Fanfic / Cinderella: The TRUE Sequel

Cinderella: The TRUE Sequel is a rewrite of Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, which digs even deeper into Cinderella and Anastasia's healing relationship, along with Lady Tremaine's abuse of her two biological daughters, and her ULTIMATE aim. This particular fanfic was part of an attempt to turn A Twist in Time into a fully-fledged theatrical release, rather than another direct-to-DVD film.

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Cinderella: The TRUE Sequel provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: This fanfic shows Lady Tremaine at arguably her absolute worst, as it shows her unveiling her true colours towards not only Cinderella and Anastasia, but also Drizella and even LUCIFER.
  • In the scene where Lady Tremaine tries to pressure Anastasia into marrying the Prince, she harshly tells Anastasia to stop crying over the fact that the Prince doesn't truly love her, and then painfully wipes the tears from her eyes, which causes her to develop an involuntary eye twitch to suppress her tears. This particular element was taken directly from Disney's The Kid.
• Awesome Music: There are at least two new songs written for this version of "A Twist in Time".
  • One of them is "Anastasia's Lament", a truly heart-wrenching song by Cinderella shortly after Anastasia's meltdown, in which she openly confesses that none of the abuse she's had to endure was truly Anastasia's fault, and that she should forgive herself. The song is also a desperate plea for Anastasia to return to the castle, so she and Cinderella can finally make amends.
  • The second song is an extended version of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes", where both Cinderella and Anastasia are finally able to let go of the past once and for all, and enjoy what Cinderella would later refer to as "the TRUE happily ever after".
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Jennifer Hale would be able to perform Cinderella's singing voice in this version of the film.
• Despair Event Horizon: Both Cinderella and Anastasia nearly cross over this horizon, as Anastasia, unlike the original version of the film, forces the King to take his seashell back, before flying into an intense emotional breakdown. During this she rips up her own plain-looking dress, and even her shoes and hair, in a a horrific retelling of the dress-ripping scene from the original film, and frightening case of self-punishment before giving Cinderella her explicit BLESSING to banish her from the Kingdom. Cinderella, wanting Anastasia to be happy, tries unsuccessfully to reason with her one last time before she runs away to the harbor to leave the Kingdom for good. This may serve as an even bigger Tear Jerker than the dress-ripping from the original film, or even Lady Tremaine locking Cinderella in her room, for that matter, and may also double as Nightmare Fuel.
  • Cinderella herself also reaches this point after Anastasia runs away, to an even worse extent than she had done at any point during the first film, as she remains gravely concerned for her younger stepsister. In a rare moment of raw anger, Cinderella admits that prior to Lady Tremaine's defeat, there was virtually no way Anastasia or Drizella could've helped her, and no way she could've done the same for them, as Lady Tremaine was always one step ahead. Only after Kit comforts her is she able to regain her confidence.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Lady Tremaine makes it abundantly clear that this was her sole intention from the very beginning as she prepares to use the wand on Cinderella, Anastasia and the other royals.
• Easily Forgiven: While Cinderella concedes that Anastasia looking for the wand was perhaps a little short-sighted, she completely understands that Anastasia only took it out of desperation for love, and believes it to be a blessing in disguise, as it managed to slow Tremaine down for a while, which ultimately allowed Cinderella and the Prince to protect her and the other royals from Tremaine's final ditch attempt to seize the Kingdom by force.
• Everyone Has Standards: Anastasia explains to Cinderella that she only took Fairy Godmother's wand out of desperation for love during the climax. While Cinderella concedes that it may have been a little short-sighted, she completely understands why Anastasia went after the wand, believing it to be a blessing in disguise.
• Lady Tremaine's long-game plan to gain access to the Palace is shown to have been altered significantly after after Cinderella leaves for the Palace in the original film, as she is revealed to have known since Cinderella first tried on the glass slipper in the original timeline that magic was involved. In an effort to keep suspicion down, she chooses to wait for Cinderella's first wedding anniversary to pass before seeking out Fairy Godmother and finding some way to steal her wand.
  • Anastasia most likely believes that she might have been able to prevent any of these events from playing out by keeping her head down in the first timeline, but during the final confrontation with Lady Tremaine, her guilt-induced wishful thinking is proven completely wrong. Cinderella and Anastasia are both forced to concede during the final confrontation that Lady Tremaine going after the wand was pretty much inevitable, and that she would have almost certainly done something even more heinous than turning back the hands of time.
• After Cinderella manages to talk everything over with Anastasia and put her at ease over all of her mother's actions over the past 30-odd years, she, Anastasia and the Prince have a memorable Group Hug, finally acknowledging themselves as a family.
