Rapunzel sighed happily from her position on the castle balcony, taking in the wonderful sight that lay before her. She was finally home, finally with her real parents, finally with the love of her life. Two years had pasted since she'd been found and returned to her loving parents, and now, every year the castle held a celebration for the return of the princess; her, Rapunzel.
The village loved having celebrations, and had one whenever they could, for whatever reason. There were celebrations for the king's birthday, the queen's birthday, her own birthday, and even Eugene's birthday. Celebrations for her return, for her and Eugene's wedding, for the king and queen's wedding, and, believe it or not, even for the day Maximus and his… mate? Wife? Well, it was for Maximus and Sunbeam's foal's birthday (and Maximus and Sunbeam's birthdays as well).
Their foal's name was Luna; she was a dapple-gray pony with a dark gray mane and tail. She was a lively little thing; Rapunzel loved her. The little filly's name was Luna because she was born under a blue moon, a rarity. Somehow, Rapunzel knew, the little filly and the moon were connected, like herself and the golden flower.
Well, it was just a feeling, nothing proven or anything. But something about the young little pony's eyes and how they seemed to be filled with moonlight, being such an astonishingly pale blue color, only seemed to add to Rapunzel's suspicions.
"Rapunzel? Are you looking out at the village again?" Rapunzel heard Eugene ask teasingly. When she turned her head to look at him, it literally felt as if she had to tear her gaze away from the beauty of the festivities.
"Yes!" She breathed excitedly. "Isn't it just so lovely, Eugene? Just look at all the lights in the town square! And it's all for me!" She giggled and twirled around happily. When she finally stopped, she was a little dizzy, and almost fell, but Eugene caught her. They both smiled at each other somewhat shyly. Their love was still as fresh and new as it had been two years ago.
Eugene tousled her brown hair that was now to her shoulders (ever since Eugene had cut her hair with a shard of glass, her hair had been growing very slowly). "Are you trying to hint that you want to go down and visit?" He smirked, already knowing the answer.
Rapunzel's eyes widened and she gasped. The next thing Eugene knew, he was being pulled down through the castle stairs and out into the courtyard by a very excited Rapunzel. They didn't stop in the courtyard, though. They continued running, past the guards and the stables, where Maximus, Sunbeam, and Luna all whinnied their hellos, and didn't stop until they rushed into the town square.
The villagers' eyes widened as they saw the princess and prince there at their festival in person. One of the little girls who had braided Rapunzel's hair when she first stepped into the village, Adelaide, came running up to her and hugged her tight. Rapunzel smiled down at the little girl and hugged her back.
"Princess! You must try this gorgeous shawl on. I'm certain you will make it even prettier," one villager cried out. Rapunzel, still smiling, agreed to try on the shawl, and she had to admit, it was a beautiful thing. As she twirled and spun for the villagers, dancing to the festival's music, Eugene had to gulp hard to stop the happy tears from surfacing. It reminded him so much of when they first came to the village, two years ago, and Rapunzel had started dancing in the square.
Soon, she created a sense of déjà vu, for she gathered the surrounding people and requested they dance with her. The festival's musicians stopped playing long enough to agree on a new tune, one they hadn't played in two years. With all the memories bounding back, Eugene's eyes couldn't contain the happiness he felt any longer.
With a happy, and somewhat shaky laugh, Eugene thrust himself into the dancing, not needing a shove from Maximus this time. Rapunzel's laugh could be heard from over everyone else's, and Eugene's heart swelled with complete adoration for his wife. Together they reached out for each other's hand, and, just like before, they were separated by other villagers.
"Come now, Prince!" cried the villager who had taken possession of Rapunzel, "you can spend as much time with her as possible! Let others enjoy her beauty as well!" At this Rapunzel laughed, and Eugene called after him, "I'll try not to get too jealous, my good sir!"
The dance continued on and on, no one ever tiring. Smiles were all about, more villagers were constantly joining in on the dancing, and Eugene and Rapunzel were finally dancing together. It was a wonderfully happy sight.
