Princess Fantasy D X-2
A/N: I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be another part of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!
If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
The Positronic Pumpkin
The setting sun stained the sky red, casting a surreal air over the lands. A ways away from the palace grounds, a brown stallion grazed serenely at the grass, occasionally looking at the viny patch of pumpkins nearby.
All of a sudden, green sparkles appeared around one of the pumpkins, and a second later, it started to bulge and swell at a rapid pace, writhing around like a living animal and making a dreadul rustling noise. The sight and sound alone was enough to make the stallion stumble away in fright.
If that wasn't enough, the pumpkin's many roots pulled themselves out of the ground, thickening and elongating until they resembled tentacles. Lashing around obscenely, they lifted the gourd's body off the ground, twisting and coiling around each other.
When everything finally stopped growing, the now-carriage-sized pumpkin was resting on top of a root system that somewhat resembled a coach chassis with coiled wheels. Two long roots stretched up behind it, and a tangle of roots formed a coach box in front. There were even glowing yellow blossom to the sides that resembled lanterns.
As the horse dared to move closer, an opening appeared in the side of the pumpkin, and a young woman's face looked out, her blue eyes filled with fear. She tried to reach out for it, but the thorny roots stretched over it like bars over a window, and the rest started to grow and wave about.
The brown stallion balked and galloped away, but a moment too late. The lashing vines lassoed its neck, body and mouth, constricting into a harness, collar, bridle, bit and reins. Slowly, the vines hauled the thrashing, whinnying horse back towards the fiendish pumpkin coach, forcibly hitching itself to it.
Barely a moment later, another flash of green sparkles appeared over the carriage's coach box, and a furry black cat emerged out of thin air. As the magic rippled over it, his body shifted, grew and transformed, until the cat was now a pudgy, fierce-looking coachman sitting on the coachbox. He looked himself over, a bit perplexed, then grinned in an all-too-feral way.
The woman trapped inside the pumpkin gasped. "Lucifer?!"
The cat-turned-coachman grabbed the reins and a whip-like root, and with a cackle and a crack, sent the tethered horse galloping off into the woods, the carriage rattling behind it.
Trapped inside the slimy, dark innards of the pumpkin coach, Cinderella felt like she was in a caricatural nightmare of her palace ball adventure, with the wonder and magic replaced with fear and darkness. The rough jostling of the carriage only served to heighten her fear of being carried off to who-knows-where. The only solace she had was the fact that her two mice friends, Jaq and Gus, had been transported into the pumpkin along with her.
She closed her eyes, the events of the past day chasing each other through her head. From the unbelievable moment the glass slipper ended up fitting Anastasia, to the shocked moment she found out that her wicked stepmother had enchanted Prince Charming into loving Anastasia instead of her, to the glorious moment she had reunited with Charming on the ship as it was leaving port and they had fallen in love all over again, and finally the horrifying moment when Lady Tremaine revealed her plan to have Anastasia impersonate Cinderella at their wedding that night.
One more bump jolted her thoughts back in order, and her mind set determinedly. She had said that she couldn't live in dreams if they were to come true, and with her "happily ever after" so close after all she'd been through, she was not going to let her dream end this way.
She pushed herself back upright and looked at Jaq and Gus. "We need to stop this thing!" she said.
"Right away, Cinderelly!" squeaked Jaq, saluting.
"Okay, okay! Chop-chop!" agreed Gus, a second behind.
The two mice scampered to the opening in the pumpkin and climbed out across the thorny, supporting vines. Jaq scaled upwards towards the coach box, while Gus clambered down towards the chassis.
Cinderella poked her head out to watch them go, before sneaking a glance at Lucifer. The transformed cat was looking back and forth across the darkening forest landscape, one hand was scratching his head under his hat, and his posture suggested confusion. It was apparent to Cinderella that he was lost.
Cinderella wasn't about to wait for Lucifer to find his bearings. "Gus! Can you reach the pin?" she called down. The mouse saluted and headed down to the bolt connecting the horse to the carriage. Meanwhile, knowing she wouldn't be able to get out of the carriage through the window, the young woman began throwing her weight against the side of the pumpkin, hoping to break through its thick shell.
Luckily for her, the pumpkin shell was merely thickened, not reinforced, and after a few desperate strikes, it finally split open, forming a hole big enough for her to clamber out. However, immeidately after that, she saw Lucifer's hat flying past her with Jaq clinging onto the brim.
"Jaq!" she cried in panic, trying to reach out for him, only to relax a bit when she saw the hat get hooked on one of the upraised roots behind the coach, the small mouse holding on for dear life. Trusting Jaq to take care of himself, she immediately began scaling the pumpkin side using the tangle of roots.
When she finally managed to haul herself to the top of the pumpkin, the first thing she noticed was that the path the coach was going down was somewhat familiar to her. The second and more important thing, to her horror, was Lucifer dangling a flailing Gus by the tail over his open mouth.
"Lucifer!" she shouted. "Let him go!"
