29 January 2024

This isn’t canonical. It was an alternate idea I briefly considered of pulling in other shenanigans for the more bull-headed version of Aurora, but I think that would have gotten complicated. That, or I was just reading a lot of magical girl-themed stuff on Royal Road at the time, and decided to play with it a bit.

“Too easy,” the creature said, picking at a fingernail.

Rapunzel sputtered. Here she was, offering up her cleverness, her health… She was even putting her life on the line! And this diminutive furball had the gall to say that was too easy?

Reading her thoughts–whether through her expression or more magical means, Rapunzel couldn’t tell–the creature said, “You were willing to let go of all that long before the princeling ever showed up at your doorstep. You’d already resigned yourself to a short life.” Then the creature smiled far too wide for its face, and with far too many teeth. “No. What I want is far more precious than that. I want your leisure.”

“My leisure?”.

The creature nodded. “Suppose I do as you ask. Let them all free, wake them up. As an added bonus, say I even let you live as well. What happens then?”

It took a moment for Rapunzel to understand what he was getting at. There’s no way her family would let her go after all this. She wouldn’t be going back to her Tower. No, she’d have duties, responsibilities, expectations.

She’d have to become a princess.