Anastasia and I were both in the cold light of day. I too realized that Anastasia didn't truly love Kit and that she only wanted to be loved for herself, and not as someone else. Had Anastasia been cowardly enough to say 'I do', I would have tried to shut the wedding down myself, but I now knew that Anastasia couldn't go through with Lady Tremaine's plot to reverse my happy ending, because she could not bear to be something she knew she wasn't. 'Anastasia?!', I gasped at hearing her saying 'I DON'T'. 'Cinderella?', she answered, as she and Kit sharply pulled their hands away from each other. Anastasia felt she had to tell me the truth about her desire for love. 'I couldn't go through with this, Cinderella; I don't truly love Kit, and I only want someone to love me...for ME', she told me, looking me in the eyes again. 'So that's what you were trying to tell me!', I exclaimed. This was a shocking revelation; I already knew Anastasia wanted love, prior to the wedding, but I could not have possibly imagined that she only wanted to be loved for who she truly was. Kit looked to both of us, visibly startled. He now knew that the Cinderella standing in front of him was Anastasia, who had finally come clean about her true identity, and that I, the Cinderella standing a few meters to his left was the real Cinderella. It was the final straw for Lady Tremaine and Drizella. They were both infuriated by Anastasia's sudden conscience and knew they could no longer hide their treachery. They decided there was no longer any point in hiding themselves, as they were still bent on destroying my happy ending, and so they emerged from the shadows, as I looked on. Anastasia may well have exposed my stepmother's plan to Kit, but the merciless Lady Tremaine was back on the warpath, and now wanted an even worse revenge. 'You spoilt, ungrateful woman! I've given you everything you ever wanted, Anastasia!', yelled Tremaine, visibly angered by Anastasia's change of heart. 'But I want someone to love me for MYSELF, not as someone else!', yelled Anastasia. 'It's wrong, mom!', Anastasia continued. 'I agree, Anastasia', I replied. 'You're in for it now, Anastasia!', yelled Lady Tremaine again. 'Guards, seize that woman!', the King ordered. The guards rushed towards the rest of the Tremaine family to arrest them. In a fit of lust for power, and without one iota of fear, Lady Tremaine pointed the wand at the ceiling and yelled 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo'. She created a whirling vortex of evil magic and started turning the guards into farm animals; first chickens, then dogs, and finally, rabbits. I had never seen magic being used in such a malicious way, and I was now wondering what Lady Tremaine was going to do to get revenge on Anastasia for saying 'I DON'T'.
Tremaine aimed the wand at Anastasia and prepared to strike her down. 'Turn her into a toad, mother', Drizella suggested. My shock and amazement had now turned to anger, because it was only then that I started to realize how ruthless Lady Tremaine had become, and how unloving she truly was. I realized that she was willing to do anything to reverse my happy ending, and would therefore happily destroy Anastasia's happy ending as well, and also use her evil magic on Anastasia if she dared to oppose her mother's authority for me. I realized the terrible truth that she did not want anyone in the household to have true love, and that she indeed had no concern for Anastasia, and was exploiting her desire for love to fulfil her narcissistic hunger for prestige, which was an even worse revelation for me. But Drizella was convinced it was alright for her; she trusted Lady Tremaine unconditionally. To say the situation was far worse than I could have possibly imagined would be an understatement. I was grateful that Anastasia had finally turned back on her forced wickedness and wanted to help me, and so I had to defend her for trying to fix my happy ending. 'Leave her alone!', I commanded, as I stepped in to defend Anastasia, glaring at Lady Tremaine. 'She only wants to be loved for who she is!', I growled at her. An unfazed Lady Tremaine aimed the wand and yelled 'Even better!'. 'Turn 'em both into toads, mom', chanted Drizella. Lady Tremaine's desire for retribution was building; she already wanted revenge on me for escaping her in my former life, and now wanted revenge on Anastasia for not going through with her plot. She would happily kill two birds with one stone. Kit hastily ran over to protect us. Lady Tremaine's malicious smile was growing broader by the second; she was already intent on getting revenge on me for attempting to escape the harsh life she had forced me to live, and now wanted revenge on Anastasia for not going through with her plan to ruin my happy ending, and was now willing to cause harm to my True Love as well, and her desire for revenge was driven by one thing; her hunger for power and riches. 'Oh, even better than that; you will also pay for going against the Tremaine household, Kit!', Lady Tremaine growled again. 'Anyone else want to join them?', she asked, hoping to turn more poor souls into toads if they dared stand up for me and Anastasia. The King and Grand Duke both stood up. Kit tried to stop them, yelling 'Dad, stay out of this, please, for your own good!', but they stood in front of him anyway, much to Lady Tremaine's delight.
