Meanwhile, at the royal gala, the prince was about to make his royal appearance. His right-hoof pony, the Grand Duke, made his way to the center of the grand staircase and cleared his throat. The royal trumpets sounded and the gala guests all directed their attention to him.
“My lords and ladies, I am pleased to welcome you here to the king’s gala! As many of you are aware, His Royal Majesty shall select his bride from those eligible mares in attendance tonight. At The King’s request, every mare is to line up around the ballroom and wait her turn to dance. By the gala’s conclusion one lucky mare will be selected as his bride. Without further ado, I introduce you all to this evening’s festivities… The King!”
The mares in the crowd gasped and giggled in anticipation as the royal trumpets sounded once again to announce his arrival. After a long moment of silence, all eyes shot back to the Grand Duke in confusion.
“Ahem, His Royal Highness… The King!”
In a flash light, the prince had finally arrived. He was a very tall, very chaotic looking, but very handsome and dashing looking… draconequus.
“Greetings!” The King happily but hauntly proclaimed to his loyal subjects, “My little ponies!”
“Say what now?” interrupted Pinkie; addressing to the audience. Her words and presence breaking the story and pausing the story behind her.
“Ah, there you are Pinkie Pie,” interjected Discord, joining by Pinkie’s side in the fourth wall breaking gray space, “I was wondering when you were going to show up. Don’t tell me that you’re the narrator. I thought that was PegasusPitch’s job. Well, if you get to the narrator and the ugly step sister, then I guess I get to be both The King and the wicked stepmother.”
With a snap of his fingers, Discord’s kingly outfit vanished and was replaced by the lavish blue and gold dress that Rarity, Cindershy’s stepmother, was wearing for the Gala. He even gave him an extravagantly large, curled, pinned up purple wig to match Rarity’s mane for the scene.
“I’m sure that Rarity won’t mind.”
“Discord! W-Where’s Rainbow Dash?!”
“Oh! Didn’t she tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Well, turns out there was an opening for the Fairy Applemother role and Rainbow Dash just insisted on taking on that role instead of this one. She said I could take over in her place.”
“Ha ha!” laughed Applejack in the background, her voice echoing in the gray space but yet her face had no way of being seen, “Have fun with the wand Rainbow! Oh and by the way, you look mighty pretty in that dress. Ha ha!”
“Arrrggh! Come back here AJ!” Rainbow screamed, her voice echoing in the gray space as well but with no body or face to go with it, “I didn’t put myself in this dress! Discord did! DISCORD DIIIIDDD!”
“You see,” Discord cheekily added, with a big smirk on his face. “The perfect role for her.”
“Riiigghht,” Pinkie drawed out; not feeling sure on what to say next in this situation, “Well if Rainbow doesn’t want to be the prince, then I don’t see you can’t. But, why did you make the prince into a king?”
“Do you honestly think any pony out there, listening to this story, would believe that I Discord, master of chaos, would be a meesely prince instead of a king?! I’m a lord for pity’s sake.”
Discord poofed himself out of his wicked stepmother outfit and into his kingly outfit from earlier.
“Then, why not make yourself a Lord then?”
“No pony knows what lords are these days, except for those who watch Downton Abbey and all that.”
“Good point. But, doesn’t that create inconsistently from what PegasusPitch narrated earlier?” pondered Pinkie, shrugging her shoulders.
“Oh, I’m sure that Magpie can fix that later in the rewrites.”
“No I won’t!” shouted Magpiepony, her disembodied voice echoing in the gray space, "Don't you dare even ask, Discord!"
“Can we get on with the story already?” commented a very impatient Discord, “this fourth walling bit has been going on for far too long. Even for me.”
“Oooohhh,” remarked Pinkie in an all knowing tone, a big smile slowly creeping on her face, “I see what’s reeeaallly going on here.”
“What?” asked Discord, cocking his head to the side, “What are you implying Miss Pie?”
“You just wanted to be the one to dance with Flutters at the gala and marry in the end, didn’t you?”
