A Rather Preposterous Play-Date

by Pinkbowbunny

Sofia and Cedric find themselves in charge of entertaining a very eccentric foreign Prince. His name is Christopher Robin, and he's got quite a curious bunch of toys! He claims these toys of his are the ones making mischief when he's about, but that can't be right! Can it? A silly crossover of Sofia the First and Winnie the Pooh, hope you all enjoy and please review if you do!

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There were many days when Cedric the Sorcerer made practically a work-horse out of himself. Slaving over bubbling cauldrons for hours, continuously stirring and yet always careful to keep his sweat from dripping into the potion, should such a thing ruin the concoction. Cutting and crushing ingredients on a slab, pulverizing them with a mortar and pestle, brewing them, stewing them, and occasionally tasting them, even if it made him gag...

Today, however, was NOT one of those days. Today, Cedric was loafing around in bed, trying to get a few precious extra hours of sleep that morning before anyone inevitably came to bother him for -something-. But, as the inevitable always does, it eventually came - In the form of a prim knock on his chamber door, followed by two more, and the sound of Baileywick clearing his throat before announcing, "Rise and shine, Cedric. You're being summoned for a special task this morning."

Cedric didn't budge. He'd long since learned that "special" tasks had at least a 90% chance of being something boring and mundane, or if it wasn't, it still would be something he would normally never agree to if he knew what it was. So instead he grumbled back, not yet knowing it would only be the first of many grumbles that day, "What is it, Baileywick...? Am I to toil in some villager's crops like a common farmer? Handywork around the castle? Babysit some royal brats, again?"

The elder rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and tapping his foot at the door as he glared at the Sorcerer, as if he knew just where he was on the other side of it, "As if any of those are the worst fates in the world? Yes, you are needed for babysitting duty - But you're a bigger brat than all of those children combined. Now open up, Cedric, you know if I got sent to get you, it's King's Orders. As a matter of fact it's the Queen's Special Order too, she told me to tell you so herself!"

The vast majority of the time Baileywick was never quite that direct and snippy with him, but then, this was only the second time he'd ever had to mention that the Queen especially was summoning him - And he -really- didn't want to deal with -her- being mad at him. Plus there was the fact that, unbeknowst to the sorcerer, strange happenings had been occurring all over the castle that morning, in fact, they had started as soon as a visiting King Alan Alexander and his purportedly very eccentric son Prince Christopher Robin had arrived late the previous night. As addicted to order and cleanliness as Baileywick was, especially when foreign nobles were around to judge, it put him on edge.

With a heavy sigh, Cedric forced himself to rise from his bed and shuffled over to the door, looking flatly at Baileywick as he opened it. "What, may I ask, makes this particular job so special and important? I didn't even know there was to be any visitors, or who they might be?"

"Yes, well, that's part of it." Baileywick returned, "They did apologize for arriving so late, because their arrival was highly impromptu, and their visit will be a short one, as they were basically just passing through, so everyone involved was unaware of their stay. But of course we accepted them graciously, as we would of any Magic Kingdom citizen, but especially a noble. Even if his kingdom is quite small and little known of..."

"What kingdom is that?" Cedric interrupted to inquire.

Baileywick cleared his throat before replying, "It's known as the Hundred Acre Wood-"

"I'm sorry, hold on-" Cedric interrupted immediately again. "Did you say THE Hundred Acre Wood? As in, one hundred acres? Are you serious? Can you even BE a king with so little land? Are you sure he didn't come from the Hundred Acre Chicken Coop?"

"Watch it, Cedric." The butler leveled with him, then went on to explain. "Anyways, there have been reports that although the forest measures just that, when inside it, it can seem much, much bigger. It must be so, because the woods of King Alan is one of the largest producers of honey, regular and magical, in the world. It's been said that a wood that size shouldn't be able to produce anywhere near as much honey as it does. So if King Alan is impressed with his stay, he might possibly send some of both this way, and therefore, the task is doubly in your favor."

The sorcerer crossed his arms and hummed in thought, "Magical honey, huh..." It had many uses in spell-crafting and was rather on the rare side, so he couldn't help but feel tempted. "Sounds like those woods might be some sort of 'crossroad' or 'pocket dimension' area. 'Bigger on the inside', yes, I'd say that's what it is... Still, why can't you just see if Sofia will want to play with him?"

