers an awful fate!”

 

The Rainstone glowed an intense light blue. It sent out a shimmering magical trail. It led to the Rainstone Rider.

 

(Let’s go.) said Sunstar.

 

As they began, the trail disappeared.

 

“I guess this is why this jewel was so hard to use,” Gwen commented.

 

“Oh well. Maybe our jewel can track where the trail was,” Tamara suggested.

 

“Maybe,” Gwen said.

 

She looked at their map of Avalon.

 

“Look,” she said to Tamara.

 

There was a light blue trail on the map. The Rainstone’s trail.

 

“So *that’s* where the trail went. Let’s go!”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The Snowstone did the same thing to Fallon and Trina. They began their journey.

 

“Is this how you found me?” Trina asked.

 

“Something like it. The Starstone made a spot where we would find you on the map,” Fallon said.

 

“And we ran into eachother. I guess it was fate.”

 

(Hate to stop the fun, but where do we turn?) Moondance said when they reached a split in the road.

 

“Left,” Fallon instructed.

 

The unicorns went on, and the girls continued their chatter.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

“Good shot!” Aussie told her best friend Alexandra when she almost hit the bullseye on the archery target.

 

“Aw, geez! I was this close!” Alexandra said while she motioned a small space with her fingers. “Take a shot, Aus.”

 

Aussie’s shot was more off that Alexandra’s.

 

“You’ll get it soon.”

 

“Thanks, Alex.”

 

They were in their secret spot in the woods. They spent most of their time there, away from the stresses of life. Aussie’s parents were the Duke and Dutchess of Fall District in the Riverdells, and Alexandra’s parents lived in a log cabin in the woods behind the Duke’s castle. Her father was a hunter, and her mother was a cook at the castle. Aussie and Alex had been friends since forever.

 

“I wonder what that attack at Last Village was all about,” Alex said.

 

“Whatever it was, Mom and Dad are worried that it’ll happen here too,” Aussie informed.

 

“Well, they don’t have to worry. The Jewel Riders will stop it.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They both shot at the target together, and were way off. They looked at eachother and laughed.

 

*~*~*~*~*

The four Jewel Riders met at the road that led into Fall District.

 

“I guess this is where the new Jewel Riders are,” Fallon said.

 

“Where do we start looking?” Trina asked.

 

“Maybe we should split up. Pair with our unicorns. We’ll cover a lot more ground that way,” Tamara said.

 

“We tell eachother if we find anything all right? Let’s ride!” the Princess said.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

“Did you hear that?” Alex whispered to Aussie when they were on their way to Duke Mark’s castle.

 

“Yeah. What was it?” Aussie asked. They heard the rustling again. Something moved behind the row of bushes on the side of the very small trail.

 

“Alex? Aussie?” asked a strong male voice.

 

“Dad?” Alex asked. A man with dars brown hair and hunting clothes stepped out from behind the tall bushes between him and the girls.

 

“Aussie, your mom wants you back at the castle,” he said. Aussie nodded, waved her good-byes, and set off to the castle.

 

“Alex, go home. I need you to be careful. No telling what that magic attack was and if it’ll happen here or not.”

 

“But-but Dad! I’m always careful!” Alex complained.

 

“Well then get started on dinner. Your mom needs a break anyway.”

 

Alex sighed. “All right. I’ll go.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

*rustle,rustle*

 

Aussie stopped, looking around for the source of the sound.

 

“Who-who’s there?”

 

A unicorn with lavendar fur and a snowy mane stepped out from the behind the bushes, revealing half of herself and her two front legs to Aussie. She was wing-footed.

 

“Wow,” Aussie breathed.

 

The unicorn looked abruptly in Aussie’s direction. She hadn’t noticed anyone there. She took a step back.

 

“Wait! I won’t hurt you,” Aussie said.

 

The unicorn looked at her unsurely, not wanting her to be a poacher. She just stepped a bit back. She’d been through too much to know about trusting humans…but this girl…she gave her a feeling that it was all right to walk up to her. One step forward, she took. Aussie stepped a bit towards her too, and the unicorn lowered her head. Aussie patted her silky smooth fur and ran her fingers through the soft mane. She giggled. What a wonderful experience.

 

“Aussie!” a voice called. It sounded low, so Aussie took a few steps towards it to hear it better.

 

“Aussie!” called the same woman. One of the maids at the castle.

 

“I’m coming!” she yelled back. She began to turn towards the unicorn. While turning, she said,”Listen I’ll be-”

 

Where was the unicorn? She’d fled into the forest. (Obviously.) Aussie thought. She continued to head towards the castle, wondering if she’d meet with that unicorn again.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Alex heard a low neigh behind her house. She went to see what it was. She gasped. A green furred, beige maned, wing-footed unicorn was whimpering as he tried to get out of an entanglement of his mane and a branch.

 

“Here. I’ll help,” Alex said. She released the unicorn and told him to wait until she got a brush to comb out all the leaves and twigs in his mane. After a while, she came back and got his mane nice and shiny.

 

“Now go on. Get outta here,” she said nicely. The unicorn looked at her and nodded. Then trotted off.

 

She turned to leave. “Bye,” she whispered.

 

*~*~*~*~*

Trina welcomed the delicious smell of dinner with a smile.

 

“Smell that ‘Wind?” she asked.