“What?! That is ridiculous! Fluttershy is my friend, I want nothing of the sort. I’m just being a good friend to Rainbow Dash by taking her place in this unnecessary shipping nonsense that you’re cooking up in this story. I certainly don’t want to dance with her! No, I certainly don’t want to whisk her away into the night, and impress her with my dashing good looks and romantic charm! Heaven forbid that I want to kiss her and marry her Bride of Discord style! No! Of course!”
While Discord pouted and turned himself away from Pinkie, the pink pony snickered, “Like I said earlier, rriiiiiigghht. Whatever you say Discord. Or, should I say, Mr. Cindershy? Tehee!”
Pinkie Pie bounced back into the story as Piella with a big grin on her face, building excitement for the inevitable dance scene to come. While Discord on the other hand, snapped back into the story as The King and enjoyed the thunderous applause.
The Grand Duke rolled his eyes before approaching his superior, “Greetings Your Highness. You are late… as usual.”
“Don’t you mean fashionably late, Dukey Doo?” The King whispered before waving back to his adoring audience and blowing them kisses.
“I am the Grand Duke, Your Highness, not ‘Dukey Doo.’”
The purple unicorn cleared his throat before suggesting, “ But, we can discuss that later. For now, let’s focus on finding you your future bride, shall we? I was thinking that if we organize each eligible mare in a line we can give each of them time to dance with you before you make your selection. It’s like I always say, Your Highness, organization is the key to any successful-”
“Thanks but no thanks Dukey Doo,” The King dismissed him with a wave of his claw, and as soon as he did so, he changed the entire interior of the castle to his own looking. Instead of a crystal, perfect-esque fairy tale castle and ballroom, he made the castle and it’s ballroom into a chaotic wonderland of his own design. The best way to describe this new interior design would be if you mixed Alice in Wonderland’s with the color aesthetic of space and the inner hype thinkings of Pinkie Pie’s own mind, then you would have this place.
“Yup! Sounds about right!” Pinkie Pie quickly interrupted the story, before rapidly returning back as Piella.
As the guests floated, danced, hung upside down, and socialized in the gravity-less atmosphere that The King had just created, The King stopped The Grand Duke with, “I already know who that lucky mare is going to be.”
“Oh good! Well, that was easy. To think, I thought this was going to be a long night and… wait… what?! What do you mean you already found her?!”
“I met her out in the woods while I was out and about.” He lied smoothly, “Just go see the 2015 Disney remake of this story, it’ll explain how all of that went down.”
“Your Majesty! This is no time for your nonsensical jokes!” exclaimed in a stressed tone by The Grand Duke, just waiting to pull out his own mane, “What you had just done was socially inappropriate for a creature of your position!”
“But, I am socially inappropriate.”
Piella giggled after Discord made his smart aleck joke, trying to hide it under her hoof. Hanging out with her stepmother and step sister on the other side of the ballroom.
Discord shouted to Piella with a proud smirk on his face, “Thanks Pinkie! I’ve been waiting all night to make that joke!”
“Your Majesty,” The Grand Duke groaned, placing his hoof on his forehead in distress, “there’s being you, and then there’s not following royal guidelines. As The King to this kingdom, there are certain expectations that have to be met. The people expect their king to be cordial, professional, dignified, respectable, mature, and above all else-!”
Just then, Cindershy had finally reached the gates of the castle. She made her way to the entrance and smiled, taken in by the beauty of the castle ballroom. From not too far away, THe King caught a glimpse of Cindershy as she entered. His ears wiggled with joy.
“Who wants to conga?!” He announced to his guests.
With an agreeing cheer, and an instant play of music, The Grand Duke was swept away in a long, dancing, serpentine line of ponies. No matter how much The Grand Duke struggled, no matter how much he shouted to his king and the ponies in the line, The Grand Duke couldn’t escape the mighty power of conga.
The King waved The Grand Duke goodbye before re-adjusting any loose fittings and buttons on his attire. He turned towards Cindershy’s direction. With single minded determination in his eyes, he poofed away his crown, and transported himself towards her side of the ballroom. Appearing right in front of her with a big, friendly smile.
