Chapter 11: Defiance.
Shining Armor, after shaking his head to clear it, stood back up on his hooves. “Look… Cinderella isn’t it?” the white alicorn nodded, “We need to have our Celestia back.”
“But why? I hath all of her memories and experiences. Why couldn’t I rule if I have within me thousands of years of wisdom inside mine head?”
“Because the Celestia we know is our family,” Cadence stepped forward. “Even if you have all of her memories, I don’t think that makes you her all of a sudden.”
“Cadence is right,” Twilight chimed in. “If anything that Luna has said was true, our Celestia is living and reliving your past over and over again. Do you honestly want an innocent pony to go through what you did in a continues loop for all eternity?”
“But,” Cinderella step backward, her wings open up. “Why would it matter if it never was real to begin with? If I go back, I’ll return knowing that I and everyone that I know doth not have a choice at all since it’s been already written for them. Every word they say, every action they commit, and every event that has, is, and will happen is already written down. Knowing that my life is a fairy tale for children, why wouldst thou return to that place in which thou hast no free will?” At this, she kicked open the door.
“Cinderella,” Shining asked in alarm, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Doth thou not see? Here, I have true freedom. Where fate cannot touch his icy hand to do or make me say things that I do not wish to see. No stepmothers to abuse me, no stepsisters to humiliate me, and no author for me to be their plaything. Because here in this land of Equestria, I am free. And I do not wish to lose it.”
Before any of them could react, the white Alicorn suddenly took off.
“Hey!” the trio yelled as Cadence and Twilight too spread their wings and gave chase while Shining called out to assemble the guard.
“Don’t let her out of the castle!” the Prince cried. While the guards saluted and they too went after her, Shining opened a window to cast a shield over the palace.
_*_
“Cinderella, wait!” Twilight yelled. Neither she nor Cadence has any idea where the white Alicorn was going. They’ve cast spells over the windows and doors so to prevent her from getting out, but still she is still running.
The maid did have an idea where she was going. She knew that going out any of the doors or windows to the outside isn’t going to happen. However, her other memories told her that there was another way out of the palace. In the meantime, she cut the chains of chandlers, barricaded doors, melted locks, just so to give her enough time to reach it.
But that didn’t stop two Alicorns in pursuit, along with legions of guards that try to stop their mad Princess.
“Where is she going?” Twilight asked. “She’s not taking any of the exits.”
“Maybe she’s not taking a direct root,” Cadence suggested. “She’s going towards the lower levels of…” her eyes widen, “Twilie, we need to split up.” She turned to the guards following them, “You guys follow Cinderella, and the rest follow me!” With that, two groups were made that split off in different hallways of the castle.
Twilight followed Celestia as she tried to barricade each room that she passes. But with a blast or two of her magic she and the Solar Guard follow her as they went down into the basement levels of the castle, into the catacombs of Mt. Canterlot.
“Cinderella! Stop! We can work this out!” but still, she kept on running.
Luckily as they went down a passage, they found that the white Alicorn stopped at a wall of her brother’s aura. But before the maid could escape someplace else, she found herself walled up by another’s magic at which point Cadence walked out from.
“Enough of this!” she said, “Cinderella, we can help you. You don’t have to run from us.”
“Oh yes I can,” the white mare said as her horn flared a blinding light. The next thing everypony knew, they found her galloping on the other side of Shining’s field, heading deeper into the darkness.
_*_
Zecora had promised to look after Scheherazade while the three fillies returned to the schoolhouse. The mare promised them that she will do all she can to return them back to normal. Spike meanwhile has gone into town to see if he could find any clue as to where Rainbow, Fluttershy and Applejack had gone off to.
“Look on the bright side,” Scootaloo said, “at least your sister is in good hooves now.”
“I suppose,” Sweetie Belle replied. “But it does make you wonder about everypony else, doesn’t it? I mean, we thought that they would have headed towards the library, but they’re not there. Where else would they go to figure out where they are?”
By now, they were getting closer to the school grounds in which they found a good number of students crowding around at either by the tree or at the schoolhouse window. Applebloom picked up a familiar rainbow mane where the tree with the swing was, “Ah think Ah’ve found them.”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo inquired as they looked to where their yellow friend was looking at. Their curiosities lead them into the playground where they saw what all the foals had gathered around. It was Rainbow Dash alright, but for whatever reason she was covered in leaves.
“…. So what’s it like?” one of the fillies asked.
“It’s an island,” Peter said as he climbed up the ropes of the swing. “It’s so small that we barely have time between one adventure and another. Where it’s winter, summer, spring and fall, all at the same time on different parts of the island. It’s a place where fairies come for adventure, where in a Lagoon the Mermaids swim, where the Indians hunt, where bloodthirsty pirates protect their treasure, and home to the Lost Boys that I’m captain over.”
“Rainbow?” Scootaloo pushed through until she got up to the swing. “What are you doing?”
The sky blue Pegasus leaned over to the filly that addressed her. Peter cocked an eyebrow, “You look familiar… Scoots aren’t it?”
“Well, yeah. But what are you doing here for? Aren’t you supposed to be practicing or taking a nap?”
“I would be doing something fun by now,” he said, “If it weren’t for that stuck up nanny.”
The Crusaders blinked, “Nanny?”
Peter looked over at the schoolhouse before giving a wicked smile, “But since she’s not looking, how about some of you like to go play?”
“But we can’t do that,” somepony in the group objected. “We’d get into trouble.”
“So?” Peter swung around in the ropes. “What’s the point of having fun if there’s nothing to make it all exciting about? Especially if there’s no risk involved? So what do you all say? How about we form a new Lost Boys among ourselves?”
The colts and fillies talked among themselves, intrigued at the idea. “Would that mean that nopony gets to tell us when to go to bed?”
“No,” Peter answered.
“And that we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“So we don’t have to spend the whole day in school learning things, and instead we can just play all day long.”
“A Lost Boy is always free,” the Neverland child grinned. “Come with me, for I am Youth, Liberty, and Joy to all children! Let us have ourselves an adventure now!”
The foals agreed to this, and with Peter Pan spreading his wings, he urged them to follow him, leaving the Crusaders behind.
“Well that was a sudden turn of events,” Sweetie Belle commented.
“Ah’ll say,” Applebloom agreed. “We need to get Ms. Cheerliee now before somepony breaks a bone.”
“Actually,” Scootaloo said, getting an idea, “why not you two go get Cheerliee while I go see where they’re going. That way I can let you girls know what’s happening and where they’re at.”
“Okay,” the yellow filly nodded. “Ya go along ahead, and if there’s any real trouble, come and fine us.”
With a solute, the orange Pegasus hunted down the new Lost Boys. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle entered into the schoolhouse to find the most surreal thing they’ve seen outside of Discord coming to town. Sitting down in the by the tinny desks were Applejack and Fluttershy that sat there like students, while their teacher was talking directly to one of Equestria’s princes who for some reason held a umbrella and a carpetbag in one hoof.
“Surely you must have some idea where Great Britain is,” the white unicorn said, “Or at least heard of the British Empire that stretches all over the globe.”
“Are you sure you’re feeling well, Your Majesty?” the purple Earth Pony looked at the stallion puzzled with a hint of worry.
“There you go again,” Mary poked at her withers, “changing the subject. I say, really Ms. Cheerliee, when someone asks you a question you give it straight forward and not dancing away from it.”
“But I’m telling you, I don’t understand what you’re even talking about.”
“You are a teacher, are you not?”
“Yes?”
“And you’re responsible for teaching children what they need to know about the world such as countries and whatnot.”
“Well yes but-”
“Then asking you if you know which way is to England should be a simple problem to answer.”
While the two of them went back and forth, Applebloom went up the orange mare that was sitting in Dinkie’s seat. “Sis?”
“Huh?” she looked at her, “Oh, it’s you again.”
“AJ, uh… it is you, isn’t it?”
“If you’re implying that she’s Applejack,” Alice said who was sitting the desk beside her. “Them I’m afraid you’re mistaken, her real name is Dorothy Gale, from Kansas.”
“And this is Alice,” Dorothy waved over to her, “she’s from England.”
“Oh joy,” Sweetie gave a heaved sigh, “Just as we thought. First my sister thinks she’s a queen, Rainbow Dash believes she’s the captain of some island, and now this?”
“What’s Prince Blueblood doing here anyway?” Applebloom asked.
“Ms. Poppins is looking over us as we’re trying to figure out how to get back,” Alice answered. “Although I do think that she gets offended a little too easily.”
“I heard that,” Mary told her before resuming arguing with the teacher.
“So why are y’all sittin’ at the desks for?” the little apple inquired. “Ya look a little ridiculous sitting down at the when yer so big.”
“But we’re still children,” Dorothy answered. “So until Mary or the teacher says otherwise, we have to sit here.”
“Children?” both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle asked simultaneously.
“Now hold on,” the little unicorn asked, “How old do you two think you are?”
