The Little Silver Slippers: The Story of Winry
Summary: When Winry's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable Ham-Hams and her Fairy Grandmother.
Orginal story by Charles Perrualt
Cinderella by Disney
Fullmetal Alchemist and its characters by Hiromu Arakawa
Hamtaro and its characters by Ritsuko Kawai
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Amestris, a beautiful girl named Winry Rockbell lived with her devoted father, Yuriy. Winry's mother, Sarah, had passed away years before, and her father decided that she needed a new mother. He married again, giving Winry a stepmother and two stepsisters. He hoped this would make his little girl happy.
When Winry's father suddenly passed away, she was heartbroken. The poor girl quickly discovered that her stepmother, Lady Dietlinde Eckhart, was cold, cruel and bitterly jealous of Winry's charm and beauty. Her stepsisters, Marguerite and Angelica, were equally cruel.
After some time passed, Winry became a servant in her own home, but she still dreamed of happiness. Despite how her stepfamily treated her, she remained ever gentle and kind, especially to the ainmals, her devoted friends.
One morning, Winry rescued a new hamster from a trap. She gave new clothes and named him Hamtaro. "Boss," she said to another hamster, "maybe you'd better explain things to him. Don't forget to warn him about the cat!"
Winry left Hamtaro with Boss and began her chores. The first order of business was to give Dante, Lady Dietlinde's cat, his breakfast. Hamtaro wasn't afraid of the cat!
While the water heated for her stepfamily's tea, Winry fed the animals in the yard. The hamsters were eager to get their share.
But Dante was blocking the doorway! The hamsters drew straws to see whou would distract the cat so the others could dash outside.
It was up to Boss! He crept toward Dante and kicked the cat's leg out from under him. Splash! Dante fell into his milk bowl!
Dante chased Hamtaro all over the room. Hamtaro hid in the wall, where Dante couldn't get to him. He waved his hat to let the other hamsters know it was safe for them to go get their breakfast.
Winry had been waiting for the hamsters. "Breakfast is served," she said when they appeared. She scattered plump kernels of corn on the ground.
When Hamtaro went back inside, he found himself face-to-face with Dante!
Dante trapped Hamtaro under one of three teacups. Just as he began lifting the cups, the bell rang. Lady Dietlinde and her daughters wanted their breakfast right away.
Dante ducked under the tablecloth when Winry came inside to get the breakfast trays ready. He waited for the righth moment to snatch Hamtaro.
But that moment never came. Winry whisked the trays off, unaware that she carried a stowaway.
"Winry! Winry!!" Lady Dietlinde and her daughters called shrilly from their bedrooms.
"Coming! Coming!" Winry yelled.
Shortly after Winry had delievered breakfast, Marguerite shrieked when she found Hamtaro under her cup. She called for her mother and pointed at Winry. "You did it on purpose!!" she said.
Winry was summoned back to Lady Dietlinde's room. "It seems that we have time on our hands," said Lady Dietlinde, "time for vicious practical jokes. Perhaps we can put it to better use." She gave Winry a long list of extra chores - including giving Dante a bath.
Meanwhile, at the palace, King Van Hohenheim was upset that Prince Edward Elric was still unmarried. He told the Grand Duke, Roy Mustang to invite every eligible maiden to a ball so that his son could find a bride.
An invitation to the ball came to the house that very day! Lady Dietlinde read it aloud. "By royal command, every eligible maiden is to attend."
Her daughters squealed with excitement.
"And I'm so eligible!!" said Marguerite.
"Every maiden? Why, that means I can go too!" exclaimed Winry.
Marguerite and Angelica sneered at her, but Lady Dietlinde agreed that Winry could go - if she finished her chores and found something suitable to wear.
In the attic, Winry found an old yellow dress. "Isn't it lovely?" she asked her friends. "It was my mother's." She considered it. "Maybe it is a little old fashion, but oh, I'll fix that." Just then, her stepfamily called.
