Welcome to the new version of A Fairytale is a Metaphor, a real-life-modern-AU fic that explores Ever After High as a metaphor for LGBT issues. Warnings for homophobia and transphobia, as this fic does and will include those issues, along with other problems like self-denial. Overall, this fic narrates the workings and development of a newly-forged LGBT community in the fictional conservative city of Everest.

I'm also hoping that, as the story progresses, it will also serve to help readers understand the LGBT community a little better. This fic will also touch on what it means to be intersex (in short, born with a biological sex disorder), aromantic-asexual (never experiencing romantic or sexual attraction), and gender-nonconforming (stepping outside of "acceptable" gender roles, ex. crossdressing), which are not necessarily LGBT traits but still important to recognize in this context.

Some characters are genderbent for the purpose of this story. For example, Jillian Beanstalk is now Julian, and Hunter Huntsman is now Huntelle.

"I hear that Eva Queen is dead."

"The Eva Queen?!" exclaims Blondie, slamming her perfectly petite hands down on the table- not too loudly, mind you. In fact, despite her outrage, her volume is just right to be heard by her companions. "You can't be serious! The quote-unquote Wicked Witch of Everest is dead?"

Briar nods, catching her sunglasses as they're shaken from her head by the vigorous motion. "Crazy, right? It happened, like, a week ago."

"No! Impossible! We would have known the-day-of if that were the case! Oh, don't tell me it's already old news," the blonde laments, slowly sitting back down in her seat at the outdoor café table at which she and her friends had settled. "How exciting that must be. The biggest news of the century, and it has already passed. Eva Queen, former and absolute worst mayor of Everest, finally dies after going into hiding for half a decade."

"Well, I say a polite farewell to Evil Eva," Ashlynn comments, looking at the other girls through a thick lock of ginger hair.

"I think we can all agree to that," Briar replies with a nod. She lifts her cappuccino, brandishing it like a speaker at a wedding reception. "Farewell, Evil Eva. May there never be a mayor like you again. No more of your racism, your iron fist, your weird hatred of the neighboring cities, or your snobby attitude."

Her cup is accompanied by Blondie's, then Ashlynn's, in an impromptu toast. The three cast eyes at the fourth member of their table, Apple White, daughter of the city's biggest business mogul and a local politician. Her pale hands nest her warm cup of coffee delicately, lowered to her lap, where her eyes follow the gently ebbing liquid. Her friends' silly celebration fizzles into confusion when they see the slight furrow of her brow, her polite but uneasy expression.

Ashlynn knits her brows as she and Briar glance at each other, and she lowers her mocha frappuccino. "Is something wrong, Apple?"

Apple's head snaps up, followed by a distinct bounce in her voluminous, pale hair. She blinks several times, her eyes scanning her friends' concerned faces before she gathers herself into a certain calmness, a nonverbal please don't worry. "So sorry, Ashlynn," she says with a little handwave. "I was only thinking about school."

"You think about school too much," Briar groans. "Actually, you think too much. Enjoy the coffee. Take a moment to bask in the warm glow of freedom from the terror that was Eva Queen. We're a new, free generation, ready to tackle the world and start rebuilding, and you're thinking about...thinking about...wow, suddenly I don't feel like going out and rebuil…" Briar's sentence is cut off by a yawn, and before she can get another word out, she's fast asleep, sunglasses conveniently falling over her eyes.

Blondie chuckles, though she clasps a hand on Briar's shoulder to keep her from falling down. "Rebuilding! Now that would be a warm, heart-tugging story. Making new buildings to replace the ones that Eva's whims destroyed. Curing the plague in Wondersville."

"Returning Everest to order," Apple adds with a sharp nod. "Eva's reign made everyone go crazy. Now every other teen is just going around, taking advantage of the looming fear of her terrorism to engage in sexual exploits, to take unnecessary risks. Hopefully, we'll put everyone back into place. Everyone will know where they belong, like they used to. People will fall in love and dedicate their lives to one another. The upper class will get along with the lower class." She blinks, staring at Blondie. "I'm terribly sorry, I meant the working class, Blondie. Truly. I understand how important the place of your parents is in this society, and I don't mean to call them-"

"Don't you worry about it. I'm not like them, remember? I'm on your level," Blondie says with a proud beam.

Apple shakes her head. "It isn't about levels, Blondie. It's about everyone working together to create a functioning society, and no one's career should be devalued based on monetary income or prestige alone. Everyone has their place, passed down by their parents. You should be proud of that."

"What's this about hook-ups? Sexual exploits? I haven't noticed a particular increase," Ashlynn cuts in as she walks back over, having gotten a pair of extra chairs for Briar to lie down on. Blondie helps her move the sleeping sophomore onto her back, making sure she's adjusted comfortably before leaving her alone to sleep soundly.

