Omega squirmed and struggled in the monkeys' grasp, and so did Diamond in another's. They held her wings down so she couldn't fly away and tied her muzzle shut so she couldn't whinny for help.

"Diamond!" Omega exclaimed. She struggled again. "Let us go! Let us go!"

Diamond and Omega were landed inside a drawbridge, which closed the moment they landed on the floor. Omega tried to use magic to fight, except... she quickly found her powers weren't working! Diamond tried to make her head gem glow, but she had no power either. What was going on here? They both wondered.

"Neither of you will have any power here." A familiar voice sneered.

Diamond whinnied and jumped into Omega's arms as a familiar warlock entered the scene. The princess and the pegasus were both forced forward again towards a throne where Sidious sat with his broomstick like a scepter.

Omega tried to be brave, but she was terrified. Why he was doing these, Omega didn't want to find out, but she was about to. What would she give for her father, his father and siblings to be here with their lightsabers right now?

"Welcome to my humble home, Princess." Sidious said.

"Where I come from, kidnapping someone isn't very welcoming." Omega said angrily. "What did you do to my friends?!"

"I wouldn't worry about them, my dear. You have something I want, and I intend to get it."

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want. You are wearing them now. I want the ruby slippers, and I want them now."

"No! I'm not giving these to you." Omega said. "Padma made it clear you can't have them."

"I thought you might say that." Sidious snapped his fingers. "Seize the equine."

To Omega's great dismay, one of the monkeys forced Diamond out from Omega's arms and carried her away. Diamond whinnied like crazy as she was taken away, and Omega tried to rush over and rescue her, only for two more monkeys to hold her back as the wicked warlock ordered them to take her to the tower. And thus, the monkeys forced Omega up some stairs to who-knows where!

______________________________________

Meanwhile, Tech-Crow, Crosshair, and Wrecker all rode on some flying horses sent to them to fly closer to the wicked warlock's castle in the west woods. Wrecker, of course, was terrified, and Crosshair and Tech-Crow didn't know much more about riding than he did. But they stayed on as long and as steadily as they could to get to the dark woods.

"There it is, horses!" Crosshair exclaimed. "To the castle!"

"Wait!" Tech-Crow said. "We have to land at a safe distance so the warlock's guards won't spot us."

Tech-Crow was right too. Teatra, Crescent, and Harmony were all too brightly colored to get into the castle unnoticed. So, they landed in an area with lost of trees and bushes, enough to keep the horses and the guys hidden.

"What do we do now?" Wrecker asked.

"We get Omega out." Crosshair said.

"But how? This place is crawling with scary guards and monkeys."

Tech-Crow observed the surroundings of the castle. From what he could see, the guards' faces were hidden underneath a special armor. If they could get some of that armor for themselves, they could easily slip in and rescue Omega. But how to get armor was the tricky part. The scarecrow scratched his head and got deep into thought. A few calculations here, a little brainstorming who's, what's, where's, when's, and how's, and a light bulb was lit in his head!

"I have an idea!" Tech-Crow had everyone huddle up so he could explain his plan.

______________________________________

Omega struggled more and more as she was brought to a high room in the tallest tower in the castle, and was only let go when she was thrown to the floor before the warlock.

"I've been watching you, Princess Omega." Sidious said. "My, a tough day you have had, haven't you? Nothing has gone your way today, and it appears nothing ever will. Life is not fair, is it?"

Omega looked down as he said that. She had experienced a bit of a rough day before she arrived in Oz, and then she faced a few other rough patches too. Getting her foot stuck in the mud, seeing a dreary meadow of horses, getting caught in a stampede where she lost all her new friends, and now being captured by an evil warlock and brought to a scary castle.

"We all have things from us, my child." Sidious said. "But things can be balanced. Since you refuse to give me the shoes... I shall get rid of your beloved horse!"

Diamond whinnied as she was held by the guards and they threatened to tie her up and drop her out the window.

