The sun kissed her face as she danced under the golden leaves overhanging the meadow...
Strawberry awoke with a jolt, placing her hand to her forehead and discovering that she'd broken into a cold sweat.
"Goodness!" she hissed under her breath.
These fantasy dreams she awoke from every morning seemed to have a negative effect upon her as if they were nightmares. They infuriated her because they made telling a dream from reality very difficult for her, and so she preferred to keep them buried in the back of her mind.
Strawberry removed her hand from her sweat-slicken forehead, noticing the puffy scars from the shards the night before. She sighed to herself and now regretted breaking her favorite dishes. She lowered her palm to her lap, gaping at the chaos that had once been her bedroom. As she recalled from the previous night, the last remnants of her plates were strewn across the floor; however, in addition to that, her once beautiful lilac curtains were now haphazardly strung on their rods, and a thick layer of dust coated every piece of furniture she owned.
How long has it been since I've slept in here? Strawberry pondered, and she stretched and slowly climbed out of her bed. She glanced at the pear-shaped clock on her wall. Its vine-shaped hands read that the time was seven-fifteen - she was supposed to meet the princess in her office at seven o'clock.
"Oh muffin crumbs, I'm late for Princess Berrykin's meeting!"
With a giant leap, Strawberry ran to her dresser and hurriedly threw on a fresh t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. She tied her ruby hair into a messy ponytail and bolted towards the door, nearly stumbling in the process. Nearing the Berry Works, she could see the distant image of her friends growing closer as she approached them, noting that they sat on pedestals outlining the princess' gate with a sign of irritability written upon their faces. When Strawberry got a closer look at them, they appeared disgruntled and tired, and most of the girls seemed to be in the same state as she, with their hair sloppily pulled out of their faces and dark circles lining the area beneath their eyes.
Strawberry stopped to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry that I'm late. What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty. It's seven-thirty, Strawberry. We were supposed to start the meeting half an hour ago," Blueberry crankily snapped.
"I know, and again I apologize, but-"
"Try telling that to the princess. When she saw that you weren't here, she was pretty ticked off," Orange added.
Strawberry sheepishly held down her head, intertwining her fingers through the curlicue design of the gate. The gate rusted from old age, the strawberry-shaped centerpiece being nothing more than a tarnished emblem. Over time, weeds sprung from the ground and looped themselves through the crevices of the design.
"So... if she was that angry about my absence, why didn't she start the meeting without me?" she finally asked.
"No one knows; for some reason, she refused to let any of us in until you arrived."
Just then, the creaky doors of the gate departed, and Princess Berrykin emerged from behind them with a sense of urgency about her. She gripped her scepter tighter than usual, and to the girls' surprise, her once neat curly hair was now a matted mess.
"Girls, come in - quickly now!" Without offering any time for questioning, she slipped back into the entrance expecting Strawberry and the others to follow her.
The doors swung behind them, and the girls were led along a narrow dirt path surrounded by various rose bushes, most of which managed to still contain fairly healthy flowers despite the drought, and eventually they approached a gazebo that lay ahead of them. Grand cedar trees branched over the area, offering a relief from the sweltering heat that interfered with the rest of Berry Bitty City. Likewise, the air was perfumed with the fresh scent of honeysuckles, contrary to the spoiled food-smelling odor that filtered through the rest of the town. Strawberry took in the somewhat breathtaking view, noting that this was the first time she'd seen a flourishing garden in a month and a half. However, even these plants were beginning to suffer from the immense heat, as she could tell from the wilting rosebuds.
"Take a seat, please," the princess ordered, sitting in the chair behind her extravagant leaf desk. The girls obeyed, and when she noticed them eyeing the various folders and documents she had neatly stacked in a pile, she added, "I assume you're all wondering why I've called you here."
Strawberry exchanged looks with the others. "Uh, yes, your highness, I suppose that's about correct."
Princess Berrykin shuffled through her papers. "As you girls should recall from yesterday, I told you that we would move to Plan B."
The girls gulped when the princess didn't say anything else. She seemed to let the thought of anticipating what she was going to say next marinate in their minds.
Finally, Lemon asked, "So...what is Plan B?"
Princess Berrykin spread her papers before her, checking to make sure they were all there. "I'm sending you girls to live in Berry Big City," she replied.