"That has already being done as well, and she has already agreed. But Roland wants you to join the both of them. Both as a chaperone, and to use your magic to entertain Prince Christopher Robin, and keep him out of trouble with it." Baileywick stated very pointedly that last part, so even bone-headed Cedric would get the point. "It's been said that he's a very creative, inventive, and well, more than slightly eccentric child... So, you'll need to make sure to help Sofia keep an eye on him."

Cedric sighed, before waving the butler off. "Very well then, I'll get ready and be down in ten minutes."

Baileywick nodded, then paused, "Really though, Cedric. Keep your eyes on him. I can't help but think that strange things happen when nobody's watching that boy..."

Cedric raised an eyebrow before shrugging it off, "Oh, I'm sure he's just a typical boy. How old is he?"

"Seven."

"Well, that explains it! I was constantly in trouble at that age. Even Sofia was. Good thing she's matured a bit more, now that she's nine."

"She's ten, Cedric." Baileywick corrected him, a little smugly.

Genuinely surprised, Cedric blinked, "What? Wait, really? Dear, dear, how time does fly. Still, too young to babysit, I suppose?"

Baileywick simply gave him that look he always gave him when he'd said something too stupid to respond to, and then headed back downstairs without another word.

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Sofia, having been told by Baileywick that morning about their guest and his infamously small but famously honey-filled kingdom, had chosen to wear a honey-golden gown that day, which matched the bright and shining golden-sunny day outside, and had a golden flower bow on the sash in the middle that she was especially fond of. She was fidgeting with it when Cedric arrived at where she was waiting, at the bottom of the foyer.

"So then, where is this Prince Cristopher Robin?" The magical man wondered aloud to her as he passed.

"I don't know, I've been waiting for him a while-" Sofia began, but then pointed behind him towards the stairs. "Oh wait! That must be him there now!"

Unlike Sofia, or most other children that had ever walked down those stairs, Christopher Robin had elected out of wearing a crown or a royal sash. In fact, he was donned in a rather common-looking set of play-clothes, which made it hard to imagine the boy was any sort of prince at all.

More than that, he had no regal demeanor about him at all. He was plopping his feet down the stairs, with a rather scruffy yellow toy bear being dragged by a leg behind him, its head thumping along on each step. He also had an orange and black striped tiger toy held over his shoulder, and peeking out of his pocket, a tiny pink piglet.

"Good morning, Prince Christopher Robin!" Sofia waved to him happily, making the boy blush. "I'm Princess Sofia, and this is our Royal Sorcerer, Cedric the Sensational! We'll be accompanying you today!"

"Hullo~" He called back shyly to her. "You can call me Christopher Robin, or just Christopher if you'd like! And sorry I'm so late! I had a hard time finding out where Tigger bounced off to while I was asleep last night..."

Cedric raised an eyebrow at the boy's obviously improbable story. "I'm sure he couldn't have gone too far from where you left him the night before?"

Christopher merely giggled, "You'd be surprised!"

Sofia took over before Cedric could retort with disbelief. "So, which one is Tigger? The Tiger, I would assume?"

"Yes!" Their guest nodded in excitement. "Well, sort of! He's a Tigger, not a Tiger. But there's not much difference, at least in appearance. Then there's Piglet, he's in my pocket there. And this," He gestured, holding up the bear upside down by his foot. "This is my oldest and best friend, Edward Bear! But I call him Winnie-the-Pooh-Bear most of the time! Or just Pooh for short!"

Cedric couldn't bear to hold his tongue at that. "Winnie? You can't call the bear Winnie if it's a boy. Winnie is a girl's name!" He pointed out, remembering that some of his mother's old witch-friends would often call her that for short.

The boy bristled up a bit. "I don't call him that! He's Winnie THE Pooh! Don't you know what THE means?"

Cedric bristled right back, crossing his arms, "What—Of course I know what THE means! Do YOU?"

Ignoring his question, the boy skipped up to Sofia, taking her by the arm and leading her a few feet away, where he whispered with a sigh, "Listen, don't tell HIM, adults never get it – But I call him Edward Bear when he's a boy bear, and Winnie the Pooh when he's a girl bear. It's just kind of hard to tell with bears sometimes, you know? He's still him either way, I just change his name to fit the game..."

