Chapter 1: The Day Ever After

So eventually Raven did unfreeze the student body. Bummer.

It's the day after Legacy Day. I wonder if on a day where LD went normally, there'd be some kind of break or celebration. They're just sitting in the Castleteria.

Daring says that Raven ruined the holiday, with Cerise replying that she just wants to live her own life.

"But we all know how Legacy Day really went," Says Briar, snapping her fingers. There's a flashback of Raven saying If she can't have the destiny she wants, then no one else can have theirs!

Including evil laughter.

It would certainly be an evil queen thing to do, but the books point out that Raven's mother went 'Off Script' - that is, being evil outside of the confines of her story.

In the books, it seems like you can treat your story as a job for some villains - obviously Snow White would not stop being a queen when the story ended, but there's allusions that the Candy Witch mostly just did her job and kept to the forest to keep working.

 That's a weird hiccup that isn't really mentioned again.

Maddie says it went like this -
Apple: "I propose we banish the rebels to their own evil school!" 

Meanwhile, a Disney exec said "Hmm....I have an idea."

Dexter points out that's not what happened either. Hunter says to just ignore them, and everyone ignores the opponent's side.

Except Kitty, who is sitting in the balcony and no one ever sees her, even when she is clearly visible.

Like, ever. 

She throws food at both parties, and the others suspect each other, not a third party.

Cerise says what is quite possibly the best line in Chapter 1: "It is on like fairy song!" and a food fight commences.

Meanwhile, Blondie is like "But that's none of my business 🐻☕️"

Apple and Raven come in, with the latter stopping them with a spell. She knows things have been hard, and she doesn't see eye to eye with Apple - who says that they don't want their friends to fight about it.

.....Why not? This is about a chance to make a fair life for yourself!

The reaction most people in this world have is usually never appropriate for the stakes. Raven shouldn't consider this a manner of small disagreement - sure, friends can disagree with each other but "I'll take on the hellhole of my role just so you can have a good life," should not be one of those instances.

Apple goes "W/e, we can't rewrite our destinies anyway. We have happily ever afters. You - don't."

"....?!"

And Raven hits her with food.

Correct response.

Apple retaliates, and the food fight is back on.

Bonus; Lily Bo Peep and The Hero of Harlaam.

I outlined my issue before - the story is too dense to handle in two minute cartoons. The first two books do it wonderfully - frankly I don't remember/like the third (it focuses on the Wonderlanders) and the rest of the series simply turns to stories about individuals, which are fine, you get to see quite a few of my favorite characters, and they do an impressive job of poking holes in the theory of the 'destiny' aspect.

This would have been a great time to send the royals into a panic and have them contact the other people in their story to see if they still wanted to be involved. For those with indeterminate destinies like Dexter it wouldn't work, and while the Three Bears of Blondie's story are mentioned (Poppa and Momma are teachers, Baby Bear is mentioned once in passing), Briar's Dark Fairy does show up later in the series. A quick "Oh no, do I still have my vilain?" would have worked.

Looking at the Royals page, with the exception of Meeshell (and her villain, Coral, barely got a personality before the franchise ended), Apple, Briar, and the Wonderlanders are kind of the only ones with actual villains.

And Lizzie's on the Royal side anyway, so the question "What does anyone besides Apple have to care about here?" is even more pronounced. I guess that's why the 'conflict' ended - because there wasn't one.

A story that, so far, handles this concept leagues better is The School For Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. I'm halfway through the first book but even skimming Wikipedia i'm like "This would have been far fetched for Mattel, but I'm glad someone didn't mess the concept up to high hell."