The girls stared at her in disbelief with their eyes bugged and their mouths agape. Move to Berry Big City? Nonsense! In contrast to Berry Bitty City, which was the smallest community in existence, Berry Big City was the largest city in the bitty world. Inhabited by the latest celebrities and moguls, the city was big on fame and wealth but small on morals and values. Strawberry often heard Cherry complain of how much she hated it and how she didn't recommend anyone to move there.
"B-but how? And why? We don't have enough money to make such a move, and we can't just abandon Berry Bitty City!" Strawberry's vision spun before her, her brain unable to decipher the situation at hand.
"We may as well face the truth, girls: there isn't a thing we can do to save the town on our own. We have searched high and low for another source of water and we still haven't found one, and you know that. The only way we can save Berry Bitty City is if we can convince my sister to sell us some of her Preservation Soil."
The girls' ears perked when the words Preservation Soil passed her lips.
"Wait - so the Preservation Soil is real? How is that possible?! Every book that I've read about gardening has said it to be a mere myth," Blueberry objected.
"And you said you have a sister?" Strawberry added.
"Yes, indeed. The Preservation Soil has been around for centuries, but it's imperative that it remains a secret. There used to be an endless supply of it, but in recent years, it has become nearly extinct."
"Why can't anyone know about it?"
"Because of greed: if everybody were allowed access to it, can you imagine how many farmers would use it to cheat their way into making larger profits from their crops? The soil's effects are miraculous, and if one were to abuse his right to use it, he could easily become the richest individual in the world, therefore putting everyone else into poverty. Nowadays, farmers are so desperate to get their hands onto the cure that they've been known to go to dastard measures to try to steal the last remnants of it from my sister. I was supposed to inherit a portion of the Preservation Soil in case of an emergency, but when it became nearly extinct, my sister was trusted with the last of the soil because she is older. From what I have heard, she keeps it under lock and key in her estate where no one can find it."
"So you're basically saying that you want us to travel to Berry Big City to try to convince your sister to sell us the soil?" Orange asked. "But why can't she give any of it to you? After all, you are her little sister."
Princess Berrykin seemed to ponder deeply before she could give an answer. "When Beatrice and I were teenagers, we didn't get along very well. Our mother and father had...let's just say they left, and it was taken upon us to face the consequences of the situation. Unfortunately, Beatrice's heart grew bitter towards me, and she took the rest of the Preservation Soil and left to reign in Berry Big City. She refused to give me any for fear that I would be careless with it, and so I was left to rule Berry Bitty City and to take care of the...problem... myself." She appeared to grow uncomfortable, and she shifted in her seat. "I haven't heard from her since then; it's been nearly seventeen years since I've seen her."
Strawberry furrowed her eyebrows. "Might I ask what the 'problem' was?"
The princess ran her fingers through her hair, clearly exhibiting that she struggled to find her words. "If I tell you now, you won't know what to think. If you don't mind, I would prefer to keep it to myself."
The girls sat in silence, taking upon themselves the information they had just gathered. Neither one of them could think of a reason horrible enough for Princess Beatrice to mistreat her younger sister and to just abandon her, but they came to the conclusion that Princess Berrykin was only telling them the portions of the story that she was willing to share.
"You said we'd have to purchase the soil from Beatrice - how much does it cost, exactly?" Strawberry crossed her leg over the other in her seat.
"Beatrice charges a very absurd price for the Preservation Soil; the last time I heard of her selling any, she was charging over half a million dollars for just a teaspoon of it."
Strawberry's jaw dropped. "There is no way we can afford that, Princess. Where would we get the money?"
"I realize that, Strawberry, which is why I have devised a plan. I have been collecting the extra money I've been charging you on your bills so I could afford to move you girls to the city. It will only last you a month, though, so use it sparingly. While you're there, you'll need to search for jobs to sustain yourselves, and in the meantime, I need you to start saving every bit of cash you can to go towards the purchase of the soil. If you catch my sister on one of her good days, she may lower the price, thus making it more possible to obtain it from her."
"Hold on, you said 'you' as if you're just sending the six of us to Berry Big City. What about you and the rest of the town?" Plum countered.
Princess Berrykin pursed her lips. "The rest of us townsfolk will reside in the outlying cities such as Rosevale or Oak Tree Meadows." She saw the growing concern on the girls' faces, so she continued, "Besides, I won't be of much use to you girls in trying to convince her to give you the cure."
Strawberry stood to her feet, and a wave of realization washed over her. "Then what about Berry Bitty City? Who's going to watch over the town?"