• Fix Fic: This is a comprehensive rewrite of A Twist in Time by avid Disney fans Matthew Muir and Lauren Sharpe designed to give even more emotional depth.
• It's All My Fault: Cinderella goes out of her way to avert this for Anastasia, as she explains that there was virtually no way she or Drizella could've rebelled against their mother to help Cinders without all three of them being punished, and that consequently, neither of them were at fault for any of the abuse she's had to endure.
  • Anastasia and Drizella are shown to an even greater extent to have only been complicit in Lady Tremaine's abuse of Cinderella simply because they had no choice.
• Love Redeems: Anastasia in this case undergoes a 2-part redemption arc thanks in no small part to Cinderella's unending kindness and compassion. She first manages to inspire Anastasia to go against her mother by asking her if she truly loves the Prince, and Anastasia finally realizes that she will never, ever be able to again her mother's approval, as the sole purpose of this plot was to usurp the throne.
  • The second part of this redemption arc is even more emotional, as Anastasia very nearly goes down an even worse path due to her dangerous Guilt Complex, in wanting to banish herself from the Kingdom. Anastasia begins having a number of heartbreaking flashbacks to all her prior actions, and finally realizes that she IS, indeed, worthy of Cinderella's forgiveness. Cinderella and the other royals soon arrive, as she and Anastasia share an emotional hug and begin to talk everything over, finally accepting themselves as true sisters.
• The Reveal: To make Cinderella and Anastasia feel as helpless as she possibly can, Lady Tremaine reveals herself to be the Gold Digger that many fans have suspected her to be by revealing that she married and later poisoned her first husband, and later did the same to Cinderella's mother, before marrying Cinderella's father and doing the same to him several years later, and putting Cinderella and her two stepsisters through years of verbal and emotional abuse, and grooming the latter two to marry into royalty. She also makes Cinderella aware that she has, indeed, turned back the hands of time.
  • Lady Tremaine is also revealed to have known about Fairy Godmother's involvement from the moment Cinderella was caught singing "So This Is Love" near the end of the first film.
• Rage Breaking Point: Cinderella goes through this, after almost losing Anastasia, as she finally understands the true extent of Tremaine's cruelty.
• Script Fic: A deeply detailed two-part example.
• Shout-Out: Cinderella makes a shoutout to Tangled during the final confrontation with Lady Tremaine with this genuinely scathing remark:
  Cinderella: So this has all been to seize this Kingdom...All these years? Even before your OWN DAUGHTERS were born? It's all been leading to THIS, because it's all been about YOU, Lady Tremaine? Frankly, I can't even call you 'STEP-mother' anymore, let alone 'MOTHER'.
• Villainous Breakdown: Lady Tremaine experiences a truly terrifying one during the final battle which doubles as a Near-Villain Victory, as her superiority complex and lust for power finally overtake her. Since Anastasia and Drizella have now outlived their usefulness, Tremaine's long-game plan to marry her way into the royal family has now become pointless, and she finally decides to use the wand to seize the Kingdom by force, which is revealed to have been her intention from the very beginning.
  • Unlike in the existing cut of A Twist in Time, she waits for not only the Prince, but also the King and Grand Duke to run in front of Cinderella and Anastasia, before verbally tormenting her captives to make their impending demise as sad as possible. She then turns Drizella into a toad and teleports all of Cinderella's animal friends along with Lucifer into the chapel, ready for the final blow. Cinderella bravely steps forward to defend them, and the climax of said confrontation is truly epic, as the vortex of evil magic sucks Lady Tremaine, Drizella and Lucifer away, but then begins whirling around far more violently, as the thunderstorm intensifies over the Kingdom, before it finally disappears with one last blinding flash, and one final deafening clap of thunder.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Cinderella narrates the aftermath of the story, in which Lady Tremaine is exiled from the Kingdom, Drizella is set free, and Anastasia is allowed to move into the Palace. She later marries the Baker from Dreams Come True (now referred to as David), and their wedding happens to coincide with Cinderella and the Prince's wedding anniversary in this new timeline.
  • This is capped off with a lovely closing address by Cinderella and the Prince dressed in their equestrian outfits from the "Perfectly Perfect" sequence before Lady Tremaine's change of events, who thank the audience for watching and bid them a warm farewell.
• You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: Despite being a nothing more than a yes-woman to date, not even Drizella is safe from her mother's ire anymore, as even before Cinderella and Anastasia are about to meet their fate, Lady Tremaine turns her into a toad, and later turns LUCIFER into a statue herself.