Dear reader,
Thank you so much for choosing my story. this is only my 2nd ever fan fiction, so please be nice :) It is based off the musical my school did this year called Once Upon A Matress. I love it and I would highly suggest listening to the album(Preferably the Broadway revival soundtrack) I wrote my first fan fiction four years ago, so I hope this one turns out better with all the things I have learned. if you want to check it out, it is called Cinder Appleseed. All my chapters and stories are proofread by my big sister, Marina Stars. thank you again for choosing my story, and I hope you enjoy it.
-Appleseed
Chapter 1
Many moons ago, in a far off place, there was a handsome dragon prince. He had a life of glamour and luxury in his shining castle and servants. He could have parties whenever he wanted. He could have everything he ever wanted. And he did have everything he could imagine wanting. Except one. He had no one to love, and to love him in return. On a stormy night, there was a knock on the castle door. Little did he know that it was that very lass he had been waiting for. She claimed to be a princess that got lost in a storm on her way to visit a friend in a neighboring kingdom. The prince was thrilled he knew she was the one. But the queen wanted to make sure, so she prepared a test for the girl to ensure that she was a real princess.
The queen wracked her brain over a test for hours. She finally decided,"I'll put 20 mattresses on her bed. Beneath those 20 mattresses there will be a tiny pea. If the pea disturbs her slumber, a true princess is she." The bed was soft. It was very tall. But the prince's lass didn't sleep at all. When they came to fetch her the next day, she told them about her restless night. The queen announced that because she didn't sleep, the princess and the prince would be married as soon as arrangements could be made. The whole kingdom celebrated for many days. They were soon married, and they lived happily ever after. The End.
"WAIT JUST A MINUTE!" Said another voice as he burst into the scene. He was yellow-orange stallion with poofy brown mane a brown eyes, and wearing a green and purple pointed hat with bells on the end, and a matching loose shirt laced up in the front, marking him as a court jester.
"What's wrong now?" The disembodied narrator voice asked, clearly annoyed that he was being disrupted in front of an audience…..again.
"That's not how the story goes at all!" Exclaimed the dark haired stallion jester.
The jester's sky blue friend with a messy rainbow mane and magenta eyes, wearing a loose white blouse matching similar style to her companion's, came running after him, out of breath.
"CHEESE SANDWICH! I thought I told you to let the narrator do his job! Stop interfering!"
"Well sorry dashy. It's just not how the story goes at all."
"That doesn't matter. We are not supposed to interfere with the narrator doing his job!" Said an agitated Rainbow Dash.
"But we could tell the story WAY better than this old grump ever could."
The narrator scoffed."And what makes you so sure of yourself?" Said the narrator, clearly offended.
"We happen to know the TRUE story of the mare and the pea, for the very good reason that we were there. Come on rainbow. Help me out here."
"Well, I don't know. We could get in serious trouble."
"But it would be...AWESOME!" Cheese sandwich smirked, knowing his friends over inflated would sell her on the idea.
"Well...okay! Let's do it. But where do we start?"
Cheese gasped."I have just the place!"
He and his rainbow friend shared knowing looks and Cheese began the story, saying:
"The princess in the true story was not the only girl put to the test. She was one of thirteen girls." Cheese explained.
"Ah yes." Rainbow said,"12 girls came to the castle hoping to wed the prince, but for some reason, each one was found unsuitable by the queen." The scene is set in the sparkling grand hall of a castle, where there was a lavender mare with darker mane mixed with green streaks, standing on a podium in front of the queen, king, prince, and wizard. Surrounding them were all the noble knights and mares in waitiing of the kingdom, all anxious to see the outcome of the occasion. Cheese pulled out his accordion, and began playing an introduction. Rainbow gave a knowing glance. They began to sing:
"For a princess is a delicate thing,
Delicate and dainty as a parasite's wing.
You can recognize a mare by her elegant air.
But a genuine princess is exceedingly rare."
"On this particular day, they tested princess number 12!" Exclaimed the blue mare, excited to get on with the story.
"Star swirl the bearded!" The purple pony nervously exclaimed, answering a previously asked question.
