A/N: Hi there, beautiful people. Happy New Year to all of you. For those of you that are just tuning in and have never read my stories before, welcome! My name is Lumi and I have a dog laying at my feet while I write this. I've never written for Fairy Tail before. This is a first for me. Honestly, I've been sitting on this particular chapter for a while now. When you have a nine year old nephew that you want to get into reading more and has an obsession with Fairy Tail, you write him something special. When you're going down the road in the car and ask him how he feels about a traditional fairytale with the princess and the prince and he kind of rolls his eyes at it, you suggest the princess and the dragon. Hence the title. He didn't know it was going to be for Fairy Tail. I just asked him if he'd be interested in being my beta (and by the way, if you want to leave a nice message for my other beta, that's havarti2. My special bean.) and I told him that he'd get to read it before anyone else. Needless to say, he was pretty cool with it. And once he got to the end of this chapter, he realized it was a Fairy Tail story and now, he's pretty stoked to be my initial beta. And now, I'm going to shut up and let you guys read this, ok? This will be a regular occurrence every Monday, so if your weekend sucked, at least you know you have this to look forward to. Without further dudes, enjoy!

What does it say about a girl when the key to her heart isn't just a metaphor? Even more of a mind twist, what does it say about her when she's born into royalty and hates every minute of it? Being royal is definitely not all that it's cracked up to be. More than anything, it's exhausting. Between lessons and my father being the parent of the year, all I wanted was something…not as monotonous.

I heard stories all across the kingdom of wizards going off on great adventures doing great things. They helped anyone in need and they were respected for it, even held on pedestals for it! That sounded like the kind of life I wanted to live. I always wanted to learn magic, but my father would never allow it in a million years.

Mom would have, though. When she died, all she left me with was a gold key with some squiggles on the handle. I never understood what it meant or what it even went to. What do you unlock, gold key? How are you supposed to help me learn magic? I still hope to become a wizard one day. Maybe even one of the greatest. How was I supposed to do that if I'm stuck in the mansion?

I left the confines of my bedroom and snuck down the hall to the library. Our library was huge. Mom would bring me in here when I was little all the time. We practically lived in here. But those were days long passed. When these books weren't covered with an inch of dust on them. When the house felt less empty and Dad still smiled.

One book in particular stood out among the rest. A bright blue spine caught my eye. Celestial magic…Yes, please! I grabbed the book and bolted back to my room. At this point, I didn't even care what kind of magic I learn. As long as it was magic. For the next few hours, I lost myself in the history of celestial wizards. If they can do it, why can't I?

"Miss Lucy," one of the maids came in. I snapped my book shut and slid it under my bed, "It's time for dinner."

"Alright," I caught my breath, "I'll be down in a minute."

"Yes, ma'am," she curtseyed to me and ran off. The maids knew everything. They couldn't be trusted. If they find out I'm learning magic or know I'm remotely interested, there's no doubt in my mind they'd tell my father. I don't even want to know what he'd do if he found out. For now, I just had to get through dinner with my father. Then, I could get back to my book. Maybe there are more in the library on celestial magic. After dinner, I'll have to look. Instead, I'll have to endure an hour of harsh silence and being uncomfortable.

"Hello, Lucy." Wow. I guess I can get two words out of him today. What an honor.

"Hello, Father," I took my seat at the table.

"How are you?" Up to five? Is it my birthday? Am I dying?

"Fine," I answered flatly, "How are you?"

"Fine."

My father never was one for much conversation unless he was discussing business. Even when Mom was still alive, she'd usually do most of the talking at our parties. The last one we had was just some fruitless attempt to marry me off to some prince. Gross. None of them were even nice. Or cute. They all came from prominent families, so that's all that mattered, right? Royalty marrying royalty? Because your daughter's happiness isn't nearly as important as passing along the great Heartfilia bloodline? And the grand history of the family, there's never been a wizard, so don't bother, Lucy.

You don't have to know, do you? I'm sure I could teach myself celestial magic. How hard could it be? I went back to my room to throw myself into learning how celestial magic worked. One of the many types of holder magic, celestial magic occurs when the caster makes a contract with a celestial spirit. To make a contract, summon the spirit with its corresponding gate key. The picture in the book looked like the key Mom left me. That must be a gate key! I knew she'd want me to learn magic!

Let's see. Going by the cart in one of the books, the key I had was Aquarius. To summon Aquarius, I needed some sort of body of water. I guess that makes sense. The gate of the water bearer would be in the water. It's too bad I couldn't get to the pool or the fountain at this time of night without being seen. But I had my bathtub. I wanted to make a good first impression on my first celestial spirit. Something felt rude about summoning a celestial spirit from a toilet. Once I finished running the tub, I got my footing ready. Time to summon my first spirit!

"Open," I got my key "Gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!"

Nothing. I don't understand. I did everything right, didn't I? Then, shouldn't there be some kind of spectacle going on? I have to say, I'm a little underwhelmed. Maybe celestial magic isn't the type for me. But maybe if I put the gate key in the water, that'll help?

Let's try that again!

"Open!" I stuck the gate key in the water, "Gate of the water bearer, Aquarius!"

A bright light emanated from the key and a striking mermaid came up from the water. She didn't look too happy to see me, "Fantastic. Just what I need. Another celestial wizard thinking it's ok to drop my gate key."

"Are you Aquarius?" I asked.

"That's me," she grumbled, "What do you want?"

"I…" I shook like a leaf in a storm. I've never met a celestial spirit before, "I'm not a wizard yet. I just wanted to…"

"Look, kid," Aquarius rolled her eyes, "Gate keys aren't toys. If you're going to test one, don't hit the ground running, got it?"

"Wait!" I stopped her, taking this a little more seriously, "My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'd like to enter a contract with you."

"You?" she scoffed, "You are new at this, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Am I the first celestial spirit you've ever summoned in your life?" Aquarius draped her fin over the edge of my bathtub.

"Yes, ma'am."

"You have to have a reason for summoning us, for one," she idly splashed her fin…drenching me in the process, "Not all of us are as sweet and cuddly as I am."

"Good," I let out a sigh of relief.

"When you get a better handle on it," Aquarius ordered, "Drop my gate key again and we'll discuss a contract. Until then, leave me alone and go bug someone else."

"But Aquarius," I kept her just a little longer, "Your key is the only one I have.

"Ugh…" she sunk deeper in the water, "You caught me feeling charitable. Look, some of the shops in town sell silver gate keys. Those are a dime a dozen. But the gold ones? Like mine? Those are zodiac keys. Those are going to be a little harder to come by. You'll have to pay through the nose for something like that."

"What's the difference between…"

"Pick up a book!" Aquarius snapped, "Do you expect me to be your magical encyclopedia? Try again!"

And just like that, she returned to her gate. Rude. She doesn't even bother to say goodbye. Oh well. Silver gate keys can be bought in the shops, huh? It looks like I'm going to have to do some shopping soon. It was getting late. Really late. I didn't think I'd be up all night in the books, but here I was. Fingers crossed I had nothing to do today and I could just catch up on sleep. I could get another key later. Right now, I'll shut my eyes for a little while.

"Miss Lucy," one of the maids came in, "Miss Lucy…"

"Hmm?" I moaned, "What?"

"Are you alright?" she worried, "You're not sick, are you?"

"No," I shoved my fist in my eye, "I'm fine. I just had a late night last night."

"What could you have been doing up so late?" she wondered.

"Studying." Immediately, I shut my mouth. She didn't need to know that. I did a quick glance around my room, making sure the books were hidden. Good. Under my bed.

"That sounds nice," the maid didn't dig any deeper, setting my mind at ease. Instead, she went about her daily chores, doing a quick tidying of my bathroom. I'm sure I had enough of the puddle Aquarius was kind enough to leave me with cleaned up, "Excuse me, Miss Lucy, but why is there a key in here?"

Oops! Aquarius's gate key! Think on your feet, Lucy. Think on your feet, "It's for the medicine cabinet. I found it last night."

"It's a pretty key," she left it alone, "By the way, Miss, your father's looking for you."

Awesome. I can't wait. This should be fun. I got out of bed and got dressed, dredging my feet to my father's study. I'd rather deal with Aquarius's attitude problem right now than my father's powder keg mood. I could only imagine what he wanted to see me about.

"You wanted to see me, Father?" I stepped foot in his study. Carefully as to not upset him.

"Hello, Lucy," he greeted me, "Please. Sit."

"Ok," I did as I was told, "What is it?"

"You've been in your room too much lately," he complained, "You need to be more social instead of always having your nose in a book. How do you expect to pass along the Heartfilia bloodline that way?"

"The books make for better company most of the time," I mumbled to myself. Besides, in the books I've been reading for the past week, I can learn how to summon plenty of friends. I can socialize that way. If I get good enough, I could even join a guild!

"What was that, Lucy?" Father scolded.

"Nothing, sir," I bit my tongue and let him finish.

"I want you to go out today," he ordered, "The fresh air will do you good. Maybe knock some sense into you."

Just like that, an idea popped into my head as a great opportunity came knocking, "You're absolutely right. Maybe I should go to town and meet people."

"I see…" he looked me over, skeptical of my sudden compliance, "There's a carriage waiting for you downstairs. I suggest using it."

"Yes, sir," I jumped up from my chair and took off for town. Magnolia seemed so peaceful. I'd love to get a place here one day. Somewhere away from the family estate and on my own. Now, Aquarius said that I could find more gate keys in the shops. And with Magnolia being a guild town, there was no shortage of magic shops around here. Which begged the question…Where do I start?

A/N: One chapter down, God only knows how many left to go. I really can't wait to see how this takes off. Because I have a lot of fantastic ideas for this story. And I can't wait to share them all with you. And to think, this is only the beginning. So, until next week, friends. I'll see you next chapter. xx