"I want to learn how to ride a horse."
Queen Elsa stopped drinking her rose tea, King Truth looked up from his newspaper that he was currently reading, and Poomo along with Rein stopped eating their breakfast. They were all surprised at what Fine had said. It was now the morning after a week since the King and Queen surprised the twins with the news of the baby. The morning started out the same like every other morning until Fine announced her sudden request.
"I'd like to learn horseback riding."
Elsa put down her teacup on its saucer and looked at her daughter with confusion. She was surprised at Fine's sudden interest in such a hobby and said, "Why do you want to learn to ride a horse?"
At this point the King had put down his paper on the dining table. He was now more interested in his daughter then the newspaper in front of him. Sitting next to him was Rein who had stopped eating her French toast and was currently staring at her sister. She was shocked at what was coming out of her twin's mouth. For once Fine was interested in something other than sweets and sports. Well riding is a sport, but still it was rare for Fine to be interested in it and she wanted to know why. She was about to find out.
"I want to learn because the people that ride share a special bond with their horse and also they look like they are enjoying themselves," Fine continued with a smile, "I want to be able to experience that joy."
Elsa considered Fine's response a good one and decided to agree to her daughter's request. Fine was very happy for her mother's approval and both she and Elsa turned their heads to the King.
Rein was silently rooting for her sister's success so she joined her mother and Fine in staring her father done. They awaited his answer. Truth felt the intense looks he was receiving his family and put his hand to his mouth and thought hard about his decision. It was very hard to say no because his wife, Fine, and Rein all gave him pleading looks so he sighed and smiled. Truth had given in and nodded his head in approval to Fine's lessons.
Fine cheered, but before she could thank her parents Camelot had interrupted her. Camelot was outside listening to everything and decided that it was the perfect chance to intervene.
"Please reconsider your majesties," Camelot gave them a stern look, "a princess should not have to learn how to ride a horse," she looked down at Fine, "it is not appropriate princess behavior."
Before the king and queen could say anything Fine said it first.
"Camelot you always tell me and Rein that as princesses we shall face many challenges," Fine continued with an unsure yes from Camelot, "Well, I think this could be a challenge I could overcome and it will make me a better princess."
Camelot's eyes became watery and a smile slowly revealed on her face. She knew that learning to ride saddle will do nothing for Fine princess wise, but her unwavering confidence to overcome challenges was admirable. The education advisor did not know what had gotten into Fine, but the young girl was acting and talking like a princess should.
Fine watched as Camelot accepted some tissues from Lulu who had entered the room. The red-haired princesses' smile formed as her governess nodded. Rein had then stood up and grabbed Fine's hands and with a smile said, "That's great, Fine!" Fine nodded with much excitement and couldn't wait to get started.
Fine was walking towards the stables to feed her riding companion as it was lunch time. It had been three weeks since she started her horseback riding lessons. She had a tough time these past few weeks as she continuously fell off of the horse's saddle. There were also the scary moments when the horse ran on its own and wouldn't stop until the instructor calmed it down. Fine would hold on to dear life in those runs and she believed she was a goner. She had thoughts of quitting but she had to remind herself that she wanted to do this and she couldn't give up. After many attempts she was able to successfully mount her horse without the mentor's help and also learned the techniques of making the horse go faster and slow down. Her skills were improving day by day. The horse Fine chose to ride on the first day of lessons was a cream colored horse with a vanilla white colored mane and tail. Her name was Cream and at first the horse didn't like Fine very much. As mentioned, Cream would mess with the red haired newbie by taking off in top speed once Fine was seated on her back. Also when Fine would slip off the saddle the horse would laugh every time. However, when Fine did not stop coming back after a whole day of the horse's mischief, Cream started to warm up to the determined ruby girl.
Fine entered the stables and walked up to her friend. She stroked Cream's nose and smiled. She began telling the horse about her morning like she did everyday as it became a routine. The horse would listen and shake her head throughout the little girl's story showing interest in what she had to say. With Fine, all her stories were interesting from her crazy dreams filled with candy houses to her escape missions from Camelot's boring lessons. When Fine finished her new story about how she and Poomo fought over the last waffle with her being victorious, she opened up a wooden crate taking out some carrots. She feed the very hungry horse one carrot at a time and Cream was gobbling them up at a fast pace.
"There you go Cream," Fine moved her hand to pat the horse's head, "Eat up."
Fine was very happy that she was becoming really close friends with this beautiful creature. It reminded her of someone else's relationship with their riding companion. Before she could think more on that subject a low grumble could be heard. Fine scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously, "I guess I'm hungry too."
