Once Upon a Fairytale: Cinderella by Michelle

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they belong that Mr. Whedon fellow. I just borrowed them and put them into a fairy tale. Which is also not mine. Okay, um, that sounds, er, we all gotta start somewhere right?

Summary: Tara's Fairy Godmother ensures that she will go to the ball and meet her Princess.

Once upon a time there lived a gentleman, whom by his first wife had a daughter. The young girl was so good and so gentle that she promised to grow up into the loving image of her dead mother. The gentleman soon grew lonely and remarried, his second wife a widow with two grown-up daughters. Shortly after the wedding the stepmother began to show her true colors. So opposite were she and her daughters to the young Tara that she forced the quiet girl into doing the meanest household work making their clothes and therefore saving money by not having to hire a seamstress. Tara was made to scrub the floors, polish the tables, iron the linen, darn the stockings, and whilst her sisters had their own apartments with full length mirrors and elegantly carved beds, she herself slept at the top of the house upon a straw mattress.

The gentleman, where once he would hug and cherish his daughter, was now so completely under his new wife's influence that Tara no longer felt that she could speak to him, even when she was called—for the laziness of her sisters knew no bounds—to tie a simple ribbon and was met with nothing but abuse, nothing could she say.

One day an invitation arrived through the door stating that the King's son and daughter were giving a ball and the two sisters, whose names where Anya and Hallie, were invited. This just caused more worry for Tara as it meant that she would have to help them dress, iron their linen and pleat their wristbands.

During the preparations Anya turned to Tara and said, "Would you not like to be going to the ball?"

Hallie, not content to sit idly by offered, "You're right. Folks would definitely not want to see your kind there, you wouldn't even have anything to wear!"

Now normal folk, like you or I, would have pinned on their hats askew or pushed in the pins just a little carelessly. Not Tara, she was born without malice in her, she dressed her sisters as she would want to be dressed herself. To perfection, and all without thanks or one ounce of gratitude. They were ready a full two hours before the coach arrived for them, and once they were on their way Tara followed the sight with her eyes for as long as she could before the tears rose up and blinded them.

Alone now Tara made her way to her dear chimney corner in the kitchen and wept. Suddenly, between sobs, she looked up, a strange blue glow having caught her attention. Looking over she saw what she thought was an angel, with curly blonde hair and a dress like nothing she had ever seen before. In her hand the stranger held a wand, which held a bluish-green flame at its end.

"I w-w..." Tara stuttered, her fear and tears getting the better of her. "I wish-" she tried, only to begin weeping again.

"Well then, dry your tears, dear, and we'll see what we can do about that. I'm Joyce, your Fairy Godmother."

"Don't worry about that now, um, do you happen to have any pumpkins in the garden?" Joyce asked.

Tara thought this was an odd question. She told her Godmother that there was a whole bed of them in the garden, even though she couldn't see what pumpkins had to do with going to a ball.

Out into the dark garden they went and over to the pumpkin patch. Pointing to the finest of all with her wand, Joyce commanded, "Pick that one."

Tara picked it and handed it to her Godmother who scooped out the inside of the fruit until only the rind was left. Then she tapped it with her wand and before Tara's astonished eyes, it transformed into a beautiful golden coach.

Tara ran to her mousetrap and found six mice inside. As they were freed, Joyce tapped each one with her wand and they turned into beautiful white horses.

Tara, who by this time had dried her tears and was beginning to enjoy herself, went to the rattrap where she found a large rat that was soon turned into a fat coachman.

"Go to the end of the garden, dear, and in the corner of the wall behind the watering-pot, unless I'm mistaken of course, you will find six lizards. Bring them to me."

As soon as Tara had brought them over then her Godmother had changed them into six footmen, who at once climbed up behind the coach as though they had been doing it forever.

Tara closed her eyes as her Godmother touched her with her wand. Instantly her rags were turned into a beautiful ball gown and her hair began to curl and raise, arranging itself about her head.

"Now there's something missing," said the Fairy Godmother, as she looked Tara up and down. "Oh, of course, shoes." From behind her back she produced a pair of glass slippers and helped Tara to place them on her feet. As far as glass slippers went, these, Tara decided, were pretty comfy.

Helping her into the coach, her Godmother had but one word of warning. "Whilst I have the power to send you to the ball, it will only last until midnight, therefore you must not stay beyond the stroke of twelve as your coach will once again become a pumpkin, your horses will once again be mice and your dress will turn back into the rags I found you in."

