Strange Magic Week is a tumblr event, which this year lasts from Monday August 15th to Sunday August 21st. The challenges/prompts (and what I did with them) are as follows:
1. Fairy Tale of creator's choice AU (I did a crossover with Thumbelina, where the two fairy kingdoms have diplomatic ties)
2. Wedding/Arranged Marriage (Bog shows up at Marianne's wedding to Roland, and meets her for the first time after she cancels it)
3. Tiny People in Jars (Pare finds a snow globe and everyone is creeped out by it)
4. Dark Fantasy AU (What if feels like to be love-dusted)
5. Role Reversal (Dawn is the Crown Princess, Marianne is her little sister)
6. Babies/Next Generation (Goblins do not know where fairy babies come from)
7. SciFi AU (In a world of ever-singing magical beings, a music box is the equivalent of an A.I.)
For Role Reversal day, Dawn is the older one, the Crown Princess, heir apparent to the throne of the Fairy Kingdom. Since Marianne, being the 'spare', has less pressure to adhere to fairy ideals of perfection, the makeup and sword-fighting are already things she embraces. Story starts the same as the movie does, with the Crown Princess engaged to Roland. Once the stage has been set, we'll be skipping a lot of the scenes where nothing is changed by Dawn being the older princess.
The soft green fields were aglow with rainbows of flowers. A breeze off the stream kept the spring sun from baking the land as it did in the late summer. The stems and leaves and blooms of each plant danced with the wind, but the most joyous dancer of all was borne through the air on pink wings edged in black. Those black edges were scattered with white spots, like the final stars before they were obscured by the sun.
Her name was Dawn. Her eyes were bluer than the clear morning sky, her hair was as yellow and fluffy as a dandelion, and poets wept with joy trying to describe the warmth of her smile.
She was the Crown Princess of the Fairy Kingdom. Today was her wedding day.
She was gathering flower petals and crafting them into a boutonniere. She'd chosen red and yellow, to match her future husband's wings and complement his green ceremonial armour. Dawn also collected some tiny white blossoms to weave into a flower crown for herself – white to match her gown, but with green stems and leaves and still-closed buds visible in the design, so she would match Roland's armour and gem-bright eyes.
"Wise man say, only fools rush in – but I can't help falling in love with you! Shall I say, or would it be a sin? That I can't help falling in love with you!"
Maybe she should add some blue petals to the boutonniere, so that he'd match her eyes as well? On the other hand, only so many colours could mix before the results just looked chaotic.
Dawn landed on a smooth rock by the stream to assemble her jewellery. She hummed as she worked. The white flowers braided together with the ease of years of practice. She strung the crown from her wrist for the moment.
At last, the boutonniere was perfected – a yellow flower blooming inside of a red one. It didn't look exactly like the first one she'd made and misplaced, but only Dawn would know that.
With a flick of her wrist, a cascade of pink and gold sparks from her free hand cast a preserving spell on the flowers. Dawn took off. She had to get the boutonniere to Roland before anything happened to this one!
He was riding patrol on Chipper, the Royal Squirrel. How noble of him, refusing to forsake his duties as a knight of the realm for even a day, even though the King had offered his future son-in-law an exemption for the occasion.
"Oh, Roland!" Dawn sing-songed.
"Whoa." He tugged Chipper's reigns, halting the squirrel and looking to see who'd called him. "Buttercup? Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for our wedding?" With the groom on the lookout for goblins and bandits and suchlike, most of the preparations were the bride's responsibility.
"I will. But first, I have something for you!" She floated down and held it out. "I made you a boutonniere to wear at the wedding. I hope you like it."
"It's perfect, Buttercup," Roland assured her, pasting it to his armour over his heart. "As perfect as today's gonna be." He kissed Dawn's hand and hopped onto Chipper's back. "See you at the ceremony!"
Dawn sighed dreamily, watching him ride away, imagining the two of them riding off together later. Her daydream was interrupted by her sister.
"Dawn, the wedding's in two hours, and you're not even in your dress!"
"Marianne? Where's your makeup?"
"Right, like I'm going to try to upstage my big sister at her own wedding." Marianne smiled; genuinely, but it looked odd to Dawn with her sister's lips light purple instead of dark, and no glittering blue-black around her eyes. "Dad asked me not to wear it today. Just for today."
They flew back to the castle together, Marianne occasionally giving Dawn a gentle tug back on-course as the bride-to-be hummed and danced through the air.
"I never knew I could be this happy. Roland's so wonderful … and so good-looking … and charming … Do you think –?" Dawn paused, the excitement buzzing through her like a sugar rush suddenly making her shiver. "Do you think he loves me as much as I love him?"