"Oooh." Sofia nodded solemnly. "Don't worry, I understand what you mean! Your secret is safe with me! Now, how about we go get some breakfast, and then afterwards, I can give you all a tour of the castle?"

The prince grinned and nodded, "Yes thanks! That sounds lovely!"

So Sofia led the boy through the hallways, with Cedric trudging along behind them, until they finally arrived at the dining hall, where a simple but scrumptious brunch of assorted fruits, pancakes, porridge, fresh sweet cream, and buttered toast was waiting for them, along with two tall glasses of juice and milk for each.

But after everyone had sat down and begun their meal, Christopher Robin was still looking around in confusion. Violet the Maid spoke up when she noticed, "Is there anything wrong, sir?"

Having been addressed so formally, the boy didn't even realize she had been talking to him until she waved in his direction. "Oh!" He amended. "Sorry, no! Nothing's wrong! I was just wondering where the honey was, for our toast?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The maid blushed and bowed. "The Royal Family normally takes jam on their toast, you see! I'll go fetch the honey for you right away!"

"Oh no!" The boy immediately interrupted her. "Please don't trouble yourself, ma'am! We don't even have servants back home, so I'm quite capable of getting it myself!" After having said this, he already taken his toast as he started to get up – So Violet allowed him, figuring that he would be alright.

He left Tigger in the seat behind him to guard his porridge, and took Pooh and Piglet with him as he made his way into the kitchen. Once there, Sofia and Cedric ate their breakfast in silence, until a few moments had passed, and the princess, who was half-way through with her meal by then, looked up in surprise. "Is Christopher still in the kitchen? He's been gone quite a while...?"

Violet nodded, fretting as she replied, "Ooh, I really should have just insisted that I get the honey. He might still be looking for it, in that enormous kitchen!" She went straight away after that to fetch him, and curious about it themselves, Sofia and Cedric both left their breakfasts behind to go see what was taking him.

To their collective shock, when they opened the door, they found the boy chiding his Winnie-the-Pooh-Bear on the floor. The two of them stood next to en empty cabinet, with six honey-pots on the ground around them, which were previously full but now somehow all empty. "Pooh! I can't believe you did that!"

"I can't believe it either." Cedric quipped, eyes wide staring at the scene. Each pot was empty, save only for a few sticky remains at the bottom of the jars, which still seemed to have been licked and lapped up at. The bear did seem to have a 'honey-mustache' under its snout, but the boy also had a bit of the sticky stuff on the corner of his lip, too.

So the sorcerer felt confident in chastising him back, "You're trying to pin this on the stuffed bear? You've got honey on your cheek too!"

"Oh!" The boy quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand. "Well I did have a little, before Pooh went at it! But I swear he's the one who ate most of it! I –am- terribly sorry though! I swear we'll send some more back! It must be why those woods of ours make so much honey, with Pooh's appetite to appease!"

"Balderdash!" The sorcerer insisted in irritation, but also wracking his brains for how this nonsense could even be possible.

"But, Cedric..." Sofia mumbled back at him, staring at the scene more in astonishment herself, as was Violet. "How could Christopher have eaten ALL that honey in just a few minutes? He'd be covered in honey head to toe if he'd actually tried to do that!"

"...Well, the bear isn't covered head to toe in honey!" Cedric argued right back, though still, it gave him a short pause, as that had been exactly what he had been thinking.

"He WAS, but he licked it all off!" Christopher Robin resisted.

"And the bear does seem fatter now...?" Sofia added, perplexed beyond belief at the sight of it.

Cedric almost growled like a bear himself in annoyance of the ridiculousness. "Stuffed toy bears do NOT eat honey! They cannot consume -anything-, they don't have digestive tracks!"

Christopher Robin nodded solemnly. "It is true, sir, that Pooh is stuffed - But he has a tummy, and trust me, things go into it quite often!"

