After Ever After: Turning a new page
A Frenemies gift.
Briar has been accepted to her dream college and has thrown the party of a lifetime to celebrate; however, when she realizes she's made a mistake with the invitations, she finds out her story has begun in an expected yet unconventional way.
The Castleteria has never been more alive. Practically all of Ever After High's graduating students had been packed in, dancing to Melody Piper's music, chatting among themselves and saying their goodbyes to one another. Their graduation had been earlier that morning, many former students were off to fulfill their destinies or rewrite new ones, the crowd buzzing with excitement and fear for both choices. The microphone squealed as it was tapped, the music stopping and party goers putting all their attention on the culprit: Briar Rose; She cleared her throat before giving a booming-
"Hel-lo Ever After High! How is everyone enjoying the best Goodbye Party ever!?"
Her former classmates clapped, hooting, and hollering about, Briar smiled; not to toot her own horn, but parties were her thing! If anyone at the school was going to host the most fableous, hat-tastic, page turning party of the century it would be her. It warmed her heart to see everyone in the crowd having so much fun! However, while it practically brought a tear to her eye, it would be short lived, as she had a different reason for coming on stage.
"I'd like to thank you all for being here" she continued, her voice lowering, becoming more neutral "As your host I need to make an announcement: I've been accepted into Perrault University"
There was a wave of confused murmurs, some excited, some were sad; Briar held up a hand, trying to calm the crowd.
"I know! I know this is so sudden, I didn't get my acceptance letter until this morning. I'll have to move soon but… I'm so glad I could host this last party for you all, and I'm so glad so many of you came…"
She stepped off the stage, her eyes never leaving the crowd, trying to find all of her closest friends. Just scanning the room, she could see Apple wiping a tear from her eye, smiling; Or Ashlynn and Hunter meeting her gaze, Raven, Blondie, Poppy, Cedar… all of them intently looked at her with eyes that said, 'We're here for you, we got your back'. Briar interrupted herself, pausing for a bit.
"Well… I guess what I really want to say is… is-"
The room went dark. The crowd was shocked, a sudden burst of panic and fear swept everyone, including Briar. What was happening? Did they just have a blackout? Maybe they were using too much power, perhaps Farrah Goodfairy could-
"Briar Beauty!"
The voice was both everywhere and nowhere, piercing everyone's eardrums. Suddenly the room became dark, and the figure dropped out of thin air parting the crowd to its will. In the pitch-black room, the intruder floated high above the crowd, emitting a ghastly pale glow, filling the room with both too much light and too many shadows. Once her eyes got used to the sudden light, Briar saw who the party crasher was.
"F…Faybelle?"
Fable didn't answer her, instead her eyes glowed a hot angry white, she balled a fist and pointed a finger at her accusingly.
"I can't believe it. After everything I've done, after all we've done together, you don't invite me to the biggest party of our lives?!"
"What?! That's impossible!" Briar finally found her voice; she couldn't believe what she was hearing! She invited everyone she knew, which was literally everyone at school!
"Faybelle, maybe you just" Apple stepped out of the crowd, trying to be reasonable with the rouge fairy, instead she was met with a thick wall of thorny vines, violently separating anyone from Briar except Faybelle herself.
"Save it for later, Princess Perfect!" Faybelle responded back rudely, Briar tried her hand at talking to her instead.
"Faybelle, I did send you one, honest" She said, she admitted she sounded desperate, more like she was trying to convince her frenemy than explaining to her "I spent all this morning sending out invitations, I didn't even stop until I got my acceptance-… my…"
Wait… no… she… she was done sending out invitations when she got her acceptance letter; or maybe she took a break, read her letter then went back to sending out invitations. There's no way she forgot to send one, it just couldn't be…! Could it…? Briar tried to speak again but the words wouldn't come out of her; not that it mattered as she found herself several feet in the air, unable to move or speak at all. Faybelle took her silence as defeat.
She sneered at her "yeah, I bet you did. What kind of friend does that? If you didn't want me around, you should have just said that!"
The hapless crowd grew worried as Faybelle's hands glowed, the vines grew around them surrounding the doors and windows, they were trapped.
"You know what?" Faybelle laughed cruelly "I know exactly what you deserve! As soon as you leave your precious little party, you're gonna prick your finger on the closest point around!"