"Everybody loves you, Dawn," said Marianne indulgently. "You could even charm a goblin."
"And when I'm Queen, I will; and then you'll be Ambassador to the Forest," Dawn finished, reciting a plan the sisters had started when they were still in the nursery together.
"Yeah. But first we've got to get through this wedding." Marianne held the gauzy curtain aside so Dawn wouldn't get tangled coming through the window. Dawn didn't tend to get clumsy when happy, the way Marianne did, but it was sweet of her sister to take the precaution.
Dawn's and Marianne's handmaidens swarmed the princesses, fussing over their windswept hair. Thimble and Zinnia pulled Dawn's flower crown over her curls.
"I'm fine, it's fine, focus on the bride," Marianne insisted, making little shooing gestures at Fuchsia.
Dawn took her gloves off the vanity and cried out when a flower fell to the floor from under them.
"What? What is it?"
"Roland's boutonniere!"
"I thought you already gave him that," Marianne protested in confusion.
"I wanted him to wear this one but I couldn't find it so I made a new one!" Dawn snatched it up and went for the window. Marianne plucked it from her hands.
"You keep getting ready. I'll take this to Roland and let him pick which one he'll wear – that way you can be surprised too, like he will be by your dress."
Dawn hugged her sister. "You're the best."
"Of course I am."
Marianne was about to call out when someone else did.
"Roland!"
There was a new flash of green, from a fairy girl's wings as she leapt into his arms. Marianne's gut clenched.
Maybe it's nothing; he's a popular guy; we can't have met all his friends yet –
Then they kissed.
And all the green in her line of sight went red.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
They sprang apart as she charged in. Marianne ripped the boutonniere from Roland's chest, tore it and the one she'd brought to pieces, and threw the pieces in his face.
"YOU SLIMY, DISGUSTING, REPULSIVE EXCUSE FOR A FAIRY!"
"Marianne – I can explain, darlin' –"
"DON'T YOU EVER COME NEAR MY SISTER AGAIN YOU TRAITOR!"
She took off and stormed away, not even looking at the other woman. Who Roland was cheating on Dawn with didn't matter; what mattered was that he was cheating. Marianne couldn't let her big sister marry someone like that, and she couldn't let someone who couldn't even keep a simple promise become king, and –
She jinked out of her path to the castle and headed for the Dark Forest border. Maybe she could get a primrose, hit Roland with a love potion, make him loyal to Dawn rather than breaking her sister's heart …
Marianne slowed down and landed softly on the shadowy ground. As though summoned by magic, a flower petal wafted towards her.
Marianne caught the falling pink petal before it hit the ground. She smiled in triumph and tilted the petal, examining it. No fairy had held a primrose in years.
The petal was shaped like a fat teardrop. It was bright pink, then darker pink, then yellow at the corner. Dawn's wings were the same colours, with flashes of orange and purple in certain lights.
Then her eyes adjusted to the dark, and there were goblins everywhere.
It hit Marianne, hard, how big a mistake she had just made.
Goblins were charging, sharp teeth and jagged claws, some armed with axes dropping from the stems where they'd been cutting the flowers down.
One of them grabbed her arms and bared its teeth. She flapped her wings and kicked, hard, with both legs, catching it in the gut and freeing herself. She threw the petal back to them – a feeble apology at best – and darted back into the sunlight.
"That," she scolded herself, "was possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done. Heartless jerk like Roland might not even be affected by a love potion."
(Back in the forest, two goblins – Stuff and Thang – ran to report to the Bog King about a fairy trying to steal a primrose.)
Dawn was in full bridal regalia when Marianne returned. The dark-haired princess forced her snarl into a neutral expression before entering the window. The golden-haired future queen beamed at her. Their handmaidens, all five swirling around Dawn, twittered excitedly.
"Did you give him the boutonniere?"
Marianne shook her head, trying to fix her sister's smile in her memory just in case she never saw it again. Dawn's face was already starting to fall.
"Why not?"
"He's cheating on you."
It was suddenly very, very quiet and very, very still.
"What?"
"I went to give him the boutonniere and saw him kissing another woman."
"Maybe you … misunderstood?" said Dawn desperately.
"He KISSED her! On the MOUTH! Not a courtly hand-kiss, not a kiss on the cheek – the mouth. There may or may not have been tongue, I wasn't close enough to see that part." Marianne was vibrating with rage on her sister's behalf.
Dawn sagged onto her rose bed. Her bright blue eyes scrunched up and her lips trembled.
"How could he do that to me? How could he do that to her, leading her on when he was about to marry me?"