The coachman glanced back at her with a surprised look, but then did as she said. Lucifer cackled madly as Gus dropped down towards the chassis and the dirt road flashing by.
"Gus, no!" Cinderella reached forward to catch him but she was too far away. Gus tumbled down and just managed to catch one of the chassis roots on his way down, but began to slip off.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jaq leapt down and grabbed his friend's arms, pulling him back to safety. Cinderella breathed a sigh of relief, then glared up at Lucifer, who was fixing her with a challenging, cocky glare.
Cinderella was about to pull the rooty coachbox out from under him, when something up ahead caught her eye and she gasped. Blinking, Lucifer turned around.
Although he hadn't realized it, his disoriented coach-driving had somehow taken them all the way back to their old home, and now the coach was galloping into the front yard of Lady Tremaine's manor. However, more importantly, directly in front of them and coming up fast, was the petrified statue form of an old woman in a cloak that Cinderella recognized immediately.
"Fairy Godmother?" she whispered in disbelief.
Lucifer shrieked as he realized he was on a direct collision course with the statue, and he frantically yanked at the reins. The horse whinnyed in fear and jerked to one side, but at the speeds they were going, the carriage swerved, fishtailed and almost tipped over, but didn't deviate from its path. Cinderella, Lucifer, Jaq, Gus and the horse all screamed as the coach skidded sideways straight for the petrified Fairy Godmother.
With an almighty crash, the coach slammed into the statue, and with an explosion of green sparks, burst into a thousand pieces of wood and pulpy shell. The horse toppled over and landed hard on its side, while Cinderella and the mice all went flying into the bushes and Lucifer went headfirst into a tree trunk. Knocked off balance by the impact, the stone figure fell over and thudded into the dirt.
Groaning, Cinderella pulled herself out of the foliage, feeling herself for injuries. Her ragged wedding dress was now even more ragged, her shoulder was sore from battering her way out of the coach, and her bare feet were grimy and bruised, but otherwise she was mostly in one piece.
"Jaq? Gus? Are you okay?"
"Oy-yoy," Jaq muttered, poking his head out of a pile of leaves nearby. "I'm okay, Cinderelly; how about you, Gus-Gus? Gus-Gus?"
Cinderella looked around, but the chubby mouse was nowhere to be seen. "Gus?! Gus, where are you?"
"Over here, Cinderelly!" squeaked Gus's voice, from somewhere amongst the debris. "But, er… are stone people supposed to have real people in them?"
"What?" Cinderella exclaimed, getting up, picking up Jaq and stumbling over to where she heard Gus speak. When she got there, she saw that the impact of the statue falling over had cracked the Fairy Godmother's statue's face, frozen into an expression of dismay, and a piece having fallen off entirely…
… revealing, beneath an apparent stone layer, a pale, wrinkly, flesh-and-blood cheek.
Cinderella was struck dumb. The only thing she could stutter out was, "F…F…Fairy Godmother? Is… is that you?" Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out and poked the exposed cheek.
The warm flesh twitched under her finger.
The woman blanched, not believing what she felt. "But what… what happened to you?"
Jaq hopped over her shoulder onto the statue's face. "Maybe she can tell us?" he suggested practically, pawing at her cracked stone mouth. The rock flaked away beneath his scrabbling, slowly exposing the elderly woman's lips.
His actions were abruptly stilled by the mouth coughing out a cloud of rock dust, and then curving into a relieved smile. "Oh, thank you so much, dearie."
Jaq yelped and fell off the statue, Cinderella gasped and fell onto her rear, and Gus hid behind her, shivering in fright.
"Just… give me a moment…" the petrified woman muttered, taking a deep breath. "Bibbidi… Bobbidi…Boo!"
In an instant, the statue's body was covered in sparkling white cracks, before it all suddenly exploded in a shower of white light and grey dust. Cinderella gave a small shriek that promptly turned into coughing as she tried to see through the smoke.
A second coughing voice promptly joined her, and the dust began to settle as someone helpfully waved it away. "Oh… my…" the matronly voice said, in between coughs, "I'm get… getting too old… for this…"
Cinderella, Jaq and Gus stared at the figure who was standing above them. Dressed in the familiar powder-blue robe and hood with lavender lining and bow was the Fairy Godmother, grimacing as she shook her stiffened limbs out. "Oh, goodness, I certainly am stiff!"
A long moment passed before Cinderella found her voice again. "Um… Fairy Godmother… why were you in that statue? And how has my stepmother got your wand?"
The Fairy Godmother sighed, her face regretful. "That is a long story… and unfortunately, it begins with me being careless…"
Several minutes later, when the Fairy Godmother finished her tale, Cinderella and her mouse friends were all but staring at her in near-disbelief.
Cinderella finally found her voice again. "…so let me summarize: in another time, the slipper wouldn't have fit Anastasia?"
A nod.
"And I would've made it down in time, shown the other slipper to the Duke and it would've fit me?"
Another nod.
"And I would've gone to the castle, married Prince Charming, and gotten my happily ever after?"
