I own a couple of OCs... That's it.

Test Drive

Chapter 1; The Car

It was a beautiful late September afternoon in Enchancia. Sofia, dressed in her riding clothes, was in the castle stable carrying a bucket of carrots, apples, and a few sugar cubes mixed with oats. As she approached Minimus's stall, the purple horse whinnied in excitement.

"Oh, boy! All my favorite treats in one bucket! Sofia, you're gonna spoil me."

The princess giggled. "Oh, Minimus, you deserve every one of these treats." She set the bucket down in front of him, laughing as he dived right in.

Earlier that afternoon, the two of them had set out for what was supposed to be a quick flight around the kingdom. But as they flew over the forest, they had heard a mother calling frantically for her son. Sofia, being Sofia, had immediately wanted to help. She had Minimus land near the woman and asked what was wrong. It turned out that a small boy had wandered away from where his family was camping. The young Protector had offered to help look for the boy. She had asked some birds and rabbits to assist too. After about an hour of looking, the toddler was found by some rabbits. He hadn't gone that far from camp. He had fallen asleep under a bush. The family had thanked Sofia profusely for her help. She was just glad everything had turned out all right.

After spending a few more minutes with Minimus, the auburn haired princess left the stable to change and get ready for a lesson with Cedric. However, she didn't get very far when she spotted her mentor walking in her direction. That was a little odd. Of course, she knew he ventured out of the castle every now and then, but why would he be coming to the stable? If he wanted to go somewhere he would probably ask for a coach.

She smiled and waved. "Hi, Mr. Cedric!"

"There you are, Sofia," he said, stopping before her. "I have been looking all over for you. Do you realize how big this castle is?" He gestured dramatically at the castle behind him.

She giggled. "Sorry. Why were you looking for me? It's not time for my lesson just yet."

"Well, about that," he began, clasping his hands behind his back. "I was wondering if you would like to test out one of my inventions with me."

"Sure, Mr. Cedric," she smiled, reaching up to remove her riding helmet and shaking out her auburn waves. "Where is it?"

"Oh, it's behind the stable, so it's actually good that I found you here. Come along."

He led her around the building where several coaches and sleighs were kept. At the far side, a few tables had been set up with various tools laid out. As Cedric led Sofia over, her eyes fell on a familiar red automobile that was parked there.

"Hey, that's the car we used for our trip to the Royal Elephant Park a couple of years ago." She smiled at the memory. Oh, what an interesting vacation that had been. Looking up at Cedric, she asked curiously, "So, you made it?"

"Yes," he said proudly. "Well, actually I made it with the Royal Inventor, Miss Gwen."

"Oh, so you and Gwen worked together? I think that's neat."

"Well, she is quite creative, but she tends to get distracted by her other inventions."

"Yeah, that sounds like her," the princess laughed. "So, when did you get time to work on the car?" She placed her helmet on top of a pile of hay and walked over to stand next to him by one of the tables.

"It wasn't easy," he shrugged. "We both had our own duties, but we managed to work on it once a week. After you and your family used it for your vacation someone brought it back here, but Miss Gwen and I were too busy to do anything with it. A few months ago, she came to me with some ideas of how we might improve the ways the car travels."

"And you've been working on it ever since? I've seen you every day, and I never knew about it."

"It was usually at night," he said simply. He picked up a clipboard from the table. "The car is now ready to be tested. You already know it can fly, yes?" seeing her nod, he went on. "We've added a few more methods of travel. It can now water travel, space travel, time travel, and teletravel."

"Wow! That sounds awesome." She looked up at him eagerly. "Can I drive it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose… But you'll have to be careful."

Sofia nodded. "I promise."

"Very well." He led her to the driver's side and opened the door, helping her in. "Hmm, since you're still small I'll make a few adjustments."

The princess sighed. "I hope I get taller soon. I'm the shortest kid in my class at Ever Realm Academy."

Cedric chuckled. "Be patient, my dear. I'm sure you'll grow taller in time."

After making the necessary adjustments using magic, Cedric slid into the seat next to Sofia. He spent the next few minutes explaining how things worked and what certain knobs and levers did. The girl paid close attention, as usual.

"So, what are we going to do first?" she asked as soon as he was done explaining everything.

The sorcerer smirked. "Well, first we see if you can actually drive this thing on the ground."

She laughed. "Oh, fine. I guess that's fair."

They took the car for several laps around the stable building at different speeds. Sofia had always been a quick learner, and this was no exception. Cedric found himself relaxing… A second later, he panicked when he noticed they were heading straight for a haystack. Sofia calmly turned the car to the right, avoiding crashing into it.

"Are you satisfied now, Mr. Cedric?" the girl asked with her own smirk as they finished their fifth round of the stable yard.

"Yes, quite," he mumbled, trying to get his heart rate to slow down. What in Merlin's name was he thinking letting an almost twelve year old girl drive? He had almost had a heart attack when they almost hit that haystack. "I suppose now we can try flying."

"Ooh, I love flying," she exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course you do," he said sarcastically. "If you were given fairy wings I doubt you would walk much anymore."