Winry's stepsisters tossed armloads of garments at her. Each one, they declared needed mending and ironing at once. Lady Dietlinde gave her even more chores.
Meanwhile, the hamsters and the birds retrieved the stepsisters' discared sash and beads. With some stitching and folding, they turned Winry's simple dress into a fabulous ball gown!
With no time to get ready, Winry went back to her attic room and gazed out her window at the shining palace. "Oh well. What's a Royal Ball? I suppose it would be frightfully dull," she said, trying to comfort herself, "and completely...completely wonderful."
Suddenly, Winry saw her new dress.
"Surprise!" squeaked the hamsters.
"Why, it's such a surprise! Oh, thank you so much!!" Winry exclaimed and quickly got dressed.
Winry hurried down the stairs.
"Wait! Please!" she called.
When Marguerite and Angelica saw Winry in her lovely dress, they flew into a jealous riage. "Why, you little thief!!" Marguerite exclaimed. They ripped the dress, pulling off the sash and yanking the beads. Lady Dietlinde just stood and watched. At last, she ordered her daughters to the carriage. She smugly and cruelly glared at her stepdaughter and followed them out.
Now Winry had no hope of going to the ball and meeting the Prince. She ran, heartbroken, to the garden and sobbed. "There's nothing left to beileve in," she said. "Nothing!!"
"Oh, but you don't really believe that, my dear," a comforting voice said. Winry's Fairy Grandmother, Pinako had appeared!
"If you'd lost all your faith, I couldn't be here. And here I am."
Winry hadn't given up on her dreams after all.
Winry's Fairy Grandmother insisted that Winry was going to the ball. She waved her magic wand and turned a simple pumpkin into an elegant coach and the hamsters into horses! A horse became a coachman and the family dog, Den, became a footman. Then Pinako noticed Winry's ripped clothing.
The Fairy Grandmother pointed her magic wand at Winry said, "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" Suddenly, Winry was wearing a beautiful pink dress and sparkling silver slippers that look like diamonds and glass!
"It's like a dream," Winry said as she prepared to leave for the ball. "A wonderful dream come true."
"Yes, like all dreams, well, I'm afraid this one can't last forever." Her Fairy Grandmother explained that Winry must be home before midnight, when everything would change back.
At the palace, one young woman after another was called to step forward and meet Prince Edward. King Van Hohenheim couldn't understand why the prince wasn't interested in any of the girls.
Marguerite and Angelica took their turns together. They curtsied before Edward, but he was looking at someone behind them.
Winry had appeared at the end of the ball. Prince Edward hurried to her side. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen! She was the one he had been waiting for!
King Van Hohenheim motioned to the musicians and they struck up dreamy waltz. The Prince and Winry swirled across the dance floor. And the King went happily off to bed.
"Who is she, Mother?" the stepsisters asked.
"I don't know, but she does seems familiar," said Lady Dietlinde.
After many dances, Prince Edward took Winry for a moonlit stroll across the bridge. The two were falling in love.
Winry had lost all track of time. It was nearly midnight! "Good-bye!" Winry called to Edward as she hurried away.
"Wait! Come back! I don't even know your name! How will I ever find you?!" he called.
Both Edward and Grand Duke Mustang tried to stop her, but Winry ran off, losing a glass silver slipper along away.
Winry hurried back to the transformed pumpkin. Grand Duke Mustang cried, "Follow that coach!!" Winry's horses galloped away with the king's men in pursuit. Then the clock struck midnight.
Everyone and everything returned to normal. But Winry still had one glass silver slipper. She smiled and thanked her fairy grandmother for a magical evening.
Back at the palace, Grand Duke Mustang told the King that the girl his son loved had vanished. Furious at the Duke's words, Van Hohenheim yelled, "Traitor! Sabotage!!"
"I tried to stop her!" said Mustang. "All we could find was this glass silver slipper."
Edward says that he would marry the girl whose foot fit the slipper - and no one else.