"That's right."
"But a year after that, you accidentally misplaced your wand and Anastasia found it? And when you went to get it back, she accidentally turned you to stone?"
Two nods, with the nodder looking increasingly remorseful.
"And then Stepmother used the wand to transport her and my stepsisters back in time to now? And then she used your magic to make the slipper fit Anastasia and cause everything that's happened so far?"
Jaq looked at Gus. "Is your head hurting too, Gus-Gus?"
"That's correct." The Fairy Godmother bowed her head. "Cinderella, I am so, so sorry. It was my duty to help your dreams come true; if I'd just been more careful with my wand, you'd still have the happy ending you've always wanted, and…"
Her words were stilled when Cinderella stood up, moved over to her, and softly hugged the older woman. "Godmother, please don't blame yourself. It was just an accident, and you don't need to apologize to me, not after all you've done to make my dreams come true."
Relieved tears came to the Fairy Godmother's eyes as she returned the embrace. "… thank you, child. You truly are your parents' daughter; I never knew anyone else as kind as them except for you."
Cinderella smiled as she ended the hug, but the smile quickly disappered. "Godmother, now that you're free, can you undo all the wickedness Stepmother has done without your wand?"
The Fairy Godmother sighed. "Alas, Cinderella, a fairy's wand is not just her magical focus, but also a vessel for tremendous magical energies. In a contest of raw magical power, even a novice holding a fairy wand would be stronger than myself without one."
Cinderella's face fell, but before she could say anything, a groan caught both their ears, and they turned to the base of a nearby tree to see Lucifer's corpulent form begin to come to. His bleary eyes blinked open to focus on Cinderella and her Godmother, before they almost bulged out of their sockets in shock.
Quickly, the Fairy Godmother swirled her hand in the air, collecting a handful of residual green magic dust that turned bright white in her palm, before pitching it straight at the transformed cat. Lucifer didn't even have time to run away before the magic caught him square in the chest and shrunk him back down to his regular form of a black cat. With a simple gesture, the Fairy Godmother sent the yowling feline flying into a nearby wooden washtub, which promptly up-ended over him.
Seeing Cinderella's surprised expression, the elderly woman gave a soft laugh. "However, that doesn't mean I am completely helpless without it. I still have a few wandless tricks up my sleeves."
Those words brought a hopeful smile to Cinderella's face. "Then that will have to be enough." She glanced up in the direction of the palace, where the sounds of the evening's event were starting to grow. "I'm not going to miss my own wedding."
The Fairy Godmother nodded half-absentmindedly; her own words had brought up a seed of an idea. "Yes, yes, my dear, but Tremaine certainly won't like that; she'll probably do anything to prevent you from interfering…"
The old lady began to pace, rolling the idea around in her head. "Then again, she wouldn't know how to fully harness my wand's potential… given how she travelled through time, she probably thinks that anything in the world is possible if you throw enough magic at it…"
Cinderella and the mice stared oddly at her, trying to make sense of her words. "Godmother?"
"… what we'll need is something to counter the magic, something so outlandish, so amazing, that she'll be too off-balance to react properly, which would give us the chance to get my wand back…" Her eyes fell on the remnants of the pumpkin scattered around the yard, and she bent down to pick up a piece. "… maybe… yes… yes, this could work!"
"You have an idea?" piped up Jaq.
"And there should be enough residual magic here for me to do it!" finished the Fairy Godmother, rubbing her fingers together and seeing the magic sparkle around them.
Now, Cinderella was intrigued. "Do you have something planned, Godmother?"
"Oh, just something that an old friend told me about a few years ago," the Fairy Godmother answered, as green magic dust materialized out of the air and flowed between her hands, the resulting cloud growing thicker and larger. "He was a wizard who could see into the future, and he once told me about something that would come to be in a few thousand years…"
"… and I think something as fantastical as that ought to be enough to throw Tremaine completely off guard, don't you?"
The air at the palace that evening was nothing short of festive, as all the nobility of the kingdom gathered to finally celebrate Prince Charming's marriage to Cinderella. The royal hall was furnished and decorated to within an inch of its life, everyone was dressed in their finest, and for those who had managed to see the Prince, they could see that the young man looked happier than he had ever looked in his life.
As to be expected, though, there were more than a few rumours about the event flitting around the guests, such as the ones about the Prince wooing another girl for the entirety of the day before abruptly changing his mind, that the girl had used sorcery to ensnare the Prince's charms, and the more bitter rumours that the Prince was lowering himself to marrying a commoner to prevent a scandal. However, in his many years of rule, King Audric had made no secret that he had married for love, and for the many nobles who had remembered the late Queen's kindness and devotion to her king and kingdom, they were at least resignedly hopeful that the Prince had inherited his father's eye and taste for good women.
Right now, the King himself was almost beside himself with joy, standing in the entrance hall beneath ringing brass bells. He glanced at the lovely girl, Cinderella, beside him, ready to lead her to where she would wed Prince Charming.