Hearing that, Cedric gave the boy a funny look before striding over to the bear, and gingerly picking it up under the arms. The thing did indeed have an even fatter and rounder belly than before, and thinking he knew why, Cedric gave the bear's tum a gentle squeeze. However, to his bafflement, the fur wasn't sticky with honey, threatening to ooze out, as one would expect. It did seem to jiggle as if there were a lot of honey inside the bear's 'stomach', but there was no proof of it being there, unless one were to...

No, no, no. As tempting as disproving the playful prince's disruptive charade was, traumatizing their guest by tearing his toy apart would definitely be the bigger mistake. Besides, he wasn't that wicked by a long shot. "Alright Prince Christopher, if you insist. Do try and keep your... Companion, out of trouble then?"

He tossed the bear back to the child, but just as he said and did that, the sound of something crashing and breaking back in the dining room gave them all a sharp startle.

"Oh no! What was that now?" Violet shouted, running off to see what had caused the commotion this time.

"Oh d-d-dear!" The maid began to fuss just before the others caught up with her. "What...? I mean... What an unfortunate accident! Oh yes, just a simple accident! But it's quite alright, yes, completely alright! I'll clean that up no problem! That's what I'm here for! Quite alright, quite alright!"

Cedric and Sofia both raised an eyebrow of disbelief at the scene. No one had been in the room except for the Tigger that Christopher Robin had left in his seat, and the prince quickly ran past them to pick him up from where he laid by a pile of broken bowl pieces and bits of porridge. "Oh Tigger, again? I'm so sorry ma'am, please let me help you clean this up. It was Tigger to blame, you see – He just loves to bounce! He can't help it! But we are both terribly sorry! Please let us help clean up!"

The maid immediately squealed, "Ooooh no no no no—I INSIST! It's terribly alright, sir! Absolutely and completely alright! Here!" Bolting up from picking up the pieces very quickly, the maid piled them on a plate. Then she took another blank plate, and even more hurriedly planted two pancakes, two apples, and some grapes from the table, and then abruptly handed them very –calmly- to the boy. "Here you go, love! Why don't you and Sofia go finish those in the garden, and Mister SORCERER here can stay and help me magic that bowl back together! It'd just take a tick! And then he'll rejoin you in just a few minutes!"

"What? Why?" Cedric began to protest, baffled by her strange behavior.

But the maid then very forcefully insisted to him, "No SENSE in letting a bowl go broken when you've got a magic-man to fix it!" Then, much more sweetly, she twiddled her fingers at the children. "Run along now! Won't take but a moment, loves! Everything is –absolutely- alright here, right as rain! So you just go on ahead!"

The children nodded after a short pause, then headed out of the kitchen with their substitute snack. As soon as they had walked out of sight and presumably out of earshot, Violet turned on Cedric and jabbed him harshly in the chest.

"You listen here!" She growled at him as he let out a small cry of pain and shock. "I know your reputation, Mister Sorcerer! Everyone does! But I don't care what kind of bug you've got in your bum, you had BETTER be a SAINT to that boy today! Oh-! You're magical, so you must know what's going on, right?" She suddenly shifted, from the verge of violence, to a now much more fearful tone. "My grand-mama told me about them when I was just a lass! Visiting Spirits! They come to your home and make mischief that no one and nothing can be blamed for! If you're polite and nice to them despite the trouble, they might reward you! But if you're RUDE," She went back to glaring at him then, "And INHOSPITABLE, then the entire household might be CURSED!"

Cedric gulped, but then raised an eyebrow, daring to mention, "I've never heard of such a thing...?"

"Well you're NOT the know-it-all you think you are!" She nearly snarled, grabbing the front of his robe roughly and dragging him close to her face. "So you'd better be as sweet as all the honey in the world today, or so help me, I'll shove that thorny wand of yours down your throat!"

"A-Alright, alright!" Cedric yelped back, holding up his hands in surrender until she finally let go, and once she had, he of course bolted from the room himself.

As he exited out into the garden and found the children sharing the plate by a tree, Cedric heard Sofia asking the prince, "So, do you have any more toy animals at home? And do they talk and do stuff too?"

The little prince nodded eagerly. "I have lots of toys! I also have a Mother and Baby Kangaroo, named Kanga and Roo! Roo really wanted to come on this trip, but Kanga told him he ought to stay home, because he's a little Roo, and she'd be very lonely if he got lost…"

Sofia pouted, "Well, I don't blame her for that! I'd be very lonely if I lost my mom, and I'm sure she'd be very lonely without me too!"

