Felicia woke to the sound of heavy boots and clinking armor approaching. The sun shone through the cracks of their makeshift hut. She had fallen asleep with her head resting against the side of the shelter. To her left, she noticed T slumped the same way, still fast asleep under her cloak.

Felicia reached over and shook her awake, but before T could protest, Felicia pressed a finger to her lips, signaling silence. The knights were getting closer.

Both girls stayed deadly still, barely daring to breathe, waiting for the group to pass. But to their dismay, the sound came straight toward them.

Within seconds, three knights appeared in front of their shelter door. One peered inside. With a single glance at Felicia, he shouted, "I found the ogre!"

The knight grabbed Felicia by the arm and yanked her out of the hut. A second knight seized T, who immediately began thrashing and yelling.

Felicia did her best to fight off the knight and was briefly successful, wrenching her arm free. But another rushed in to help, and together they were far too strong. More knights gathered around them, some pointing crossbows, others gripping axes. One even held a grinder of pepper.

Felicia craned her neck, trying to see what was happening to Vanity. All she could make out was a blond mess of hair being forced down and handcuffed. A moment later, cold metal clamped around Felicia's own wrists.

One knight, whom she assumed to be their leader, stepped forward and unrolled a scroll of parchment. In a booming voice, he addressed them.

"By the call upon Fairy Godmother and under the rule of His Majesty King Harold and Her Majesty Queen Lillian, you are hereby under arrest for breaking and entering, thievery, violence, vandalism, and impersonating a Union worker. You shall be taken to the high prison of Far Far Away to be put on trial. Anything you say can and will—"

Before he could finish, T shouted over him, "I demand to see the Fairy Godmother!"

The knights laughed.

"As if she'd want to see you."

"Who do you think you are?"

"Quiet, girl."

T repeated. "I demand to see the Fairy Godmother! My grandmother!"

The guards froze and exchanged confused glances.

"Grandmother?" the head knight repeated.

"Yes. My father is Prince Charming, and I demand to speak to the owner of the factory before being taken to prison. I am innocent. We are innocent."

A dim-witted-sounding knight squinted at her. "Then why are you with the ogre?"

"Are you blind?" she asked rhetorically. "The one who robbed you was much bigger. Male. Bald. Does she match that description?"

The guards began murmuring among themselves.

"So, you have seen the culprit?" the head guard asked, stepping closer, a little too close for comfort. He studied Felicia's face carefully. "How do we know you aren't accomplices? You look like you could be related to the ogre. Is he your uncle? Or your father?"

Felicia remained silent, staring down at the forest floor.

The knight shifted his gaze to T. "I do see, and hear, the resemblance to Charming. But you have yet to answer the question. Why are you with this ogre?"

"Because—" T hesitated. "Because we're friends. What of it?"

Friends. Felicia knew T didn't mean it. Not anymore.

"In the middle of the forest?" the knight pressed.

"We were playing outside my grandmother's cottage yesterday and lost track of time. We fell asleep in our hut."

"Quite convenient that you were outside when the fiasco happened."

"Oh, please. I rarely set foot in that factory. Much too dirty and smelly for my taste."

"And you didn't see or hear anything?"

"No. The male ogre ran past us while we were building the fort. I don't think he saw us. He didn't stop."

"Was the ogre acting alone?"

T paused. "I don't know. He was all I saw."

The head guard nodded slowly, absorbing her answers. Then he turned back to Felicia.

"You've been silent. What is your take on the story?"

Felicia opened her mouth, but before she could speak, T cut in.

"She's mute. She can't talk."

The knight narrowed his eyes at Felicia. She nodded sincerely.

"Very well. We shall take you both to the factory, in handcuffs, and hear your supposed grandmother's side of the story. Then we'll decide what to do with you. Onward, men!"

They were shoved forward and marched within the cluster of knights toward the factory. Felicia shot T a wide, panicked look, as if to say, What were you thinking? We aren't supposed to be seen! You could destroy the world as we know it!

T met her gaze with equal panic and gave a helpless shrug. This was survival instinct, not logic.

Not that she would ever admit it, but Felicia was impressed by T's ability to lie so convincingly. However, their story wouldn't hold up under the Fairy Godmother's scrutiny. Whatever plan T had, whatever fate she meant to change, was now off course.

They reached the front of the factory. The head guard banged on the large metal doors. They creaked open slowly.

A small white bird wearing a tiny purple hat hovered in the doorway.

"We caught the culprits and wish to speak to the Fairy Godmother for testimony," said the knight.

The bird spoke quickly in a French accent. "Oh, zat is wonderful news. Come right in. Suivez-moi."

The guards and the two girls were escorted into a pink waiting area. Though not completely in disarray, patches of purple ooze stained the floor, and painted portraits of the Fairy Godmother hung crookedly on the walls. Several chairs had been knocked over. Shrek had clearly made a quick exit.

They followed the bird toward another set of double doors, which the knights pushed open to reveal the main floor of the factory.

Glass shards and multi-colored goo littered the gray concrete floor. More white birds in purple hats fluttered about, scrambling to clean the mess while resisting their new bird-like instincts. Felicia knew these birds were once the Fairy Godmother's workers.

A hodgepodge of enchanted objects clustered together in silent panic. Two ballerinas with white feathered tutus, arm in arm, performed a familiar allegro moderato across the room as though they had rehearsed for years.

The knights marched down the hall toward the Fairy Godmother's private office. When the doors swung open, there she was.

In all her frazzled glory, the Fairy Godmother hovered above the ground, facing away from them. She pinched the bridge of her nose while several birds chattered about damages and work compensation. Her wand was clutched tightly in her other hand.

"Pardon ze intrusion, Fairy Godmoza," the desk attendant bird chirped. "Zees knights believe zey have caught ze one who damaged your factory."

The knights shoved the girls forward.

The Fairy Godmother waved off the birds she was speaking to and turned, floating closer. "Very well then. I hope you know how much trouble—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

Silence filled the room.

She flew down quickly and reached out to touch Felicia's red hair, studying her face carefully. Then she drifted to T. She grasped T's chin and turned her head side to side, studying her features.

"Leave us," the Fairy Godmother commanded to the guards.

"I don't think it's safe for you to be in here alone with—" one knight began.

"I said LEAVE US!" she snapped, never taking her eyes off the girls.

The knights and birds bowed awkwardly and scurried out, taking that was Fairy Godmother's way of dropping the charges. With a flick of her wand, a heavy lock materialized on the door.

Another flick and the handcuffs fell away.

"Who are you?" Fairy Godmother asked.

The girls exchanged fearful glances but remained silent.

"I shan't ask again. Who. Are. You?" She tapped her wand impatiently against her palm with each word.

Felicia swallowed hard. "I—I'm Felicia. And this is Vanity."

"Felicia and Vanity," the Fairy Godmother repeated slowly. "So those buffoons cannot tell the difference between Shrek, a talking donkey, an orange cat with shoes, and you two? What a waste of my time."

She flew over to her desk and sat, rubbing her temples.

The girls glanced at the locked door, then back at her. T shrugged, and together they stepped closer to the desk.

"Miss Godmother, ma'am," Felicia began carefully, "since we clearly aren't responsible for this... perhaps you'll let us go?"

"Ooor," T interrupted, "maybe you can tell us what happened, and we can help you find whoever did this."

Felicia shot T a deadly glare. She had nearly forgotten T's mission was to sabotage her family. At this point, to heck with the timeline. Felicia needed to get home and save her father.

"Oh please," the Fairy Godmother scoffed. "As if you don't know what happened. It was your father, wasn't it?" She pointed her wand at Felicia.

Both girls froze.

Felicia forced a shaky laugh. "My father? That's—that's impossible, don't you think?"

"And you," the Fairy Godmother said, pointing her wand at T, "look very familiar..."

"You can't be serious." T scoffed with a hair flip.

"That! Right there! You're my son's daughter."

T went silent, completely baffled. She got that from a hair flip.

Before either girl could react, the Fairy Godmother flicked her wand and summoned T's wand from the satchel. T lunged for it, but Fairy Godmother was faster.

"I see. That's how you did it," she murmured. "You found my wand and, by some coincidence, discovered a time-altering spell. You came here to this exact moment. Why? I cannot yet comprehend."

She narrowed her eyes. "Clearly, the ogre girl is here to destroy me, just like her father. But you, Vanity, my granddaughter, must be here to aid me."

"I am!" T said far too eagerly. "We're from the future. Shrek and Fiona live happily ever after, while my father, your son, and I, are reduced to nothing. Outcasts. They defeat you and tear down your factory, leaving us to rot in that small cottage with nothing to our names. And shortly after, they made me lose my mother."

The Fairy Godmother staggered slightly, placing a hand over her chest.

"Well then," she said slowly, regaining composure, "I suppose I have a decision to make."

She raised both wands and pointed them directly at Felicia's heart.

"What am I going to do with you?"