Cream rolled her eyes and softly snorted as Fine grabbed a cookie from her pocket and took a bite out of it. Finishing her treat she started to get ready for her run. Fine was already in her riding clothes that consisted of a pink polo with the Sunny Kingdom emblem on the left sleeve, brown riding pants and black riding boots. She removed her red riding helmet from the hook on the wall and clipped it under her chin once it was placed on her head. Fine entered Cream's stall and picked up the saddle from its bench and secured it on the horse's back. Once she gripped the reins on Cream's face she pulled on them leading her outside to the field. It was a fairly big field with just enough room for a horse to run around without feeling too trapped. Fine stopped pulling on Cream's reins and moved over to the horse's side. Fine placed one foot in the stirrup and hopped up onto Cream's back. She positioned herself for comfort and held on the reins and she began. At first they started with a slow walk and then they proceeded to a slow jog. Soon they were going at a steady fast pace following the outline of the fence. Fine felt the wind surround her whole body and the vibration of the horse's clops where in equilibrium with her heartbeat. She couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling from taking over her and the contagious smile from growing. She leaned her body towards the force of the wind and Cream's mane as she began to feel in the zone. She was miles and miles away in her mind from reality and she was oblivious to her surroundings until she noticed a figure by the fence. The person was on the other side of the fence with their arms resting on it and when Fine got closer she saw that it was actually a boy. He was wearing yellow attire with a white and black checkered collar and a small ceil colored cape with what looked like the Moon Kingdom emblem.
Wait, the Moon Kingdom! It couldn't be, could it? Fine pulled on the reins abruptly when realizing who it could have been. Cream came to a complete stop and Fine did a three-sixty turn to find the person she least expected to be there.
"SHADE!"
The said prince grinned amusingly at the wide eyed girl on top of the horse.
Why is he here?! Fine thought before she half fell—half jumped off of Cream's saddle and headed toward her friend.
Meanwhile inside the Sunny Castle, Princess Milky was floating on her star vehicle roaming through the halls. Her reason for doing it? She was following the scent of baked goods in order to get to her destination. Milky's nose had led her to the kitchen and inside she saw her blue haired friend and the little Poomo fairy.
"Ba-bu!" Rein!
Rein turned towards the door of the kitchen and saw the baby princess of the Moon Kingdom. She was surprised by her sudden appearance, but still showed a smile.
"Milky," Rein waved at the baby princess and added, "Hi!"
Poomo, who was flying over Rein's shoulders, bowed to the young Moon princess and greeted her with respect only to be stretched by the cheeks with the tiny hands of Milky. Rein let out a sympathetic laugh for her Fairy friend, but didn't do anything to stop her. Milky finally stopped, to Poomo's relief, when she noticed the empty bowl in Rein's hands. She looked around the counter to find many utensils and ingredients for baking. The baby moon princess cocked her head to her shoulder while staring at Rein confused with all the materials.
Rein smiled reassuringly and said, "I'm baking a batch of cookies." Seeing that Milky was interested Rein offered her the chance to assist her and Poomo in making cookies. Milky responded with a series of hyperactive babbling and bopping up and down in the air with her starboard. Rein giggled at the little princesses' reaction and grabbed two aprons from the rack. She tied the blue one around her waist and helped Milky into the yellow apron she picked out for her. The apron was a bit big on Milky so the bottom half of it hung over her starboard. When the girls had washed their hands and were ready to begin, Poomo brought out the recipe book. Rein approached the counter and flipped through the pages of the book, stopping at a page with a picture of sugar cookies. Once they agreed to bake the sugar cookies, thanks to Camelot setting up all the possible materials they would need, they were ready to begin.
From there it became the trail of the quickest and the fittest. The reason was because of Milky's almost disasters with each step of the recipe. When the recipe called for only one egg Milky grabbed the whole bowl of eggs and wobbled with the weight causing her to drop the bowl with eggs and all. Poomo to the rescue. He dove in to catch the bowl, but he was only able to save a few eggs. Lucky them that they only needed one egg, so then it was time to add in the flour. Milky did not pick up the bag of flour, much to Poomo and Rein's relief, but that didn't stop her from causing trouble. Instead she tried to open the bag with her bare hands and with strength not expected from a baby princess she tore the bag open, letting all the flour escape into the air. Rein and Poomo were covered in the white powdery stuff and saw that all the flour had fallen into the ground. Again, lucky for them they had another bag of flour, but this time Poomo opened the bag. Then there was the sugar/salt mix up in which Milky almost poured salt into the mix if it hadn't been for Poomo's fast save with an intercepting plate. They successfully finished the cookie mix with much difficulty thanks to a certain baby princess and rolled the mix out on the clean countertop. They cut out shapes, on the flat rolled out batter, of stars, crescent moons, flowers, and suns. Once they had two pans filled with their cut out cookies, Poomo set the oven to preheat. A few minutes later the oven started beeping signaling that it was ready for the cookies. Before Rein opened the oven she told princess Milky to stay back because the oven was hot. Once Milky hovered back a few feet, Rein opened the oven and Poomo put in the trays. The oven door was closed and they were finally done. Rein and Poomo collapsed on the ground wiping their foreheads in exhaustion. Milky flew towards the two on the ground with a worried look on her face. Rein smiled at the little princess and stood up.
"It's okay Milky," Rein reassured, "We're okay."
