A/N: Background stories are somewhat Disney-esque because the originals are too disgusting for me to use, especially sleeping beauty. Also, the princesses may seem Mary Sue-ish because if you've read the descriptions in the fairy tales…everyone in fairy tale land is as beautiful as day & handsome and brave unless they're evil. I put my version of the characters through a Mary Sue test and they all had safe scores. The beginning of Rapunzel is borrowed a bit from Tangled (great movie, I watched it…4 times?).

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the princes and kingdoms. Fairy tales belong to the general public.

Thoughts are in italic. Long strings of periods signal a change in time or location. Ignore the first long bar.

The theory of happily ever after

Sleeping Beauty:

She woke to a gentle pressure on her lips. Her eyes wouldn't respond to her urge to open them. They were glued shut by a hundred years' worth of sleep.

Slowly, her senses came back, first touch- the pressure moved to her cheek but quickly disappeared-and then hearing- "~ we need to get back to Carmona…pointless…and the roses…" The voices faded away.

She didn't know how much time had passed before she forced her eyes open. There was a purple ceiling. And thin lavender curtains hanging around her. She was in a bed. She sat up. There was a table with a mirror hanging in front of it. She moved to it with slight difficulty, limbs unused for a century.

The figure looking back had blond hair, ragged from sleep, confused brown eyes, and skin pale from not seeing the sun for years. It looked very familiar to the girl. 'This is me.' And with that thought came another, 'Who am I?'

Then, it all came rushing back. The worry as her birthday approached, the spinning wheel, and the cackle of the fairy as she fell to the ground. She moved away from the mirror and fell back onto the bed. 'I am Aurora, princess of Lindora, and the person I'm supposed to marry has just left to who knows where.'

Another realization came to Aurora, my parents must be awake! Some servants may have detained the prince as he was leaving! She hurried down the tower's stairs. 'Curses, why did the fairies have to put me in the third tallest tower in this castle?'

Aurora burst into the throne room. Her parents were in their chairs, looking regal and slightly dusty. But, when she walked up to them, Aurora could tell they were still sleeping. Her father snored and her mother's breath was deep and long.

Aurora slumped against her father's overly grand and large throne. Her mother would be shocked at her posture. 'But, she's not awake to reprimand me.'

There were several servants sleeping in various positions around the room as well. Some were leaning against each other, gently breathing. A maid was lying next to a smashed pot, the water inside long evaporated.

It was as though the castle itself was sleeping. It was as though she was the only person in the world. It was as though…Aurora didn't want to think anymore. Her curse wasn't broken, yet she was awake.

'I'm awake… that must mean that the prince's kiss was effective. Maybe I should hunt him down,' she joked. As she thought about it a plan formed. Yes, she would travel in search of her prince.

Then, there'd be at least another kingdom willing to help her. Lindora was a prosperous kingdom until she was born and her parents forbade spinning wheels and the like. The prince would want the kingdom at least so Lindora would be safe from any attacking nations and other threats until she managed to wake her parents.

Aurora made up her mind; she would go looking for her mystery prince. Her only clue was this "Carmona" the voices had spoken about. If she remembered correctly, it was a neighboring kingdom. It would take several days just to reach the borders of her kingdom by horse, much less travel to the capital of Carmona. Aurora started preparations immediately.

…..

"Come on!" After much difficulty getting her horse saddled and ready, Aurora was trying to get her still sound asleep horse out of the stall and moving. Trying with very little success. The horse walked a few steps if she nudged it enough.

….

In a far off place, three fairies argued amongst themselves. "It's not helping much if we just wake up the horse."

"But it might go against the curse," the second fairy countered.

The first fairy turned to the third fairy, "Why'd you have to have them go to sleep for a hundred years anyway? You just love making our job difficult."

The third fairy shrank a bit. "It sounded poetic at the time. And why didn't everyone else wake up? The prince kissed her and the princess is awake. What happened!"

The first fairy glared at her and sighed into her palm. "This is what happens when you make the spells over-complicated!"