"William," the queen called out to her husband, "are you out on the balcony?" She walked outside to find the king there, watching the dancing taking place, with his daughter and her husband in the center.
He turned to face his wife and said, "Just admiring our daughter." He sighed and hugged his wife close to him. "It feels wonderful knowing she is safe and sound now, my dear," A happy tear escaped his eye, and he blinked and looked down at his beloved wife. She simply smiled up at him, saying with her eyes that she wholly agreed.
"Your Majesty, there is a messenger pigeon," a guard said, out of breath from running around trying to find the king. William turned around with an urgent expression on his face.
"I will be right with you, sir." He turned to look at his wife who had a look of confusion on his face. William bit his lip and said, "Don't worry dear. I will explain at dinner tonight." And with that he left with the guard, leaving the queen alone on the balcony, a cold wind rushing past her.
"Rapunzel… are you… are you quite finished?" Eugene struggled to get out; he was completely out of breath. Twilight had past, and it was now getting darker. Rapunzel was still dancing in the middle of the square, even though everyone else had gone home for the night, even the musicians. Rapunzel had begged him to continue dancing with her, which he had acquiesced to, but now it was all he could do to not faint from exhaustion. How Rapunzel could continue dancing with such energy was completely beyond him.
Rapunzel slowed her twirling self, giggling at Eugene. She was breathing hard, but she had never felt better. Laughing, she sat beside her husband, holding his hand and resting her head on his shoulder. "I had so much fun today," she said softly.
Eugene replied, just as softly, "I'm glad."
They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Rapunzel shot up. "Oh my goodness. We're late for dinner!"
The two rushed back to the castle, hoping they wouldn't be too late for dinner.
The king and queen sat at the table, not saying a word. They wanted to wait until Rapunzel and Eugene arrived before eating, or, in William's case, explaining what was going on. The queen would often look at her husband with a concerned expression, but would quickly glance down at her empty plate if she saw him look up.
A sudden banging and clashing sounded throughout the castle, and a few seconds later, Rapunzel and Eugene slowly tiptoed into the dining area. When the king and queen both turned to look at them, Rapunzel blushed and Eugene cringed slightly.
"Um… we're sorry for being late, Mother, Father," Rapunzel said cautiously. Both her parents were sticklers for time.
"It's quite alright, dear. Please sit," Her mother gestured to the chairs next to herself and William. Rapunzel and Eugene both walked quickly over to the chairs without another word.
As soon as Eugene sat down, he started filling his plate with food. But Rapunzel could tell there was tension in the air. She glanced at her parents, who still had not moved for food. Pascal crawled up her arm and rested on her shoulder, but she didn't want to break the silence by saying hello to him. The only one unaffected by the tense silence was Eugene, who was wolfing down his food like there was no tomorrow.
It took a fairly hard kicking from Rapunzel to finally make him realize there was something unspoken going on. Rapunzel cleared her throat and said, "So… um… what have you guys done today?" She struggled to smile through the awkwardness, and when no one responded to her small talk, she sunk down in her seat. Eugene compared her to a puppy with its ears folded down, looking sad and forlorn.
A few minutes later, the queen, Isabella, sighed and said, "Your father has some news he would like to share with us. He has filled me in on a little bit of it, and I can guarantee it's not pretty, but he wanted to wait until you two showed up to fully explain. What I don't understand is how he could let something like this happen in the first place."
"Darling, I told you. I had no control of what happened over there! I could only send orders based on what I knew through messenger pigeons, you know this. How was I to know there was a dragon on their side?" William fired back helplessly.
"Whoa, wait a second. Did you just say… dragon?" Rapunzel interrupted. She didn't even know dragons existed. And there was one "on their side"? Her father couldn't possibly be talking about the current war overseas, could he?
Her father bent his head low and said, "Yes. The Silvian Army has a dragon on their side, and I didn't receive word of it until almost half our army was burnt out of their tents and shelters. Most of them got out alive, but very few got out without any harm done to them. We had to fall back a good way away. Which might be a good thing; the Silvian Army might think we're surrendering," William muttered the last part, knowing it was silly to think that.