Before Tremaine attempted to strike us down, she decided to vent her spleen at Anastasia. 'YOU ARE A STUCK-UP, PRECIOUS LITTLE BITCH, ANASTASIA TREMAINE! DRIZELLA AND I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER WISH FOR; BEAUTY, RICHES AND POWER, AND YOU HAVE THROWN IT ALL BACK IN OUR FACES! EVERY SINGLE THING I HAVE EVER DONE SINCE YOU AND DRIZELLA WERE BORN HAS BEEN FOR YOU, AND YOU ALONE!', she shrieked at her poor daughter. Before she met her fate, Anastasia demanded to know if Lady Tremaine had any part in the death of her husband. 'You killed my father, didn't you?', she asked. 'I'M AFRAID YOU'RE RIGHT, ANASTASIA!', her mother battled on. 'I DISPOSED OF YOUR UNGRATEFUL FATHER BECAUSE HE WAS A BURDEN TO YOU AND DRIZELLA!'. As hard as that was for me to believe, her next revelation was an even more dire shock. 'AND I DID THE EXACT SAME THING TO *YOUR* FATHER, CINDERELLA, AND YOUR *MOTHER* AS WELL! I DID ALL OF THIS TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE POWER, ANASTASIA!', she revealed. As angry as I may have been at my stepmother trying to attack Anastasia, my rage and horror were now escalating more than ever. Anastasia decided to assert her individuality again. 'I refuse to go along with you, mother; because I have learnt the true meaning of love!', she protested. And I decided to stand up for her once again. 'And she refused to marry Kit because we both know that you've only tried to have her married to royalty to quench your thirst for power, and that you won't give up a single thing for Anastasia!', I yelled, expressing my gratitude for Anastasia's decision. 'I wanted your approval all my life', Anastasia expressed. 'Yes, you did, Anastasia, but she now knows that nothing she does will ever be good enough for you, mother!', I continued. 'And all you want above all else is power!', Anastasia added. Only now did she realize what a psychopath her mother truly was. 'YOU LIAR!', Tremaine roared, clearly insulted by Anastasia's comment. 'AND YOU CAN GET RID OF THAT STUPID LITTLE EYE TWITCH! KEEP 'EM WIDE OPEN WITH TERROR, YOU TRAITOR!', she then added. 'What? Where did she get that twitch from?!', I demanded to know. 'She had the audacity to weep that the Prince couldn't give her this USELESS, FUTILE, LITTLE FEELING CALLED LOVE! I TOLD HER, QUITE RIGHTLY, TO STOP CRYING, AND TO JUST GROW THE HELL UP AND MARRY THE PRINCE SO I COULD GAIN ACCESS TO THE CASTLE, CINDERELLA! AND JUST TO MAKE SURE SHE *NEVER* HAD THE AUDACITY TO BLUB LIKE A SILLY LITTLE GIRL, I RUBBED MY THUMBS ACROSS HER EYES, SO THOSE SELFISH, INFITILE LITTLE TEARS WERE ERASED FROM HER FACE!'. I gasped again. 'How could you do this to your own daughter?!', I asked her indignantly. 'BECAUSE YOU AND ANASTASIA JUST HAD TO WEAPONIZE THIS PARASITE CALLED LOVE!', Tremaine blew back at us. AND YOUR KINGDOM ISN'T SAFE, EITHER, YOUR MAJESTY; I DON'T EVEN NEED TO BE RELATED TO YOU; I HAVE MAGIC; THE ULTIMATE POWER, SO I CAN STILL RULE THIS KINGDOM!', she continued. 'And as for you, Drizella...', she whispered, 'I DON'T NEED *YOU* ANYMORE!', she erupted at her. Lady Tremaine pushed Drizella to the ground and lividly turned her into a toad, even though she had done NOTHING to warrant such vengeance. I knew that my stepmother was brutally suppressing any attempt by her two daughters to question her actions, but now that Anastasia had had the audacity to speak out, Lady Tremaine felt that her two daughters were now WORTHLESS.
