Duchess Swan was upset.
School had been in session for about a week now, and all everyone was talking about was Apple White. It was like Duchess's rise to fame last year hadn't even happened. In a matter of a few days, the "perfect princess" had been able to snag the president position of the royal student council, a position which belonged to Duchess.
She was all over the mirrorcasts, her face was plastered everywhere. Everywhere Duchess went, she heard that harpy's dreadful song echoing through the halls. During lunchtime, Apple's table was always packed and Daring Charming always saved her a seat right beside him. Apple got invited to all the cool back-to-school bashes, and was treated like the guest of honor at all of them. And although Duchess studied way harder than the stupid blond, Apple's grades were praised like they were the solution to some ancient puzzle or something. It was all sickening.
"I don't understand! Why are they making such a big fuss about her?" murmured Duchess, thoughtfully pacing around her and Lizzie Heart's shared dorm room.
"Calm down, Duchess. I don't see what the fuss is," yawned Lizzie, who was lying across her bed reading a book upside down. "She's Apple White, you're Duchess Swan. That's all there is to it. Honestly, you literally have this conversation to yourself every day."
Stupid Wonderlandian. Duchess stomped her foot, frustrated. "You don't understand! I deserve all that attention, not her! Unlike that pesky blond, I actually work for my grades and my accomplishments. But ironically, they praise Apple's every move like she's a goddess or something."
Lizzie shrugged casually. "Who knows? Maybe she is. She could be like Cupid minus the wings and all that pink."
Duchess gritted her teeth. The last thing she needed was someone comparing Apple to a goddess. "Quit being so foolish," the swan princess scowled at her roommate. Duchess signed and plopped down onto her bed. It wasn't fair. Just because Apple was lucky enough to be born into the royal White family, she got everything she could ever desire and more, while Duchess was treated like a forgotten princess—a commoner.
You could randomly pull anyone off the street and ask them to tell you the tale of Snow White, and they'd do it without missing a detail, even if it was super irrelevant. But if you asked them to tell you the tale of Swan Lake, they'd just stare at her you blink with confusion. That was the main problem right there—no one knew Duchess's story or even heard of it for that matter. Although Swan Lake was a perfect romantic tragedy about a beautiful queen, her true love, and an evil witch who beguiled the swan queen's prince, it was taken for granted by the people of Ever After, who'd rather hear a story about poison apples, useless little dwarves, and chipmunk-voiced princess. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves wasn't even that intriguing! It was just about some useless girl who had been unfortunate enough to get stuck with a beyond-evil stepmother, who hated her deep enough to commit murder. Plenty of stories contained that kind of theme, so there was really nothing special about it.
And to make things even worse, super-lucky Apple was destined to marry Daring, King Charming's beyond-charming heir and Duchess's crush. Every princess and her grandmother wanted to marry Daring, yet Apple had been fortunate enough to be promised to Prince Charming since she was a wee baby. That was the detail that made Duchess boil with jealousy. Daring Charming deserved to be with Duchess, not Apple. They'd make a cute couple for sure, but the handsome prince, like every prince, was blinded by Apple's charm and beauty and easily overlooked Duchess.
And since things were like that, Duchess was going to have to come up with her own plan to pry Daring away from the "fairest one in the halls". There was always that love potion, but Faybelle had bailed on her and Duchess had no idea how to get the other ingredients or mix a powerful dark potion for that matter, so the swan princess had crossed that option off her list. There had to be some other way, right?
Duchess felt herself becoming depressed, so she reached over and picked up her thronecoming heirloom off her nightstand. She fingered the glistening red ruby and tied the chocker it hung from around her neck. Once she was wearing her mother's gift, the princess calmed down. It was always reliving to have her mother's gift near. After all, it was the only thing that made Duchess feel close to her mother.
And speaking of her mother, Duchess only had two years left until it was time for her to become the next Swan Queen. Only two more years until Duchess met her destined prince, who'd fall under the Black Swan's control, which would result in Duchess either killing herself or becoming trapped in a swan's body forever after. No charming wedding, no royal crowning, no long-lasting true love, no happily ever after. That enough would've driven anyone else into despair, but not Duchess. She wasn't going to let things get to that point.
She was going to get her happily ever after, even if she had to pry it from someone else. She wasn't going to let her life fall into the hands of a cruel, heartless witch. No, that wasn't going to happen at all.
The swan princess rose to her feet, feeling confident once more. She still had two years to get her life together. Two years to earn her happily ever after. And trust her, Duchess was going to get it no matter what.
Apple skimmed through her crownculus hextbook boredly. It was after school and the princess had just finished her thronework. So far, junior-level coursework was fairly easy, so the princess really didn't have to put that much thought or effect into it.
"Hey, Apple," said Raven, walking into their dorm room whilst struggling to carry her tower-high worth of hextbooks.
"Headmaster Grimm didn't spare you this time, did he?" chuckled Apple, glancing at her.
"Nope. Now that we're juniors and have yet to sign the Storybook of Legends, Mr. Grimm is trying harder than ever to steer me towards the dark side. And apparently, he thinks books will persuade me to change my mind," said Raven dully, dropping the stack onto the desk with a thump.
"But…seriously, Raven. What are we going to do about our story?" asked Apple slowly and unsurely, sliding her feet into her shoes and standing up. "And before you say anything, I already know—you don't wanna be evil and all that stuff. But don't you want our story to happen regardless?" Like it or not, the two couldn't beat around the bush forever after. Eventually, they'd have to settle this destiny conflict between the two of them.
Raven crossed her arms, a look Apple couldn't decipher spreading across her face. "I don't know—I guess? I mean, I don't want to be evil but I do want you and Daring to have your happily ever after. And I want mine just as badly. But I don't want to have to poison you or try to suffocate you to get it," explained the dark princess, "I don't want to live in the shadows or become a warlord. That's just not how I roll."
Apple bit her lip, recalling how comfortable everyone now was with Good Raven. They didn't seem to mind her being good, but what about her storybook destiny? Were her classmates really not going to bring that into judgment? "I know, but Snow White and the Seven Dwarves can't happen without the evil queen. She's basically just as important as the heroine."
Raven didn't speak for a moment. "I've thought about that," she admitted, "and I honestly don't know what to do. You've been groomed and trained for your story your whole life, and here I am jeopardizing it. I feel bad about that, but I also can't just follow along with my part of our story."
Apple sighed. It didn't how much they discussed things. In the end, they were always split in the matter. "This is all just so confusing," she announced, sitting down at her desk with another heavy sigh. "You and I want the exact thing—yet at the same time, we don't."
"We just have different ways of seeing the situation and how it should be resolved," corrected Raven, walking over to the window. "And it's really not getting us anywhere. Soon, we'll have to figure out our way around this or neither of us will be living Happily Ever After."
"What if we could find another evil queen?" suggested Apple, though she didn't like the thought of being poisoned by someone other than Raven. Destiny said Raven was supposed to be Evil Queen, so it just felt and sound right for her to be the one to do the wicked deed.
"Like who? There aren't exactly a lot of villains to choose from anymore," reminded Raven, "Ginger Breadhouse is a witch gone good too, Ramona Badwolf doesn't have magic and doesn't specialize in that witchy stuff, Kitty—I wouldn't even trust her, the same goes for Faybelle because she seems like one to go way over the top-"
"Enough said," interrupted Apple, feeling a little faint. Regardless if Raven wanted to acknowledge it or not, she was the only one fit for the job of Evil Queen. She was born to fulfill that role.
"I don't understand," blurted Raven, pounding her fist on the windowsill. "It's not fair! Why should we have to go through all of this? Why does everything have to be so complicated?"
Because you made it that way, thought Apple. She didn't say this aloud, however.
"Why can't we just live out our lives the way we please?" went on Raven, her hair catching aflame with purple magic.
Apple gasped, seeing how turned off the dark princess was. Was her anger guiding her towards her inner evilness? The princess slowly rose from her chair, watching her storybook rival hopefully.
"Why can't we just shape our own destiny?" raged on Raven, keeping her back turned to Apple. "It's OUR lives and we should be able to live them how we want!" Some of their furniture started to levitate off the ground as Raven got angrier.
That's it, Raven! Apple inwardly applauded the girl. Get angry! That's the only way! The princess hurried over against a wall, which was out of the way of the flying objects.
"But no, they want us to screw-up our lives by living the way THEY want us to live," ranted angry Raven through grit teeth, looking out at the sky stiffly. "It isn't right!"
Apple gasped as Raven's spreading magic picked her bed up off the floor. "Raven?" squeaked Apple as her bed floated closer towards her.
"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair!" shouted Raven, pounding on the windowsill over and over.
Shaking, Apple watched with fear as her bed hovered right above her. Not good, not good, not good! If Raven let loose, the large piece of furniture would crush Apple! "Raven, please stop!" begged Apple as the magic current picked up her desk and mirror and even Gala.
"I don't want to be evil! I don't want to kill! I don't want to ruin lives!" cried out Raven, oblivious to the chaos she was creating.
Oh no, oh no, oh no! Seeing she was in danger, Apple hurried from her position under the floating bed towards the door. She was about to leave, but stopped when she heard poor Gala whimpering from midair. "Gala!" yelped Apple, "RAVEN, STOP!"
The dark princess startled and whirled around, the fiery magic in her hair vanishing. The second this happened, all of the furniture descended towards the ground with a crash. Gala conveniently landed in her little doggie bed. Apple breathed with relief, but gasped at the great big shadow underneath her feet.
The princess immediately looked up to see her mirror dropping down towards her.
The princess didn't even have time to scream before she felt it fall on her.
And then everything went black.
"APPLE!" screamed Raven as she watched her friend's limp body unconsciously collapse onto the floor. The mirror fell on top of her, shattering into a million pieces all over her body. "Apple!" yelled Raven again, hurrying over. She dropped down onto her knees beside the fainted princess, panicking. Apple's body was covered in bruises and red marks from the broken glass.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no," panicked Raven, tearing up. She looked around and gasped at the sight of Apple's side of the dorm room. Furniture was upside down and out of place, and Gala was weakly whimpering in her bed. "What have I done, what have I done?" screamed Raven, grabbing her head as all kinds of emotions swirled in her mind.
The door suddenly swung open and Cerise, Ramona, and Blondie came running in, probably to see what all the commotion was. The second Blondie saw unconscious Apple on the floor, she froze up and turned white. Usually, the reporter would've pulled out her camera the second something juicy happened, but she now looked too frightened to move. Raven, who too was unable to move, desperately looked up at Cerise and Ramona as if begging them for help. Right now, the dark princess was far too afraid, panicked, and shocked to control her own body.
Ramona, who had understood Raven's pleading looks and taken to Apple's side to check her pulse, gasped. "She's barely breathing!" she reported. She looked up at her sister. "Call the ambulance now!"
At this point, crowds of girls were gathering in front of the door, all of them trying to get a glimpse of what was happening. "Get out of my way!" growled Cerise, pushing them out of her path as she turned to obey her sister.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Briar managed to fight through the crowd, scurrying into the dorm room. When she saw Apple on the floor, her hand flew up to her mouth and she let out a scream. "What did you do?!" she yelled at Raven, her eyes big with fear and…hatred?
Though her body had locked up on her, Raven was able to stammer a few words. "It was an ac-ac-accident." Outside the door, the other girls were whispering amongst themselves, most of them glaring at Raven.
"So she's evil after all?" asked a girl lowly.
"She was deceiving us this whole time," replied another, "the second we get comfortable with her, she decides to do this."
"Apple…oh, Apple," cried Briar, brushing most of the glass off her unconscious best friend. Her tears streamed down her face, each one melting into Apple's torn skirt.
"The ambulance is on the way," reported Cerise, reappearing in the doorway.
"Okay, good. You!" Ramona pointed a claw at Raven. "What happened here?"
"I-I got angry…and I levitated some stuff…" Raven tried to explain desperately, her body still shaking madly. "I-I wasn't paying attention and-and Apple screamed and…" The dark princess could barely find words.
"Her magic's linked to her emoticons," said Briar bitterly, not making eye contact with Raven. "She must've gotten upset and ended up picking up everything with her magic."
"So the mirror, which she was levitating, must've landed on Apple," concluded Cerise quietly.
That's when Raven burst into tears. "I'm sorry! Th-this is all my fault! This was never supposed to happen," she wept into her hands, "Apple was so quiet…she just let me take out all my anger like she understood and then…I did this to her."
"I don't get you, Raven," said Briar icily, "you say you're not evil, but you always end up doing things that prove otherwise." She gave Raven a nasty look.
"Coming through, people. Make way for the dark fairy," announced Faybelle Thorn's voice. She appeared in the dorm room, surveying everything and everyone. "Whoa. I didn't think you had it in you, Queen," she snorted when she laid eyes on Apple.
"Shut up, Faybelle," growled Cerise.
Faybelle rolled her eyes. "Yeesh, take a chill pill, Hood. I'm just talking villain to villain. Ramona should understand." The dark fairy took a long, loud sip of her slushy.
"Listen, Thorn, if you're not here to do anything useful, than just make like a lone wolf and scram," said Ramona calmly, "the last thing we need is more people like you around."