….

Finally, getting out of castle walls, the horse seemed to wake up. It shook its head and walked around briefly to get its muscles used to moving again. Aurora, confused but grateful, climbed onto the horse and they were soon trotting along.

'If the horse wakes up as soon as we're outside of the castle, maybe my subjects haven't been affected.' But as her journey took her through the village, Aurora realized everything was dead asleep. It was eerily quiet and when she investigated one of the houses, even the cats and chickens were curled up unconscious.

Maybe it was just her imagination, but it seemed as though even the trees were sleeping. A soft snore came out of a nearby bush. Aurora jumped a bit and backed away…

Continuing out of the village, Aurora sighed to herself. She patted the horse, "Looks like it's going to be a long, quiet ride."

Snow White:

A knock sounded at her door. Snow White sighed. She'd been expecting this but not quite so soon after his arrival. "Come in." In walked a flower arrangement so extravagant that it required two servants to carry it.

A third person announced, "Prince Nathan sends his greetings and wishes to accompany you for tea and a walk in the afternoon." The two servants nearly toppled over trying to set the flowers on Snow White's table. She gestured toward them. "Don't bother. It'll just be more work for you when they die."

They set the flower pot on the ground and bowed their thanks. The maid was still waiting for a reply. Snow White sighed again, "Very well, tell him I shall meet him. Briefly." The maid left quickly.

Snow White leaned back in her chair and gazed into her mirror. What was all that great about her looks that brought these suitors from everywhere? The court poets waxed on about how her hair was as black as ebony, her skin as pale as snow, and her lips as red as blood.

Her own face looked like a statue to her. It was cold, emotionless, and too fine, too much like the porcelain dolls the daughters of nobles carried around.

'Ah well, not as if it matters all that much.' Snow White looked up from her mirror at a different servant girl who was getting impatient. 'She must think me very vain, staring into the mirror like that.'

"What is it?"

"The queen requests your presence in her quarters." The messenger left as soon as she finished speaking. Snow White got up to leave as well. She had no idea of what her step-mother wanted. Snow White was rarely in her presence and it seemed that her step-mother made sure of it.

….

The rather large room was filled with servants rushing about, holding cloth, jewelry, and various shades of rouge. In the center of the chaos was her mother examining herself in a full-length mirror-brought along with her when she married Snow White's father. She smiled coyly at her reflection.

The smile turned into a frown as she turned to Snow White. "You are to go out with the hunter to show him where you last spotted those deer. They will be our dinner tonight," she turned back to the mirror as a servant hung a jade amulet around her neck, "You are dismissed."

"Yes, Giselle." Her step-mother disliked being called mother, saying it made her feel old. Snow White left the room feeling remorseful for the deer. Hopefully, they would be some other grassy area. Even if she were to lead the hunter in opposite direction, he would find them if they were in the general forest.

….

The sky was cloudy as they walked. 'It's probably going to rain soon. I wish we could head back to the castle.' Reaching a small pond, Snow White stopped. "It was right here…" She turned around only to find the hunter with a raised knife.

She shrieked as the blade came slashing down at her throat. It stopped right before it hit her defenseless neck. She was trembling, careful not to make any contact with the sharp edge. Her legs collapsed on her and she fell to the ground.

Snow White struggled to get up. 'Run away, need to run away…Work! Move legs!' They would not respond. Snow White began crawling her way out of the clearing. She knew it was hopeless. This hunter could catch a running deer, much less a crawling princess.

The hunter approached with knife in hand. He grabbed her by the arm and forced her head onto a tree trunk. The sky chose that moment to start raining. He raised the knife a final time; Snow White closed her eyes waiting for the death blow.

It didn't come. She opened her eyes questioningly. The hunter threw her onto the forest ground. She took in a sharp breath at the harsh landing.

"The queen wants you dead and served for dinner. Run away and don't come back. I can't kill such a beautiful creature."