Apple bites her lip. "You haven't? It's everywhere. All of these love triangles are popping up, and things never end well because there's no commitment. Even Daring…" She pauses, chewing down on her already blood-red lip a little harder. "Even Daring keeps dating. He tells me that it's nothing serious. That he's just having fun before we get married. That I don't have to worry because we're betrothed, and that means we'll be together. But..."

"But think of the STDs!" Blondie supplies, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Think of the broken hearts," Ashlynn murmurs sympathetically. "Apple, that's not right. He's cheating on you."

Apple sighs softly. Then, she shakes her head, pulling her mouth in a soft smile. "No, I know he'll come around. I'm not hurt by it. I just worry about the morality of this generation. The spread of sexually transmitted diseases is a serious problem. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. There are students our age having premarital sex, sometimes multiple times! And sometimes…"

Apple has to take another deep breath. "Sometimes, it's homosexual. And sometimes, it's with both men and women. How can you do that? How can you betray your inherent sense of right and wrong for sexual pleasure? At the same time, I pity them. Maybe they've been brainwashed. Like...like Huntelle Huntsman. You know how she's…?"

Blondie gasps. "A lesbian! That's right!"

"She's exactly the kind of person I want to help. Perhaps, if we can resolve the fear of Eva and start to rebuild Everest, she'll calm down and return to tradition. We'll have to help Kitty Cheshire and Julian Beanstalk, too. Do you know them? Kitty, she...she thinks she likes both. She can't have enough, is what I think, and she needs to get help. And Julian, too. He...he's gay, Blondie!"

"What a hit!" Blondie beams, pulling out her iPad.

"Wait," Ashlynn says, putting a hand on Blondie's iPad. "Don't keep track of that. That's for him and the people he tells to know. Not everyone needs to know a person's sexuality. And he shouldn't be harmed for it."

"Ashlynn is right," Apple agrees. "Don't embarrass the poor guy. We'll help him quietly, so he can save face and not have to deal with the shame of turning away from tradition in public. I don't support public humiliation, or physical harm. Maybe he just needs some other, more confident men to open up to, and then he'll see where he went wrong."

"Julian seems pretty confident to me," Ashlynn murmurs.

Apple shakes her head. "It makes me sad just talking about it, to think of all of these teens led astray. Premarital sex, orgies, homosexuality. I never saw these things in our city before Eva turned everything upside-down. Now, it's everywhere. The people are afraid, and they need a moral authority to lead them. Someone who will head projects to reconstruct fallen buildings, to help the Wondersville people, to lead Everest back to the right path. And...and I would like to be that person. In fact, I'm going to go to my mother and ask when the next building project is."

"That's so perfect! I'll get some footage for a documentary! Climbing Everest: The Reconstruction of a Fallen City." Blondie holds her hands out, like she's envisioning the words bolded right in front of her. "But...have you ever built something, Apple?" she asks, tilting her head.

"...Festival floats," Apple concedes. "But I'm willing to learn. A good leader doesn't have to know everything, but she must be open to learning."

"Yes. Open to learning," Ashlynn repeats quietly, behind the straw of her drink. "Very important quality in any leader. In people, in fact."

Apple nods, grinning. "I'm glad you agree, Ashlynn. Ooh, I've also been meaning to have a food and clothing drive for Wondersville, while it's still locked in quarantine. Would you be willing to help me set that up?"

"Sure," Ashlynn replies, perking up a little. "I have so many shoes that I don't wear anymore, it isn't even funny. And most of them are still in great shape."

"Oh, we knooow," Blondie croons, breaking into a laugh that earns her a playful scoff from the redhead. She just laughs harder at that. "I did a school article on it, remember? I thought you were going to break a Guinness World Record with your sports shoes alone!"

Ashlynn chuckles a little at that, and Apple giggles heartily, taking a long sip of her coffee with a golden smile. Ashlynn shakes her head, sitting beside Blondie. She sees Blondie scrolling through her iPad, looking for some of the photos she took of that legendary, obnoxious shoe collection, and Ashlynn reaches over, messing with the screen. Blondie lightheartedly bats her hand away, insisting that she's going to show off those pictures and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

A tangle of brown and pink hair pops up- Briar, who has only just awoken and snapped into action, is looking around the café patio like it's an alien world. "...Rebuilding."

"Welcome back," Apple greets, sliding Briar's drink toward her.

"Welcome, me," Briar says groggily, taking a long swig. "Hey, what were we talking about? Eva Queen? She died, right? Wait, yeah, she died. I'm the one who told you that. I told you that, yeah?"

"Yep," Blondie chirps, still battling with Ashlynn for control over the iPad. "And now we're looking for pictures of Ashlynn's beautiful shoe mountain."

"Not a mountain," Ashlynn protests.

