01: Snow White's birthday party

You have all made your entrance into the Magical Kingdom, some more memorable than others.

Dresses cleaned, yo-yo’s purchased, books wrapped, lamps polished. All of your are ready for one of the biggest parties of the year.

An amazing ball and a grand feast cooked up by two chefs named Linguini and Remy. No expenses seem to be spared, for the hall of the palace is polished so well that you can see the ceiling reflected in the floor. Everywhere there are candles and decorations. Tables are nicely decorated and there is an abundance of pretty flowers everywhere.

A huge, perfectly seeming cake stand in the centre table, and all guests are lined to make their great entrance at the party.

At the piano, Joe Gardner makes sure everyone enters under the sound of some nice tunes, as Happy the dwarf stands by the door and announces everyone properly.


"Ladies and gentlemen! He chronicled Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. But did mr. Charming make it in there too? Mr. Père Robert!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! There is no friend like him. All the way from the lamp! Mr. Genie!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Our next guest will make anything truely as white as snow! Princess Elsa!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! As fintastic as ever! Princess Ariel and Prince Eric!... Ahem... Princess Ariel and Prince Eric!... No?" Happy looks confused for a moment. Merida had been standing behind Elsa all the time. "Well.... wrong red-head I guess..."
"Ladies and gentlemen! She shoots off an apple from your head better than any...one... oh... yes... no apple jokes allowed... Sorry... Anyway. Princess Merida of Dun Borsh! Of Den Bosch! of Bun.... Princess Merida!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Let's try this again.... As fintastic as ever! Princess Ariel and Prince Eric! No?..." Happy looks at the line where he'd expect Ariel and Eric. "Belle?" he whispers.
"Ladies and gentlemen! There is only one fairest of them all, but this beauty could give Snow a run for a her money! Princess Belle with Prince Adam!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Watch your step your you'd might trip over her hair! Princess Rapunzel and mr. Eugene!"
"Ladies and gentlemen! As fintastic as ever! Princess Ariel and Prince Eric! ... I give up...."

Rapunzel brights up when she hears all the music, and all the more so at her song, when she sang along in a whisper, feeling all dreamy, hugging her huge canvas and dancing around.

After Joe Gardner stopped not-playing Ariel's song, Rapunzel approached him, running unapologetically in the middle of the palace hall. Eugene and Cassandra tried to awkwardly tag along without making a fuzz.

"Mr. Joe Gardner!", she said, tugging the hair she had left behind and tripping an innocent bypasser into hugging his own reflection in the greatly polished floor, "Your music is absolutely amazing and filled with soul. Thank you so much for bringing back the memories! Oh, and nice hat."

After handshaking him enthusiastically with both hands, she looked around. "You wouldn't happen to see Snow White herself, did you? I wanted to give my present to her. It's my latest piece of abstract painting", she said pointing at the covered canvas she had on her. "Also, where did Ariel go?", she muttered to herself, and looked around once more.

Merida tugs uncomfortably at her dress as her name is called. She tries to think of what her mother would do. She wants to represent Dun Broch and her people well.

She nearly trips over her own feet as she walks into the hall but quickly recovers and finds her seat.

As a procession of Genies in parade dress march inside, followed by an orchestra (all Genies), the Genie himself enters, carried on a palanquin (carried by Genies). With a clap of his hands all Genies disappear in a puff of smoke and he launches into his song.

People would speak of it for years of what they saw then, but only those who saw would believe them.

When Belle and Adam are called coming the dias she flicks the dial on her badge and tugs at one of Adams tassels. Suddenly their clothing begins to burn up rapidly. The smoke turning into rose petals and falling to the ground.
The outfits go from.the classic yellow dress to a flowing ball gown of a magnificent shade of gold (if not almost real fabric gold) a short train and ruffled skirt.
Adam is a bit startled at this new reveal. He looks and.trues his hardest not to panic as his dress changes.
It goes from his traditional blue dress suit to a different style suit with more flair in complementary colors.