The princess dropped her gaze, avoiding eye contact with any of the girls. "No one will, I'm afraid. Girls, this may be difficult for you to take in, but Berry Bitty City is gone, and it has been for a while now. It isn't safe for any of us to live here; a wild fire could start at any moment and burn the whole town because it's so dry, or worse, we could be discovered, and I am not willing to take that risk. It is in our best interest to evacuate the town - immediately."
Strawberry slowly took her seat, and the feeling of defeat coursed through her body. All of the wonderful memories that she and her friends shared in Berry Bitty City - how distant they seemed now. All of the hard, tedious work they put into trying to rescue the small town - for nothing.
For the first time in her life, Strawberry Shortcake felt like a failure. Even when she tried to stay optimistic about the town's restoration, she now felt that she had merely been wasting her time. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes; the sore lump rose in her throat. Her breath became uneven and ragged, and she gripped the back of her chair to steady herself. However, as the first teardrop fell from her eye and splashed onto the pavement, she suddenly felt a revelation of determination come over her, the sudden desire not to give up on saving her home. At that moment, Strawberry decided that she would continue to do whatever she could to restore Berry Bitty City no matter what the cost. She raised her head, looked the princess straight in the eyes, and said, "Tell us what we need to do to convince Beatrice to sell us the Preservation Soil."
Princess Berrykin seemed to feed off of Strawberry's newfound determination and gave her a subtle smile, the first one Strawberry had seen from her since before the drought. "The best thing to do is to stay on her good side; if she suspects that you're up to something, she'll never sell you the soil.
"This coming Saturday is her birthday, and a celebration will be held in her honor at her estate. I want you girls to go to this party and cheer for her as much as possible; make signs, posters, banners - anything. If she notices you all and feels she can trust you, she may select you to go on her exclusive palace tour. But you mustn't tell her - or anybody - that I've sent you to try to attain the Preservation Soil from her. Word gets around quickly in Berry Big City despite its size, and if my sister were to discover why you're in town, she could have you arrested for all I know."
The girls were momentarily taken aback, but, like Strawberry, they felt motivated to take the risks in order to save their hometown. Raspberry furrowed her eyebrows. "But wait - if today is Friday, and Beatrice's birthday is tomorrow, then how will we have time to leave for Berry Big City?"
"I've arranged for you girls to get on the flight over there in two hours."
"Two hours?! That's such short notice! We have a lot of packing to do, and-"
"Only pack your necessities and valuables and leave the rest behind." Princess Berrykin opened one of her folders and handed Blueberry six plane tickets for coach seats. "I know this is going at a fast pace for you girls: you're all still so young. But I hope that you can understand that we need to take action as soon as possible."
Strawberry nodded. "We understand, Princess, though we're not children anymore. We're old enough and responsible enough to carry out your orders."
The princess discreetly shook her head. "You may not see it now, Strawberry, but believe me, you will. When you experience how harsh the world can be, sometimes you feel like a child who wants to hide beneath the safety of her blanket." She fingered through her documents once more, this time handing Strawberry a piece of paper with information about apartments. "When you arrive in Berry Big City, you're to stay in the apartment building listed here. I've already pre-paid the rent for the first month; unfortunately, I don't have enough to cover the other eleven months-"
"Eleven months? Princess, are you telling us that we have to live in Berry Big City for a year?"
Princess Berrykin bit her bottom lip. "Yes, which in reality is not much time, for we have only a year for the effects of the Preservation Soil to work. If we plant the soil too late, restoring the town is pretty much a lost cause."
"Oh..." Strawberry looked down at the information she held between her scarred hands. According to the details on the sheet, she and her friends were to stay in the Berry Big City Apartment Complex in apartment 807. She allowed her imagination to momentarily drift as she pictured what it would look like.
With a final clearing of her throat, Princess Berrykin signaled that the meeting was drawing to a close. "That is all, girls. I trust that you will do whatever is necessary to save our home, and I wish you all the best of luck. Just please keep in mind that you only have each other; I want you to encourage and uplift one another and to not place your trust in the wrong individuals. If you ever need my assistance, you can contact me with the number listed on one of your papers."
Strawberry couldn't keep herself from slightly smiling. Even though the princess wasn't old enough to be her mother, she felt she could always depend on her as if she were one. In fact, she had always been a sort of motherly figure to all of the girls, but it didn't occur to them until that moment.
Strawberry Shortcake rolled up the sheet of paper and slipped it into her pocket. "Okay, Princess," she said. "We will."
I hope you all are liking the story so far! There's still a lot more to come.