"Oh, thank you, my dear," he said quietly, beaming with fatherly pride, "This is all his mother and I ever wanted. To know that our son has found his true love."
However, unbeknownst to him, the girl standing next to him was not the Cinderella his son had fallen in love with, but instead was Anastasia, the child of the conniving, ambitious Lady Tremaine. Cinderella's wicked stepmother had used the stolen wand to get the real Cinderella out of the way and turn Anastasia into a perfect replica of Cinderella herself. Now, once her daughter was married to the Prince, Tremaine's phantom grip over the kingdom would be secure.
However, unbeknownst to her, Anastasia was starting to get second thoughts about the whole deception. Even disguised as she was, she could not hide her expression of uncertainty and doubt.
"So… you know it's love when you touch someone's hand, right?" she wondered, glancing in puzzlement at a hand that wasn't her own. The whole idea of feeling true love by that simple act just seemed a bit ludicrous to her. "At least, that's what I've heard."
King Audric just chuckled at the benign question. "Why yes! That's what I've always thought."
Lost in thought, Anastasia reached behind her and took out a small seashell, the one that King Audric had given her when he told her about his beautiful but unconventional queen, and how they had fallen in love. But before she could ask any more, Mendelssohn's famous Wedding March began to resonate through the hall.
Anastasia's heart wedged itself firmly in her throat as her nerves began to quiver. Doing her best to keep up her calm veneer, she took King Audric's hand and entered the hall at his side. As the two of them entered the expansive hall, all the spectators turned around to watch the procession.
At the far end of the hall, near the altar, Anastasia could see the white-suited form of Prince Charming, who was still beaming with joy. But through a small crack in the gold curtains lining the back of the altar, she could just see her stepmother's conniving smirk in the shadows.
That alone unsettled her.
She looked back at Charming. The moment she'd dreamed about, the dream her mother always wanted for her, the day she'd be married to a handsome man of nobility – the Crown Prince no less! – and increasing her standing in high society, was finally here.
But to Anastasia, it all felt… wrong.
Before she knew it, she was beside Charming in front of the diminutive priest, with the King and the Grand Duke sitting on thrones watching in anticipation. "Dearly beloved," spoke the priest, "we are gathered here together…"
The priest's words barely registered in Anastasia's mind, as tumultuous as it was. The questions of whether what her mother wanted was what she really wanted, and if not, what was it that she really wanted, were spinning so rapidly through her mind that she felt dizzy, and the butterflies in her stomach from the ceremony itself only made the feelings worse. Add the icy sensation of Lady Tremaine's eyes on her, and it was all she could do to keep smiling.
Her reverie was interrupted by Prince Charming leaning over to whisper lovingly to her, "My one and only Cinderella." Anastasia couldn't help but acknowledge the happy look on his face, now that he was marrying the one that he loved.
But he wasn't. He was marrying a girl that only had the face of the one he loved, a girl with a face not her own, and that thought, more than anything else, caused Anastasia to drop her false smile. The whole idea that she was being loved for not being herself, that she was getting someone else's happy ending, made her sick to her stomach.
It was then that she heard the fateful words from the priest. "Do you, Cinderella, take Prince Charming as your lawfully wedded husband?"
Anastasia's throat seized up. She could feel everyone's eyes, Prince Charming's, the priest's, the King's, her mother's, all focused on her. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to get the words out, but failing.
"I… I…"
It was like some part of her, struggling for control, did not want those words to come out. Her mother's voice echoed in her head, shouting at her to say the words that would cement their position in royalty, but another voice, sounding strangely like Cinderella's, was shouting back, slowly drowning out the opposition, until its questions were all she could hear.
Will you be happy, Anastasia? Do you really love him?
Is this really what you want?
She almost heard a pop when she finally realized that this was not what she wanted at all.
"…don't."
The gasping that filled the hall snapped her back to reality. Prince Charming was holding her hand, looking like he'd just been slapped in the face. The priest was looking up at her in confusion, and although she couldn't see her mother, she could sense that the old woman had been stunned speechless.
A voice from behind her spoke up in amazement. "Anastasia…"
Anastasia turned around, to see the real young woman whose face she currently wore staring at her in abject amazement. But what had Anastasia dumbfounded was that not only had Cinderella had gotten here in the first place, she was wearing something that no-one had ever seen before.
Clinging to every curve she had below her neck was a silver-blue bodysuit that seemed to be made of silk, with dark blue patterns on the bosom and stomach. Her arms were left bare except for fingerless blue forearm gloves, and a sash of fluffy satin covered her hips. Her thigh-high boots had bows on top, and her strawberry-blonde hair hung down around her shoulders.
"Cinderella…" Anastasia replied with equal astonishment.
Beside her, Prince Charming was staring at the two identical women with a look of dawning understanding.
Behind them both, the priest, overcome at seeing two of the same women, fainted.
It was at that moment that Lady Tremaine emerged from behind the curtain, her elderly face suffused with fury, her other daughter Drizella close behind her. "Spoiled little ingrate!" she snarled at Anastasia. "I've given you everything you ever wanted, Anastasia!"
