Once upon a time, far away in the Land of Ooo, there was a royal family who ruled the land. King Hunson and his queen had two children. The younger of the two was Marshall Lee, a mischievous and borderline sadistic lad who loved to play tricks on his parents and the servants. Often these pranks would go too far, resulting in broken windows, injuries and the occasional near-death. But the servants were powerless to stop him, the king allowed him to get away with murder and they were hardly able to punish him.

The king himself was no better. He was a corrupt ruler, passing laws and tax hikes which caused much misery for those under his rule. It turned many against him, but much like the servants against Marshall, they were powerless to stop him. This applied also to the queen who was under his rule just as harshly as the servants and the people of Ooo.

Life in the castle was dark and gloomy, with the exception of one thing: the princess. She was unlike any other in her family. Sweet, emotional and musically gifted, she was the patch of blue sky in a storm for the servants who adored her music and singing. But her father would not approve of her talents. He'd try to taint her genuine and kind nature by exposing her to his corrupt methods of ruling, believing that –as the oldest- she would follow in his footsteps and take over; but only if she ran the kingdom as he did.

As time would go on, his words began to take an effect on the princess. Her sweetness melted and taken over by cold harshness. She'd snap at the servants and close herself away in her room, surrounded in her own solitude, only wanting her music as company. She would express herself only through songs and would remain emotionless otherwise. Her coldness did not go un-noticed. Many of the servants within the castle would attempt to bring the princess out of her hardened shell and return to her former self but one at a time, they would all give up. The only exception to this were the three triplets. Jake, Finn and Fiona were the only ones to get through to the princess. Despite the fact that they had been found by her father on the street as orphans and only brought them in to be servants, the princess was fond of the three, being the only things she grew to care about besides music. She grew to love them like siblings, them being the only light in her life.

Life was pretty much the same for the princess, until one day on a cold November night, the King and Queen were summoned to tend to business with the royal council. The decision was made for the princess and Marshall to be left at the castle to be tended with the servants. The princess was enlightened. Without her father's control, she was free to write and perform her music freely without anyone telling her otherwise, leaving the servants to deal with her destructive sibling, who took delight in tormenting the servants. She didn't care. She didn't care at all.

One night in the early days of December, the princess was wandering the main hall of the castle aimlessly, admiring the portraits on the wall. Many of them consisted of the whole royal family, and many others were of her alone. She smiled at it, quite proud of her appearance in them.

Suddenly, a knock at the door caught her attention. Her green eyes widened, who could it be?

"Somebody get that!" The princess shouted, her call echoing throughout the castle's halls. There wasn't a response. Everyone must have been in the upper floors or something. The princess sighed harshly, irritated that she would have to get the door herself!

She pushed the huge, heavy door open. A harsh gust of wind almost blew her off of her feet as the snow storm raged through the night. Once she got her bearings, the princess noticed a hooded figure standing there.

"What do you want?" she growled, who did this commoner think they were approaching the castle like that?

"Please miss…" a male voice wavered in the wind, "I am a weary traveller and have come a long way. May I take some shelter from the bitter cold?"

The princess sneered at the hooded man. His cloak was ragged and ruined. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in such a long time. "Why should I? Go away!"

"Oh, miss please I beg you! Look!" he dug into a pocket, "Take this rose in exchange!" with that he brought the said flora out of his pocket. The princess gazed at the flower. It was a fresh and beautiful rose. But it wasn't enough.

"Make it dance or get lost!" The princess snarled as she started to close the door.

"Oh, come on, madam! Surely you know that true beauty comes from within!" the man said. The princess could have sworn that she heard a fiendish giggle in his voice.

"No! I won't discuss this anymore! Leave me alone!" She pulled the door almost fully closed, leaving only a gap. Before she closed it fully, she put her head back out, "And if that's true, why do you wear that cloak?! Show yourself!"

The man giggled again, "If you insist!" Suddenly, without warning, the man threw his cloak off. Light caused the princess to shield her eyes. She stumbled back into the hall, tripping over her heels and falling back. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the man. It was nothing like she had ever seen before! His skin was green and he was in ragged yellow clothing with a tall hat and boots. Sparkles flew from his palms, which only alarmed the girl more.

"What are you?!" she shrieked.

"I am the Magic Ma-a-a-a-an!" The stranger sang boastfully, before turning his devilishly grin towards her.

"A Magic- Oh my god, I'm so sorry I-" the princess stuttered violently.

"Nope, you're not going to try and justify yourself, madam!" He laughed, "I've seen all I need to see!"

"No, don't hurt me! I'll do anything-!"

"Oh Ho! I've been waiting for an opportunity like this! Punishing someone for their mistakes! You have been deceived by your own cold heart and for that I will cast a curse upon your castle and all who live here!"

"Please forgive me, I didn't know!"

"Hee hee, I'm going to have fun with this!" With that, the Magic Man cackled fiendishly and zapped the ground in front of the princess, frightening her. With a shriek, she scrambled to her feet and desperately tried to make it up the stairs, losing her heels in the process.

"Get back here you little bug!" His cackle came from behind her. The princess screamed and started running through a long corridor. The uproar seemed to alarm the other servants as many came out of rooms, just to see the princess running for her life as the green magician charged after her, laughing manically. She couldn't turn around to see what was going on but she suddenly heard a loud Zaaap! noise behind her, followed by an agonising scream which accompanied the Magic Man's laughter. As she ran, she heard more and more zaps and more and more cries of agony of those who were hit and their bodies twisted and contorted as they were transformed. She knew by the shadows on the wall. She saw one of her dear friend, Jake, who howled in agony as he was violently morphed into the large shape of a canine.

As she finally came to the end of the hall, she opened the huge doors to take refuge in the music room in the West Wing, the only place she felt safe. Retreating to a corner, all she could do was wait and hope he wouldn't come…

"Guess whoooooo!" the man's haunting laugh rang as the doors were blasted open. His eyes gleamed as he advanced on the cowering girl.

"Let me go! Please! Don't hurt me! I'll do anything! Anything!" she cried, tears of fear rivering from her eyes as she begged.

"Hmm… let me think…" the Magic Man staled deliberately, "…Nope!" He glanced up in an exaggerated manner, "Oh!" he snapped his fingers, "I know just the thing for you!"

The girl shut her eyes, praying that he would just disappear…

"Since you can't seem to find beauty within… I will… turn you into what you are!"

"No…" the princess whispered…

"A beast!"

With that, a blast shot from the man's palms, striking the princess in the chest. And with that, he simply vanished, as if he hadn't been there in the first place.

The princess' heart raced as she suddenly felt a rush of agony course through her body. She screamed and thrashed as the curse began to take effect. Her arms grew and her hands morphed into huge black paws, the size of catcher's mitts with an ivory claw on the end of each digit… Her top canines lengthened painfully to an ungodly length as all her teeth enlarged and sharpened which couldn't possibly fit in her small mouth… blackish blue fur sprouted painfully throughout her frame… her face morphing painfully… her legs bending into hocks… her body contorted and twisted as she changed, ripping her dress… the pain was indescribable… the princess' cries of pain became a frightening and rumbling roar… all she could do was pray that it would soon end….

Finally… it stopped… the princess panted exhaustedly with her eyes closed… after a few seconds she opened them slowly. The music room was completely barren. The princess glanced down towards the marble floor of the room and shrieked at what she saw. The face of a huge black monster! The shock causes her to reel back into the huge mirror on the wall, causing the whole thing to smash.

"No…!" She panted, an unnatural growl escaping her throat. She turned to face the shattered mirror, seeing her vile and hideous reflection for the first time…

"NO!" She roared, throwing her head back in despair, he bellow rattling every door and windowpane in the castle…

Unaware of it all, Marshall continued to wander around the castle, looking for anything or anyone he could harass. As he wandered, he came across the music room. Surely his sister was in there, maybe he could prank her!

He opened the door, ready to shout "Boo!" but he was immediately frozen as his eyes suddenly saw the ripped dress on the ground and, standing behind it, a huge blackish-blue beast with an unruly black mane crouched in the middle of the room, growling heavily with every breath it took.

Hearing his footsteps, the beast turned its ugly head towards the young boy, whose eyes had dilated in fear.

"Marshall…It's me." It reached a huge, black and clawed paw towards him.

The boy let out an ear splitting scream, "MONSTER!"

"No, Marshall, it's me! I won't hurt you!" The beast rumbled, exposing its deadly ivories in his direction. The small boy screamed and fled the room, leaving the beast alone in the hall…

A few hours later, the king and queen came back to the castle. They were surprised and alarmed at the eerie stillness of the castle. Not a sound could be heard… until…

"MOM! DADDY!" A terrified cry alerted the royals as their young son charged down the stairs and into his mother's arms.

"Marshall! Whatever's the-"

"MONSTER! MONSTEEEER!"

Just then, the said monster appeared at the stairs. It's hideous silhouette was barely seen by the lack of light. All that was clearly seen were its long white fangs and eyes…

"Mum? Dad?" The beast rumbled as it took several steps down the stairs.

Repulsed and terrified by the horrible creature, the king, his queen and Marshall fled the castle and the kingdom… never to be heard of again…

In all of her anger and rage, the princess-turned-beast tore through the castle, destroying any mirror or portrait of herself she could find. In the vast castle, there were many… and it was sunrise as the beast finally retreated to her room to destroy the final portrait in the castle. She was tired, afraid and her mutated hands bled from the broken glass of mirrors smashed by her rage.

Upon entering the room, she was alarmed to find Finn… cowering behind the curtain to the balcony, his eyes wide with terror and he was shaking violently.

"Finn…" the beast tried to say softly but it still came out as a snarl.

"N-No!" he whimpered.

"I won't hurt you…" the beast tried to assure him as it came closer. Finn's eyes widened even further as it approached him.

"Stay back!"

"I'm not going to do anything to you…" it growled in a quieter tone, confusing and frightening the boy.

It had gotten within arm's reach of the boy when a voice interjected.

"Oh how sweet!" a fiendish laugh rang, making the beast's teeth bare. It spun to see a glowing mirror on a table. Frustrated at the sight of it, the beast grabbed it and reared it above its head in order to smash it.

"Woah, easy, fuzzy! Lemme finish!" the voice rang mockingly. The beast lowered it to glare into the glass.

"What more could you do to me!? You've already taken everything away from me!" it snarled in such a manner, that it caused the blonde haired male let out a screech and race out of the door, leaving the beast alone with the Magic Man in the mirror.

"Maybe that was a tad harsh of me…" he giggled.

"A TAD?!" The beast bellowed, "You ruined my life!"

"Oh shut up and listen! I guess I can't make things too difficult for you… so here, you can have this mirror as your window to the outside world. I mean, ha, who wants to see THAT walking around?"

The beast moaned mournfully at his last statement.

"Also, I left that rose on the table." The beast raised her head to look at it. The beautiful flower was blooming and shimmering in the sunrise as if it was covered in thousands of tiny rubies.

"Why?" was the only thing the beast could mutter.

"Here's the deal, ok? That rose will bloom until your twenty first year. About ten years from now. If you can fall in love with someone and have someone love you as you are before the last petal falls, then the spell will be broken. But if not, you'll be doomed to remain a beast for all time! Simple, right! You get my drift?"

The beast's ears faltered and its eyes closed mournfully. What else could it say?

"I… understand…"

"Good." The Magic Man laughed one more time, "Don't get your hopes up though, who would want to fall in love with you? Well, ta!" and with that, he was gone… all the beast could do was stare disgustedly at her rancid reflection… the beast covered her green eyes with a huge forearm and grabbed the only source of comfort she could find… her raggedy old teddy, Hambo. The beast curled up in a corner of her room, cowering and frightened as she clung to Hambo desperately wishing this was a nightmare… but it wasn't…

As the years past… she fell into despair… and lost all hope… for who could ever learn to love a beast?