Before Rein could continue a voice rang through the walls of the hallways leading into the kitchen.
"Rein, are you baking cookies?!"
Fine practically leaped into the room lured by the smell of cookies. Rein nodded at her sister, but knew her sister all too well and quickly blocked the path to the oven.
"You have to wait until they are done, Fine," Rein warned playfully scolding her.
"Awwww." Fine hung her head in disappointment.
Prince Shade had then come into the room out of breath after running to catch up to Fine. All he knew was that after Fine got off her horse she greeted him and asked him what he was doing there. However, before he could answer, Fine started sniffing the air. The next thing he knew she jumped over the fence, saying something about how she smelled cookies, and made a run for it. He was now in the kitchen catching his breath and Fine realizing she had left him behind, laughed nervously.
"Honestly, is sweets all you think about," an annoyed Shade asked.
"Most of the time, yes," Fine answered cheerfully.
Shade hung his head in defeat at the girl who, like his baby sister, loved to eat. Rein shook her head at Fine's response, but in noticing her sister's riding outfit, she couldn't help and smile. Her sister's determination to ride was very admirable and in seeing her so engrossed in her goal made Rein want to challenge herself as well. She then chose to learn how to bake and had asked Camelot to help her. Camelot was very moved by Rein's sudden interest and started teaching her right away. Just like her sister, Rein did not succeed in improving in the first week. However, after two weeks of practicing, she finally made a cake that Camelot ate without fainting. She smiled at her accomplishment, but then she suddenly remembered something.
"AHHHH," everyone jumped at Rein's sudden shout, "I almost forgot to set the timer for the cookies."
Everyone, but Rein comically fell to the side at her outburst.
Was that shout really necessary? Fine shook her head at her sister. Oh Rein -sigh-
The two royal families from the Sunny and Moon Kingdom were now seated around a long rectangular table enjoying tea and snacks in the courtyard.
Earlier, in the kitchen, a maid had interrupted the group of friends with a message from their parents asking for their presence in the courtyard. Fine and Rein smiled as they remembered what had happened.
~Flashback~
When the maid had finished delivering her message she had asked them to follow her. Shade and Milky nodded in agreement with the maid's request and began to follow the young gray cat, but Fine and Rein had other plans. They dashed out the door and the opposite direction from the courtyard.
"Princess Fine, Rein," the young servant called out.
Shade and Milky looked at Poomo, both puzzled at their sudden exit. Poomo just shrugged his shoulders, also not knowing the reason.
"We'll be back," both Fine and Rein yelled out while running in the halls, "We have to change."
They yelled one more thing before they completely disappeared from sight.
"WE'LL MEET YOU THERE!"
Shade and Poomo sighed in unison while Milky happily followed the maid.
~End of Flashback~
Fine and Rein were now dressed in their everyday attire enjoying the company of Shade and Milky. Fine, Rein, and Poomo find out that the reason Shade and Milky came over was because the twins parents invited Moon Malia for tea and she had brought along her children. Queen Elsa had told Moon Malia about her pregnancy while they waited for their children to show up. Then Moon Malia had passed on the news to Shade and Milky and they both were taken off guard. Milky had slipped of her starboard almost falling to the ground, but Shade caught her. However, he was unstable in catching her because he was still surprised with the news, so Fine and Rein held him up from behind while Poomo held up Milky from the front. Shade turned to the twins who were holding him up and with pure astonishment in his eyes he wanted to know if it was true. They both just responded with big cheery smiles.
They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the tea and snacks, including the cookies Rein and Milky made. Everyone loved the cookies and both Milky and Rein high-fived each other in their success. On another note, Shade was complimenting Fine on her horseback riding skills. Fine's face turned ruby red, matching her eyes and hair. He also told her that he had been watching since the beginning and he was impressed. Fine had no idea he had been watching her for that long and embarrassed by that fact she managed to stutter a 'thank you' for his compliment. Rein and Milky were watching the scene between the two and decided to do something about it.
They both popped up from behind Fine startling her.
"Look, Fine's blushing," said a teasing Rein.
"Ba-bu, Ba-bu, ba-ba-ba-buuu," whispered Milky with a mischievous grin. It looks like someone has a crush on my big brother.
"REIN," exclaimed Fine turning red like a tomato, "MILKY!"
Fine stood up and chased the two giggling girls around the courtyard. Shade stayed sitting on his seat confused but chuckled at the wild goose chase scene in front of him.
Soon the sun began to set and it was almost time for Moon Malia to head back to the Moon Kingdom with her children. Milky had fallen asleep from all the games they had played and was now in Shade's arms. He carried her while walking with the twin princesses and Poomo to the air balloon. Before he boarded on the air ship, he turned to Fine and Rein one last time and said, "So, how does it feel to know that you will be older sisters soon?"
Both girls looked at each other and slowly smiled in recognition to the meaning of his question. They were very happy and watching as Milky steered in her brother's arms snuggling closer to him only made them feel happier.
"It feels great," both of them replied quietly as not to wake up Milky.
And honestly it did.