"Tch, whatever after. I'm not interested in you people anyway," yawned Faybelle, "Faybelle out!"
Everyone casted dark looks at Faybelle as the dark fairy made her dramatic exit. Raven just stay where she was, staring at Apple with guilt. The poor princess's face was twisted in pain, the last thing she had experienced before ultimately falling motionlessly to the ground. Raven couldn't even express her guilt and sorrow in words.
Just seeing her close friend in such a state made all kinds of emoticons swirl within Raven's head. And it made things even worse that it was Raven herself who'd put the princess in that condition.
Raven continued to cry uncontrollably as the headmaster was the next one to make an appearance. Though he was speaking to her, she couldn't hear a word he was saying, being too full of grief. Why—how—could Raven let this happen? Especially since she'd sworn to everyone that she wasn't going to hurt people like…like an evil queen. Yet, this happened…
Regardless of what she'd been telling everyone, Raven felt evil. And it was a terrible sensation she'd been praying she'd never have to experience. How did her mom put up with this? These feelings were horrible!
"You're destined to be evil, Raven. Evil's in your blood, and you can't ignore its call of destiny forever after."
Raven's mother's words echoed through her head. Could it be that all of this was happening because of Raven's destiny? Because she was the Evil Queen's daughter, did that mean she was destined to hurt people whether she wanted to or not? Could it be that her destiny was simply unavoidable?
Duchess Swan danced across the footbridge, her ballet bag slung over her shoulder. She had just finished her daily dance practice at the Red Shoes Dance Club and was on her way back to Ever After High to take a shower. Though her legs were on fire and her feathery tutu and tights were sticking to her sweaty body, she kept moving gracefully and lightly on her tip toes. A true ballerina never quit dancing, no matter how much pain she was in. Such unrelenting practice would shape Duchess into a more elegant, light, and graceful dancer, according to the one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses that instructed her.
The second the swan princess crossed over to the school's front lawn, she paused in confusion. An ambulance was parked right in front of Ever After High's letter board and dozens of dozens of buzzing students were waiting at the front steps. What in Ever After was going on? Did Humphrey Dumpty finally have a fatal fall? Had Ginger Breadhouse given herself a third-degree burn in the kitchen? Had Tiny the Giant accidentally step on one of the smaller, regular-sized students? Did Poppy O'Hair end up cutting a finger with her shears instead of her hair? Honestly, there were so many possible things that could've gone wrong, Duchess didn't even bother wonder what the commotion was about.
The swan princess spotted Faybelle Thorn sitting under one of the oak trees, boredly watching the scene as she slurped from her slushy. "What's going on?" Duchess called over to her as she ambled over. "What's with the emergency vehicle?"
Faybelle shrugged, although Duchess knew she knew. "Why don't you find out for yourself?" she asked lamely, pointing at the school. A group of blue-clad emergency-service dispatchers were wheeling a stretched out of the school.
Interested, Duchess started towards them and the large crowd. Headmaster Grimm came out of the school next, looking like his usual stern self. However, Briar ran past him and after the stretcher, looking perplexed. Raven then walked out of the school, but she didn't look right. She looked—ghostly. She was about to proceed after Briar, but Milton Grimm put a hand in front of her as if prohibiting her from going any farther.
Trying to see who was on the stretched before the emergency-service dispatchers loaded it into the ambulance, Duchess jogged over. She made it just in time to see the stretched being wheeled into the vehicle. She gasped when she caught a glimpse of Apple White on the stretcher just as she disappeared inside the emergency vehicle. All around, students were snapping pictures of the whole scene, buzzing with chatter.
What the blazes?! Apple White injured? Duchess thought she'd never see the day. However, she remained quiet and watched as Briar tried to climb into the ambulance, but one of the dispatchers stopped her and said something to the princess. Briar stomped her foot and probably said something sassy in return, but the dispatcher was already hopping in the driver's seat. Seconds later, the ambulance was speeding down the dirt road, its red and blue lights flashing and its siren wailing. Briar tried running after it, but wasn't fast enough.
Probably feeling defeated, she fell onto her knees on the road, choking on the dust that the ambulance had left in its steed and crying for her best friend. Not long after, Ashlynn and Holly ran out of the crowds and dropped down at Briar's side, trying their hardest to calm her down.
"What happened to Apple White?" wondered aloud Duchess with a snort. She didn't bother asking someone directly because she knew plenty of gossip-loving freshmen would jump at the chance to fill her in and sound one of those know-it-alls.
