Cinderella returns to “Once Upon A Time”

By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com

The Land of Untold Stories has arrived in Storybrooke.

These new visitors have made an impact on our heroes. If our favorite Storybrooke residents could barely handle the Count of Monte Cristo, then they are in for a rude awakening.

Both Hyde and the Evil Queen forewarned everyone that some of these untold stories do not want to be unearthed and many residents might want to them to see the light of day.

Surprisingly, Cinderella (known as Ashley in Storybrooke) was amongst the residents whose past was tied to two newcomers from the realm. Who were the residents that caused Cinderella so much pain that nearly drove her to the edge? Read on to find out!

It turned out that it was both her vile step-monster (mother), Lady Tremaine, and her stepsister, Clorinda, who were the people in town that Cinderella wanted to eliminate.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, they subjected her to tremendous psychological cruelty such as burning her mother’s heirloom: a beautiful dress to cinders.  If fans remember the show’s inaugural season, Rumple became Cinderella’s fairy godfather and gave her a signature gown, glass slippers, and invitation to the Prince’s ball.

When Cinderella got there, she encountered Snow White, and they began to bond over princess life. It was also then that she flirted with the Prince, who swept Cinderella off of her feet. However, the Prince left her to give a rose to Clorinda, which left her at Lady Tremaine’s verbal warfare and her abysmal comments forced Cinderella from the scene.

Cinderella returned home and decided to flee the realm using her mother’s final gift: a key to the Land of Untold Stories. Before she went into the realm, Clorinda busted into her room and told her stepsister: the truth. The rose that she received from the Prince was from his foot servant, who Lady Tremaine despised. Clorinda also added that the Prince was looking for her and wanted her hand. She also apologized for her cruelty to Cinderella over the years. After accepting her apology, Cinderella gave her the key, and she ran away from the house.

Lady Tremaine confronted Cinderella about the incident and vowed to find her daughter. The wicked stepmother also shattered Cinderella’s remaining slipper so that she would not get her happy ending. However, thanks to one of Cinderella’s mouse friends, Gus, both Snow and the Prince were able to find Cinderella, and she became engaged.

Clorinda was not so lucky, as Lady Tremaine unleashed her fury and knocked out the Prince’s foot servant. Enraged that not only Cinderella received her happy ending, both women vowed revenge and used her key to transport themselves from the Enchanted Forest and into the Land of Untold Stories.

When Ashley learned that her appalling family was in Storybrooke, she grabbed one of her husband’s rifles and began to hunt them. Worried about his wife’s sanity, he turned to Emma, Hook, and Henry for help. While the savior was still shaken from her dark visions of the grim future, a pep talk from Archie helped Emma gain the confidence she needed to deal with this emergency.

Using one of Ashley’s running shoes, the trio was able to track her to the harbor before she gave them the slip and the Evil Queen arrived. After trying to give motherly advice to Henry, she vowed that Emma will not save Cinderella this time and took them off the board. As they regrouped, Ashley arrived at her husband’s former foot servant’s pumpkin patch; she stumbled into her step family’s trap. Lady Tremaine threatened to kill Ashley and Clorinda’s true love for ruining her plans.

Ashley nearly sacrificed herself after Tremaine stabbed her. As the vile woman celebrated her triumph, Emma, Hook, and Henry arrived on the scene. While Hook subdued Lady Tremaine, Emma (with a little encouragement from Henry) saved Ashley’s life. As Ashley and her family welcomed Clorinda to town and Leroy keeping a strict eye on Lady Tremaine, Emma asked Hook to move in with her officially.

Elsewhere in Storybrooke, Charming struck a deal with Gold about his father’s coin in turn for delivering a message to his estranged wife, Belle. Snow planned to revitalize Storybrooke’s education system with the help of Doctors Jekyll and Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Regina continued to find herself at constant dead ends as Zelena and Hyde revealed that they were allies of the Evil Queen, who released Hyde from his cell in the asylum.

Next week, an unholy alliance is born and the origin of Jekyll & Hyde is revealed!