Okay, so I was looking back at some of my old favourite Barbie movies (don't judge me okay, I don't need to EXPLAIN myself to you) And I thought it would be nice if I uh… 'Winxed' it up a bit. Yeah. Okay. That was a bit lame.
Stella is the princess and Flora is the pauper!
Disclaimer: I love you Ignio Straffi, you rock. And I don't own yo' shizzle.
The Princess and the Pauper
~ The Princess~
"Princess Stella hold still! The wedding dress won't fit properly if you keep squirming like that!" The royal seamstress told the fuming princess firmly. She pulled Stella back into the middle of the pedestal and began tightening the ribbons at the back of the royal wedding gown.
"Princess Stella? I have your timetable for today." The royal wedding planner entered the room and started to circle the princess. "The royals of the realms of Eraklyon, Downland and Magix are coming to give your engagement blessing at lunch. After that, you must learn the royal wedding vows and decide on a colour scheme for the flowers at the ceremony. As for tomorrow, you have to-," The royal wedding planner was cut off by the chef entering Stella's quarters.
"Princess Stella! We need your decision to be made! Beef or salmon?"
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF SHOES SHUT THE HECK UP!" Princess Stella yelled. She stepped down from the pedestal and stormed out of her room. "Stupid marriage…" she muttered as she walked into the library. "Stupid… Books…" she slumped down at her studying desk, "Stupid life…"
"Stella, you know you're getting married in four days. It's very stressful for the wedding planners when you don't cooperate!" a familiar voice laughed from behind a bookshelf.
"Hey… I know that voice!" Stella said slyly. The voice laughed again and out stepped Brandon: Princess Stella's mentor and one of her best friends. "BRANDON!" she exclaimed and jumped up to hug him. "You're the only good thing I've seen all day!"
"Hey, stop objectifying me," he sniggered. Stella hit him on the arm.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Yeah, sure," he sighed. "So. You think your ready to get married?"
"To someone I've never met? HELL NO!" Stella scorned.
"Come on, I'm sure he'll be nice."
"I don't care if he's 'nice' or not! I'm not marrying someone I don't love!" she said sadly.
"How do you know you won't love him?"
"Because-," Stella looked away, "Yeah, just because."
"There have been better reasons." Brandon laughed.
"I swear, as soon as I see his face, I'm going to ZAP HIM WITH SOME SUN POWER!" Stella gave an example by throwing an orb of sun magic at the ground, leaving a black spot on the ground.
"Stella, you know you need to marry him. So much money has gone missing from the kingdom. If you don't then… The towns people will suffer." Brandon said sadly. "Trust me, I don't think this marriage is right either. I really don't want it to happen…"
"Well you seem to be favouring it a lot more than I am." She pouted and folded her arms. "And plus, I've never been allowed outside the castle walls before! I don't know who I'll be saving or what kind of difference I'd make."
"In that case," Brandon stood up, "Want to sneak out?"
~ The Pauper ~
The only noise throughout the basement room of the dress shop was the endless clicking of the sewing machines. Flora looked over at her best friend Musa, who was getting more and more frustrated as time went by.
"Stupid… Hem… Why… Won't… You… keep… straight…." she hissed through her teeth. There was a rattle, and the bobbin fell out of the machine. Musa screamed and pulled the machine off the desk and held over her head.
"MUSA! DON'T" The young brunette yelled, "She'll deduct your pay again!" Flora quickly swiped the machine off of Musa and carefully placed it back on the desk. "Damn… Being angry gives you strength."
"What's going on down here?" The door was thrown open and in walked Griselda. The owner of the prestigious 'Formal Flare' dress shop and lived to make the lives of Flora and Musa a misery.
"N-nothing." Flora said quickly.
"I definitely hope I didn't hear you singing again, Miss Musa,"
"Musa has a beautiful voice, and it's the one thing you can't take away from her!" Flora scorned.
"Miss Flora, you just added another two months for your debt to be paid off." She smirked.
"Hey, but that's not fair!" Flora protested.
"I guess your parents should have thought about 'fair' when they borrowed so much."
"They did it to feed me!"
"Their mistake." Griselda slammed the door shut and the two girls heard her scramble up the stairs.
"Well. That makes four years, two months, and three days until I can get out of here." Flora sighed sadly. Musa put an arm around here.
"At least you can't beat my five years, six months and twenty days!" she grinned proudly.
"Musa, you really shouldn't be so reckless! When we leave I want to leave with you, I'm not going to leave you here alone."
"But as long as I'm here, I'm going to do what I want. Life's too short to just sit around and wait for the next obstacle."
"I'm still not sure about that attitude." Flora raised her eyebrows. Musa's tummy rumbled, and Flora's eyebrows rose higher.
"SO… HUNGRY…" Musa face planted the desk.
"Check the cupboard. Maybe there's something in there." Flora instructed, continuing to fix the stitching on the dress she was working on. Musa dramatically walked over to the small cupboard and recoiled in disgust when she saw what was inside.
"Okay, so we either have two rotten apples, or a napkin. I call the napkin!" Musa said.