"Yes, quite right." Christopher nodded, before going on, "Then there's my friend, Eeyore, and well – Actually, your sorcerer rather reminds me of him!"

"Oh, how's that?" Cedric suddenly appeared, seeming to the children from nowhere, which caused the boy to jump in fright and quickly amend.

"Oh, no reason! I mean, he's just not especially enthusiastic about most things, is all, but that's not the worst thing in the world! He just didn't feel like going on a long trip. I suppose fun just isn't all that fun for him, and that's okay! Everyone's different but still important like that, I think!"

Sofia nodded back in agreement. "I think that makes sense too!"

But now Cedric was pouting, almost grimacing, imagining the trouble he'd be in with Violet, not to mention the King, Queen and everyone else, if the castle was cursed because he wasn't fun enough for their strange guest. Not to mention, there wouldn't be much point in taking over a cursed kingdom! So he quickly piped up to the boy, "Now, now! I can have just as much fun as the next person, and then some! I am magical, after all! So what can I do to prove I'm fun? Oh, I know!"

Reaching for the boy's pocket where the little piglet toy was sticking out, Cedric snatched it up and held it out as he took his wand out and pointed it at it. "How about I turn your Tiny Piglet Toy into gigantic, blue-prize-winning Hog?"

"Oh, no sir!" Christopher Robin immediately gasped, before hurriedly explaining, "Thank you all the same sir, but you don't need to do that! And I'm sure Piglet would much prefer to stay small himself!"

"Hmm-?" Confusion was painted over the sorcerer's countenance. He was just about to sullenly ask the boy if he was sure, when very suddenly, the voice of Prince James rose above his in a terrified yelp.

"Ah! Watch out everyone! Rex has gotten off his leash again!"

Just as he said this, and just as Cedric was turning around to see for himself, the hound had already run right past him, and grabbed the Piglet right out of the sorcerer's hands along the way!

"Oh no! PIGLET!" Christopher Robin cried in shock and fear, before immediately giving chase after the dog and his doll, "We have to help him! Somebody, HELP!"

His heart about to thump out of his chest, Cedric now shook so much like a leaf in the wind, thinking about the trouble he'd get in if one of the Prince's toys was destroyed because of him, that he had to hold his wand steady with both hands as he pointed it at the dog, "Bubble-rus, Muzzle-us!"

A rainbow-colored bubble-stream shot from the magical enhancer, encasing the dog's whole head in a bubble. Then another bubble brewed up in his mouth, until it was big enough to encase the Piglet toy, which then floated harmlessly out of the dog's mouth, through the second bubble, and back to its rightful master.

As the bubble reached the Prince, he caught it in his arms, where it finally popped, releasing the toy back to him. He sighed with great relief and hugged it tightly, before rushing back to his savior and giving him a great, big hug around the knees.

"Oh, thank you Mister Sorcerer! You saved Piglet!"

Awkwardly, Cedric let the boy hug him, just glad for the moment that he seemed to have forgotten that Cedric had sort of put the doll in danger himself. "Ah, right! No trouble at all, Prince Christopher Robin!"

"No, really! Thank you, sir!" The boy insisted with wide and teary eyes. "Even though you're a grown-up, and you probably don't like toys anymore, you rushed to save mine, as if you were just as worried as I was! If you weren't so quick, the dog might have torn him apart before we could get to him! So I really appreciate it!"

James finally had caught up with them by then, got Rex back on his leash, and apologized profusely. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have torn him… -Completely- apart! But we're really sorry for it anyways!"

"Rex is actually very gentle, he's just very excitable, too." Sofia vouched for them, and then promptly changed the subject, "And actually, Cedric doesn't dislike toys! In fact, he still likes toys even now! He has his very own castle-dollhouse in his room!"

"It is NOT a dollhouse! It's a castle REPLICA!" Cedric protested hotly on the spot.

"Oh, oh! Can we play with your Castle Replica, Mister Cedric?"

James and Sofia tensed up at Christopher Robin's innocent but loaded question. Cedric had only once ever shared his castle with the children, but it was at the rather frightening insistence of their Queen-Mum, who had given the Sorcerer a stern talking to for initially not wanting to. It made playing with the thing a lot less fun, and they hadn't asked to play with it since.

But to their surprise, Cedric merely blinked once, hesitated for just a second, and then sighed to the side as he grumbled, "Alright, yes, go ahead... J-Just be extra careful with it, would you...?"

"Of course!" Robin quickly agreed. "Do you have dolls or puppets to go with it too?"

Cedric was the one to tense up then. He actually did have a trunk full of puppets, which he had modeled after himself and several members of the Royal Family and Castle Staff. However, obviously, no one had ever seen those things, ever.

Thankfully though, James spoke up for him, "Oh, I have tons of puppets in my room! After I put Rex away, we can go get them and then we can go to Cedric's Workshop. And in the meantime, you can pet Rex if you want to? I swear he'll behave himself this time!"

Hesitantly nodding, Christopher Robin went and retrieved Pooh and Tigger from where they had waited by the tree, and then walked ahead with James, as he held on to Rex by the end of his outstretched leash, leading the party. Cedric stayed behind them, sighing in relief, until he noticed that Princess Sofia had fallen back and in line with him.

"Hey, Mister Cedric?" She inquired, and he raised an eyebrow back at her, signaling for her to go on. "Um, I just wanted to say... I'm really proud of you for being so nice to our guest, Christopher Robin! I know he's been a handful, even though he is only seven years old. But I can tell you've been trying extra hard to be kind and patient with him. I must admit though, he'd definitely as 'eccentric' as Baileywick mentioned to me this morning!"

"Baileywick warned you about that too?" The sorcerer blinked back in surprise. "So... Does that mean you don't believe that Christopher's toy animals can talk and move, either?"

"Of course not..." She whispered back with a little smile. Real animals talking? That she could of course believe, but toy animals? She wasn't a baby anymore! "He's probably just a lonely, shy kid, that's why he pretends to talk to his animals. But it IS really weird how all those strange things happen around him, so maybe he's magical like everyone's been saying, too...?"

"Maybe..." Cedric mumbled, crossing his arms. "But, more than likely, King Alan probably made the toys magical, if they really are doing what Christopher claims. Think about it, Sofia! That Pooh Bear eats up all the honey in the cabinet, and then they gift you with more? It sounds suspicious to me..."

"Yeah, but Baileywick said they always give back more honey than the Pooh Bear takes?" Sofia pointed out in return. "Maybe that's just part of the magic? When you give, you get back, you know? But, if you really believed that..." She hesitated, and put on a deeply sad frown before asking, "Well then, why didn't you just let Rex tear up poor Piglet, and expose the magic inside of the toys? I mean, it'd be an awful thing to do, but if you really thought they were stealing, that would prove it..."

As that was asked, Cedric drew a long breath, and sighed it out. "Because, like you said, it'd be an awful thing to do, especially since Christopher IS only seven... He's probably not aware his father put magic in his toys, they're just his favorite playthings. He'd be devastated if I destroyed them. And besides... Well..."

Sofia looked up at him inquisitively. "What is it?"

Grumbling, Cedric looked away from her as he explained, "When I was just a bit younger than his age... My father gave me a Wise Old Owl toy. I really loved that Owl. But then one day, I lost it... My father was very cross. I tried to tell him that I saw the Owl fly away one night, but then, I suppose it was just a dream I had, just like he said... Anyways though, not long after that, my father got me Wormwood, so I wouldn't fret anymore. But I really was sad about losing that Wise Old Owl. I used to dream that it told me funny stories and anecdotes, too. Children really do think up some ridiculous tales! But I did too at that age, and they seemed pretty real to me then, so... I just didn't want to be the one to end Christopher Robin's fun, that's all..."

Sofia's sad expression changed on the spot. She flashed a big smile up at the sorcerer, and then abruptly, she reached up and took his hand in hers. "Well... There's no reason your fun has to end, either!" He glanced back down at her, and couldn't help but quirk a smile too as she giggled. "Come on, let's play together!"

"Um... Right. Alright!" Cedric stumbled his reply back to her, but she grinned anyway, and started to drag him to keep up with the other children.

Once they had picked up a set of hand-puppets from James room, and a few dolls from Sofia's, Cedric showed them into his room, after first making them wait outside as he picked up after himself a bit. Once the room was clean enough, he pulled out the coveted toy, and the children enthusiastically set to making up a scene to play. Sofia insisted that Cedric play as a sorcerer for their castle, while the others played their usual parts, just as dolls. The game went on a while, until Cedric tired of it, and let the children continue to play while he hung back and watched them, propped up against a wall behind them, nearby a bookshelf where Christopher Robin had left his Tigger, Piglet and Pooh Bear propped up in one of the lower shelves.

Cedric sighed in satisfaction as the children played with his castle, both boisterous but also as gentle as they promised to be. A moment later, as Sofia's doll was just proposing a race with James and Christopher Robin's puppets, Cedric couldn't help but glance down at the curious stuffed toys that had been brought so far and wide. Both because he was curious about them too, but also because, he suddenly had the weirdest feeling, as if he were being watched...?

To his frozen, silent shock, all three of the toy animals had their heads just ever-so-slightly turned towards him, and once he caught their beady eyes, he felt more than ever that they were indeed looking at him...

The little pig 'spoke' up first in a squeak, "Th-Thank you f-for s-saving me, M-M-Mister Sorcerer!" And somehow, the magic man could tell he was the only one that could hear them, because it was spoken only in his mind.

"Yes, thank you kindly, sir~" Winnie-the-Pooh-Bear added with a gurgle of his tummy, which was now closer to a normal size. "Piglet is my very best friend you see, so I am of course more than quite glad you saved him."

"Atta boy! You showed that dog what for!" Tigger roared at the end, in presumably a supportive way. "Snatched Piglet right outta the jaws of DEATH!"

"D-D-Don't remind me!" Piglet squealed back.

"Yes, don't do that to poor Piglet, Tigger, he's been through enough today. As has poor Mister Sorcerer here. We should probably stop talking to him before he thinks he's gone insane..." Pooh mentioned in a thoughtful growl.

"Ooooh yeeeeah..." Tigger purred in reply, "That's why we usually only talk to kids, see! You frail adults sometimes might even feint! Don't want you to go crazy, thinking you've gone crazy! Hoohoohoohoo-!" He laughed weirdly.

"But we felt we owed you our thanks, at least." Pooh Bear directed back at Cedric. "So, thanks very much!"

"Thanks!" Piglet and Tigger both called, before their voices faded away back into the dolls.

Very stiffly, Cedric nodded once back at them, then very slowly stepped away from the weird, freaky toys, and rejoined the children in play, silently electing to never speak of it again. Whether it was the king's magic or if it really was real - It was just plain creepy!

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The next day, the Royal Family, and some of the staff, had gone out to the front of the castle, to see King Alex and his son off as they left. Violet especially was doting on the young prince, letting him know what a joyful and well-mannered young man he had been during his stay, and patting him on the head. Cedric watched on as she did so, discreetly rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile, King Alan and King Roland were shaking each other's hands heartily. "Sorry again for the trouble, Roland!" Alan mentioned informally, as the two had gotten along very well and had agreed to call each other by their given names. "But I'm always a gracious guest to a gracious host! I'll be sure to return the honey that silly old bear gobbled up, ten-fold! In fact, I'm going to send an especially rare and precious gift, since the people of Enchancia have been especially kind and generous folk - My woods are among the few on this earth that produce Magic Honey, and I intend to send a large pot of it your way!"

Cedric, who had been grumbling behind everyone else with his arms crossed, suddenly perked up as he heard that. With that magical honey, there was all kinds of rare and powerful spells he could try out! Uncrossing his arms, he instead began to rub his hands together greedily. That Greylock the Grand would be so jealous when he found out about this!

Roland, however, spoke up first, "Magic Honey, you say? Why I've never even heard of such a thing! I think I'd like to try some of that myself!"

Cedric stopped rubbing his hands immediately, and then gawked as Queen Miranda added, "Oh yes! I'd like to try some of that Magical Honey too!"

"Me too!" Amber added, as did her twin soon after. By the time they all got through with it, he'd be lucky to get a quarter of the pot, if that!

Deflating like a balloon in a bee's nest, Cedric crossed his arms again as he turned and stalked away. "Oh, bother!"

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