"NO!" Omega screamed. "Please! You can't!"

"Oh, but I can. I have greater power here than I did anywhere else." Sidious said. "Say goodbye to your friend-"

"No! Please! You can have the slippers! Just give me back Diamond!"

As much as Omega didn't want to break her promise to Pamda to keep the ruby slippers safe, she couldn't lose Diamond like she'd lost the others.

"Ah, there's a smart girl." Sidious said, having Omega placed in a chair. "I will just take these and-"

But just before Sidious could get his dirty green fingers onto the sparkly red shoes, some kind of light magic shot like fire or lightning, making the wicked warlock pull his hands away. Omega was pretty sure she didn't do that, given that something around here was preventing her and Diamond from using magic.

"I didn't do that!" Omega said. She tried to take the shoes off herself, but they were stuck! "I-I can't take them off! They're stuck. What about Diamond?"

"Foolish girl! And I was foolish. Those shoes will not come off as long as you are still alive." Sidious said.

Omega was immediately terrified. She'd had bad days before, but she didn't think it would end in death!

Sidious got out a big hourglass filled with red sand, which he turned upside down to begin the timer.

"The moment this sand runs out, you shall die, and the ruby slippers will be off of you forever and in my power. Until then, I shall await your demise. Dispose of the pegasus. She is of no use to us anymore."

And the guards threw Diamond out the window.

"NO!" Omega cried.

The girl looked out the window and didn't see her friend anywhere in sight. She immediately fell to her knees and started to cry into her hands.

Sidious cackled as he left the room with Omega sitting there, crying into her hands. Her friends were gone, all of them. She was trapped in a tower all alone, her family had no idea where she was, and now it seemed the poor girl was never going to see her parents, her brothers, her sisters, her cousins, her aunts, her uncles, her grandma... or her grandpa again.

Omega thought again about the last time she'd seen her family, the last time she'd seen her grandpa. She wanted to see him more than anyone right now, to feel one of his big teddy bear hugs, his strong yet gentle hands holding hers, and the way his mustache tickled a little when he gave his grandchildren kisses. That was how she knew it could only be from him. She wondered again if he or anyone else was looking for her now.

"Omega? Omega?" a familiar voice called.

Omega looked around, and she saw the crystal ball that sat in the room with her as it lit up. She looked into it, and she could see some familiar faces in it. Her grandparents and the rest of her family were out of the palace as the storm was over. They split up with the royal guards, as well as some of the Jedi who came to help, and they were all calling for Omega and/or Diamond!
Qui-Gon took a ride on Sapphire as they went looking for their missing children together.

"Omega? Diamond!" Sapphire called, desperately looking for her niece.

"Omega! Omega, where are you?" Qui-Gon shouted.

"I'm right here, Grandpa!" Omega said to the crystal ball. "Grandpa, I'm here!"

But, it didn't look like Qui-Gon or Sapphire could hear her. She saw images of other family members and tried shouting for them too, but none of them could hear her. It appeared because she was in an entirely different world. She looked around, but there wasn't a mirror for her to even try using as a passage.

"Mom! Daddy! Aunt Kara!" Omega shouted at the crystal ball again, only for Sidious to appear in it, mocking Omega for all the crying and screaming she was doing.

"They can't hear you whining for them, you little brat!" Sidious said. "You will never have another good day again, and I shall ensure this is your last with an ending of eternal suffering!"
Omega only started to cry again after that. But what she didn't know then was that someone was coming for her, someone Sidious wouldn't expect.

______________________________________

Outside the tower, Diamond managed to loosen herself from the ropes and fly away. She needed to get help, and she had an idea of where to find it, and she began flyig as fast as she could to get it.

"I won't let you down Omega!"

Being a protector was in Diamond's blood. And like the gem that shared her name, this jewel pegasus was as strong as she was beautiful.

Meanwhile, the guards were doing their patrol outside the castle, but they didn't know that they were in for a little surprise.