Cindershy shouted when she suddenly found this stranger appear before her magically. She slipped on her glass horse shoes, and was about to fall on the floor.
“Woah there!” exclaimed The King, placing his tail underneath her and catching her before she could hit the floor, “There’s no need to falling over me yet. We haven’t even danced yet.”
“It’s… it’s you.” Cindershy realized, her eyes widened as The King brought her face closer to his with his tail, “My new friend from the woods.”
“Tis I,” The King once again lied, “Guilty as charged.”
“Woah, this story and it’s character really adjusted quickly to the new changes that Discord had made,” Piella interrupted, breaking the fourth wall again.
“And yet,” Magpiepony interrupted, at last entering this paused story gray space with Pinkie Pie, “He can’t be bothered with fixing the inconsistencies that happened earlier in this story and it’s narration. Thanks Discord.”
“What?” Cindershy muttered in confusion to The King, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see what this big party was about. As much as I love a good shing-ding, I really don’t see what the fuss is all about. It’s only about The King finding himself a silly wife. Nothing to really scream and holler at.”
“Plus,” The King added in a softer tone, brushing the fluffy end of his tail against the side of Cindershy’s face. Her face flushed from such a tender gesture. “I wanted to see you again.”
“You… you did?” Cindershy whispered in awe.
“I did,” The King whispered back loving. Then, his tone became casual once more, “Anyway, I figured the best way I could find you again was at the gala.”
“I hope that… i-It wasn't too much trouble for you.”
“Not at all.”
“Then, I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Then,” The King cooed in a seductive tone, bowing down to Cindershy and offering his paw to her, “let us speak no more. Let us, instead, continue onto the dance floor.”
Cindershy gave him a shy smile and took his paw. Although she still didn’t know where The King was, she didn’t care when in the embrace of her new and mysterious friend from the woods. She had easily forgotten The King and allowed herself to be swept away in this dance.
Even, Cindershy had never learned to dance, but it didn’t matter since when her dance partner picked her up and brought her close to his chest, she was off her hooves. She didn’t need to dance because her friend had to do all the dancing for them. Yet despite this unique set up, the pair still glided across the ballroom and laughed happily in their bliss.
As the duo danced, the other mares could only stare in disappointment, none more so than Lady Rarity and her two daughters.
“Who does she think she is, anyway? She’s being incredibly selfish if you ask me. Other ponies want a turn too!” Spikina muttered.
“Strange… I can’t quite place it, but I feel as if I’ve seen her somewhere before…” Lady Rarity wondered aloud.
“That’s because you have silly! That’s Cindershy!” Piella said.
“Hush Piella mommy’s concentrating. Now, who could that be?” Lady Rarity said.
“Oh come on, she’s not even wearing a mask! It’s not that hard to tell that’s our sister, Cindershy!” Piella emphasized, “With Discord!”
“Piella!” Lady Rarity scolded, “How dare you address The King by his first name!”
“Yeah, how dare you Piella!” Spikina added, with a smug yet satisfied look on her face.
“Shut up Spikina, you’re stupid.” Piella said.
“Am not! Are too! Am not! Are too!” the siblings bickered.
“QUIET! the both of you! Perhaps the Grand Duke will know who she is, come along you two and PLEASE try not to embarrass me” Lady Rarity said.
“Yes mother.” the both replied.
From the corner of her eye, Lady Rarity was able to find The Grand Duke in a long conga line on the ceiling. He was still trying to escape this magical in sync dance, in order to reach The King. Especially ever since he saw His Majesty take the yellow pegasus mare to the center of the dance floor. The Grand Duke had to confront the pair, and resolve this inappropriately formed pair before it was too late.
Lady Rarity clearly saw The Grand Duke’s grapple, and grabbed the purple unicorn’s waving hoof. With a couple of pulls and yanks, she was able to miraculously haul out His Dukeness from the group dance’s spell.