Promising that she would remember, Tara thanked her Fairy Godmother and waved goodbye as she started her journey towards the palace.

The ball was at its height with scores and scores of couples dancing on the waxed floors of the grand ballroom to the music of the violins, and outside in the royal gardens, under the trees were more couples moving, listening to the fountains and inhaling the sweet fragrances of the flowers.

The Prince and Princess were walking among their guests when the Chamberlain brought news of a new arrival.

"Still haven't mastered it have you Xander? What can we do for you?" said the prince with a smile on his face.

"Prince, Princess," started the Chamberlain, pleased at having found a way around his speech problem, "we have a new guest. No one knows who she is and she won't say her name, but by the way she is dressed I would say that she is a Princess of very high standing."

It was at this point that the King appeared as if from nowhere and proceeded to whisk away his daughter leaving the Prince to meet the new arrival.

Tara was nervous as the coach started to pull up to the gates of the Palace. These nerves trebled when she realized that it was the Prince himself who was there to meet her.

"G-good evening your h-highness" Said Tara ducking her head, automatically trying to hide her face behind her hair.

Taking her hand, the Prince led Tara into the grand ballroom, where upon entering everyone stopped dancing and turned to the couple.

"W-what are they looking at?" Tara whispered to her host after perhaps a full minute under the watchful gaze of the other guests.

Jumping slightly and turning slowly, for she had not heard anyone approach, Tara was greeted to the sight of shocking red hair and piercing green eyes. As her eyes locked with the ones in front of her Tara felt as if the rest of the room had disappeared.

The owner of the eyes was not faring much better. The Princess had seen her brother's entrance with the beautiful stranger and had immediately become entranced. She had spent but a minute debating with herself as to whether or not she should approach, unconsciously her feet already leading her in that direction. When she had heard the blonde stranger's question, the answer had risen unbidden to her lips.

"Um, Hi. I erm don't usually, you know, go around sneaking up on people. I didn't scare you did I? I'm sorry, I did, I scared you. I didn't mean to, scare you that is. I was just talking to my father and then everyone stopped what they were doing so I turned and I saw you and I thought, 'I know, I'll go and introduce myself'. Wouldn't be much of a hostess if I didn't introduce myself to my guests now would I? And if I waited for my brother here, well who knows how long it could have been before-"

Her words were cut short by said brother gently placing his hand over his sister's mouth, the gesture causing Tara to giggle softly.

"Please excuse my sister." said the Prince. "She knows a lot of words and for some reason insists on trying to use them all at the same time!"

Slowly removing his hand from the Princess's mouth a large grin covered his face as he noticed another figure standing off to the left.

"If you will excuse me ladies, I must continue to meet and greet." Turning to Tara he continued, "It was a pleasure to meet you and now I will leave you in the capable hands of my sister." Taking her hand and placing a gentle kiss upon her knuckles he then faced his sister. "Willow. Look after our guest," he said as he placed a kiss on her cheek and made his way across the room.

Following him with her eyes, Willow saw exactly whom her brother was meeting and greeting in a somewhat friendly manner.

"Buffy?" Willow said in a questioning voice, again unaware she had spoken aloud.

Having momentarily forgotten about the beauty standing next to her, Willow started at the question, however, and it is to her credit, she did recover quickly.

"Buffy? Oh she's, um, officially she's my, uh, Handmaiden, which I personally find is a silly word that doesn't actually mean anything because I look after my own hands and well, unofficially, she's my best friend whom it would seem has captured the heart of my brother." A soft smiled appeared as she said this. Turning back to her guest she continued.

"So, may I ask your name? No, don't worry I shouldn't ask, you have already stated that you wish to remain anonymous and tonight I shall respect that wish. Um, would you like to dance?"

"I d-don't really dance," Tara finally managed to reply. She was starting to feel a little flushed and the proximity of the redhead was starting to ignite feelings in her to which she was unaccustomed.

"Right, right, you wouldn't want to dance with me anyway, I mean, I'm probably the worst dancer in the Kingdom, or even the country, and I'm really not sure I want all these people staring at you cause I kinda like something that's you know mine, and I'm making assumptions and starting to ramble again, so," the Princess paused to take a breath and noticed the smile that graced the blonde's features. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"

Leading the way into the gardens the two women proceeded to walk and talk. They talked about the flowers and the stars; both surprised at the other's knowledge. As they walked neither one was aware that they had gravitated closer together and their hands had gently clasped, fingers interlacing.