Lady Tremaine was now so overcome with anger that we could see her face actually starting to turn white. Anastasia closed her eyes tightly; she was convinced her mother had it in for all of us now. For the first time in my life, I was genuinely livid with Lady Tremaine; for I had now realized that all that lay deep within her heart was pure, unbridled lust, anger and hatred, and it finally dawned on me how merciless she truly was from the very beginning; for she was not only willing to turn all five of us into toads, but she would happily turn Drizella into a toad as well; whether Drizella trusted her or not didn't matter to my stepmother anymore. I had woken up to what a devilish, premeditated plan Anastasia, Drizella and I had been drawn into. Lady Tremaine felt the need to marry once to give birth to two daughters, before killing off Anastasia and Drizella's father, as she felt he could be detrimental to her plan. The next stage of her plan was to kill my mother to put my father in a vulnerable position where he needed the support of a wife, and also to use her widowed status as bait, and then kill off my father when the opportunity struck, so she could put the three of us through years of verbal and emotional abuse, while simultaneously grooming her two genetic daughters, so she could have one of them married into the royal family, and ultimately take over the Kingdom by violently usurping the throne, and then dispose of Anastasia and Drizella since she would've no longer needed them. Anastasia and Drizella had, indeed, been born and bred as lambs to the slaughter, and I was raised the exact same way by her. We had all been used as tools for my stepmother to seize the Kingdom; the very reason she married Anastasia and Drizella's father in the first place, but she now knew that had she somehow gotten her hands on Fairy Godmother's wand, or some other form of magic, she wouldn't have needed to resort to the spree of marriages and murders she'd been through, nor would she have even needed to turn back time to destroy my happy ending. I had even somehow figured that even if Anastasia HADN'T wandered off from doing her chores and found Fairy Godmother's wand when she accidentally lost it, Lady Tremaine would have eventually gone looking for it herself and taken any opportunity she could to set her scheme back into motion. All she needed to seize the Kingdom and fulfil her own sadistic wishes of domination was magic; for as Fairy Godmother had used it for good, my stepmother could use it for pure evil. Lady Tremaine aimed the wand at all five of us for the final blow, now that all else had failed to fulfil her sickening wishes to seize this small but powerful Kingdom. This was all about her from the very outset...
I decided to take the final stand against my stepmother; I couldn't allow her to harm my sister, or my true love, or the King, and I couldn't allow her to take control of the Kingdom and rule it with an iron fist. I had to bring her long-term plot to an end before she could finally follow through with it. 'Kit, I need that sword', I told him. Kit gave me his sword, although was a bit sceptical and said 'Cinderella, you may need me'. 'Thank you, Kit, but I have to do this myself', I replied. Kit nodded in agreement. I armed myself with Kit's sword and steadied myself. 'Go on, then, mother. Try and us into toads', I dared her, as I wisely kept my anger in check. 'ALRIGHT, THEN! YOU ASKED FOR IT, CINDERELLA!', she retorted. I hastily prepared to deflect the bolt of magic Tremaine was about to launch. Her face was now glowing white with hatred and revenge, and I knew I had inadvertently pushed her over the edge, and that after decades, her lust for power and her pure disdain for ANYONE brave enough to challenge her desires had finally manifested themselves. 'BIBBIDI...BOBBIDI...BOOOOOOOOOOOO!', she thundered, unable to contain her hatred and lust a second longer, as she fired a bolt of magic at us; a final vengeful act of greed and cruelty. But little did Lady Tremaine know it was all about to be flung straight back onto her. I managed to deflect the incoming bolt of magic as it bounced off the sword and back to Lady Tremaine and Drizella, turning them both into toads and sending them to the castle cellars. The cloud of evil magic floating above us faded away, as all five of us breathed a sigh of relief. I had finally managed to save myself, and my stepsister from the clutches of Lady Tremaine, and saved the entire Kingdom from her decades-long plot. 'Are you two alright?', I asked Kit and Anastasia as I turned round to check they were still in one piece. They both replied 'Yes', but Anastasia clearly looked disapproving of my act of protecting her, because she was now only too convinced that she did not deserve it.
Anastasia took my hand, and Kit's and pulled us both together. 'This is the *real* Cinderella, your true love', she said, visibly guilty. She walked away, although I wasn't watching. Kit and I embraced. 'Hello, Kit', I said, relieved to be back with him. But this moment of relief was cut short when Anastasia looked down on the wand and looked up to me for my permission to use it. She wouldn't dare touch the wand without my approval. 'Cinderella?', she called, 'I've got to use this wand. I only want to use it to show what an insolent, spoilt, brazen hussy I really am', she said, fighting back tears, as I looked on, visibly concerned. I knew Anastasia was about to break down. 'It's fine, Anastasia. Go ahead', I answered. Anastasia picked up the wand, placed it on her chest and said 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo'. The pseudo-Cinderella she had become faded away to reveal her true form; Anastasia Tremaine, a poor girl who had been spoilt and manipulated all her life, or in her case, 'an insolent, spoilt, brazen hussy'. She then threw the wand over to me and said 'Just take the wand', as she walked over to the King, her head hanging low. I caught the wand and wanted to forgive Anastasia, but as I was about to discover, she was not willing to accept it, because she believed she did not deserve such an act of kindness. Anastasia tried to give the King's precious seashell back and said 'I don't deserve this'. Kit and I walked over to listen. 'Everyone deserves true love', replied the King. But the hapless Anastasia Tremaine was adamant she didn't deserve it. 'That's a lie', she responded. 'Only one can have true love, me or Cinderella, and I cannot have it; I tried to take it away from her. I therefore must let Cinderella have that love, and make sure I never have it at all'. 'Alright, then. If you've made up your mind can't have true love, you can shut it out', the King concluded, as he reluctantly took his seashell back, taken aback by Anastasia's remark. I knew Anastasia was feeling even worse about everything she'd done to me than I had initially imagined, and I was thinking of asking Anastasia 'Why can only *one* of us have true love?'. Anastasia turned to me and looked me in the eye. 'There, Cinderella, you've got your true love. I'm leaving you; I've got no choice', she declared. She then turned around and headed for the door. 'Wait, Anastasia!', I called out. 'Don't go. You don't have to leave me, Anastasia. I forgive you, and you should forgive yourself, because I know you were only doing this because you were under Tremaine's influence. You don't need to hold a grudge against yourself like this', I told my Stepsister, trying to put her at ease. But, it was too little, too late.
'I can't forgive myself,' Anastasia told me. 'Why can't you, Anastasia?', I asked, shuddered by Anastasia's response. 'Why should I stay, and why should I forgive myself?', asked Anastasia. 'And…and why should you forgive me? I caused you enough trouble. I treated you horribly since Tremaine killed your father and tried to take the Prince away from you. I'm sorry for everything and I promise I will stay out of your life forever', Anastasia told me, breaking down. Her anger finally got the better of her. 'I DON'T DESERVE YOUR FORGIVENESS, CINDERELLA, LET ALONE TRUE LOVE!', she howled at me at the top of her lungs. 'I DON'T DESERVE A SMIDGEN, AN IOTA, A KERNEL OF YOUR FORGIVENESS!' Anastasia started tearing up the sleeves of her dress as she bellowed 'YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TRIED TO PROTECT ME! YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST LET MY MOTHER TURN ME INTO A TOAD AND LET KIT PROTECT YOU, FOR GOD'S SAKE, AND I SHOULD HAVE EITHER LET TREMAINE USE MAGIC ON ME, OR JUST RAN AWAY AS FAST AS I COULD AND HID MYSELF AWAY FROM YOU AND KIT! I WOULD NO LONGER BE OF ANY CONCERN TO EITHER OF YOU HAD I DONE THAT! I DIDN'T DESERVE YOUR PROTECTION, GIVEN ALL THE PAIN I'VE PUT YOU THROUGH!', she rambled on as she violently tore up her own dress in an even worse fashion than how she'd torn mine up the previous night before I went to the ball. I listened in horror. 'You don't deserve to be punished in such a way, Anastasia!', I cried. I saw how sorry Anastasia was, and I was appalled that she thought she deserved to be punished. 'YOU'RE ONLY HALF RIGHT', she retorted as she threw the destroyed remains of her dress on the floor and started trampling all over them. 'Anastasia, please, just calm down!', I pleaded, but she was already too deep into her rage to stop herself. 'I MAY NOT DESERVE TO HAVE MAGIC USED ON ME LIKE MY MOTHER TRIED TO DO TO US, BUT YOU KNOW THAT DEEP DOWN, I STILL DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED, AND SURELY YOU KNOW THAT AS WELL, KIT!?', she continued. 'That isn't true, Anastasia!', exclaimed Kit. He gazed at Anastasia in horror, along with me, the King and the Grand Duke. We were becoming increasingly stunned by Anastasia's tirade. 'AND IT'S ONLY FAIR, ISN'T IT?! AFTER I TRIED TO STOP YOU FROM BEING WITH YOUR TRUE LOVE, I DESERVE TO SUFFER THE SAME FATE!'. 'An eye for an eye?!', I asked again. 'EXACTLY, CINDERELLA!', she rebutted as she lay even more damage to the remains of her clothes. 'But what is that going to solve for me?!', I desperately asked. 'IT MAY NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY, CINDERELLA, BUT AT LEAST I'LL HAVE PAID THE PRICE!', Anastasia once again shrieked back at me. All the while I could see in my head, images of Anastasia and Drizella ripping up my original ballgown the previous night on the orders of Lady Tremaine, which almost drove me to breaking point and forced Fairy Godmother to step in. And I realized Anastasia was now inflicting this exact same torture upon herself, without a shred of composure, and there was nothing I could do or say to stop her. She then started breaking off the heels of her shoes as she added 'AND THEREFORE, IF YOU WISH TO BANISH ME FROM THE KINGDOM, CINDERELLA, YOU MAY DO SO WITH MY BLESSING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!'. 'Yes, Anastasia. But you honestly don't deserve to be punished', I replied, reeling as Anastasia finally finished tearing up her plain-looking dress. 'Before you go, why, Anastasia? That's all I want to know. Why must you punish yourself like this?', I asked, now fighting back my own tears. I was trying desperately to retain my composure in the face of what I'd just witnessed. But as Anastasia finally yanked the comb out of her hair and turned it into an disorganized mess, she had some final harsh words for herself. 'ANYONE UNDER LADY TREMAINE'S INFLUENCE IN UNDOING YOUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AN ENEMY OF THE KINGDOM, BECAUSE THEY TOOK AN ACTIVE PART IN DOING SO! I HAVE THEREFORE GOT TO FINISH THIS! I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAY OUT OF YOUR LIFE! MY DECISION IS FINAL!', she roared back at me. Anastasia then stormed off. 'Anastasia, wait! Come back, please, I'm begging you!', I cried out to her, but she was now determined to isolate herself from me. Anastasia raced down the aisle at breakneck speed, sobbing and wailing uncontrollably, as tears flooded out of her eyes. She mounted my horse and rode off into the night, with angry determination to cut herself off from me for the rest of her life, as I looked on, not knowing what to do.