The Grand Duke sighed in relief, “Ah, thank you so much. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”
“Repay you say?” Lady Rarity’s tone raised an octave, her eyes and brows lifted with devious interest. She knew all too well who she was talking to, and more importantly, who he was connected to. “Hmm. Well, if you insist, if you would be so kind as to introduce my lovely daughters to His Majesty. I would be most thankful if my sweet daughters could have the opportunity to bask in The King’s presence.”
The Grand Duke followed Lady Rarity’s pointed hoof towards the individuals behind her. His eyes widened instantly. He had never seen such ugly dresses, not to mention such bright and excessive make up, on a pair of creatures in all of his days. But despite this disgust, he fought through this cringe, and nervously responded with, “But o-of course. His Majesty would happy to meet your-”
When he turned to find The King, he was shocked to see that he was no longer on the dance floor. In fact, he was nowhere to be found.
“Ah!” The Grand Duke panicked, “Where did he go?!”
Meanwhile, Cindershy and The King had danced themselves away from the jealous crowds and into the castle gardens. When Cindershy finally looked away from her dance partner, she gasped in delight at the beauty around her.
“Oh my goodness, is this the royal garden?”
“Hmm?” The King muttered unconsciously, not knowing what Cindershy had asked and was too busy gazing into her eyes to pay attention to what was really going on.
“The garden, is this the King’s garden? It’s the most exquisite garden I’ve ever seen! I’d bet you get all kinds of cute little animals running around.”
“Huh?”
The King shook his head and returned himself to reality, “That’s not all that lies in this garden.”
With the snap of his tail feathers, he made something to appear in the bushes. The bushes ruffled, grumbled, and barked; this made Cindershy meeped in fear and jump behind His Majesty in fear. The King couldn’t help but warmingly chuckle at Cindershy.
“Don’t run away just yet, milady.”
Right on cue, a large, black three headed dog walked out from the bushes. Each of its slobbering heads wearing spiked onyx collars, with tags that read “Cerebus”.
“Could it be?” Cindershy awed with glee, fluttering into the air with excitement. Her eyes becoming as starry eyed as the night sky. “Is that Cerebus?! The royal gardens’ guard dog?!”
“See for yourself.”
Cindershy fluttered back to the ground and offered her hoof to the giant monstrous dog with a sweet smile, “Dawww, you’re even cuter than I imagined.”
Cerebus, despite it’s protective and aggressive nature, was instantly touched by the kind aura of the pegasus and licked her hoof affectionately.
Before anypony knew it, Cerebus jumped onto Cindershy and licked her face eagerly. Waging it’s tiny tail joyously. It was as if this dog knew Cindershy all it’s life and it was at last reunited with a friend. Cindershy and The King laughed warmly together. Truly, nothing could break such a cute moment.
Well, that was not true.
The kingdom’s clock tower began to chime loudly, and echoed throughout the garden.
“It’s midnight?!” Cindershy gasped in horror.
“Oh shoot!” The King cursed under his breath, “I forgot about the whole curfew thing! Argh, why couldn’t have Pinkie had chosen a slower pace story like Beauty and the Beast?”
“Oh no, oh no oh no oh no!” Cindershy continued, “I… I’m sorry but I have to go! I have to go now!”
“Uh, what’s the hurry, scurry?” The King quickly asked, quietly cringing at such a pathetic rhyme he had just made. He rapidly caught Cindershy by the hoof before she could take off. “The gala just started. Everypony will be in the ballroom all night, leaving the garden all to ourselves.”
“I, uh, wish I could stay but… um… The King! I haven’t met The King yet and I was so looking forward to that. Thank you for a wonderful evening!”
“Well, what a coincidence! I just so happen to be-”
“Goodbye!” Cindershy called, running as fast as she was able in her glass horseshoes.
“Wait!” The King called after her, “Fluttershy! I mean, Cindershy! I mean, my friend from the woods! You didn’t let me tell you…! Ah, curse the cliche ‘the main character runs away before the other character could reveal an important secret to them’ device! Why didn’t I tell her sooner?”
