DISCLAIMER: This licence isn't mine. The opinions express by the characters are not mine. I do not support nor encourage the illegal acts or words present here. I can make a distinction between fiction and reality and I trust in my readership's ability to do the same.

Chapter six: The royal birth (part 3)

The Strawberryland's inhabitants' perplexity was caused, first of all, by the fact there was not one, but two babies Berrykins in the Flower. Of course, it wasn't the first time they saw a pair of twins, but it was the first time the saw a pair of Berrykin twins. They didn't even know it could happen.

-Well I never… Plum Puddin' muttered.

As I said, it wasn't the only surprising thing with the two baby girls. Physically speaking, they were like all the others: a head in the shape of a strawberry, a ring of leaves around the neck, a green little body and a large white stripe around the stomach. If the spectators were so surprised, the details that made them so stunned was their colors: One of the girl was of a beautiful dark green, and the second of a bright turquoise (I think it's not necessary to remember those colors were, until this day, unknown fort the Berrykins). Plum Puddin' whistled out of admiration. TN Honey stood on tip-toe to see them better. Ginger Snap jostled for position in order to get closer to the Plant. Blueberry Muffin shrugged. Mulberry Murmur opened her mouth, as if she was going to sneer. Most of the guests were frowning, of sneaking at each other. Strawberry Shortcake wanted to do something, or say something, but she couldn't move and the words refused to get out of her mouth. The Berrykins didn't know if they should cry out of joy for this birth, or cry out of sadness to discover that "something has gone wrong". The Berrykin Princess hasn't made any comments: she was quiet ad extremely pale. Her face was blank; it was hard to guess what she was thinking of this. As for Berrykin Bloom, it was quite obvious he really wanted to go into hiding, instead of bearing longer the dirty looks the audience has begun to give him. A deathly silence had descended upon the place, hardly disrupted by the little princesses' whines.

-It must be a genetic mutation, TN Honey finally said.

The Berrykin Princess shook her head, as if she was waking up, and said with a faded voice:

-Doctor Hazel Nutby, take the babies with you and examine them. Plum Pudding and Plum Puddin', Sweet Grape and Sour Grape, I want to see you in private.

-Can I go with you? TN Honey asked with curiousity.

-No. This four youngs only. Meanwhile, you can try to get explanation from Berrykin Bloom.

-You must know this situation is a first for the Berrykins, the Princess said.

She had leaded the four young people in the Café, where they could talk together, comfortably and without being spied.

-Of course we know it, Sour Grape said curtly. "Now, what did you want to tell us?"

Sweet Grape discreetly kicked her.

-You shouldn't talk to her like that! She muttered.

-Sweet, Sour is right, the Princess said sadly. "Stop beating around the bush: I absolutely don't know how to raise them."

-Your Majesty, Plum Pudding said shyly, "I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mother…"

-This is not the problem! The Princess cried. "Only one of them will throne… and there are two! How could I explain to one of them that she will stay a court and see her twin sister being called "Your Majesty"? How could I pretend I love them equally, and chose one of them as my legal heir? That's impossible. It's why I wanted to see you. Sweet Grape and Sour Grape, you don't have anything in common. By your side, Plum Puddin' and Plum Pudding… no offense to you, but you haven't even the same gender. You may be twins, but you are different, and you're absolutely not in contention. How did your parents raised you?"

Plum Puddin' and plum Pudding scowled.

-We have been parted from each other at the age of five, Plum Pudding said slowly.

-The doctor said it wasn't good for us to be always together. So, she stayed at the Land of Magnolia, where we were born, and I've been sent in Strawberryland, her brother completed. "And after, the boarding school… We can't say we spent a lot of time together."

-Our parents never told us we were supposed to be similar because we are twins, Sour Grape explained. "They always let us have our own personality."

-So, maybe one of your daughters will want to the next Queen, while the other will wish to be a simple farmer, Sweet Grape added with hope.

-Ridiculous… Sour sighed.

-So, repeated the Princess, with a little bit of despondency in her voice, "You advice me to pull my twins apart, to raise them separately, and to hope one of them won't have a licking for governing?"

-Uh… Sweet muttered, "Indeed, it doesn't look likely."

-Moreover, Plum Puddin' added, "If you keep one of the twins with you, and entrust the second one to a childminder, maybe this one will feel abandoned and jealous against her sister."

-And I want to avoid this situation above all.

-Well… Plum Pudding muttered, thoughtfully. "In a word, you don't want any rivalry between your twins. Am I right?"