"Absolutely…." The castle's resident wizard, a slightly darker purple pony than that one standing on display for the court. This mare, however, had dark pink stripes in her dark purple mane, drew out the response for suspense, making the ponies of the court hold their breaths."...correct!" The wizard finished. The crowd let out a unanimous sigh of relief and cheers. The young dragon prince, with purple scales, as well as some green ones, and green eyes, turned to his mother, A Majestic and tall white mare with flowing hair in the pastel colors of blue, green, pink, and purple.
"See! She's smart mother! She's the best one yet! Can I marry her now? Please?" the prince said, pleading and giving her his best puppy eyes.
"Not just yet Spike, my darling boy. There is still just one more question left." the queen gave a sharp look and a note towards the wizard, urging her to move on to the final question.
"This question isn't going to be fair." A white mare, with gorgeous curled, purple mane, half whined, half sing-songed quietly to her fellow ladies in waiting, aka her friends, standing beside her.
"It's the marriage law that isn't fair!"The one to her left, a light pink pony with a darker pink and very poofy mane, exclaimed in a whisper
The pony to her right, a timid, pale yellow mare with soft pink hair, looked down, a soft sadness creeping into her eyes, as she recited, trying not to cry,"'throughout the land no one may wed till prince spike to the altar's led.' Oh Rarity! What shall we do! The queen will never choose a bride for the prince so we can marry our loves," tears suddenly filled her teal eyes, and she couldn't contain her soft sobs any longer. Her friend, Rarity, let her cry into her purple made and hugged her to bring her comfort. The pink mare to the left of Rarity looked over at her yellow friend.
"Aw, don't cry Fluttershy. It'll be okay. At least you have love." this made fluttershy sob more, and it took much of Rarity's concentration to keep her quiet enough as not to attract attention. She did, however, shoot her pink friend a sharp, yet deadly, look.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie!" Rarity exclaimed.
"What did I say?" Pinkie asked, confused.
"Imagine being in love with someone, yet not being able to marry him because of a silly law. At least we don't have the tourture of not being able to marry the one we love."
"True….I guess. But still. Don't cry Flutters. There is one more question left. Maybe there's still hope after all. Or maybe not, considering that we all know the queen actually never had any intent to marry the prince off in the first place, so it's very likely that we will all end up dying lonely old mares who never go there happily ever after." Pinkie said, oblivious to the fate she just condemned them to. Rarity shot her a dark look and she shut up and they turned their attention back to the wizard who would give the question that would seal their doom.
"You have now reached the final plateau, and here is your final question. It has been divided into 3 parts, concerning a famous man often referred to as the stallion of the red cross."
"OOOOOOH." said the intrigued audience.
"Oh quiet!" said the queen.
"One: What was his name? Two: What beast did he slay? And three: What was this middle name of the daughter in law of the best friend of the blacksmith who forged the sword that killed the beast?" the audience groaned, all hope having just been thrown out the window.
The Princess being questioned looked absolutely terrified. She might as well have been asked how to reverse the rotation of the earth. Even so, she began to list off answers.
"One: Rockhoof, Two: Cerberus, and Three…"
"Ten seconds." The wizard smirked.
"Oh!" The mare cried, having absolutely no idea what the answer was. They were the most excruciating 10 seconds she ever had to endure.
"I'm terribly sorry." The wizard was visibly trying to suppress a wicked grin."Your time is up."
The crowd groaned loudly, but clearly not surprised.
"Oh too bad my dear. Too bad. Well as they say, blood will tell, and yours didn't tell us...quite enough. Goodbye, good luck, and get out!" In a poof of magic, the purple mare was gone, but her sobs still rang in everyone's ears.
The gloomy crowd began to disperse. The prince had his gloomiest face ever. I was so close. He thought, temporarily shutting out the world around him. Where are you, my princess? Where's the dutiful knight who'll end this dilemma we're in? Please hurry. I don't know how much more of this I can take.
"Oh spike. Cheer up. You'll get your princess eventually. She just has to be the right one. Now come along honey. It's nearly time for your cocoa."