He blushed, remembering exactly why he did it. Let his own words echoed back to him inside his mind, recalling exactly what he told Pinkie Pie earlier.
“Oh r-right. My so called ‘romantic charm’? Me and my big mouth.”
He poofed away Cerebus and ran after Cindershy as fast as he could. However, he soon realized something, “Wait, what am I doing?”
The King stopped right in his tracks, snapped his fingers, and magically transported to wherever Cindershy might end up next.
Meanwhile, Cindershy had reached the entrance. She thought that her mysterious friend from the woods was far behind, so she allowed herself to slow down a little bit. Her heart beat faster with every toll of the clock tower’s bell. She raced down the front steps, but in her haste she had forgotten how fragile her footwear was. She stepped down hard on the stone and one of the glass horseshoes shattered.
“Oh my!” she shouted.
Thinking fast, Cindershy removed the other horseshoe before it too would shatter. Leaving it to shine bright and beautiful under the moonlight.
“Whisker Bloom? Cheesy Belle? Rat-a-loo? Where are you?” Cindershy called out once she had reached the base of the stairs.
“We’re here!” Whisker Bloom said as she and the other mouse crusaders ran up to Cindershy.
“Oh my, you’re mice again! The magic must be wearing off faster than I thought.”
“And you’re back in the pretty dress we made you,” Cheesy Belle happily squeaked.
“Oh my,” uttered Cindershy, looking all around at the mish mash dress on her body. Missing the gorgeous blue gown given to her by the good Fairy Applemother.
Just then, a flash of light blinded Cindershy and her rodent friends.
“Fluttershy!”
“Eep!”
Cindershy ducked down and hid her face into her hooves, shaking like a leaf in the process. While the Cutie Mouse Crusaders jumped into her mane.
“I mean, Cindershy! I mean, d’oh never mind! Please, don’t go yet. I need to tell you this cliche but necessary secret that I shouldn’t have kept it a secret from you.”
“Huh?”
Cindershy rose back to her hooves and saw her friend from the woods standing before her and holding the glass horseshoe she left on top of the staircase. All the little mice popped out of Cindershy’s mane in order to see who she was talking to.
“My mysterious friend from the woods?”
“Your Majesty!” cried out The Grand Duke, galloping towards The King and Cindershy at the bottom of the staircase.
“Huh?!” Fluttershy squeaked, her eyes as wide as saucers, “Your Majesty? Does that mean you’re…?”
“You did say that you wanted to meet The King,” The King replied with a relieved smile, “Well, here I am.”
“O-Oh dear,” She stuttered shyly, trying to back away slowly and hid her dress from him.
“Your Majesty, there you are!” said The Grand Duke, at last at the bottom of the staircase, “Where have you been? The guests have been looking for you all night.”
“Girls, look!” Lady Rarity proclaimed, pointing her hoof towards The King at the bottom of the entrance stairs, “It’s The King! Get him before it’s too late!”
“You got it mommy dearest!” saluted Pinkie before bouncing down the stairs.
“Hey! Wait up for me Piella!” exclaimed Spikina, struggling to walk down the steps with her tall thin heels and her poofy dress.
“No Flutters, I mean, please don’t g-” whispered The King, seeing as the pegasus was trying to slowly get away from him.
“Oof!”
The King was then suddenly tackled and pinned to the ground by Piella. While sitting on top of him, she announced, “Wohoo! Got him!”
“Daww, no fair!” said a very exhausted Spikina as she finally caught up with her sister, “I was going to tackle him first!”
“Urgh, not now Pink, I mean, Piella.” The King groaned, his face being pushed into the dirt.
“Your Majesty!” shouted a very concerned Grand Duke.
“Good work girls,” said a very satisfied Lady Rarity.
She smiled victoriously, however, this smile didn’t last long when she finally saw Cindershy by His Royal Majesty’s side.
“C-Cindershy?!”
“Oh, u-um, h-hello stepmother.”
“What is wrong with you?!” The Grand Duke yelled at Lady Rarity, “What’s wrong with everypony tonight for that matter?! Ugh, I don’t get paid enough to do this. That being said, what do you and your daughters think you’re doing?”