Snow White somehow managed to rise to her feet and took off into the forest. She didn't care where she was going as long as it was away from the hunter. Branches scratched her everywhere and she finally stopped as she tripped over a tree root. Gasping for breath, she rubbed her now scrapped knee and swelling ankle.

She looked at her surroundings. 'Tree, tree, bush, squirrel, tree, cottage, tree-wait, cottage? Out here?' Snow White got up and limped her way over to the door. The top of the door barely reached above her head. The cottage wasn't much taller than her. She knocked at the door and it fell open at the pressure. After a moment of hesitation, Snow White went in. She was met by a group of dwarves, seven to be exact.

She backed up. "I'm sorry, I thought it was empty. There were no lights and" One of the dwarves motioned her to stop talking. "It is nighttime, we were all sleeping."

Snow White flushed, "I'm sorry…Could I stay the night? It's just that it's raining and I'm lost and my step-mother ordered someone to kill me and my ankle- I think it's sprained. I'll just stay one night."

The dwarf motioned for her to stop talking again. "You can stay here, permanently, if you can keep the house for us when we're gone. And some cooking and cleaning never hurt anyone."

Snow White smiled gratefully at him, "Thank you so much." She was drenched, her ankle throbbed, and someone had tried to kill her but she felt very safe and warm as another dwarf threw a blanket over her shoulders and led her inside.

…..

All the servants had left Giselle's room. She stood in front of her mirror admiring herself, her stomach full of Snow White's organs. Giselle laughed to herself or maybe it was to the mirror.

"At last, that disgustingly perfect brat is gone. Now I am the fairest in the land."

…. ….

Rapunzel:

"Please! It's for my wife- she's pregnant." The man cowered in fear.

The witch's frown deepened but the murderous aura around her lessened. She considered this. It was very quiet around her tower. A child might be entertaining for a few years. If she tired of it, she could always leave it at some doorstep for a poor, old couple.

"Very well. You may have the vegetables, but in exchange I want your baby."

"Our baby! But-" His protests were cut off by the witch.

"The baby is fed by my rampion. I want the child."

The man weighed his options, his wife dying or giving away his child… "I-I give my child to you." The man quickly ran off, whispering words of apology to unborn child.

…..

Rapunzel shoved her travel pack under her bed as she heard a familiar voice.

"Rapunzel~ let down your hair." She quickly uncoiled her hair from its hook and threw it out the window- the only window in the tower without a thick glass pane. She began pulling up the person as soon as she felt the weight.

Mother Gothel stepped through the window. "Happy birthday, dear. I brought you some strawberries," she handed a basket to Rapunzel. Mother Gothel swept her dark hair off one shoulder.

Rapunzel played with her golden hair tentatively. This next part was going to be tricky. She closed her eyes. "Mother? …For my birthday…"

Mother Gothel frowned. "Dearie, we talked about this, I'm not taking you outside of the tower. It's barbaric and dangerous out there."

Rapunzel continued, "I know, I've given up on that idea since my last birthday. I was wondering if you could get me those special paints, the ones made out of the shells you once brought me."

"Oh, but that's a very long trip…at least 3 weeks back and forth."

Rapunzel put on her best pleading look. It worked. "Fine, dearie. Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?"

"There's plenty of food in the pantry and I can keep myself entertained. I know I'm safe as long as I stay in my tower." Mother Gothel departed soon after.

…

Taking a small piece of metal, that she had been keeping and sharpening against a stone, Rapunzel began cutting off her braid, piece by piece. At the end, her hair was still very long, ending at a bit below her knees.

The long hair felt like a part of hers; she couldn't imagine herself with short hair. Even so, as she finished off the last piece, her head felt unnaturally light. Gathering the rest of her braid, she put one end on the hook and dropped the rest out the window.

Rapunzel said silent apologies to her mother. But, she couldn't go her whole life seeing the outside world just from a window. And so, adjusting her travel pack one last time, she grabbed onto her hair and swung down to the ground.

…

A/N: So~ what'd you think? Please rate and review; I'd like to know what people think of my writing. Any suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome.