Chapter Text
"What do you think, Mother?" A girl asked the woman in the marketplace as she wore a hat with feathers on it.
"That's not the sort of thing you see every day," the mother replied wearily.
"I saw it first!" Another girl argued with the first girl as she put the hat on herself with a grin. "How do you think it looks on me, Mother?"
"Awful!" The first girl glared.
"I didn't ask you!" The second girl glared back.
"How can a mother choose between such two extraordinary daughters?" The mother forced a smile to her daughters before she turned away, a bit repulsed.
"Cinderella? Cinderella!" One girl called to the girl who carried the boxes.
"Yes?" The girl asked once her name was called.
"What do you think?" The second girl smirked with the hat. "Does it look better on me?"
"Or me?" The first girl added as she took the hat for herself.
"Well, I don't know much about hats, but I don't think it flatters either one of you." The girl smiled sheepishly.
The two girls looked insulted.
"What did you ask her for?" The first girl growled at the one who responded.
"She doesn't know anything about hats," The second girl told her sister before she took the hat away. "She said so herself."
"MOTHER!" The sisters cried out.
"Nothing ever changes between Calliope and Minerva." Brandy sighed at her step-sisters.
----
Madame Bernadette soon led Minerva and Calliope back home after they heard the news. The family soon stopped suddenly at the door as Brandy followed them. Madame Bernadette sighed as she expected Brandy to open the door for her and her daughters.
"Cinderella? The door!" Madame Bernadette called sharply.
"Oh... Right away!" Brandy replied as she ran towards the door and opened it to let them inside.
After Cinderella got the door, everybody else filed inside of the house.
"Cinderella, my wrap," Madame Bernadette then said.
"Cinderella, my head!" Calliope called sharply.
"Cinderella, my glove!" Minerva added.
Brandy soon did as they said. "Cinderella, have you dusted the rails?" Madame Bernadette asked.
"Not yet, Step-Mother, I've had a busy day." Brandy said softly.
"Hmph... You've had a busy day?" Madame Bernadette rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I've had a busy day," Brandy told her step-mother. "I've been in the village with you."
"Hmph! The impertinence!" Madame Bernadette huffed as she got settled into her home as she gave books to her biological daughters. "After your father died, everyone said I should've thrown you out in the streets; be a swan, Minerva, be a swan," she then advised before continued. "But I kept you here all these years and this is the thanks I get?! Shoulders back, Calliope, shoulders back," she then told her other daughter. "I've always been told I got too big a heart."
"You got too big a heart, Mother." Calliope and Minerva said as they kept the books on their heads from falling off as they started to sit down.
"We'll take our tea upstairs." Madame Bernadette beamed. "Come, girls, it's time to get our beauty rest! We want to be our best for the ball tomorrow night."
Calliope and Minerva soon came to follow after their mother as they tried to balance the books on their heads.
"I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted!" Madame Bernadette yawned loudly as they walked up the stairs.
"I'm tired too, Mother." Calliope said.
"You're tired?" Minerva glared.
"Yes, I'm tired!" Calliope glared back.
"Step-Mother?" Brandy called out.
"What is it now?" Madame Bernadette replied in aggravation.
"I was wondering about the ball," Brandy smiled softly. "All eligible women in the kingdom are invited."
"And I suppose you think the prince is going to take one look at you and fall madly in love?" Madame Bernadette smirked with a laugh at the very thought.
"I didn't... I didn't mean that..." Brandy said softly.
"Take my advice, Cinderella," Madame Bernadette advised. "Know your place and be satisfied with what you've got; I promise you, you'll be much happier."
"If my father were alive..." Brandy whispered to herself.
"Well, he's not, is he?" Madame Bernadette replied firmly.
"He's alive in my heart," Brandy defended.
"Don't cling to the past, Cinderella," Madame Bernadette sighed before she left with a smirk. "It's not very attractive."
"Cinderella! Hot water!" Minerva soon yelled out.
"Cinderella! Warm milk!" Calliope added.
"CINDERELLA!" The two step-sisters snapped.
----
Brandy soon began to make her way into the kitchen, repeating to herself of what her step-sisters told her to do. "Cinderella, hot water... Cinderella, warm milk..." she mocked.
"I'm as mild and as meek as a mouse, when I hear a command I obey," Brandy began to sing as she carried out her chores before she sat by the fireplace. "But I know of a spot in my house, where no one can stand in my way.
"In my own little corner, in my own little chair, I can be whatever I want to be," Brandy sang. "On the wing of my fantasy, I can fly anywhere and the world will open its arms to me.
"In my own little corner, In my own little chair, I can be whatever I want to be," Brandy continued to sing a bit happily. "On the wing of my fancy, I can fly anywhere, and the world will open its arms to me.
"I'm a young Egyptian princess or a milkmaid, I'm the greatest primadonna in the land," Brandy sang, as she wrapped a scarf around her neck.
"I'm an heiress who has always had her silk made, by her own flock of silkworms in Japan!" Brandy sang as she danced around. "I'm a girl men go mad for, love's a game I can play, with a cool and confident kind of air."
A broom then fell over as Brandy danced about, before she picked up the broom.
"Just as long as I stay in my little corner, all alone in my own little chair," Brandy sang as she sat down on the chair close by the fireplace.
The family soon began to call out for Brandy.
"I can be whatever I want to be, I'm a thief in Calcutta, I'm a queen in Peru," Brandy sang as she grabbed random items such as cups, plates, and the broom while she daydreamed about being more than a lowly servant in her own home. "I'm a mermaid dancing upon the sea, I'm a huntress on an African safari, (It's a dangerous type of sport and yet it's fun), in the night I sally forth to seek my quarry, and I find I forgot to bring my gun!"
Brandy ducked behind the staircase, pretending. "I am lost in the jungle all alone and unarmed when I meet a lioness in her lair," Brandy sang before she rushed back into the kitchen before closing the doors behind her. "And I'm glad to be back in my own little corner, all alone in my own little chair."
"CINDERELLA!" The family called out again which made Brandy spring into action.
Later when Brandy returned to the kitchen, she found a cup of hot chocolate and a sparkly light blue dress with a tiara, a necklace and opera gloves waiting on the table.
"Who could this be from?" Brandy asked herself quietly and found a note near the cup.
To whomever lives here,
Sorry to intrude but I thought that you might want to take a break from your duties and have a drink before you go to the ball.
This is your chance of making your dream a reality. Don't let anyone - even yourself - stop you.
Hope you like the dress also.
Yours faithfully,
TJ
Brandy made up her mind to thank this 'TJ' whoever he was, when she got the chance. She drank the hot chocolate, got dressed and hastened out of the door. However, the palace was a long way from her house, so she spotted a horse - the Kelpie - and rode him to the ball.
----
The Kelpie managed to find the prince with his valet Lionel and his parents Constantina and Maximillian. Though he tried to figure out how did the monarchs have a Filipino son, he thought it best not to question such things.
He gave Christopher a note and the latter met with Brandy to elope.