So...This scene came into my head and since Dancing in the Stars seems to be the place I put all the little ideas I can't fit into more important arcs let's indulge in this little flashback I had a realization that Marzipan is basically a cross between a Disney Princess (In particular has the most parallels to Belle) and Garfield in that she's a plump glutton but more willing to share the food most of which she's cooked herself, she's often lazy and self-indulgent because of her low stress threshold but is loyal to her friends and believes in following your dreams
As Jonathan got supper ready Ichabod and Marzipan sat at the kitchen table waiting for Jonathan to put the Fettuccine Alfredo into their bowls.
"Wow…" Ichabod said as he began to eat his food "...Your Mother sounds like...She really needs therapy."
"Why don't we move the the conversation to something more pleasant?" Jonathan asked as he sat down as he really didn't want the two teens trapped in eight year old bodies to endure anymore stress than they already had.
"Well…" Ichabod said as he slurped up a noodle (His time with the Humanimals had really caused a lapse in his table manners, but Jonathan was surprisingly OK with it, seeing Ichabod was more like a normal eight year old now than during his actual childhood, partly because Jonathan had been too strict with him in insisting on being 'proper at all times' he was now deeply regretting teaching his son to be a miniature adult instead of just letting him be a boy…)
"Did we tell you the story of our first charity ball with Marzipan?" Ichabod asked Jonathan "And how we had to have a special dress made for Marzipan?"
"No…" Jonathan said "...Please regale me…"
Marzipan having been a tomboy all her life, while she had to wear a black dress and apron during her years as a slave at Castle Vortex she hated wearing it and had since been wearing pants since...But for this Charity Ball to raise money for the Humanimal cause...The other female Humanimals of the Fellowship were very insistent that it really would be better if she wore an actual gown to the gala...So Marzipan sighed and went with it, for the cause.
It was probably out of her admiration for Matoaka that she wanted a green dress like the Unicorn Captain's her dress was supposedly green to symbolize Mother Nature, Marzipan asked is the dress could be simple and sleeveless because as big furry Ragdoll Cat she tended to get hot easily...The tailor agreed to all of this.
Also looking at Matoaka's formal attire, Marzipan felt a little feminine urge to indulge getting a little more gussied up and asked "Um...Is it possible I could also have green gloves? The kind that go all the way to the elbow like Matoaka's?"
A few days before the ball, Marzipan tried on her new outfit and all the males of the crew saw her debut in her new formal wear.
Bill gave an appreciative whistle but all Marzipan noticed was Ichabod standing up, the sparkle in his eye upon seeing her, and his smile as pure as a bashful little boy as he could barely stammer out "You...You look lovely!"
And Marzipan felt a surge of emotions she couldn't explain...She realized she never felt so good looking at Ichabod's face and him telling her how beautiful she was...And she began to cry!
"Marzi!" Ichabod exclaimed "W-What's the matter?"
"It's just…" Marzipan turned away, her face feeling hot under her fur and she turned and looked at the nearest mirror "...I've always been a tomboy girl! And I had a flashback to my Kittenhood days on Mizzer...How I hated the older Cat-Girls and they're going ga-ga for the Tomcats! I felt I would never be like them...I would never jump when a boy called! But now here I am...And I realize how it feels when a boy calls you pretty...But it feels so strange! I don't feel like the same person I was before!"
And Ichabod rather than instantly soothe with comfort...Understood what Marzipan was feeling...Since joining the Fellowship crew he had times where he realized he barely felt like the same person he was before, while he mostly felt it was an improvement compared to the weaselly wimp that was his old self...He felt nothing but sympathy for the dissonance Marzipan was feeling.
"Hey…" He said coming over to her and simply holding her hand, not wanting to be overly romantic considering what she just confessed at the moment he just wanted to be her friend. "...It's OK to feel those kinds of feelings...I've felt that way myself...Feeling like I've become a completely new person and sometimes feeling shocked by it. Sometimes...Sometimes those feelings can make us wonder if we're...Betraying our past selves...Like our true selves or our inner child...But I've come to realize an important thing is the wisdom to know the difference between betraying your true self, and the natural maturing that comes with growing up and coming to better more informed opinions."
Ichabod's dry almost scientific way of explaining it seemed to calm Marzipan down as it appealed to her inner nerd as she was a nerdy tomboy as opposed to a jock tomboy.
Ichabod really showing what he learned from his Dad about psychology and I like that I ended up writing that the changes to Ichabod's personality after he met the Humanimals shows in that he's acting more like a little boy now than during his actual childhood