"But I want someone to love me, for me!" Anastasia cried. "This… this isn't what I want at all!"
Seeing the wicked stepmother, Prince Charming's expression turned as black as thunder, but that was nothing compared to his father's, who had turned a livid-purple. "Guards! Guards! Seize that woman!" he bellowed.
From all over the hall, a crowd of spear-toting guards stormed in, converging on the altar, but Lady Tremaine was not about to surrender that easily. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" she shouted, drawing the Fairy Godmother's stolen wand from her sleeve and aiming it at the ceiling.
A burst of poisonous-green magic flew out the tip and swirled into a green vortex of magic, drawing horrified gasps from the assembly. With a gesture, Tremaine directed a bolt of magic down from the vortex onto a cluster of guards, and in a shower of sparkles, turned them all into clucking chickens in guard uniforms. King Audric and the Grand Duke gaped at the sight, the latter's monocle falling off.
Cinderella's breath hitched at the sight, but she didn't lose her nerve. "Fairy Godmother, now!" she shouted.
At her words, her clothes shimmered with silvery light, and a cloud of sparkling silver dust flowed through the open door, down the hall, and pooled around her feet. The next second, it erupted in a huge cloud of sparkling smoke, completely hiding her from view.
Before anyone had a chance to exclaim or react to this, the cloud blew away, and what was revealed left everyone completely speechless. Standing tall in front of them was a huge pale-blue pumpkin the size of a carriage, with two windows carved out the front. It balanced on two spindly, viny, bird-like legs that were attached to a seat-like leaf sprouting out the back, and it was this leaf that Cinderella was currently sitting on. On either side of her were two handle-like branches that grew from either side of the pumpkin, and from that same point sprouted two more arm-like branches, each mounted with an odd brass cannon-like contraption. A lantern hanging from the seat and a strange tiara sitting on the very top of the pumpkin completed the odd plant-machine.
At that moment, the Fairy Godmother's face looked out of one of the carriage's windows, her expression stern. "Excuse me, Madame, but I believe that you have something of mine."
Lady Tremaine was completely taken aback. "W… what?" she stuttered. "Where… where did you get that?"
"A Fairy Godmother is never completely helpless without her wand, Stepmother," Cinderella answered. With two tugs of the handles, the newly-created Squash Strider aimed both of its tri-barrelled cannon arms straight at Lady Tremaine and Drizella. "Now please, put down the wand and surrender, and no-one else has to get hurt."
For a brief moment, the thought of surrendering in the face of such firepower crossed Lady Tremaine's mind, but it was quickly swept away by the thought of losing to her wayward stepdaughter for a second time, and the rage almost made her snap the wand in her grip. "No… you will not take my victory from me… not again!" she snapped, whipping the wand and sending another bolt of magic down at Cinderella.
Cinderella ducked just in time and the bolt flew past her head. "Shellter!" she cried, causing the Squash Strider's crown to flare up, releasing a flurry of glowing light beams from its blue core. Weaving together, the beams laced themselves into a semi-spherical barrier that covered the Strider's body, in time to intercept another magical barrage from Tremaine's vortex. Although the bolts shook the shield and sent the Strider rocking, the bio-mech's defenses held.
Recovering from the attack, the once-beleaguered maidservant tugged at the controls and aimed both cannons at her stepmother. "Then you leave me no choice. I won't let you ruin anyone else's lives for your own ambition!"
Her right and left cannons pulsed pink and white respectively. "Sleep Shell! Silence Shell!" she called, and twin bursts of light erupted from the barrels, flying straight at her stepmother.
This time, it was Lady Tremaine's turn to erect a defense, and with an upward sweep of the wand, a wall of green force rose from the ground around the raised dais, intercepting the attacks. The sight only served to redouble her confidence.
"And you're certainly doing a good job of that, aren't you? Hahaha!" she sneered.
The loud bang from the bursting shells against the barrier managed to shake Prince Charming's thoughts back together, after being shocked so many times in the last few minutes. He watched Lady Tremaine laugh mockingly as she rained magic down upon the Squash Strider, and at Cinderella try to keep her balance and mount a counterattack. But he also saw that the wicked woman, fixated on her stepdaughter, had forgotten all about him and the remaining guardsmen, as well as not noticing that she had penned them in with her.
Unluckily though, as Charming drew his sword and advanced on Lady Tremaine, Drizella turned at exactly the wrong moment and spotted him. "Mother, behind you!" she squawked.
The elderly woman turned to see the prince bearing down on her, blade glinting in the green light. She managed to back away in time to avoid being cleaved in two, but the Prince managed to catch hold of her wand-hand. "Guards, move in!" he barked, struggling with her.
"Let go of me!" Lady Tremaine hollered, trying to avoid his weapon and break away from the young man to no avail. She looked in both directions to see the two remaining squads of guards closing in on her and Drizella, and no way to bring her wand to bear to get Charming off her, let alone stop the guards before they reached her. Then her eyes fell on her loyal daughter, and a mad idea suddenly flashed through her mind.
