At the request of Anodythe, today the Elder presents a fairytale that nearly all of us are familiar with in some capacity or another. (But, in this case, familiarity does notbreed contempt. It just makes us love the story all the more.)
And can I just say that I love getting ideas from you guys? Seriously, there are waytoo many folk tales out there for me to choose by myself.
Forgive my lateness, the Council kept the meeting overlong. How is she? Ah! Let me see! She's beautiful, my son. May I hold her? Now now, I know how to hold a sparkling! Welcome to the universe, Dearest, I'm your Grandsire! Have you met your older brother and sister yet? I think you must have, since you keep staring at them. Well, come over here, you two! What do you think, sparklings? Should I tell her a story? I should? Well what do your parents think? That settles it then! I think perhaps she ought to hear her Grandcarrier's favorite tale. Yes, I miss her too. I think she would want your little sister to know her favorite story!
Cinderflint
Once upon a time, on a faraway planet, there lived a femme named Falcia. Her Sire and Carrier were killed in battle when she was very young, and she was sent to live with an unpleasant femme and her two ungrateful daughters. They treated Falcia like a servant, forcing her to do everything they were too lazy to do themselves. She didn't even have a berth of her own: she slept in a corner by the generator. Her once-bright armor became grey and sooty, and the others took to calling her Cinderfemme. The younger of the landlady's daughters was kinder than her sister, and she called Falcia Cinderflint instead. Falcia bore the abuse patiently, for she believed it was better to answer good for evil.
One day, the young governor of the colony held a celebration for the anniversary of the founding of their city. A great festival sprang up in the streets, and as the governor was handsome and unbonded to anyone, the parents in the colony each plotted to present their daughters at the banquet in hopes that he would fall in love with one of them. The landlady and her daughters were very excited, and eagerly planned what armor upgrades they would wear. Falcia was bored of the whole thing: she wanted to try her hand at the feats of strength that would be presented at the fair. The other femmes taunted her, saying, "Servants aren't allowed to go to parties, Cinderflint!" And they left her behind. Falcia did not say a word, but after they left she was very discouraged.
As she sat in the yard scrubbing rust from old sets of armor, a shining figure appeared to her. "Falcia, my dear," it said, "Are you not going to the festival?" Falcia shook her helm. "I would look very out of place among the elite, don't you think?" she asked bitterly. The shimmering femme sighed and seated herself next to Falcia. "Why should that matter? Your spark is ten times more beautiful than any of the femmes you live with. Still, every femme deserves to know that she is lovely." She waved her hand over the smaller femme's helm and her sooty, basic frame transformed into gleaming rose colored armor perfect for flight. Over her helm, a gold-trimmed visor was fitted. "Who are you?!" Falcia cried in disbelief. "I am Solus Prime, a friend of your Carrier's." was the answer. "Now, are you going to the festival?"
"Oh yes! Yes I am!" Falcia exclaimed joyfully, "Thank you, Solus Prime!" She transformed and prepared to soar away, but the Prime raised a hand in warning. "Before you go, remember this: your armor upgrades will only last until the sun is at its zenith. At the stroke of noon, the spell will be broken, and all shall be as it was before." Falcia acknowledged her words and rocketed away to the fair. She wandered among the stalls and took in the sights eagerly, completely unaware of the stares she was attracting. "Who is that?" the people wondered, "She must be the daughter of someone very important! See how her armor shines?" At last, Falcia came to the contests she had so been looking forward to. The main contender was a bulky red and yellow mech with a visor obscuring his faceplate. No one knew who he was, only that he had bested all comers thus far. With a spring in her step, Falcia vaulted into the ring. "Care for another round?" she asked genially.
The mystery mech bowed politely and settled into a crouch at the beginning of the obstacle course, assuming that the newcomer femme would not want to damage her beautiful armor. He was caught off guard as Falcia launched herself into a flying tackle and knocked him to the ground, then pushed herself off of his helm with a leap and darted into the course. There commenced the closest race the audience had ever seen, and the landlady and her daughters gaped openly at the strange and beautiful femme who was beating the reigning champion. In the end, it was a tie, and Falcia lightly punched her opponent's shoulder. "That was fun!" she gasped, winded, "I wish I could stay for another round."
The mech lifted his visor, eliciting gasps from the crowd. "Aw, can't you run just one more race with me?" he laughed, "You're the first one whose actually given me a challenge!" Falcia was tempted, but she had been keeping an optic on the sun's progress, and it was very nearly at its zenith. "I'm sorry," she smiled ruefully, "But I have to go!" The young governor stretched. "Well, are you at least going to tell me your designation?" he asked. Just then, it struck high noon, and Falcia took off like a shot, leaving her gold-trimmed visor in her haste. Governor Redline picked up the fallen piece of armor and stared after the fleeing figure, confused and more than a little star-struck. When the landlady and her two ungrateful daughters returned home, they complained amongst themselves. "We never even got to see the governor!" one complained, "He spent all his time in the obstacle arena with some mystery femme!" Falcia smiled a secret smile and continued with her chores.
The next day, a decree went out that the governor would be traveling from household to household, and the femme who fit the visor would be his sparkmate. The citizens fairly twittered with excitement! Falcia's home was no different. "Cinderflint, polish my armor!" "Cinderflint, clean the sitting room!" "Cinderflint! Cinderflint! Cinderflint!" When at last all the chores had been completed, they shut her out of the house, saying, "Servants shouldn't see noble governors!" Eventually, the Redline arrived with a herald and the visor. First he tried it on the elder sister, but her helm was too narrow. Then he tried it on the younger, but her helm was just a little too wide. "Oh, we had that resized after yesterday," their Carrier lied, but it was too obvious to have been taken seriously. Dejected, the governor slipped out the back door with the visor in his hand.
Suddenly, he looked up into a beautiful pair of optics and a smile that seemed oh-so-familiar. "Hi there!" Falica greeted him, "Did you get dragged out here with the governor?" Since he had left out the back door, she assumed that he was a servant like her. She glanced down and saw the visor in his servos. "Oh! I was wondering where that went!" she exclaimed. Delicately, she took it from him and slipped in back in place on her own helm. "There, that's better." she sighed, even as the gold trimming faded back into her normal dirty armor. Redline beamed. "So you're the femme who raced me yesterday!" He took her servos in his. "Will you marry me?" Falcia laughed. "Hold on a minute! We barely know each other!"
Redline flushed. "Oh Primus, for shame! I do not even know your name, dear lady! Will you tell me?" She curtsied prettily. "I am Falcia." "And I am Redline." They blushed and giggled like a pair of younglings in the shabby back yard of the house, and that is where the herald found them. Falcia was very surprised to know that Redline was the governor of the colony. "Would you still have competed against me if you had known?" Redline asked softly. She took a moment to think. "Yes," she admitted, "But I don't think I would have tackled you at the start." That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that became a beautiful relationship between sparkmates, and they lived happily ever after.
The end.
Oh look! She's fallen asleep. Here, son. She'll want her Carrier when she wakes up, I suspect. Alright, come on you two little rascals! Your Great Uncle is on his way with your Aunt and Uncles, you know. They're coming to see your new sister as well, but I'll bet if you catch them in the corridor, you can get them to take you to the sweets shop! Go on, off with you! I hear them on the stair! What? Oh, come now, my dears. You know as well as I that my brother cannot bring himself to say "no" to them! Yes, I suspect that they will not be sleeping tonight, but as you will both be here with the new sparkling, that's your brother's problem, not yours!