 

(Yes. Maybe we should get back.) Silverwind said.

 

“Yeah…hey, the Starstone can help guide, right?”

 

(Right.) Silverwind said unsurely.*(Not about the Starstone, more about what Trina was thinking.)*

 

“So maybe it can guide us to the Snowstone Rider.”

 

(Try it.)

 

“Starstone, take us to the Snowstone’s choice!”

 

After a while, Silverwind asked,(Well, did it work?)

 

“I-I don’t know…”

 

The Starstone began to glow. Trina moved it around, the glow getting brighter in a certain direction.

 

“It worked! Go that way,” Trina instructed.

 

After a while, they reached the Duke’s castle. The guards were very nice, and when they noticed she was a Jewel Rider, they were even nicer.

 

Aussie sat in the courtyard. When she saw the visitors, she went over to them. If she was to be Dutchess, then she had to be proper, and this was her chance to practice on her very own.

 

“Hello. What brings you to Fall District?” Aussie asked politely.

 

The Starstone shone brightly.

 

“Hello. I’m Trina, the Starstone Rider. This is Silverwind, my companion. The Jewel Riders need to speak with you,” Trina said.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes. Let me tell them.” She lifted up her Starstone. “Fallon, I’ve found her. I’m at the Duke’s castle.” Done. “She’ll ne here soon.”

 

(Found me?) Aussie thought. She let it go, they would explain. She invited her visitors to rest, and she sat with them, to have a chat while they waited. Soon afterwards, Fallon arrived. She greeted Fallon, and was told of the Snowstone’s choice.

 

“We leave tomorrow,” Fallon said.

 

“Wow! There was another jewel? Wow! Oh, I have to tell Alex!” Aussie said excitedly. She couldn’t contain her smile.

 

Fallon laughed. “Go tell  your parents first!”

 

Aussie went inside to tell them.

 

“Gosh, I remember being this excited,” Trina said.

 

“I guess we’ve all felt that way,” was Fallon’s answer.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Gwenevere found the Rainstone Rider in a similar way, except she used the Rainstone.

 

“I seriously can’t believe this! *I’m* the Rainstone Rider? Oh wait ’til Aussie hears about this!” Alex babbled. She went inside to tell her parents about the Rainstone’s selection.

 

“Energetic, isn’t she?” Tamara said smiling.

 

“Yeah. But isn’t this cool? The past months have been so exciting!”

 

Alex returned with her parents, and the Jewel Riders told them about the Friendship Ceremony.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The  next day at the Crystal Palace, the girls were shown to their rooms. Both of them were very excited, and were just *dying* to get to the Friendship Ceremony.

 

“Oh Aussie! Jewel Riders! Can you believe it?” Alex babbled. Aussie was doing Alex’s hair.

 

“I didn’t think it was possible. I thought there were only three enchanted jewels at first. Then the Starstone showed up, and now this! It’s fate, Alex. It’s fate!” Aussie said as she finished the last of the numerous small braids coming from Alex’s pigtails.

 

*Knock,knock!*

 

The door opened up a crack, and Tamara poked her head in.

 

“Ok to come in?” she asked.

 

“Sure,” the other two said in unison.

 

Tamara came in, two beautiful gowns in hand.

 

“Fittings for the ball,” she said, handing them each a dress.

 

“Oh, they’re gorgeous!” Aussie exclaimed. As future Dutchess, she was used to wearing dresses like this.

 

“Yeah, they’re…nice,” Alex said slowly.

 

“You don’t like it? I could change it,” Tamara said.

 

“No. No it’s not that. It’s just gonna take some getting used to. But it *is* beautiful,” Alex agreed.

 

Tamara smiled. The girls put their dresses in their closets, and prepaired for the ceremony.

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

The two Jewel-Riders-to-be-inagurated were applauded upon entering the Friendship Ring. The Snowstone Rider walked up to the animals waiting in line. She held up the Snowstone to each. Only two remained: a unicorn with shades of pink, and a lagre snake-like dragon in purple. She held up the Snowstone to each. The crowd gasped. Why hadn’t it worked?

 

“What’s happening? Why didn’t it work?” Alex whispered to Tamara.

 

“The Snowstone doesn’t sense a really strong bond of friendship,” Tamara whispered her answer.

 

Just then, a lavendar, snowy-maned unicorn soundlessly drifted in from the entrance, her winged feet carrying her. Aussie smiled. She held up the Snowstone to it, knowing this was it. The Snowstone became two, one piece going to the unicorn, the other to Aussie.

 

(My name is Snowstorm,) the unicorn told her companion.

 

“I’m Aussie.”

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

Another unicorn sneaked in unnoticed. Alex was holding up the Rainstone to the animals, and it split with that green, beige-maned, wing-footed unicorn.

“Hello, I’m Alex,” Alex said, huge smile on her face.

(Brightwater.) said the boy unicorn.

The two new Jewel Riders stood beside eachother.

“By the magic of the Rainstone!”

“By the magic of the Snowstone!”

Alex and Brightwater were surrounded by shimmering magic, which left Alex with  light green,  light blue, and beige jewel armor, and Brightwater got a matching collar.

The crowd went wild.

 

 

As you can see, Stormy, I’ve changed the title.

It’s still the same story, just different title.

I hope you enjoy it!

 

Your host writer:

StarryTamara

 

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