"Drizella, protect me!" she shouted, just managing to flick the wand in her direction. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!"
"Wha- Mother!" Drizella shrieked, moments before another stream of magic shot down and enveloped her entirely.
Anastasia gasped at the callousness of the action. "Drizella!" she cried. On the other side of the shield, Cinderella was equally dumbstruck.
A second later, the magic vanished, revealing Drizella standing silently there, but dressed in an entirely different manner. Her poofy dress was replaced with a slim bodysuit in an eye-watering chartreuse color, with a darkened front, cords around the symbol-marked shoulders, and pink and purple bands around the cuffs and ankles. A pair of matching sashes rode on her hips, and a dark flat-topped hat sat on her dark hair, which now flowed loosely around her head. In one hand she held a dual-curved fan-like weapon with a curved, sharpened outer edge.
The most telling difference, though, was her expression. Her perpetual scowl was gone, her face blank, and most alarmingly, her eyes were now shimmering-green, spark-less pits.
Drizella raised her weapon. "As you wish, Mother," she said in a tone that lacked all emotion.
With that, she darted forward, all trace of her normal gracelessness gone. Her fan shone with icy-blue dust, and when she swung it forward, a gust of cold wind blew forth and sent one group of guards tumbling backwards, chilled to the bone.
Once again, Charming was struck dumb, but even though he managed to regain his composure within a heartbeat, that was still enough time for Lady Tremaine to pull herself free. Sword drawn, Charming made to go after her, but Drizella appeared in front of him to parry his blade with her fan, after freeze-blowing the other group of guards back the way they came.
"How can you do this?" Charming snarled at Tremaine. "Your own daughter, and you're using her like a puppet! Have you no love for your own flesh and blood?" Metal clanged against metal as Drizella swiped at him over and over, each of her strikes blocked, parried and countered.
"It is just a daughter's duty to her mother," Lady Tremaine hissed back, whipping the wand to send yet another blast down upon Cinderella, "to do her bidding without question! Something my precious stepdaughter should've done from the start, if she had wanted to keep the life I gave her!"
"Booster! Suppress Shell! Pierce Shell!" The woman's tirade was interrupted by a heated shout from the stepdaughter in question. The Squash Strider's tiara flared with bronze light, and almost faster than the eye could see, the mech leapt aside to dodge the blast. Seconds later, a blue cannon blast made the green barrier flicker and spark alarmingly, and the following purple blast broke through entirely.
Lady Tremaine blanched as the Strider stepped forward, its cannon arms brushing the remnants of the barrier aside. Cinderella's expression was set like marble, but the fire burning in her eyes showed that she had reached the end of her patience.
"And what would that life lead to, stepmother?" The icy tone of Cinderella's voice belied the heat just under its surface. "Cooking? Cleaning? Washing floors? Listening to you bully, belittle and chain me for the rest of my years? You turned me into a slave in my own home!"
More bolts dropped from the vortex as Lady Tremaine frantically gestured at her, but the Strider sidestepped each and every one at blurring speed. "And why? Just to deny me a chance to make my dreams come true? To increase your chances of getting wealth and social status?"
With a tug of the handle, one cannon pointed straight at Lady Tremaine, all three barrels glowing. Eyes flashing, Cinderella finished, "I hope it was all worth getting this far, because this madness stops here. Now I'll tell you again: Drop the wand."
Lady Tremaine's fingers were white where they clutched the wand. "Drizella!" she cried, slashing the wand down.
With its speed boosted, Cinderella and the Strider had already moved by the time the bolts hit the ground, but Drizella still managed to see where they went. She pushed Charming away and flung a burst of cold wind at the Squash Strider, but although it made contact, the still-active Shellter barrier considerably blunted the attack, and the Strider just wobbled on one foot for a second before regaining its balance. Drizella made to move to her mother's side, but Charming interposed himself between the two of them, and Drizella was forced to engage him once again, blades flashing.
"How much magic does it take to deal with two pests?!" Lady Tremaine fumed. "Drizella, stop playing around and finish them! Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" With yet another flick of the wand, another stream shot down towards Drizella. Her daughter quickly locked her fan with Charming's sword, forced it down, and twisted her body so that the stream would strike her in the back.
"No, you don't!" Charming shouted, realizing just what that bolt would do to her. Deftly, he tilted his blade, dislodging Drizella's fan and throwing her off balance, giving him an opportunity to shove her away. As she stumbled to the side, Charming moved forward and brought his sword in the path of the magical bolt, flat side out.
All eyes fell on the stream of green sparkles as it ricocheted off the metal blade and flew straight towards Anastasia.
Anastasia gasped as the magic struck, wrapping around her like a streamer. Her Cinderella disguise melted away, revealing her red hair and plain features, while her wedding dress transmuted into a bodysuit almost exactly like Drizella's, but in shades of deep magenta instead of green. The other aspects of the outfit were similar (black shoes, pink cuffs, flat-top hat, corded shoulders), but the sashes around her waist were orange and purple, her shoulders were instead covered with large, decorated pauldrons, and the long blade she held had only one curved edge instead of two.