And just as Duchess had expected, a small freshmen girl nearly replied instantly. "Raven Queen knocked her out cold," she informed excitedly, "everyone in the girls' dorm heard a crash and we all rushed to Apple's and Raven's room to see Apple passed out on the floor and Raven standing above her. She was bleeding, covered in glass, and everything!"
Wait, hold on. "So…Raven did that?" Duchess needed some clarification. For the past year or so, Raven had been telling everyone that she wasn't evil and all that baloney, so this was so unexpected. Maybe the girl had a change of heart. It was about time, honestly. Evil was in the princess's blood, so it was only natural for her to be evil. That and it was only fair that Raven lived up to her unwanted destiny if Duchess had to do the same. "I thought it was Raven's destiny to poison Apple, not put her in a coma," said Duchess rudely with an eye roll.
"She didn't do it on purpose," said Cerise's voice from somewhere within the crowd. "It was just her magic coming out!"
"Yeah, right. What an excuse. There's no way putting someone in a coma can be an accident," sassed someone else. "That's uncommon."
"Uh-oh. Here comes Daring," whispered a girl in Duchess's earshot, catching her attention. Sure enough, Prince Charming himself was storming towards the school, looking more than pissed.
"YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE!" he erupted at Raven, pointing an accusing finger at her. Though, he kept his distance by standing at the bottom of the stairs just in case Raven decided to knock him out.
From the top of the wide staircase and beside the headmaster, Raven struggled to speak. "I-I didn't mean to! I-I wasn't paying attention and I-I-"
"You always have an excuse for everything," interrupted Daring angrily, turning red. "First you selfishly ruin Apple's destiny and then try to justify yourself by starting a rebellion, then you prohibit everyone from pledging their destiny on Legacy Day, then you knock out a poor princess during her first week back into society! If you ask me, that sounds more than evil!"
Half of Duchess felt super attracted to heated Daring, while the other was heated that the prince was defending and taking Apple's side. If the two fo them claimed they weren't together, than why was he do defendant of her? It honestly didn't matter what the situation was—Apple always ended up hogging all the attention in the end. Even in a coma.
But maybe this would work out for Duchess. Now that Apple was gone, perhaps she could make her move on Daring. Sure, he was upset about Apple, but Duchess could use that to her advantage. The prince charming had a soft spot for innocent princesses, so Duchess would play the Good Samaritan or whatever and act all sympathetic and comforting towards him so he'd see her for the kind princess she really was. Slowly and slowly, she would inch her way into his heart until he was completely hers.
Yes, that sounded like a fine plan. The swan princess smiled to herself. Seriously, she was a genius. And when that blond princess finally awoke from her coma or whatever, she'd come back to find her "true love" following Duchess around like a love struck puppy. And there would be nothing she could do about it. Or better yet, if Apple never woke up from her critical state, Duchess could have Daring all to herself forever after without any problems or distractions.
Duchess smiled Cheshire-big. It looked like she was going to get her happily ever after after all….
Snow read over Adrian's letter for the fifth time, biting her lip. She was back at her mother's house with her husband, who was laughing and playing with their granddaughter on the bed on the other side of the room.
Adrian was requesting that their children meet for the first time, which was something Snow absolutely could not allow. Firstly, Apple would be crushed to know Snow had been lying to both her and her father all these years. But…it'd been so long since Snow had last seen Augustus and Atticus. They were so grown up now, meaning Snow had nearly missed two whole decades of their lives.
And even if Snow did decide to become a part of their lives, how? How could you possible explain the situation to her two sons? And if her husband found out…It had been a miracle Snow managed to hide her first two pregnancies from him. But for him to know what she'd been up to before Apple was born…
Snow was pulled out of thoughts when her phone rang. Still somewhat thinking about Adrian, the queen answered her phone? "Hello?"
"Is this Queen Snow White?" asked a very serious voice.
"Yes, this is she."
"Your Highness, my name is Dr. Erving and your daughter, Apple White, is here in the hospital. She's in a very critical condition-"
Snow nearly dropped the phone. "The hospital?!" she repeated loudly, rising to her feet alertly. "What happened?!"
"Ma'am, calm down. We don't know how it happened, but the headmaster of your daughter's school gave us your number. Apple is currently in a severe coma, having received a damaging blow to her head. We urge that you come to see her as soon as possible—her condition is hextremely critical and we fear…that Apple might not ever wake up."
A/N: I can hear that Sparrow-lover-Apple-hater shouting with joy from here...