Père smiled awkwardly as he entered; he was definitely not expecting to be announced into the party. Once inside, he drifts to the side of the room to observe the proceedings, and looks around for Snow White. But he grew concerned when Happy seemed to be expecting Ariel only for the next person to be not Ariel. Where did Ariel go? Wasn’t she with us earlier at the gate?

People are still humming Genie's song as Belle enters the room, but her change of dress is spectacular and draws a lots of ooohs and aaaahs. Genie's song quite forgotten.

You all mingle around at the party, and Rapunzel has her chat and handshake with Joe Gardner.

"Thank you, thank you," mr Gardner says kindly as Rapunzel compliments him and shakes his hands. He smiled. "Just putting a little Jazz in it..." she points towards a large table near a large window, which is at the centre of one of the walls. "Princess Snow is right over there," he points out.

There is, yet again, a little line of people who are congratulating her with her birthday. Right now she is shaking hands with an hold man with a long white beard in a blue robe and pointy hat. "If you excused me," Joe continues "I should be ready though, to give princess Ariel the entrance she deserves should she come." He sits up straight behind his piano.


"Ladies and gentlemen! They might be last, but that is not because she overslept... Princess Aurora and Prince Philip!" Happy looks into the hallway and mutters just a bit audibly. "They were really the last ones?... No Ariel and Eric? She didn't like my fintastic joke?"

Near Snow White, there seems to be a gathering of dwarves. Six of them to be exact, although one of them beckons Happy to come over and join them. They are discussing something.

"Thank you again, Mr. Gardner. Have a jazzy evening." Rapunzel allowed Joe to sit back in front of the piano. "Jazz… I’ve never had jazz before. Is it anything like hazelnut soup? I haven’t had that in ages."

"Ugh, don’t talk to me about hazelnut soup. I hate that thing." Cassandra had caught up. Eugene, on the other hand, had been lured by a table with hams. "Raps, I’m not totally sure I should be here. Everyone’s either a princess or royalty, and I’m just a handmaiden."

"Cass, don’t you worry. They did say that everyone was invited", said Rapunzel bubbly. "You should let your hair down and have some fun."

"And you should tie your hair up before it murders anyone else.", said Cassandra grinning. "But okay. I’ll try to mingle a bit. Just spare me from the princess table. The old ones are too oh-ooh-oh-ooh-oh for me", she said, singing on a high pitched note.

"Rapunzel, you need to try this", popped up Eugene, biting a mouthful of ham. "Foo knew a mouff cou’ cook fo well?"

"Great! I was looking for you, Eugene. Let’s go say hi to Snow. I need to give her my present", said Rapunzel, pulling him by the wrist.

"Don’t choke on that, you big carnivore, you", said Cass mischievously, giving one big pat to Eugene, who proceeded to cough vigorously.

And they left towards the line of people greeting Snow. Rapunzel holding her canvas and Eugene expectorating his ham out.

Merida watches the procession of the party. In her nervousness, she starts stuffing her face with food. The more she eats, the more she realizes how hungry she was.

She looks around for he missing Ariel. She always loved trading redhead stories with her mermaid friend. Seeing Ariel missing, she turns to another guest.

"Have you seen Princess Ariel? <burp>" At her burp, her eyes go wide and she looks around embarrassed.

Père stands around the periphery of the party awkwardly, deciding to join the line seeing Snow White only later when the queue was a little shorter. It was strange, he thought, how he knew about so many of the guests here from the books in his bookshop—some of which he had written himself based on stories he had heard over the years—but had never met almost all of them.

Still, he was content to take in the sights and sounds while snacking on the refreshments. His silver brows furrowed in puzzlement when he saw Merida walking around asking if anyone had seen Ariel. Strange, he thought, is she really missing?

In the background Genie dances with a bewildered Grumpy.

Belle hooks her arm into Adams arm and enters the queue for Snows greeting.

"I never expected this many people. I knew there would be a lot but this was more than I expected."

Belle makes smalltalk with some of the others in the queue while it slowly moves along.

Seeing Merida stuff her face she beckons her to the line. Belle assumes Merida hasn't been to a gathering like this.