It probably spoke well for Dawn to worry about the feelings of the woman her beloved had been unfaithful to her with, Marianne would muse when her anger wasn't so fresh.
Dawn let out a wail and buried her face in rose petals. There were some awkward, snorting, snuffling sounds as she tried to breathe through the inevitable mucus that built up when crying hard enough. Marianne glanced at the sprites. Lilac, one of the two purple sprites, patted Dawn on the head, making a crooning sound.
Dawn hiccupped and looked sideways at her little sister.
"Tell Dad … tell him, the wedding's off."
ONE YEAR LATER …
Princess Marianne had not hesitated to tell everyone about what Roland had done, but not everyone believed her.
There were those, like the King, who were certain it was just a misunderstanding. The princess had overreacted to some innocent gesture of affection between two fairies of the opposite sex.
There were those who assumed she was lying. This group was divided about her motives. She didn't want to share her sister with a brother-in-law and so had set out to sabotage Dawn's relationship. She wanted the handsome knight for herself, and decided to tarnish Roland's reputation when he wouldn't leave her sister for her.
Every doubter made a point of noting that Marianne either didn't know or refused to say the name of the woman Roland had supposedly been with.
Even among those who believed Marianne were some who suspected she had designs on Roland. Roland was handsome and charming and brave and commonly considered the ideal fairy man. Of course Marianne wanted him.
She had been the other woman, outraged he wouldn't break off his engagement to be with her exclusively. She had been the other woman and had an attack of conscience, but been too weak-willed to accept her own culpability in the affair. Roland hadn't been having an affair, but had jokingly flirted with the younger princess, who read too much into it and then took it badly when he didn't truly return her feelings. Catching him in an affair had pushed her over the edge; she could accept him preferring to marry the Future Queen rather than the oddball 'spare to the throne', but seeing him unfaithful to Dawn had felt like a declaration that Roland would rather be with any other woman in the kingdom except for Marianne.
Despite Roland's hard work at discrediting the younger princess without ever publicly saying a word against her, Dawn still refused to take him back.
"I can't be in a relationship with someone who's unsatisfied with just me."
But Roland was clever, tenacious, and opportunistic, and an opportunity had just presented itself to him. While waiting for the perfect moment to make an entrance at the Spring Ball, he'd noticed Dawn's elf friend also watching her from the door, with an expression Roland recognized from nearly every woman who'd looked the knight's way since he'd grown up.
"You love her, don't you?" he asked the elf.
"What? Me? No! I mean, yes, everybody loves Dawn, but I'm not in – I don't … yes."
"It's hard, isn't it? Wishing she'd see you that way? Knowing she never will?"
"I guess you can relate, huh." The elf looked at his shoes, then up at Roland again. "Why do you care how she feels about me?"
"Hey, I know where I'm not wanted. But I can still want her to be happy, right?"
"Well, yeah …"
"You, my friend, need a plan. So, picture this." Roland's seductive voice could charm just about anyone. "The Royal Family, at the Elves' Festival tonight. You, singing your li'l heart out. And she realizes that love song is meant for her."
"But I sing to her all the time."
"Hmm, you're right. You need some extra help. Y'know, maybe something like a love potion …"
"Love potion?"
"Great idea!" Roland clapped the elf on the shoulder.
"It is a great idea!" the elf agreed. "Except, only the Sugar Plum Fairy can make the potion – she's locked away in the Dark Forest – and nobody ever goes into the Dark Forest!"
"Nah, you're right." Roland got up from the step he'd been sitting on. "Shame. I'd've really liked to help. If only I was … little, like you, and could blend in, like you, I could've snuck into the forest for you and gotten one o' them potions. Then Dawn could be happy again."
He walked away. Behind him, he heard the elf mutter thoughtfully, "I do blend in …"
Roland's triumphant smile may have been a touch more suited to a dastardly yet charismatic villain than to the dashing hero who was going to save the princess from an upstart commoner trying to use love potion to steal the throne. And if she just happened to get dosed before Roland could rescue her, and he just happened to be the first one she saw … well, that was hardly his fault, now, was it?
The Spring Festival was in full swing. Food was being sold. Games were being played. The Ferris wheel was turning. The grounds and stage were lit up. And the dancing had begun!
"Roland," said Dawn warningly, when he joined the Crown Princess in a line of dancing elves.
"Not asking for a second chance, just a friendly last dance. Whaddaya say?"
Onstage, the Fairy King held his younger daughter back.
"I guess," Dawn conceded.
Sunny was trying not to panic. What had he been thinking? Trying to use a love potion on his best friend? As soon as he could slip away, he was going back to the border, throwing the potion into the Dark Forest for the goblins to get rid of, and running for his life back to the village.
