Snow White with a Twist

Twist in A Tale

The queen had a secret room she had found during her time alone. The room has all the equipment required for poison and potion making. Already failing twice, the Queen made a decision. She procured one of the reddest apples she could find from the gardens of the kingdom and used it as an ingredient in a spell. As she brewed her concoction she added the root of Belladonna to kill Snow White once and for all. The apple bobbled and bubbled in the concoction until it turned black as coal only to turn back into the red it was originally meant to be.

The queen then cast a spell onto herself and turned into a haggard old woman. She has a hunch and uses a stick to move around. To a normal citizen she would look like a feeble old woman but there was one catch to every magic and hers was the fact that her true self would be visible if she saw her reflection. The queen moved silently through the woods and over the seven mountains under the shrouded skies as she waited for the dwarves to leave for their daily work. Once she found Snow White alone she went over to the door and knocked.

Snow-White stuck her head out the window and said, "I am not allowed to let anyone in. The dwarfs have forbidden me to do so."

"That is all right with me," answered the peasant woman. "I'll easily get rid of my apples. Here, I'll give you one of them."
"No," said Snow-White, "I cannot accept anything."
"It is not poison if that is what you think. I shall eat half while you can eat the rest.' Now the apple was so skillfully made that the second person eating it would give what the first person eating it their wish. And that is exactly what happened. As the queen bit the apple she felt magic threads work their way from Snow White to herself and just as the latter had taken a bite she felt different but she did not experience anything else. She smiled after eating and enjoying the juicy apple and went back inside. The deed had begun and now all was left was to wait a night to have the apple work its way. For Snow White would wake up as bright as Snow on the darkest of nights. The queen had finally succeeded in taking away the title of 'the fairest of them all'. She had taken away Snow White's beauty.

The next day, the queen walked up to her magic mirror and said,

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
It finally answered:
You, my queen, are fairest of all.
Then her envious heart was at rest, as well as an envious heart can be at rest.
The next morning as Snow White woke up from her sleep she found the 7 dwarves standing around her bed and staring at her. They did not say a word and just handed Snow White a mirror. When Snow White as confused as she was looked at her reflection and then continued on with her day. Something the queen failed to realize was that Snow White did not fawn for fairness. She saw beauty in everything. In every living creature irrespective of their color. She followed the sayings of her mother -

"No matter what you look like, the beauty comes from the heart"

This did contradict the wishes her mother had made but it was the wish of a longing mother. It did not take long for the dwarfs to speak to Snow White. She did confess that it was a shock but she also said,

"As long as my heart is mine, my fairness and beauty is mine. And my black skin is just as beautiful as my white skin"

Little by little the dwarfs began seeing the beauty of Snow White. While the queen stopped asking the mirror her routine question, Snow White became known as the most beautiful princess once again. But little did the queen know that when she took away Snow White's fairness she lost her magic to the little princess. Now Snow White had not noticed this power but the dwarfs did. They decided to speak to Snow White and train her to protect herself for they always feared a new threat.

Gradually a year passed and Snow White mastered her magical abilities. She decided to take help of a shepherd who lived near the dwarves' house. He taught her the skill and art of sword fighting. Now Snow White was ready. All she required was an army which was made of the creatures of the forests from faes to trees and she marched over to the palace to take over her land. The queen hearing the commotion sent forth her army to fight Snow White but it was too late. The evilness of the queen had already turned most of her people against her. The war was short with Snow White gaining victory. The queen seeing her loss so close tried to create a new spell but unfortunately she had no magic left. She tried until Snow White stood at her door.

The queen did everything she could to prevent Snow White from entering her room until the princess used her powers to force the doors open. The queen shocked by the powers of Snow White collapsed to her knees. She was utterly shocked.

"How? How did you gain my magic?", she asked

"Rumplestiskin had said, '' Magic always comes with a price.'"

Suddenly the mirror spoke. It was the first time it spoke in centuries without being asked a question. It said,

"The magic which you used my queen to change yourself and maintain your beauty had finally claimed its price. True beauty is from the heart and how one sees themselves. Snow White will keep being the most beautiful irrespective of her colour for colour doesn't matter."

The queen did not believe this and kept screaming that she was the most beautiful of them all as she was dragged from the palace to the dungeons. Soon Snow White took her rightful throne and ruled with kindness and bravery.