"Apples?" Flora asked, "Ooh! Bring them over!"
"Ew, are you sure?" Musa picked them both up with the napkin and brought them over to Flora. "Enjoy your meal…" Flora just laughed at her friend and placed her hands on both apples. Musa mentally slapped herself in the face when she saw the apples regain colour and size until they looked fresh and juicy.
"I completely forgot magic existed…" Musa muttered as she took one of the apples. They weren't allowed to use their powers to make the dresses; if they did then they couldn't be advertised as 'handmade', but every so often a little magic came in handy. "It must be so cool being the fairy of nature."
"Nah." Flora shrugged and stood up. "I'll take my break now, and I'll go buy us some bread. An apple still isn't enough food."
"When do I have my break?" Musa pouted.
"You took your break when you had that extra half hour in bed this morning!"
"Oh yeah, that's right."
"I'll see you later Muse," Flora said half way out the door, "Oh! And if I see that cute specialist Riven, I'll make sure to tell him that you said hi!" Flora giggled and shut the door before Musa had time to react.
~In the square~
"I can't sell you a loaf of bread for three credits, the recession has hit hard and we're ALL struggling! So I can't haggle with you any longer. Five credits, or no bread at all." The shop owner yelled at poor Flora.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to be so rude about it." Flora put her purse away. "I'll be back when I have some more money."
"Well hurry, the price will probably be higher by then." He smirked. Flora sighed and walked out of the shop.
"Maybe someday Musa and I will get the chance to run away. Until then… I hope Musa likes carrots."
"EXCUSE ME!" Flora heard a voice yell.
"Wha-? AH!" She felt a harsh force push into her and send her flying to the ground. "What was that?"
"That was me!" she heard the same voice say triumphantly.
"Yeah. I gathered that." Flora stood up, brushed herself off and met the face that had just sent her to the ground. It was a blonde girl with a pale, but sun kissed complexion and deep auburn eyes. She was the exact same height and shape as Flora. The girl was wearing designer jeans and a posh dressy top. It was a contrast to Flora's own dirty white mini dress.
"I overheard your conversation with the baker… and I… I bought you a loaf of bread." She held up a paper bag and gave Flora a smile. Flora gasped.
"You really didn't have to do that!"
"Oh come on, you look like you need it," she thrusted the bag into Flora's hands.
"I… I don't know what to say… An act like this is really hard to come by these days,"
"Hey Stella!" she saw a brunette boy run over to her. "I thought I lost you in there, you really have to tell me when you leave!"
"Brandon?" Flora asked. Stella looked shocked.
"Oh, hi Flora. It's nice to see you today."
"Wait… You two know each other?"
"Brandon comes to the dress shop I work at all the time. What are you doing with all those dresses any way? I hope you're not wearing them yourself." Flora giggled, and Stella laughed.
"Nice one!" she exclaimed, and gave the brunette a high five.
"Actually," Brandon rolled his eyes, "The dresses were for this young lady. This is Princess Stella."
"PRINCESS STELLA?" Flora fell on her knees, "I'm so so sorry for being so rude before! Don't hate me your highness!"
"You weren't rude. What are you talking about? Get off the floor, you look weird like that," said Stella. Flora quickly got up.
"Your highness… What are you doing out here in the square? I thought you weren't meant to be outside the palace." Flora asked.
"Well… It's a bit of a long story. Do you want to go sit down somewhere? Oh, and do you know where a good place to sit down is?"
"Well, the park is just over there," Brandon suggested.
~The Park~
"So, you should know I'm getting married-,"
"To the Prince of Nighly." Flora sighed sadly.
"HOW IS IT THAT YOU KNOW AND I DON'T?" Stella exclaimed.
"Well… I grew up in Nighly. I mean, I'm originally from Linphea, but my parents and I worked in the palace."
"You did? Do you know what the prince is like?" Stella asked.
"He's great." Flora answered quickly. "You'll be happy with him. Any one would be."
"Well I don't want to be happy with him! There's… There's someone else…" Stella looked around and checked that no one was nearby, and saw that Brandon was by the lake. "It's Brandon."
"You like Brandon?" Flora asked.
"Like? NO! He's totally the one…" she blushed, "I can't marry someone else… I would go crazy if I couldn't spend the rest of my life with him… I don't know what I would do without him…"
"How do you know you love him?"
"I've known for years. He grew up in the palace. He's my mentor, and my best friend… He's always been there for me… But… Oh my gosh MY LIFE IS OVER!" Stella threw her arms around Flora's neck.
"I'm sure the prince of Nighly doesn't think it's right either," Flora told her.
"How would you know?" she said into Flora's shoulder.
"Well I've spoken to him before, he's… Really nice…" she blushed slightly.
"What's his name?"
"Helia."
Oooooooooooo
Well it's a new story! My inspiration is running thin for the other ones I've got going. Oh, except for 'You Shouldn't Have Trusted Me'; it's just that I have to figure out how to make it a lot less long-winded…
And Stella fans, pleeeeeeeeeease give me tips for that pairing…
Review and tell me what ya think!