At least, that was the plan before the Imp jumped on his back.
Distracted by his own scuffle, Sunny didn't even notice the goblins taking the stage. He did notice when the bottle opened.
"Dawn, look out!"
Too late – his cry just made her turn around and get a face-full of potion.
"NO!"
The Imp took the bottle and ran just as the Bog King showed up.
The Bog King had, for a period of time, replaced Roland at the top of Marianne's list of people she wanted to skewer. But after seeing Dawn in the dungeon, along with the other love-dusted prisoners, she was, very slightly, grateful he'd appeared when he had.
The king of the goblins, though a kidnapper, was proving safer for Dawn to be around and less likely to take advantage of her love-dusted infatuation than Dawn's own best friend or Dawn's former fiancé.
He was also surprisingly fun to fight with. Not that she was still thinking about that.
"Mum!" Bog cried in horror, looking at the room Griselda had, for lack of better word, decorated. "She's a child!"
"I'm twenty!" Marianne snapped at him. "Not that that's – but that's not the point."
Okay, so by goblin law she was – barely – an adult, but that still made Bog, at fifteen years her senior, nearly old enough to be her father.
It wasn't awkward enough that one fairy princess had fixated on him after he'd kidnapped her? Now his mother was trying to set him up with the other one, who'd broken into his castle and tried to kill him not half an hour ago?
The antidote had better be ready soon.
"Stuff. Take her away," Bog ordered, ignoring Plum's protests. The deal had been that he'd set her free in exchange for Princess Dawn no longer being in love with him. If the fairy was still under the curse, Plum could rot in the dungeon for all Bog cared.
"This antidote won't help Dawn." Marianne punched her own hand. "The last time she was in love, it didn't end well. And I refuse to try and set her back up with him."
Bog was lost in his own troubles. "I never should have used the potion on that poor, sweet … Nothing would have been … real."
A soft hand touched his arm.
"I know a lot about being rejected," said Marianne sympathetically. "I'm the princess – a princess – so people have to put up with me, but … nobody but my family, not even them sometimes, really likes me, for …"
"You?"
"Yeah."
"But, you are … different," said Bog.
"I've been told."
"That's what I like!" Bog's eyes widened as he realize what he'd just said. "I mean, um – well – you know."
"So, that's just how it is. I'm different; Dawn's … perfect." Was that bitterness or was Bog projecting his own insecurities onto Marianne? "Lucky she's the heir, I guess. I don't have to worry about becoming Queen and getting overthrown because everyone likes my sister better and would rather have her in charge." She shook herself. "How does succession work here? I've heard goblins pick their king by right of combat, but most of what we know about your culture is pretty out-of-date."
"My mother abdicated to me shortly after my father died." That wasn't a pleasant memory. To avoid follow-up questions, Bog offered a short history lesson. "It used to be right of combat, that's true, but after a few rulers in sequence died naturally and had their offspring claim power, royalty started to follow family lines. I suppose if you'd killed me, you could've declared yourself Queen of the Forest."
"I'd rather be Ambassador," said Marianne. "Dawn and I always had this plan, when she was Queen, she'd convince you to open the borders again and I'd be Ambassador. Then finally we wouldn't have to be scared anymore; so we could all go wherever we wanted, to have fun, to see things, to have adventures …" Her whimsical tone snapped into one of cynicism. "Pretty naïve, huh?"
Bog stood up.
"Let's … Come on. Let's go … stretch our wings."
"Wait a minute. Are you …" Roland gagged. "Are you two actually having a – a lover's tiff right now?" He'd always known Dawn's little sister was strange, but, "Oh, that is so disgusting. I mean, it's interesting, but it's just disgusting."
"Roland, you are such a –"
"Hero," he pre-emptively corrected her. "To rescue you from … what did you call him? A scaly-backed cockroach?"
"That's no way to talk about my future brother-in-law! I can tease him because we're almost family now. You forfeit all right to family teasing when you cheated on my sister, you slug."
Things were looking grim. Roland had a sword at Dawn's throat. The castle was falling down around them.
"Boggy, help!" Dawn pleaded.
"Bog," he corrected. He didn't seem to consciously register her words or his, gaping in horror at what was happening to his home.
Marianne tried to circle behind Roland, thinking she could knock his sword away, but the debris kept plummeting through her flight path. Fairy wings weren't meant for such closed spaces.
A chunk of bark hit Marianne's wing and she dropped with a cry. She recovered, but not before Roland flew up and away, still holding her sister.
"DAWN!"