"Ariel?" a gypsy like girl with a French accent replies to Merida. "No, I have not seen her." Then as Merida burps she waves the air away with her hand.

At the front, there seems to be a little hushed talk going on between Doc and Snow White. And Snow's face is looking more worried and worried.

"Thank you for coming! Oh, that is so delightful!" she politely says to a dwarf puppet given to her by Geppetto.

As Rapunzel shows up with her painting Snow White raises her eyebrow for a moment in a "what is this supposed to be" fashing but whispers.
"Hey Pun, can you hang back for a moment please?"

As the line goes, Snow White carefully manages to find herself surrounded by Rapunzel, Ariel Merida and Belle. "Sisters," she says. "You might have noticed that Ariel didn't how up. Sneezy went up to check on her in her chambers, but she doesn't answer the door when he knocks... or sneezes."

"I peeked through the keyhole in the door. Her room is a mess. And dusty haaaachtoooo. No sign of prince Eric either."

"Sisters, could you check out how our princess sister is doing? I hope all is alright with her.... Oh, Belle... I see your father is here too?" Snow White mistakenly points at Bob. "He is a clever man. If there is anything wrong with her, he might be able to help."

"Excuse me, princess... clever might be good. But powerful magic would do better. Falling stars. Fairy Godmothers.... isn't that blue guy dancing with Grumpy not part of the wishing-industry?"

Grumpy is twirling through the air, carried by the dancing Genie in a blue tutu...

Père caught Snow White pointing in his direction while surrounded, and turned around confusedly to look at what she was pointing at.

Belle looks to whom Snow White is pointing to. "Why yes, Bob is a cleaver man. But my father he is not. Maurice is back home working on something for the next fair." She adds in a chuckle.

"Look in on Ariel, sure. Was she last seen in her room?"

Rapunzel gasped at this information. "Oh no! I hope Ariel is alright. Snow, you can count on us! My-my, what a birthday (happy birthday, by the way!)"

She then jogged back to Eugene, to offer a quick explanation. "Flynn! I'm going to need to attend some princess business, about Ariel missing. Could you keep watch around?". Then, seeing his expression, she added "Yes, i'll be okay, don't worry, princesses can defend themselves now", and she smiled reassuringly. "Oh, and don't tell dad."

She turned around and stared at the wall behind Snow, canvas still in hands. "I just don't know why would Snow want me to 'hang this in the back in a moment'", she said out loud, totally mishearing Snow's previous instructions. "But this is Snow we are talking about. She must have a reason. I'll just get it done quickly before looking for Ariel."

Rapunzel proceeded to hang her canvas in a notorious spot of the palace wall, unveiling the art once she was done:



She leapt down and said matter-of-factly "Abstract art is funny. This one makes me feel like someone is missing. Six people is one short of seven, after all, like the dwarves! Except the one missing now is Ariel. Snow must have known this somehow. Holy lanterns, she surprises me sometimes."

Rapunzel then joined the rest of the search party, with high spirits.

Truth be told, Merida was glad to have a chance to get away from the party, even though she was worried about her friend. What could have happened to Ariel? Was that terrible sea witch Ursala back? Merida hated magic, in general. She'd rather manage things with her own two hands.

"There's no time to waste! Let's go." Merida led the group up the stairs to Ariel's room, grabbing a sword from a guard as she went.

As he milled around the peripheries while eating his fifth capapé (they were really good) Père noticed a few of the guests including Rapunzel and Merida start heading up the stairs. Curious, he went over tentatively to the same stairs as Belle was heading to it. "Ah, Belle, I hope you’ve been having a fine party. Is something the matter, there seems to be some rushing about going on."

"Yes, perfect timing Père, we could perhaps use some of your guidance.
Adam, we'll be back. Could you help Snow with whatever she needs please."
Belle quickly briefs both Bob and Adam on the disappearance of Ariel and Snows request for help.

Belle makes her way behind the others.
"Oh! She mentioned the Genie, let's gather it too."
She makes a quick button hook making her way to the Genie.
"Would you please come with us, I believe you may be able to help out."