Briar's eyes went wide, the party goers were horrified, a roar of pleads for mercy and begging washed over them. The scream Briar tried to let out came as a pathetic, practically inaudible squeak in her throat as Faybelle continued.
"Yeah, yeah… and forget about waking up in a hundred years! How about a hundred centuries? A thousand centuries! By the time you wake up, no one will even remember your story! How about that!"
The light was blinding as Faybelle struck Briar with all of her might, magic coursing through her veins as she fell hard on her back, the crowd screamed as the lights came back on, windows shattering, prickly thorns tumbling down and disappearing, doors racketing as Faybelle fluttered down. Briar hyperventilated, each breath feeling more and more like she was drowning than coming up for air. It wasn't until she finished her coughing fit that it struck what had just happened.
Her story had started… she was cursed.
"Faybelle I…" Briar shakily stood up, her legs feeling like jelly. A hundred centuries? That's longer than any other Sleeping beauty had gotten before… what would she tell her parents? Would anyone still remember who she was? What would Ever After High even look like by the time she woke up?
Overwhelmed by all these thoughts, Briar wiped a tear from her eye as she solemnly walked past a sneering Faybelle.
"Well… I better make my goodbyes quick…" was all Briar could muster.
Faybelle watched as Briar walked into the crowd, hugging her closest friends goodbye.
"Goodbye Apple" She said, muffled by her friend's shoulder "I hope the tales you tell your kids about me are legendary"
It served her right, maybe she could have avoided this mess if she had sent Faybelle an invitation, however as she watched Briar say her goodbyes something felt… off…
"Goodbye Cedar, Good luck on becoming a real girl"
Well, sure a hundred centuries was a long time but…
"Goodbye Raven, thanks for showing be I don't have to be a royal just one way"
Briar deserved it! Besides she was a royal, they both were!
"Goodbye Blondie… I'm sure everything will end up just right for you"
Technically Faybelle was just following her destiny, it's literally what they signed up for!
"Ashlynn, goodbye… I…. I…"
Briar fell to her knees, sobbing. Her friends surrounded her in a hug joining in her sobs.
"Wait!"
This was stupid, Faybelle couldn't believe she was doing this. She groaned in frustration as the heartwrenched pile of friends looked at her, as well as everyone else.
"Look. I can't… I can't do this okay! Yeah I cursed you, Yeah I'm still mad at you but…. Augh!" she groaned again "I still care about you Briar! I hate seeing you like this! I just… I wanna make things right"
"But…" Briar choked back a sob "But you already cursed me, our stories already being told, you can't just… turn back the pages"
"I can't but… what if I could… I dunno… rewrite it a little bit?"
Everyone around them murmured to themselves, was Faybelle… going back on her curse? Not quite, but she'll make the best of what she has.
"Briar Beauty" she started, her hands beginning to glow again "I can't take back the curse… I can't unwrite this story… but I can take it in a different direction… You won't sleep once you leave this room… and you won't sleep for a hundred centuries. You won't even sleep until you prick your finger on a spinning wheel, and when you do… it won't be forever, only for a hundred uh…. A hundred… days!"
Briars friends gasped in… delight? Shock? Faybelle wasn't quite sure.
"Yeah… on the one hundredth day, your love will come, and true loves kiss will wake you up"
With that, Faybelle sent a second beam of light, this one was warm and soft, comforting even, like a freshly dried blanket, Briar sighed in relief as she felt it wash over her, before becoming woozy again, her friends there to catch her. Briar's eyes welled up, sniffling once more as she let the tears freely flow, catching Faybelle by surprise as she was wrapped in a hug.
"Thank you" Briar whispered so quietly into Faybelle's ear she would have mistaken it for a thought. Letting her frenemy go, Briar took a deep breath and brought her attention to the former party goers.
"Well, you heard it here first folks, looks like my story is starting a little earlier than I expected. But you think that's gonna stop this from being the best party you've ever seen? I don't think so! Melody! Hit it!"
With that, the party was back on. Briar stayed close to her friends, Faybelle included, saying their goodbyes properly, excitedly sharing their future's plans.
As Briar enjoyed the last day she had with her friends before starting a new chapter in her life, she wasn't quite sure what she would expect in the long run, she was scared, excited, happy, however what she did know was no matter where she went, or what her future would throw at her, she knew she wasn't alone.