They walked for a full hour until they came to a stop in one of the gardens towards the front of the palace. From here they could hear the gentle music being carried on the light breeze.

Tara's answer was to move into Willow's embrace and gently lay her head on the Princess's shoulder. Slowly the two swayed to the music, a feeling of contentment and peace washing over them. They stayed like this until the stroke of a clock broke the trance-like state into which Tara had fallen. Realizing that it was twelve, she broke away from the embrace and with an apologetic look on her face proceeded to make her exit. The Princess followed, but the minute of shock at no longer having the blonde in her arms slowed her to the point where she could not catch her. All that was left was a glass slipper, which the Princess picked up almost reverently as tears began to cloud her vision.

Tara was nearly home when the last stroke of twelve rung out. The coach, footmen and even her gown disappeared leaving her standing barefoot in her rags. Running the rest of the way home, Tara couldn't stop the tears from falling. When she arrived she found that the one glass slipper remained. She hurried to tidy herself up as best she could and place the slipper safely away before her sisters should arrive home.

No sooner had she sat down, then the door opened and her sisters voices rang out clear through the house.

"Tara, come help us undress and let us tell you about the wonderful time we had tonight!" This was said for the sisters could not resist the chance to rub salt into what they thought to be a gaping wound.

Following them upstairs she started to unplait their hair and unlace their bodices, remembering to sound suitably impressed as to the people whom they had met. Only when talk turned to the Princess did Tara's interest become true. They told her of a beautiful stranger that had arrived at the ball and that it would seem the Princess had become infatuated with her. The stranger had disappeared at midnight leaving behind a glass slipper and a broken hearted Princess. They believed that she would make every effort to find the beautiful creature to whom it belonged as she was undoubtedly deeply in love. When asked as to how they knew this, the sisters merely said that they knew because as they were leaving the palace the Princess could be seen gazing fondly at the slipper.

Probably for the first time in their lives they told the truth. For but a few days later, the King's daughter had it proclaimed by sound of trumpet that the woman whose foot the slipper fitted exactly would be the one she chose to spend her life with.

At first they tried it on all the Princesses of the court, then the Duchesses, the Marchionesses and so on, until they decided it was time to take the search to those who were known to be present at the ball.

The Prime Minister, who carried the glass slipper on a velvet cushion, was kept very busy. It was not long before it was the turn of Tara's sisters.

After getting over their initial shock at having the Princess and Prime Minister Giles standing on their doorstep, they did all they could to squeeze a foot into the slipper, but to no avail.

Looking quickly towards the kitchen door and then back, the two sisters jointly stated a resounding "NO" for it was their belief that Tara was nothing but a low life and therefore could not possibly be the owner of the slipper.

Unfortunately for them, the Princess was extremely observant and having seen their looks at the door, proceeded to make her way towards it.

Opening the door almost silently, Willow was once again struck with a bout of uncertainty. Sitting on a small chair by the chimney, was a blonde girl, darning some stockings and humming a tune to herself.

Upon hearing a creak from the door Tara looked up and was immediately captured by eyes as green as emeralds. The Princess made her way into the kitchen, closely followed by the Prime Minister and then Tara's sisters.

"The proclamation stated that everyone should try on the slipper," said Giles as he knelt before Tara and placed the slipper upon her foot. A collective gasp was heard as the slipper went easily on and fitted perfectly.

Smiling shyly up at the Princess, Tara reached under her chair, and from her sewing basket pulled out the other slipper and placed it upon her foot.

By this point both Hallie and Anya had fainted, but neither Willow nor Tara noticed so lost where they in each other eyes. Unnoticed too was the fact that Tara's rags had disappeared and had been replaced with a gown even more splendid then the one she had worn to the ball.

Slowly coming round, the Princess asked a question that she had wanted to ask since the first moment she had seen the blonde.

Tara responded the only way her heart would let her. "Yes," she whispered as her arms wrapped around the Princess' waist and their lips joined for what would be the first of many times.

Two weeks later another ball was held. This one in honor of Prince Riley with his new wife Princess Buffy and Princess Willow and her, as the Princess herself proclaimed it, Everything, the Princess Tara.

And now the tale is over, true love has been shown to have no boundaries and Willow and Tara, the heroines of this story lived Happily. Ever. After.

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Cinderella

By Michelle

Mohan_MA@hotmail.com