When Anastasia didn't move for a long moment, Cinderella took a step towards her. "…Anastasia?"
Finally, her stepsister turned to look at her, and to her relief, her eyes weren't green, but her ordinary black. "Cinderella, I want to say I'm sorry for how we treated you all these years. We were jealous of your happiness and beauty, and we destroyed your dreams and made you suffer out of spite."
Raising her fan blade like a rapier, she turned to point it at Lady Tremaine, her face set. "The least I can do to apologize is to prevent this from going any farther. Mother, I will not allow your ambitions to decide our fates, hers or mine."
"… You… will not allow ME?" Lady Tremaine sputtered, almost too outraged to speak. "I am your mother, you ungrateful wretch! You are supposed to obey me!"
For the first time in her life, Anastasia stared her mother's anger in the face without flinching. "I only did so out of love, Mother, the love I hoped I'd receive from you. But now, I know you will never give it no matter what I do…
"… And I don't want it from someone as cruel as you."
"You… you… I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS INSOLENCE FROM YOU!" Lady Tremaine all but screeched, her face a raging mixture of white and red. She brandished the wand, and three more bolts of magic descended on Anastasia.
"Stop!" Cinderella shouted, flexing the controls. In one swift leap, the Squash Strider was standing over Anastasia, its Shellter shield glowing. This time, the furious fusillade of magic finally managed to shatter the shield, but both Cinderella and Anastasia remained untouched.
Before her wicked stepmother could follow up, Cinderella aimed one cannon straight at her and barked, "Blind Shell!" In a flash of shadowy energy, a dark bolt issued from the cannon and unfolded into what looked like a thick black scarf, which wrapped itself around Lady Tremaine's face.
"Aargh!" she shrieked, flailing around aimlessly and trying to tear the blind off her face. "Drizella, stop them!"
Obediently, Drizella sent another chilling gale at Cinderella, but this time, Anastasia was the one to stop her. Her own fan flared with red heat, and when she swung it, a wave of flame roared out. Hot met cold in mid-air, and wisps of flame flew in all directions as both attacks smothered the other.
Heedless of the temperatures, Drizella charged for them, blade raised, but in a clash that drew sparks, Anastasia deflected her older sister's attack with her own fan. "Go! Get the wand!" she called, countering with a slice that Drizella just managed to parry.
"You will not!" screeched Lady Tremaine. In her blind frenzy to defend herself, the waving wand sent bolts of magic flying from its tip and from the vortex's core all over the hall. Spectators screamed and ducked beneath their seats to avoid the onslaught.
Dodging another stray bolt, Charming looked at Cinderella, and a moment of clarity passed between them. With a nod, the Squash Strider made for Lady Tremaine with the prince sprinting close behind.
Charming ducked underneath the Strider's swinging arms as it batted bolts of magic aside with its cannons, deflected one last shot with his sword, and crossed the last few steps to finally reach Lady Tremaine again. Not having time to be a gentleman, he knocked aside her wand hand with the pommel of his weapon, grabbed her wrist, and twisted it up behind her back, slowly forcing the wailing woman to her knees.
Anastasia and Drizella's fans flashed and twirled as both sisters struggled against each other, striking, blocking, countering, parrying and striking again. Finally, when a feint from Anastasia left Drizella's arm out of place, a quick strike to the wrist from her younger sister's fan made her drop her fan altogether.
Before Drizella could move to retrieve her weapon, Anastasia jumped back and swept her fan upwards, and instantly, a geyser of water erupted beneath Drizella's feet and catapulted her into the air. She floundered to regain her footing, but a stray blast from her mother's vortex struck her in mid-air. The next moment, a green toad with dark ringlets landed on the ground next to Anastasia, blinking in dismay.
Through all the chaos, as her mech sidestepped and leapt around the falling magic, Cinderella was chanting, the Fairy Godmother's wisdom of the spell cast on her flowing through her mind. With every word, the Squash Strider's crown and cannon barrels pulsed with growing magical power.
"Salago-doola menchicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo… put them together and what have you got?"
As the magical bolts struck the ground all around her, Cinderella glared up at the convulsing vortex as the pulsing light reached blinding levels.
"Bibbidi… Bobbidi… BOOM!"
With a roar, the Squash Strider's cannons erupted with the brightest blast of light yet, illuminating the entire church hall as dual beams of white energy streaked up at the vortex. The beams flew right into the center of the vortex and, with a concussion that almost made the whole building shake, blew the whole thing into wisps of green smoke and a shower of white and green sparkles.
A second later, a magical backlash surged from the wand down into Lady Tremaine's hand, enveloping her in a cloud of green magic. The next moment, Charming was staring down at another wrinkled green toad with a grey hairdo, while the wand clattered to the ground a few feet away.