-Exactly! The Princess cried. "Exactly!"

-Why did you wait so long before telling us this, clearly? Sour grape ironically asked, but Sweet kicked her for a second time.

-If it can reassure you, Plum Puddin' and I were inseparable before being separated, Plum Pudding said.

-Even thought we can't stop arguing, I can't get along without Sour Grape, Sweet Grape completed.

Sour wanted to contradict her sister, but the memory of Sweet's foot hitting her shin stopped her.

-Now, we have to find a way to reconcile their twinship… and the one and only post of sovereign, Plum Pudding sighed.

They all started to think, when Plum Pudding broke the silence and said:

-I found a way.

-What is it? The Princess asked, curious.

-Why won't we split the exercise of power in two? One will reign over the days and the second over the nights, or one over the spring and summer and the second over the autumn and winter…

-I think one of them would find herself prejudiced, the princess explained.

-Plum Pudding, your idea is quite good, Plum Puddin' declared. "I found another way: Let's raise them in a perfect and unassailable union, make them become the berry best friends in the world, and more. Make them both unable to live without the other. Well you'll be sure their friendship could not be destroyed by jealousy, rivalry, or the anger of power, make them share the throne, in a perfect equality, in a way that one princess couldn't get the upper hand on the other. For the first time, there will be two sovereigns in the same time in Strawberryland."

During this conversation, Strawberry Shortcake was trying to comfort Berrykin Bloom. It was a hard task: he was shaking like a leaf, and couldn't stop repeating:

-I'm sorry… I don't know how it happened…

-We know you are apart from all act of sabotage, Strawberry said kindly. "As T. said, it was just a hazard."

-You work your fingers to the bone twice harder than everyone could do for the Plant, Orange Blossom added. "It's why it gave us two princesses!"

-Poor girls, Blueberry Muffin sighed. "I pity them."

-Why? Strawberry asked, while Berrykin Bloom bowed his head in despair.

-First, they are twins; and that make them freaks of nature. And look at their colors! I'm sure they'll be ostracized during all their life.

-I totally disagree with what you say, TN Honey calmly declared. "You said this morning you like to investigate about everything, but your point of view is particularly superficial. You said they'll never be fully accepted because of their physical appearance. Does it really matter? Personally, I hate uniforms. Do you imagine how will the world look like if everyone was identical? May I ask you something? What did you think when you saw Orange Blossom for the first time? "This girl looks so lively, I'd like to be her friend" or "Oh no, we are too different, so I can't play with her"? You think I'm mad? I'm not as mad as the people who judge the book by its cover. Let me tell you something"-and she moved toward Blueberry -"Use your loaf. If they get a good education, their appearance won't prevent them from being great baked beans. If they are worthy of ruling Strawberryland properly, the Berrykins won't be long to understand this. That means they'll accept them."

-Let me tell you something, Blueberry Muffin answered naughtily, "You'd better learn American English instead of playing the know-it-all".

TN Honey clenched her fists.

-You'd better run before getting into serious Barney Rubble, she whistled.

Strawberry Shortcake, seeing the two girls were ready to fight each other, caught Blueberry by the arm and dragged her away.

-What's got into you? She shouted. "Your comment was extremely insulting and xenophobic, and, in top of that, perfectly useless. TN Honey only wanted to discuss with you!"

Blueberry Muffin, upset, didn't answer.

-Listen to me, Blueberry. You are my friend, and I love you, but you are unrecognizable! You didn't even try to answer my questions about the babies Berrykins."

-Well, Ginger Snap made you a pretty little report, didn't she? So, you didn't need me. I had better things to do.

-You see? Since you are here, you didn't stop telling us naughty things. Where is the real Blueberry Muffin? Our open-minded friend, who's always ready to offer a helping hand?

-She's stayed at Huckleberry Pie's home, Blueberry muttered.

-What do you mean?

Blueberry refused to look Strawberry in the eyes.

-It was just after lemon Meringue's and Raspberry Torte's leaving party… Huckleberry Pie saw I was sad, so he invite me in his house… We drank some beers, and he made me laugh by telling me his stories and, as it was berry late in the night, he offered me to spend the night with him and…

Blueberry was sobbing, now.

-Blueberry, what happened next?

Blueberry wiped her eyes and said with a trembling voice:

-I'm pregnant, Strawberry. And I don't know what to do.

To be continued…

Nota Bene: "Use your loaf", "baked beans" and "Barney Rubble" are expressions from London slang. They respectively mean "Use your head", "Queens" and "Trouble".