"Marianne! Get back!"
Bog pulled her back before more falling wood could hit her. Her eyes met his and she saw the same realization stinging him.
"We have to go," she admitted.
In the heights of the castle, Dawn was fighting Roland to get back to her Boggy-Woggy. He'd put his sword away but was holding tightly to her.
"Let! Me! GO!"
"Buttercup – you will – marry me!"
She head-butted him in the nose and finally managed to get out of his arms.
"Boggy!" she cried. "Boggy, where are you?"
Dawn shot off to find her handsome goblin king, kicking away a chunk of something that nearly fell on her legs. Unbeknownst to her, it hit Roland in the stomach and kept him from chasing after her.
After another close call with collapsing architecture knocked her sword out of her hand, Bog was carrying Marianne out. They'd almost made it through the jaw-bridge when they heard Dawn's voice.
"Boggy-bear!"
"Dawn, no!" Marianne cried as her sister flew to them. The roof of the skull was starting to come down, just like the rest of the castle.
Bog threw Marianne at her sister and caught the roof before they could be trapped.
"Bog –"
"GO!"
Marianne dragged Dawn out. She could feel Dawn straining, reaching past her for the goblin who was saving their lives. Once they were clear, Marianne looked back – just in time to see the skeletal jaws close.
"BOG!" she screamed.
The next … minute? hour? day? … was a blur. She knew she let Dawn go, and that she fell to the ground and then to her knees. Tears welled up and she sniffed. Her breathing was shaky.
She eventually became aware of Dawn's hand on her shoulder. Marianne stood and collapsed into her big sister's arms, seeking comfort and protection in a way she hadn't for years.
"I'm okay," she heard Dawn telling her, from far away. "I'm … back. I'm me again."
On some level Marianne was glad of that, but another part of her resented Dawn assuming Marianne's tears had to be about her.
"Bog," she sobbed into Dawn's collar.
"He … was very kind. And very brave." Dawn smoothed Marianne's hair. "And … you cared for him, didn't you?"
Unlike her sister, Marianne had never been in love before. It was probably not supposed to be this painful.
"Bog," she gasped out again.
"I'm sorry." Dawn's voice was very soft, or maybe it was just getting further away. She was trying to lead Marianne away from the cliff.
There were a series of gasps, or maybe she was just crying hard enough to force all the air out of her lungs.
"HE'S ALIVE!"
And suddenly the world was up close again.
Bog's flight was staggered and he was clutching one arm like it had been dislocated, but he was there and he was moving and Marianne didn't know it was possible to go from agony to euphoria so quickly.
"My precious boy!" Griselda got the first hug – "OW!" – but Marianne wasn't far behind. The way Bog looked at her … he seemed amazed, or maybe he was just glad to have survived and that's she'd made it out alright –
And then, of course, she had to hear Roland's triumphant whoop behind her.
"DAWN!" Mairanne roared, seeing that horrid pink cloud engulf her sister again. Bog held her back; she'd lost her sword during the escape but Roland still had his, so she'd need a weapon before tackling him.
" … Sugar pie, honey bunch!"
"Dawn," Marianne repeated, soft and pleading. Dawn didn't glance at her, too focused on Roland.
"You know that I love you!"
"That's what I wanna hear."
"No," moaned Sunny, slumping so far he almost curled into a ball.
"I can't help myself … I love –"
And then Dawn socked Roland right in the jaw. There was stunned silence, other than Roland's cry as he fell back and off the cliff.
"That was the best thing EVER!" Marianne shot to Dawn's side and hugged her tight. "I have never been more proud of you, sis!"
This night, especially this morning, had been an emotional tornado, with so many different feelings whirling around her that she couldn't contain them all. Marianne let go of Dawn, lightly smacked Sunny – who had come running to Dawn's side after Roland fell – over the head, hugged him too, pulled Dawn and Sunny into a group hug, then left them embracing and flew back to the Bog King.
Then, suddenly awkward, she stopped.
"Are you, uh … okay?"
"Listen, Bog –"
"Boggy." He winced. He'd gotten so in the habit of correcting Dawn's nickname he'd done it backwards!
"It's not going to work out between us. I … there's someone else for me. And if I'm reading things right," suddenly sly, "there's someone else for you, too."
"What?"
Dawn gave a significant glance to the side. Bog followed her gaze to the younger fairy princess. Before he could protest, or do anything besides hunch his shoulders and duck his head, Dawn continued.
"But if you ever lock my sister in a dungeon cell without her being in on that plan and okay-ing it in advance, there will be hell to pay."
Bog choked on nothing.
"Wild Thing … I think I love you!"