Slowly, the Grand Duke poked his head over the side of his throne, holding onto the three guards that were originally turned into chickens. "Is… is it over?" he quavered.
The adrenaline from watching the hotly contested battle from just a few feet away was slowly draining out of King Audric. "I can't take much more of this…" he moaned.
As Charming signalled the recovering guards to take custody of the transformed Lady Tremaine and Drizella, a wisp of silver dust flew out of the Squash Strider's window and materialized into the Fairy Godmother, who bent down and picked up her wand in relief. "Oh, thank goodness!" she breathed, polishing it with her sleeve.
Anastasia watched as her mother and sister were loaded into cages and taken away, head bowed in remorse. What was to happen to her now, as an accomplice to her mother's machinations? Even after her actions this evening, would anyone ever forgive her? Would Cinderella?
A hand on her shoulder made her turn around, and the intensely grateful look on her stepsister's face answered that question.
"Anastasia… thank you," said Cinderella, giving her a hug. Anastasia just stood there stunned for a second, then a smile spread over her face and she hugged her back.
After the two women released each other, Cinderella turned to see Charming approaching her, an amazed look on his face. "Cinderella… you're amazing…"
The young woman blushed and smiled. Charming smiled in return, and the two reached out to link hands. As soon as their fingers touched, a familiar jolt of electricity and emotion coursed through them, and like all the times before, they just knew that the person whose hand they now held was truly their one true love. If it was possible, their smiles grew even bigger.
While the Prince and his love lost themselves in each other's eyes, Anastasia walked over to the bemused king, holding out his wife's seashell. "Your Majesty… I don't deserve this."
King Audric looked at the shell, then at the remorseful young woman. With a kindly smile, he took Anastasia's outstretched hand and closed her own fingers back over the shell. "Everyone deserves true love," he answered.
Anastasia stood there stunned for the second time in a row, before an even bigger smile than before blossomed over her face and she gave the king a huge hug, causing him to chuckle and hug her back.
"Ah, that should do it!" the Fairy Godmother declared, giving her wand a flick and seeing the sparkles come out the end. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!" With a wave, a shower of silver dust flew out and swirled around Cinderella. The Squash Strider evaporated into mist, as Cinderella's silver jumpsuit dissolved into the gorgeous silvery wedding gown that she had always dreamed about, but with a strange card in her hand. Despite everything that had happened previously, the watching crowd gasped in amazement and wonder at her dress's beauty.
"Thank you," Cinderella whispered, a blissful smile on her face. She turned back to Charming, who gathered her up in his arms and spun her around in joy.
"You know, Cinderella," the Fairy Godmother commented, walking up to them, "with my wand returned, I can restore the two of you to your former lives."
Charming looked confused. "Former lives?" he repeated.
"Why, yes! You see…" the Fairy Godmother began, but stopped when Cinderella shook her head with a smile.
"I don't think that will be necessary, Godmother. What we've got here is good enough, don't you think?"
The elderly woman glanced at Charming's happy, but puzzled face, and nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. Never mind then."
Blinking as the Fairy Godmother sidled away, Charming glanced at Cinderella. "What was that all about?"
Still smiling, Cinderella reached up to stroke his face tenderly. "I'll tell you about it some other time dear, after we're married." But then she caught herself. "That is… if everyone still says its okay."
"Well of course it's okay!" boomed King Audric, having heard her words. "I'd be mad to turn down a daughter-in-law as courageous and as fit for my son as you! And I certainly don't hear any objections from me or anyone else… right?" he added, turning around. The few spectators that were still eyeing Cinderella with suspicious looks quickly ducked their heads.
At this, Cinderella beamed so brightly it could've lit up the night sky outside. "Then I do."
Upon hearing those words, the priest came to. Still on autopilot, he brought his bible to his face and babbled, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." Then, he fainted again.
But Cinderella and Prince Charming barely noticed, for they had instantly embraced and kissed for the first time. The entire crowd sighed at the adorable sight, and King Audric collapsed in his throne, relieved that it was all over. Above them, Jaq and Gus ecstatically showered the new couple with flower petals.
The Fairy Godmother chuckled as she began to restore the transformed guards. "Oh, Merlin is never going to believe this story!"
Well, here's another chapter ready for everyone! Hope you enjoy it!
Sorry for the wait; after exams, I had to deal with two months of summer school, and then those exams, and only now have I got my muse back. And even then, my family's holiday has kept my writing time at a minimum. But with my summer holiday truly underway, maybe I can get more mileage this time!
Skirtzzz, thank you so, so much for waiting again! I know it's been a long time, but I really hope you enjoy this installment! And with Anastasia and Drizella's costumes too!
Find Cinderella's Machina Maw costume, created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces):
skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / art / Machina – Maw – Cinderella – 333533999
And as a bonus, find Anastasia and Drizella's Goon costumes here (scrap all the spaces):
skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / art / Anastasia – and – Drizella – Goons – 345399107
Review and Critique please; I'd really like to know someone's reading this! But please, no flaming!
Next Chapter: The Sinister Spindle