"Ready, everyone?" Tech-Crow asked.

"Ready!" everyone said quietly, but loud enough for Tech-Crow to hear.

While the guards were marching, Harmony worked a little magic with a flute. She conducted the flute and made it hop over to the guards and float up to them as it made music, the guards trying to swat it away like a bug. Then, while the guards were distracted, Teatra and Crescent jumped in with Wrecker and started wrestling the guards while Crosshair and Tech-Crow went for the drawbridge as another was starting to close it!

"They're closing the door!" Crosshair exclaimed.

"Don't worry. This is where you come in." Tech-Crow said. "Have you ever needed to throw a person on target?"

"Are you sure you have a brain in there?"

"Not to worry. I'm mostly straw. I tend to have soft landings."

Quickly, Tech-Crow had Crosshair give him a boost, and they threw him in just as the door was closing, and Tech-Crow punched the guard and knocked him unconscious before he could alert the others. And after stealing his uniform, he opened the drawbridge just as the others managed to swipe a couple more from the other guards, as well as some rope they could tie to the horses, pretending to hold them as prisoners.

"Let's go find Omega." Crosshair said. He looked and saw some stairs. "Something tells me if she's anywhere, she's been taken into a tower."

"What makes you an expert on where she'll be?" Wrecker asked.

"If I remember correctly, every princess story has a princess locked in a tower awaiting Prince Charming to come and rescue her."

"We're not exactly princes, though." Crescent remarked.

"Let's just get Omega and get out of here."

And so, the three friends and their horses rushed up the stairs hoping they would be able to rescue Omega in time. They didn't know it, but time was running out!

______________________________________

Omega cried again some more as she looked at the hourglass, it was more than half empty, and she hadn't even lived to go to high school yet. She never got to do all the things she dreamed of doing. Like becoming an engineer, learning to fly the Marauder herself, going to high school, finding a boyfriend and walking down the aisle with her parents on her wedding day, seeing the baby twins grow up. So much to do, and she didn't have much time left.

But then, Omega remembered something Padma said to her earlier. A day is what you make it.
Omega looked at the hourglass again. Maybe it didn't need to be half empty. It could be half full! Sidious had said that Omega would be alive until the sand ran out. So... what if the sand didn't run out?

Omega began to push as hard as she could on the hourglass, trying to flip the side with more sand over to give herself more time to escape. Except, she wasn't as strong as her grandfather or even Wrecker, and the hourglass was really big and really heavy.

"Ugh! Great! A heavy hourglass. Just what I need." Omega said sarcastically. But then she got determined. "But I don't need a negative attitude here."

Omega pushed as hard as she could with all her might.

"I think I can, I think I can!" Omega kept chanting to herself, and decided to add a little of what she learned in cheer squad. "2, 4, 6, 8, I can turn around this weight!"

Omega grunted in determination as she pushed even harder, and the hourglass started to turn over. With a big breath, Omega pushed even harder and flipped it over.

"YES!"

Suddenly, Omega heard someone calling for her.

"Omega, are you here?" called Crosshair.

Omega gasped. "Crosshair?"

"Tech-Crow and Wrecker too!" Wrecker shouted happily.

"I'm in here!" Omega ran to her door and banged her fists on it to let her friends know where she was.

"Stand back, Omega!" Crosshair called, and Omega obeyed.

Suddenly, a big axe chopped through the door as Crosshair completely chopped it down to pieces.

"You came for me!" Omega cried happily, running in to hug her friends.

"We're not out of the woods yet!" Wrecker said, destroying the hourglass. "We gotta get her out of here!"

Except, the window suddenly had bars come over it, and a red light flashed with an alarm.

"Let's go!" Harmony said.

Quickly, everyone jumped onto the horses' backs, Omega jumping on with Wrecker since he and Crescent were closest. It looked like they would have to go back the way they came in, and get creative if they could.