Ever After High (Male Reader)

The Tragedy of Aquilona

The morning of the field trip dawned as yellow-gold as leprechaun treasure. The great castle of Ever After High seemed gilded with the light.

Songbirds swooped and sang, butterflies danced with fairies, goblins yawned and crept into the cellar to sleep.

In her dorm, Lizzie dressed carefully, as always, arranging her red-and-black hair under her crown. She peered at her mirror, painting a red heart around her left eye. Her mother bore a heart-shaped birthmark. Lizzie was born without the birthmark, so she drew one on each day to be a little more like her mother.

She had told you this when you were trying so hard to get her to understand that she did not need to rule over her peers like her mother did in Wonderland. She told you this in confidence. She regretted doing so.

Her relationship with you at this current moment was rocky at best. You had realized this Yester when you asked her to take the lead for the play. She had mostly brushed you off, which upset you. Then she upset you in a different way by choosing to speak to Daring over you.

Stupid pretty boy with his perfect teeth and his stupid crown.

A field trip day was a bubbling cauldron of excitement. The corridors were raucous, the laughter constant. By the time Lizzie marched and shouted her way through the school and out to the wishing well, there was an enormous line.

And standing in the very back, was you.

You didn't qualify as Royal or Rebel, so you were actually allowed to choose where you wanted to go. You chose the West Wind since you didn't exactly feel like going to the Dark Mountains.

The fact that the headmaster even allowed this was beyond ridiculous to you. He was, like, 100. He shouldn't be so petty. But you also had the play to watch over. You did drag Lizzie into it, it was only fair you should watch.

You could tell which students were going to visit the West Wind by their attire, all swimsuits and flip-flops, reeking of coconut sunscreen. In front of you, two fairy-godmothers-in-training prattled on endlessly about the supposedly spectacular hollowed-out mountain palace the East Wind lived in.

At last it was your turn.

After a rush of sparkly darkness and freezing-hot breezes, Lizzie hopped out of another wishing well in the Dark Mountains beyond the Dark Forest. She looked around for a royal sedan chair carried by four servants (preferably card soldiers), but when none appeared, she was forced to trudge up the mountainside like the rest of her class.

Maddie: Hey, Lizzie!

Madeline Hatter hopped up on one foot. Maddie was dressed in layers of turquoise and purple, which matched her hair colors. Her striped and polka-dotted skirts flounced with each hop.

Maddie: Hop with me!

Maddie held out her hand. Lizzie’s hand twitched, almost reaching back.

But readily her mind called up her mother’s advice: A ship is only as floaty as its leakiest timber, and friends are the leakiest timber of all.

Sail not on the Friend Ship, Lizzie, lest you drown in an ocean of tears!

Lizzie: A princess of Wonderland never hops.

She walked through the forests of the mountain path alone.

Maddie pouted, but she looked up when you poked her cheek.