I apologize for the late update; been to visit my brother and my muse decided not to cooperate when I needed her the most. Anyway, thanks to Rugbygirrl, LacytheRomanWerewolf, sarahb2007 and Guest for reviewing. Short chapter but the best I could come up with in 2 hours. Enjoy and review! I'd love to hear what you guys think.

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Alas, it seems as though Emily is unable to attend the ball, after all. Where is her hero, Prince Aaron? Well right now, he is unfortunately, caught in the claws of the ambitious Beth, who fancies herself the next Queen of the land. But every heroine has her own fairy godmother to sail right in just in time to save her. Well in Emily's case, she has not one, but two fairy godmothers, and patience, dear readers, for Emily might not be in such a grave predicament after all…

Emily sighed as she gave the floor one final, violent scrub. Throwing down the brush, she leaned back against the wall, dejected as she stared at the ticking clock on the wall. 10 o'clock. The ball would very well last till midnight, but without a ball gown, a coach and a fairy godmother who could magically whisk her to the ball, it seemed to Emily that what she needed was a miracle, and she had prayed hard enough on countless shooting stars to know that miracles rarely came true.

The three mice and owl could only stare piteously at their human friend, and Jason glared at the infuriating cat, who while bound and gagged, still managed to look irritatingly smug and proud of himself for ruining Emily's gown. Spencer chewed on his lip, tail waving around, "We can't do anything for Emily?" Derek shook his head, patting the younger mouse, "No Spence, only fairy godmother can help Emily now."

Elle started and she whirled around to peer at Jason, "Jason, doesn't Emily have her own fairy godmother?" The owl hooted and rearranged his feathers, cocking his head to the side as he thought long and hard. "Yes, why yes, I believe she does. Two-oo, in fact." Elle smacked her paw against her head, "Then why didn't you go get them?" The wise old owl looked startled, and the three mice looked on in fascination as Jason, the unflappable Jason was stunned speechless by his oversight. "Wh-why yes, why didn't I think of that? Well done, Elle. I shall go fetch them at once." Flapping his wings madly, the owl stumbled and took off into the night and the three mice grinned at each other. Derek chuckled, "And I thought he was the smart one."

Prince Aaron looked around nervously as he moved smoothly through the crowd of women. He wasn't particularly daunted by the crowd, per se, but he certainly was on the lookout of one Lady Beth. Seemingly sweet, the woman had turned out to be a right shark as they spoke during the dance, and frankly the Prince was disgusted by the ease with which she spoke ill of her step sister. Aaron held Emily in the highest regard, and to hear someone else, much less her own step sister, speak so crudely of her was not helping Beth gain a favourable impression. Which was why the Prince was currently trying to avoid speaking to her.

But whoever said that a Prince would not have bad luck was clearly lying. Prince Aaron groaned when he heard a sickly sweet simpering voice calling him, "Prince Aaron?" Taking a deep breath, he plastered on the most polite smile he could muster under such tedious circumstances, "Yes, Lady Faith?" He accidentally-on-purpose gave the wrong name, and delighted in the vein that popped up on her forehead, throbbing angrily. Nonetheless, she gritted her teeth and smiled, "It's Lady Beth, your Highness." Clearing his throat, he nodded curtly, "Yes, do forgive me. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Beth smiled coyly, oh there are a lot of things you can do for me, especially in the bedroom. Tittering a little, she flipped her fan open, "I was wondering if you would like to dance a second time. After all, you've nearly danced with all the women and it is rather early still." Fluttering her eyelashes at him, Beth didn't notice the sudden paleness in the Prince's face. But luckily for Prince Aaron, his father had impeccable timing, and a loud booming voice startled the brunette into a shriek. "My apologies, my Lady. I'm afraid I must steal my son away for a moment. Surely you wouldn't hold that against an old man?"

Dave spared a glance at the woman, his steely gaze daring her to defy the King's orders. Beth blushed furiously and shook her face, "No, of course not your Highness! I shall see you later then, Prince Aaron. Your Majesties." Sliding into a hasty curtsey, Beth hurried away, tripping slightly on her gown. In the corner of the room, Erin rolled her eyes at her clumsy daughter and shot a glare at Dave. The two had history which was none to pleasant, at least on Erin's part. Dave, while never having told anyone what transpired between them, always admitted with a feral gleam in his eyes that he had way too much fun, presumably at the expense of Erin Strauss.

Emily twirled the spoon around the broth, wrinkling her nose at the lumpy soup that was her dinner. She smiled slightly at the anxious mice waving their tails as they watched her, as if waiting for her to break down into tears. Rising to retrieve a plate of crumbs, she set it in front of the mice, "Don't worry dears, you just enjoy your dinner and we'll…we'll find something to do later on." Giving them a valiant smile, she returned to the task of attacking her unpalatable dinner with vigour, trying to convince herself that she didn't mind not going to the ball, not seeing the boy she once loved and not having her happy ever after.

And yet, tears and tantrums were not the way Prentisses got things done, and Emily was determined that if she could not get to the ball that night, she would either suck it up and stop moaning about her misfortune, or find some way to get into the castle to see Prince Aaron. But would he remember her? Would he still want her, after the demise of his blonde love? Emily groaned and thumped her head against the wooden table. She had enough troubles and uncertainties in her life; worrying about Aaron would do no good to her. She needed a plan, and she needed to think.

Emily paced the floor, chewing her lip as she thought. She could use her relation with the King to gain entry, but the guards would never believe her, and then there would be the problem of getting out of the house without the Dragon Lady and Beth noticing. But then, she recalled a certain ritual her nonno had, to have the people come to the castle with grievances on certain days, and a tiny smile grew on her face when she realized that tomorrow was in fact, one of those days. If she could just get out in the pretense of procuring groceries, she would have just enough time to get out to the castle and find Aaron.

There were a lot of holes in her plan, but Emily didn't care. For once, she was going to be spontaneous and not plan every step of the way. Well, maybe not too much. She'd focus on getting into the caste and Aaron, and she'll worry about what will happen next. She had nothing to lose really, just her pride. And of course, her entire future. But she'll cross that bridge when she came to it.