“She’s five,” the yellow mare told them, “and I’m seven-and-a-half exactly.”
“Dear Luna, this day’s jus’ gettin’ weirder and weirder,” Applebloom pulled her face with her hooves. “Can this day get any stranger?”
As if a direct reply from the universe, they heard a “POP!” and a certain pink mare dropped from the ceiling and onto the desks. Not to say that it made most of the ponies in the room jump as Mr. Wonka collapsed onto the floor with his face covered in a sticky pink bubblegum before he licked it clean with his stretchy tongue. He then took out a little spiral notebook and started to jot down, “Too much flour.”
“Pinkie?” Sweetie Belle asked, “Where’d you come from?”
“That’s Mr. Willy Wonka to you little mis,” he replied. “And I haven’t come from anywhere; I’ve been on the ceiling for a good five minutes, far too long if you ask me. I would have introduced myself earlier if the bubble that was holding me up there popped earlier.”
Applebloom looked up, “Ya mean like you blew a bubble and you’ve been floatin’ up there?”
“Exactly,” Mr. Wonka nodded. “Although I was hoping it would have lasted for a full minute instead of five. I guess I put in too much flour in to make me stay up there for so long.”
“Where’s Peter?” Mary asked, taking noticed out the window of the Rainbow mare’s absence.
“Oh! That’s what we’ve came in fer,” Applebloom went up to her teacher. “Ms. Cheerliee, Rainbow’s convinced a good chuck of the class ta follow her in… Ah don’t know some youth revolution or somethin’ and left the playground. Ah don’t think that she’s in her right mind, just like them,” she gestured over to the other adults in the room.
“Where did they go?” their teacher asked.
“By the looks of it,” Sweetie Belle leaned over at an open window. “It looks like they’re headed towards town.”
Mary frowned, “That boy is much more difficult than I anticipated.” She put down the carpetbag, opened it, and pulled out a yardstick out of it. “Alice, Dorothy… Mr. Wonka, if you could please remain here, I am off to discipline that troublemaker.”
“I’m coming too,” Cheerliee said, “You know what, class is dismissed for the day girls. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, can I trust taking Applejack and Fluttershy back to their homes?”
“Ah don’t see why not,” Applebloom said.
Mary nodded, “Very well. How old are you two?”
“Ten,” both Crusaders replied.
“We can take them to Sweet Apple Archers until this settles down,” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“Now that’s settled,” Poppins began marching forward, “I have a rudely boy to find.”
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Why didn't y'all ask in the first place? I've always got ideas!
-All of them show resistance to going back; Alice bc Wonderland madness and Queen of Hearts, Dorothy bc Wicked Witch of the West, Mr. Wonka bc of the new possibilities in his new body, Schiz-whatever (I still can't remember her name =~=) bc y'know the whole death by dawn thing, Mary Poppins bc of the unruly children that obviously need her care in this world, Peter bc of the 'injustice' of the foals in Equestria, and Cinderella for reasons already stated. They all escape when asked to go back, and end up in the Everfree together. Low and behold, the crazy shenanigans occur with close calls each time. As more and more attacks happen to the storybook group, they start to realize that the happy ever after in their stories are actually better than facing the dangers in Equestria.
-Some, like Peter, Mary Poppins, and Mr. Wonka, are more or less okay about going back, Alice and Dorothy don't want to face the craziness in their stories, and whoever-Rarity-is-supposed-to-be and Cinderella definitely do not want to go back. They are all rounded up into the Friendship Castle. Luna and Twi journey along with the storybook characters when they sleep, but this time, they are shown the happy ending they have if they go back. The former six, upon waking, want to return to their happily ever afters, but Cinderella still questions hers. Luna reaches into her heart though and says that if Cinderella stays, Celestia will be lost forever. Cinderella gives in, and they all lived happily ever after, with a little peek into the stories stating how the storybook group thanks the Equestrians for their help.
I have more ideas but it's 1am here, so I gotta get to bed.
Y'know, coming back to this after a few years, it's a bit bizarre. I've seen this idea of a character being trapped within their own story by an unknown author, and, to be perfectly honest, it's horrifying in a cosmic way. And considering that a whole Dungeons and Dragons campaign recently came out themed around twisted fairytales, it's a bit disquieting how widespread this concept seems to be. Just... makes you think.
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Actually, I would think Peter would have a crisis if faced with going back. I mean, if the latest chapter from Dash's perspective is any indication, Peter dies at the end. So to be faced with the choice when he knows what happens... would he lose his nerve?