King Van Hohenheim demanded that the glass silver slipper be used to find the girl.
"Find her! Scour the kingdom, but find that girl!" he shouted to Mustang.
The next morning, Winry overheard Lady Dietlinde telling her daughters that the Grand Duke was searching for the girl who had lost the glass silver slipper. Whoever fit the slipper perfect would marry the Prince.
Winry went to her room, not quite believing what she had heard. Prince Edward had fallen in love with her, just as she had fallen in love with him! Then Lady Dietlinde appeared.
Without saying a word, Lady Dietlinde locked Winry in her room and pocketed the key. She had realized that Winry was the girl the Prince was searching for.
"Please! You can't do this to me! Please, let me out!!" cried Winry. But Lady Dietlinde ignored her.
When Grand Duke Mustang arrived, Lady Dietlinde and her daughters hurried to greet him. "You honor our humble home. May I present my daughters?" Lady Dietlinde hoped one of her girls would fit the slipper.
While the Grand Duke explained that every maiden in Amestris must try on the slipper, Hamtaro and Boss managed to get the key to Winry's room.
Each of the stepsisters tried to squeeze her big foot into the delicate little slipper. But it was no use. "I don't understand why! It always fit perfectly before!" Marguerite said.
The Grand Duke knew neither stepsister was the girl Prince Edward sought. "Are there any other maidens in the household?" he asked.
"There is no one else, Your Grace," said the Stepmother.
As Duke Mustang was about to leave, Winry appeared at the top of the stairs. Her animals friends had freed her just in time! "Your Grace, please wait! May I try it on?" she asked.
"Of course," said the Duke. "Every girl must have a chance. Please, sit down."
"I forbid you to do this!" Lady Dietlinde screamed.
"And I forbid you to forbid her! Who are you to stop a Duke of the king? Are you an empress? A saint? A deity?" he demanded.
"I am her mother,"she said.
Winry said curtly, "No. You have never been. And you will never be my mother."
The Grand Duke called his footman to bring the shoe over. But then Lady Dietlinde tripped him with his cane and the slipper fell! Crash! - It shattered into a thousand pieces before Winry could try it on.
Duke Mustang wailed. He didn't know know he would ever explain this to the King.
But Winry still had the other slipper in her pocket. The Grand Duke slid the shoe onto her foot. It was a perfect fit.
Then suddenly, her Fairy Grandmother appeared. Touching Winry's rags with her wand, she changed into a ball gown that was more magnificent than any she had wore before.
The stepfamily threw themselves at her feet and begged for forgiveness for all their bad treatment of her.
Winry smiled to Lady Dietlinde and told her, " I want you to know that I will forget you after this moment and never think of your again. But you, I am quite certain will think about me every single day for the rest of your life."
"And how long might that be?" Lady Dietlinde asked quietly.
Winry looks up to the Grand Duke. "All I ask Your Grace, is that you show her the same courtesy that she has bestowed upon me."
Sometime later, Lady Dietlinde and her daughters moved into the palace cellar and dressed in old rags, much to their horror. There, the King's royal servants gave them orders on how to run the place. The first order of business was the laundry. After the laundry supervisor points out their work, Lady Dietlinde said to her daughters, "Well, you heard the woman."
"So did you," said Angelica.
"Yes, but I'm management," she replied.
"Like heck you are! You're just the same as us, a big nobody!!!" Marguerite shrieked.
"How dare you little ingrates speak to me that way? I'm of noble blood!!" Lady Dietlinde shot back.
"And you three are getting on my nerves!" said the laundry supervisor, who knocks them into a vat of dye with a bag laundry.
All of the other servants laugh at their humiliation.
"Now get to work," the Laundry Supervisor chuckles briefly.
Winry Rockbell and Prince Edward Elric were married, much to the delight of King Van Hohenheim and all of Winry's animal friends.
Winry's dreams of happiness had come true at last. She and her charming prince lived happily ever after.
The End