“Meeting with The King, just as you promised!” said Lady Rarity in an offended tone, “Or have you forgotten?”
“Oh, I didn’t forget milday,” The Grand Duke confronted in a lower tone, “I said that they could meet him, not attack him. Guards!”
Coming in quicker than two shakes of a lamb’s tail, a group of guards appeared around them seemingly out of nowhere.
“Take them away!” The Grand Duke ordered.
Without hesitation, the burly armored ponies grabbed onto Piella, Spikina, and their mother. Ready to drag them off to the royal dungeons, and prevent them from ever seeing the light of day ever again. Thus, relieving The King of the pink pony’s weight and let him rise back to his feet.
“No, stop! That’s my family!” Cindershy cried out.
The King held out his paw in front of her and stopped her from confronting the guards. He winked at her before commanding the guard’s attention with, “Woah woah, hold on there!”
The guards immediately halted and turned dumbfoundedly towards His Royal Majesty.
“Since when did you fools started following ole Dukey Doo’s orders instead of mine?”
“But, Your Majesty?” interjected The Grand Duke, “Those mares just physically attacked you and their mother just encouraged them, praised them, when accomplish this assault.”
“Oh please! Calling that as an attack is like considering a paper cut as an assault. Dear Duke, I am king. Nothing could ever hurt me. Not now, not ever. Guards, would be so kind as to releasing those mares before I turn you all into cotton candy machines?”
The guards let out a scared little whimper as they swiftly released the two sisters and their mother from their grasp.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cindershy expressed graciously, “I don’t know how we could ever repay you for your mercy.”
With a soft smirk stretched across his face, The King got down on one knee and offered her glass horse shoe to her, “Anything… for the mare I attend to be my queen.”
“Say yes! Say yes!” The Cutie Mouse Crusaders cheered.
“Say no! Say no!” Spikina and Lady Rarity demanded.
“Shush!” Piella hushed her family, “Don’t interrupt the love scene.”
“Lady Cindershy,” The King proposed gently, taking her front hoof into his claw tenderly, “Will you… be my wife?”
Cindershy couldn’t believe. Who would have known that her dear yet mysterious friend from the woods… would become the love of her life? Who would have known that a cinder girl like her… would become the wife of a king?
Despite all the nerves and fear building inside, despite all her doubt and insecurity, the love she had for Discord over ruled everything.
“Y-Yes,” She answered, with tears in her eyes, “Yes I will.”
And so it was that Cindershy’s dreams finally came true. She was soon wed to The King and became a queen, never again having to work for her wicked stepmother and stepsisters. The Cutie Mouse Crusaders had finally accomplished their great quest and decided to live their lives in the castle with Cindershy where they could be pampered and treated like the little heroes that they were. Cindershy’s family eventually apologized for their behavior and begged to be allowed into the castle. After lengthy teachings of kindness, they were finally able to live in the castle alongside Cindershy; whom they accepted as their family.
The King and his queen were about to seal their happily ever after with a k-
“The End!” chirped Pinkie Pie, slamming the book shut with a smile.
“ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?!” bellowed Discord, “That’s it! That’s it! You’re going to pay, Pinkie Pie!”
Discord began planning. A plan to unleash all his chaos… all his trollish trickery upon the next story in The Pinkie Tales series… Shalaladdin.
Author's Note
MissKoi doesn't own MLP, for MLP belong to it's respective owners and creators. MissKoi also doesn't own anything of Magpiepony's works like Pinkie Tales or Cindershy. This is just an alternate universe take on her Cindershy story, an alternate universe basically. Happy Day 7 of Fluttercord week and Happy end of Fluttercord week <3! Thank you all so much for reading my stories for this week and for all those who participated in Fluttercord Week, art wise or fanfic wise <3 I hoped all of you enjoy this story:) I hope especially that Magpiepony likes this story:) I've been wanting to write this story ever since I saw Cindershy way back, hoping that the prince was played by Discord instead of Rainbow DashXD ;) Lol!