I thought that just when it seemed I could finally make amends with my stepsister who had been influenced to treat me so horribly, my efforts had been nullified. I was convinced Anastasia was too consumed by guilt to be able to make amends with me. Her ethic, it seemed, was that if she was convinced she didn't deserve true love, and by extension, forgiveness, because she had tried to take it away from me, she would have to do everything in her power to make sure she didn't have forgiveness or true love, hence the reason she also called herself 'an insolent, spoilt, brazen hussy'. Anastasia had even gone as far as ripping her own clothing to shreds to an even worse extent than she'd done to my first ballgown, and I couldn't bear to see her consumed by such uncontrollable rage. Anastasia was adamant that my life with my true love was now all that mattered, and that only I deserved true love, and that therefore, her only choice was to isolate herself from me for good. I thought that was the worst possible punishment, as I had seen the good lying deep within Anastasia Tremaine, that had finally been awoken, and I wanted to forgive her, but Anastasia was clearly too guilt-ridden to be willing to accept it. Anastasia galloped away to an isolated area of the town, hoping to seek asylum from us for good. As far as she was concerned, she was now a lost cause. Back at the Palace, Kit noticed I was starting to break down after Anastasia's outburst. Jaq and Gus also turned up with the bluebirds, only to find me in shock at Anastasia's attempt to desert us, along with her harsh comments about herself, and whilst I could understand why she referred to herself in the terrible words she had spoken, I knew they were palpably false. 'Oh, poor Anastasia...', I said wistfully as I started to shed a few tears. 'Cinderella, are you alright?', Kit asked me. 'What's happened, Cinderelly?', Jaq then asked. 'Things have gotten worse, boys. *Much* worse', Kit replied. 'It's Anastasia', I began to explain. 'I don't think the poor woman has ever had true love in her life, and that's a genuinely sad thing to say', I expressed. 'And because she's so...deeply remorseful for going along with Lady Tremaine, she's decided she must never have true love, or even forgiveness for that matter. I want to forgive Anastasia for her error of judgement, because she's suffered as well under her mother, but she's decided she can't accept it', I continued. 'She's just given up all faith in herself and she's just had an absolute meltdown in front of us and ripped her clothing to shreds', I continued to explain. 'Like she did to you yesterday?!', Gus asked, becoming increasingly bewildered. 'I'm afraid so, Gus', I answered. 'But she's actually ripped it apart to the point that she can't even WEAR it anymore'. 'And she's even destroyed her shoes!', Kit butted in. 'I don't remember Anastasia damaging *your* dress to that extent, Cinderelly!', Jaq gasped. 'She must've been so scarred from being raised by stepmommy', a clearly upset Gus said. As I broke down a little more I said 'I've never seen Anastasia so angry before, and...I think that's the first time Anastasia has cried at least since Lady Tremaine killed her father...and the first time she's ever cried in front of me...And I now know where she got that awful eye twitch from'. 'Eye twitch?!', Gus gasped. 'She quite cruelly told Anastasia to stop crying when she found out that I didn't love her', Kit told Gus. 'And she then rubbed her eyes painfully when she couldn't stop crying. And then she told her to grow up and marry Kit', I added. 'What are we going to do for her?', I asked as I continued breaking down. Kit embraced me and said 'Don't worry. I think me might still be able to convince her that she *can* make amends to her past sins. She's free from her mother now so she ought to know that she deserves our support'. I wiped the tears away from my eyes and tried to smile again. 'You may be right', I told Kit. 'We can't just give up on Anastasia', Kit told us. 'No, we can't!', Jaq added. 'That's the spirit, Jaq', I replied with a warm grin. Perhaps Anastasia wasn't a lost cause after all...