Sofia just smiled. He didn't know about the time she had used her amulet to turn into a fairy in order to help Chrysta. But that was a story for later. "What do I need to do?"

"First, turn that knob to 'Air Travel'." He gestured to a yellow knob, nodding when she did as instructed. "Next, pull that lever to levitate the car." She did, and the car lifted fifteen feet into the air. "Now, press that pedal with your foot, and we can flyyyyy…" The last word was lost to the wind as they whizzed ahead.

…

Meanwhile, Baileywick was giving a new gardener a tour of the castle grounds. The gardener, a young woman named Lana, was very excited to have gotten a job at the castle, of all places. She tossed her long red braid over one shoulder as she followed the steward, listening attentively as he described every detail of the royal gardens.

"…And here we have the hedge maze," he said, stopping near the entrance.

Lana's green eyes lit up. "Oh, cool! A hedge maze!" she enthused. "I've always wanted to see one of those. Can you take me through it?"

"Well, I suppose we have a few minutes to spare." Baileywick was about to check his pocket watch when…

WHOOOOSH!

Both ducked as a large red object sailed overhead.

"What was that?" Lana asked, standing to her full height again as she watched the object whiz away.

The older man sighed and adjusted his spectacles. "That was just the Royal Sorcerer testing one of his flying machines. Now, shall we go through the maze?"

…

In the car, Cedric clung to the inside of his door for dear life. If having Sofia drive on the ground was scary, having her fly was, if possible, more terrifying. For one thing, they were quite a few feet off the ground. For another, the princess seemed to actually like going this fast. She was laughing gleefully as the wind blew her hair. The poor sorcerer could only gasp in fright as yet another tree came at them. Of course, Sofia turned before they hit it, but that didn't make his heartbeat any calmer.

"Sofia!" he managed to call out, getting her attention. "Slow down! We're going too fast."

"Oh, okay." She pressed one foot on the brake pedal, slowing the car and eventually bringing it to a smooth landing, much to Cedric's relief. "This is ah–mazing! It works way better than it did on our vacation." She glanced toward her mentor and stifled a giggle. Cedric had slid low in the seat. His hair was sticking in all directions from the wind. One hand was clutching the armrest on the door. "Are you okay, Mr. Cedric?"

"Yes, yes." He pushed himself back up into the seat and patted his hair back into place. "But next time go slower. Please."

The girl just smiled. "Sure, Mr. Cedric. What do you want to do now?" She gasped, remembering something. "Ooh, you said this car could time travel. Can we really go back in time? Can we see the day you became the Royal Sorcerer?"

"No," he stated firmly, folding his arms. "That is one method of travel I am not comfortable with. If you want to go back in time, you'll have to ask Miss Gwen. Besides," he frowned as a sad look crossed his face. "I don't need to see that day again. No one seemed to believe that I could handle the job. They all looked at me so disappointedly. Well, except for my mother, of course. And Queen Lorelei. She was always kind to me."

Sofia frowned. She hadn't meant to bring up a bad memory. She had almost forgotten that after the incident with his sister's hair Cedric had been known as a bungler. She moved closer to him, wrapping an arm around him in a side hug. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cedric," she smiled gently "But I always thought you were doing an awesome job. And now you're Cedric the Great, the greatest sorcerer in the Ever Realm."

He chuckled as he returned the hug. "Most of that is because of you, my dear."

She blushed and giggled. "Mr. Cedric…"

"I'm serious, Sofia." He hugged her a little tighter. "Where would I be if you hadn't believed in me when no one else would? You're the best friend I've had since, um…" he paused, unsure how to finish that sentence. He cleared his throat. "So… I think we're ready to try teletraveling. What do you say?"

Sofia released him and moved back behind the wheel. "What's teletravel?" she asked curiously.

"It's like teleporting except we use this car," he explained. "It will be faster than taking a coach anywhere." He gestured at the yellow knob. "Go ahead and set it to 'Teletravel'."

The princess did as she was told, gasping as a blue sphere of light appeared in the center of the steering wheel. It was pulsing as if it was waiting for something. She blinked and looked back at her mentor.

"Just tell it where you want to go," he said calmly.

Sofia turned back to the sphere and named the first place to come to mind. "Dunwiddie."

A ray of light shot from the front of the car, and a portal with an image of the village appeared a few yards ahead of them. It was like looking through a clear window framed by a blue glow.

"Wow!" Sofia breathed in awe. "So, I just drive through it?"

"Yes." He grabbed the door bracing himself for the speed he knew would come. Nothing happened. Frowning, he looked outside the car and noted that they had barely moved an inch. He looked back at his apprentice. She was watching him from the corner of her eye, her foot just barely pressing the speed pedal. "What are you doing now, dear girl?"

She gave him a sly smile. "Well, you said to go slower, so I'm going slower."

Cedric groaned and dragged a hand down his face. "Sofia…"

She rolled her eyes and laughed playfully as she pressed down farther on the pedal. "Okay. Hang on, Mr. Cedric. Here we go."

The car disappeared through the portal.