"Here, I think I have some shots of that," Apple replies, pulling out her phone. Briar leans to look over her shoulder, but Apple doesn't move past the lock screen, a picture of none other than her fiancé Daring Charming.

"He's so...charming," Briar breathes, resting her hand beneath her chin.

Apple, however, is less concerned by the picture and more concerned by the time listed. She puts the phone down, looking around at her three best friends. "Girls, we can't talk about Eva Queen anymore."

Blondie cocks her head to one side. "Why not, Apple? What happened to her is the biggest thing to happen here since the Wondersville kids came to stay in our town!"

Apple clears her throat cautiously. "...Her son will be here soon."

Ashlynn intakes a sharp gasp. "What? Her son is coming back to Everest right after her death? That's insane!"

"Ryland Queen, the mayor's son who left with his mother!" Blondie is swept up in hysterics, having abandoned the pictures on her iPad in favor of turning the camera on and putting it right in front of Apple's face. "Forget old news, this is big! How do you know he's coming back? How do you know he's coming here today? Have you been in contact with him this entire time? Most importantly, what will the others think of his return?!"

"Blondie, please stop," Apple murmurs, putting a hand in front of the camera of the device. "Ryland Queen isn't anything like his mother, remember? He's a good, sensible kid. He was my friend back in elementary and I, for one, am more than glad that he has come back to live with his father and attend our school."

"No way! Is he cute now?" Briar asks, leaning right up against Apple. "Tell us everything. Don't tell me you hid this from us."

Apple shakes her head, leaning away. "We just got back into contact about a week ago. He told me not to tell anyone, but...well, since you're about to see him any minute now, I figured it was alright to say it."

"How does he look?" asks Blondie.

"I don't know," Apple admits. "I haven't seen him. Or heard him, actually. We've only been messaging each other. All I know is that he's coming back and he's happy to see me again. And I'm quite happy to see him. And that's that, so please, unless you're going to be celebrating his return with open arms and warm smiles, don't try to make a big deal out of this."

"I remember his scruffy black and purple hair," Blondie swoons. She turns the camera off, but instinctively continues to hold the iPad up to her face. "He was so pale and dainty, the prettiest boy I've ever seen."

"The violet eyes were kind of strange," Ashlynn admits. "Just like his mother's. They resemble each other a lot, don't you think? I know you say he's a good guy, Apple, and I trust you, but it's just uncanny. It makes me nervous."

"Don't be," Apple says softly, placing a manicured hand on Ashlynn's. "Ryland was one of my closest friends. He's great." She looks around the table. "Anyway, his mother died recently and I'm certain he's sensitive about it, so please be delicate and respectful. He's due here in only a minute and-"

A big, black car pulls up to the café, with blacked windows and a small silver sculpting of a fierce bird of prey on its hood, such a stark contrast with the plain café and sunny street that the girls stop in their tracks to watch it come to a stop. Monstrous wheels slow before halting just in front of the café doors, and hard metal music blasts through the machine into the unexpecting open air.

"That's him," Apple breathes, and the others nod. They can all tell. After all, it's Eva Queen's favorite car that has just stopped before them, stilling the atmosphere around it despite that loud, angry music that is so uncommon to find in a pristine, quiet town like Everest. If not for the recent news, seeing this car would have been a harbinger of more evil to come, but with the former mayor out of the picture, the only option is that Ryland Queen has returned to his hometown.

The driver's side is obscured, though it can be heard opening, and to Apple's ears, it's like the creak of the old door at her grandmother's house, the warm welcoming of someone who has gone unseen for far too long. She can hear his footsteps as they hit the hard pavement, wrapping around to the front of the car, until…

Heels. Heels, and curves, and long hair, and a girl steps out from behind the vehicle. A girl with black and purple hair, and eerie violet eyes. With all the curves and lips and lashes of an average sophomore girl, perhaps even more so, standing tall in her high-heeled boots and menacing with spikes on her accessories.

A girl who looks terrifyingly like a younger Eva Queen.

As she walks toward them, smiling brightly through darkly-painted lips, Ashlynn, Briar, and Blondie all carefully slide their chairs back, stunned and confused. Apple swallows her shocked reaction before standing up and meeting this new girl halfway, her red lace and white pearls contrasting with the arrival's black and violet.

The girl opens her arms as if for a hug, and simultaneously Apple offers a hand to shake. The girl freezes, embarrassed, before politely, firmly shaking Apple's hand. Apple can sense tremors in this girl's hand- and why is that? Apple should be the one shaking. This younger clone of the most despicable woman ever known by the city of Everest has just shown up at her table.

"Hey, Apple," the girl says in a quiet, strained voice that shakes even more than her hands.

Apple nods in greeting. "Hello, there. Are you Ryland's sister? Has something happened to him?"

The black-haired girl clears her throat, taking a step back, though she clearly tries to keep her posture warm and open. "No, no. Don't worry. Nothing bad happened."

Apple nods slowly. "Well...why don't you sit down with us? You can tell us what's keeping Ryland, and we can get to know you."

"Nothing's keeping-" The girl looks off to the side, and while her voice is already quiet, she drops it even further. "Apple, I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay? There's something I really need to tell you, and only you."

Apple raises an eyebrow. "I...I don't even know who you are, but...if you're with Ryland, I suppose...what is it?"

The girl takes a deep breath of her own. For a moment, it seems like she'll never speak, though Apple readily tucks her hair behind her ears, wondering what this unexpected guest could possibly need to tell her that was so private.

"Tell me, please?"

"I, um…" The girl takes a step forward, and Apple, though intimidated by her resemblance as well as her sheer height in those heels, respectfully remains where she is instead of stepping back.

The girl's voice is barely audible. "Apple, I am...I was Ryland. I'm Raven, now. I transitioned into a girl." The one calling herself Raven then steps back, holding out her arms again and putting on a hopeful, but hesitant, smile. "It's so good to see you again, old friend! It's been so long!"

But Apple doesn't hug her. She would have hugged Ryland, of course, but this- this isn't- this is Ryland, but it isn't. He changed. Or she? Her brain isn't registering the words. There's no way that little Ryland, the boy who drew with her for hours on end, who rescued her when other boys were bullying her, who talked to her about the craziest things that kids talk about, could have turned into this. How could he? Ryland is- was- a good guy. He couldn't possibly turn away from tradition so extremely in just five years of his life- could he?

How did Ryland become this? It just isn't possible. It isn't feasible. Did his mother poison his mind? Did he try to make him so much like her twisted self that she made him into a little clone of her? Raven is still standing there, her arms open and her smile slowly fading into a nervous expression.

Apple slowly shakes her head, mouth slightly agape. She covers that mouth with a dainty hand that's certainly shaking now, and in a moment, she has run away to the café restroom.

Raven drops her arms, defeated. The girls at the table all stare at her, having not heard most of the conversation. She looks down for a long moment, frozen in mortification, unsure of what to do next. She didn't know what she had been expecting- she knew that Everest was a very traditional city, and that Apple was a very traditional girl- but she hadn't anticipated that she would just run away.

Briar clears her throat. Raven finally looks up, only to see that Briar hasn't moved an inch, Ashlynn is awkwardly sipping at her beverage, and Blondie naturally has her iPad pointed directly at Raven's face. The blonde is practically lying on the table to get as close to Raven as she possibly can, and from her mouth spills a barrage of questions.

"Did you tell her what happened to Ryland? Is that why she ran? What did happen to Ryland, anyway? And who are you? Does Ryland have a secret twin sister? Wait, you aren't one of those evil twins, are you? We don't need another evil Queen in this town. Nah, I bet you're just fine. But really, what happened? Oh, and what happened to your mother? How did she die? Did you see her die?"

"Blondie!" Ashlynn says, aghast. "You don't just ask someone if she watched her mom die!"

Raven clears her throat, taking one more step toward the table. The words in her mind come out quickly, but still very quiet, and with as little emotion as possible. "When you see Apple, tell her that this is for her. A four-and-a-half-year late birthday gift." She pulls something out of her jacket pocket and puts it down on the table.

While the girls are looking at the object- a weird little clearance souvenir keychain, with a rhinestone apple on it and the words A-Peel-Ing to the Core- Raven runs back to her car, slams the door shut, and before long, the sound of the engine is fading into the distance.

The three girls all look at each other, simultaneously wondering what went on and communicating that they can't answer that question.

"I, uh...I have to go," Ashlynn half-whispers, standing up from her seat. "I have a shoe-fitting with Huntelle. J-Just, um...just as a customer. See you."

"I should get going too," Briar murmurs with another yawn. "Who knows where I'll be next time narcolepsy hits?"

Blondie nods. "I'll walk you back, and then go to the news lab. I have some new footage to search through."

The other two girls stare at her.

"Not to broadcast! Jeez, you know I always get permission. Ever since that incident with Cerise."

The girls take their coffees. With one last farewell, they part ways.

It's a solid ten minutes before Apple comes out, breathing heavily and looking around frantically for Raven. However, all she finds is the empty patio table, with her own coffee cup and a strange little, glimmering keychain. She picks it up, raising an eyebrow and observing it carefully.

With a heavy sigh, she sits down at the table, pushes her cup away, and buries her head in her folded arms.

The next chapter will also center around Apple and Raven, but after that, expect to find the stories of other characters, like Daring Charming's fleeting affair with Red Hearts (male!Lizzie), Cerise and Ramona's complicated family structure, and Ashlynn's secret relationship with Huntelle.

R&R if your heart desires!