The Silvian Army was a very well trained opponent, and was taught to never believe an army was surrendering until the king of the army's country made a personal visit to sign a treaty of sorts, and to greatly wound their pride.
The war was over the fact that Edmund, the king of Silvia, believed William had kidnapped his daughter for her "special privileges". But when William said he only had his own daughter, Rapunzel, Edmund thought he was lying. Edmund wouldn't say what his daughter looked like, or what her "special privileges" were. But that was what they were fighting over, and it had gotten so serious that they'd gone to war with each other.
The whole battle, which had been going on overseas for almost six months now, was not a pretty one, and the Coronian Army was losing greatly. It was probably just a matter of time now until William had to set sail for Silvia to surrender and bring his army home.
When William said this last part, Rapunzel stood up from the table and said, "No. We're going to pull through this, Father. You cannot give up just like that. Even dragons aren't invincible. You have to keep trying and keep fighting, no matter what!"
William only sagged his shoulders, and Isabella started to cry silently in her hands. This only made Rapunzel mad, and she stormed out of the dining hall.
Eugene, caught between eating his food or following his wife, decided to compromise; he took his plate of food with him.
A servant followed him around while he was searching for his wife, and it wasn't until he had finished his food and the servant took the plate and utensils away that he realized she had been waiting for him to finish so she could take the plate back to the kitchen. Rolling his eyes, he continued his search for Rapunzel outside.
She was huddled on a bench in the garden, crying. Sighing, Eugene walked up to her and knelt in front of her. "Rapunzel?" He whispered. She cried out and threw her arms around his neck. Eugene, blatantly surprised, blinked a couple times before finally patting her back and stroking her hair and saying, "It's all right, it's fine, you're fine," over and over again.
She finally pulled away from him and sniffed. "No, it's not fine. I yelled at my father! I'm sure he hates me now. I need to learn to keep my trap shut. Oh I'm such a horrible daughter!" Rapunzel burst into fresh sobs.
Eugene sighed again and made her look at him. "He doesn't hate you, ok? You're just frustrated, that's all. This is a trying time for everyone, and we just need to be calm and help each other through it as best we can, ok?" Eugene wiped away a tear from Rapunzel's eye and looked at her. "Ok?"
She nodded, still unable to speak clearly.
Eugene looked out towards the forest and said, "Hey, let's go for a walk, ok?" Rapunzel didn't do anything, but he took her silence as a yes and pulled her up. She rested against him while they walked. He tried to lighten the mood by making jokes about how he was going to get that one villager for taking away his wife, but Rapunzel barely cracked a smile.
Eugene tried not to get irritated with her somewhat child-like behavior; she had, after all, only known her true parents for two years, and wasn't used to being angry with them and their decisions (yet).
They ventured further into the forest, walking together. Pascal clung tightly to Rapunzel's shoulder; Eugene had forgotten he was with her, and he started. Suddenly, in the short distance, they could see a clearing, and an injured white doe was lying in the middle of it. Eugene nudged Rapunzel, and she looked up slowly. Seeing the deer, her eyes filled with sadness, and she started to run towards it, but Eugene pulled her back. She shot him a look of confusion, but when she saw him looking straight ahead, she froze.
A small child, around 9 or 10 years of age, appeared out of the foliage of trees on the other side of the meadow. Walking slowly towards the deer, with both hands raised and eyes averted, she approached the hurt doe. What was striking about the girl was that she had pale lavender eyes and white hair.
The little girl kneeled in front of the doe and gently placed a hand on it. The doe instantly stopped freaking out, and the girl smiled. What happened next made Rapunzel, Eugene, and Pascal drop their jaws.
She gently placed some strands of her hair, (which were fairly long, almost to the little girl's lower back) on the deer's side, where it was apparently wounded.
And then she began to sing.
"Flower gleam and glow. Let your power shine. Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt. Change the Fates' design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine."