Snow White stands in front of the mirror surveying her appearance. She is once again dressed in an elegant white gown preparing for a ball her stepmother has planned for her. It is her hope that she will fall in love with someone at the ball. Over the years she's been approached by many princes from neighboring kingdoms, but most of them are completely arrogant and she didn't want to spend the rest of the day with them, much less the rest of her life. The few princes that she could tolerate already had significant others and the only one that was unattached that she could stand was Prince Thomas, but there was no real chemistry between them.
The only prince that she had never met was Prince James, the one from their nearest neighbor and strongest ally. She asked her stepmother about this and she merely replied that Prince James wasn't her type and that she didn't want to risk the kingdom's alliance with the scene that would occur if they met. Upon hearing this, Snow could only surmise that this prince was much worse than the princes she had already met. She shuddered to think what would happen when he became king. Regina reassured her that most princes grew more mature after a few months on the throne, and those that didn't would probably die when someone invaded their kingdoms because of their arrogance.
That left her speechless for a while. Her whole life she had dreamed of marrying for true love and had begun to despair over ever finding it, but after Regina saying that the kingdoms of arrogance princes fell, she began thinking that whomever she chose would also have to be capable of helping her rule the kingdom. It wasn't just her life she had to be concerned about, but the lives of everyone in her kingdom.
That was why, as she got ready for the ball, she wondered if she should just give up on finding true love and choose someone she could tolerate and who would be a kind and just co-ruler. She looked in the mirror one more time and smiled at her reflection. For a second she contemplated the dress. Her father had always said she looked stunning in white and nearly all her dresses were white. She did have gowns of other colors for weddings of course, since it was inappropriate for anyone but the bride to be wearing white during those occasions.
She also had some clothes appropriate for trekking through the forest. Her mother had loved the forest and she always felt closest to her mother when walking through the woods.
It was on one of these trips that she met her best friend, Red. A gersuan tiger, a rare magical creature, attacked and killed her guard. Snow was certain the tiger would kill her as well, when out of nowhere a girl in a red cloak appeared and shot the tiger in the heart with her bow, saving Snow's life.
Snow thanked the girl, and upon hearing how she saved the life of his daughter, King Leopold invited her to stay in the castle as Snow's new personal guard. Red initially refused, and eventually told Snow that she was a werewolf. If she didn't wear the cloak every full moon, she would turn into a wolf and attack anyone near her. She found out by accident when she didn't wear her cloak one full moon and nearly killed her true love, Peter. Fortunately, her grandmother found her in time and got the cloak onto her.
Peter didn't care about her curse and proposed to her, but she refused, hating herself and fled into the woods. After talking for a while, Red admitted she ran because she didn't want to bring a child into the world with this curse. Sensing her desperation, Snow consulted the Blue Fairy, who told her a wizard had recently discovered an herb that if taken regularly when pregnant, would prevent the werewolf gene from passing on.
Upon learning this, Red hugged Snow and went home to find Peter. The two were soon married with Snow attending the ceremony. Red discussed it with Peter, and decided to accept the king's offer. Red became Snow's personal guard when leaving the castle and Peter became a blacksmith helping to make weapons for King Leopold's army. Red's grandmother decided to stay in her village, but visited her granddaughter frequently. Snow agreed to keep Red's condition a secret as long as she made sure to wear her cloak during the full moon.
"Snow, come on," Red's voice calls breaking her out of her reverie. "Everyone is waiting for your grand entrance."
"I'm coming," Snow says.
"You appeared deep in thought," Red says. "What were you thinking about?"
"Just about my dress color," Snow responds. "Except for weddings, I always wear white. I was thinking about what would happen if I wore a different colored dress for the ball tonight."
"A non-white dress?" Red asks in mock horror. "What a scandal that would be. Maybe you could wear a red dress and change your name to Fire Red and I'll get a white cloak, and be known as White."
"Very funny," Snow says laughing. "You always know how to cheer me up."
"You were thinking about more than just what color dress you wear," Red says.
"It's just, what if I never find my true love?" Snow asks, depressed. "I'm twenty-five. Most princesses are married by twenty-one."
"Don't worry," Red says. "I'm sure one day you'll find your love. If anyone deserves happiness it's you."
"Thank you," Snow says. "Well it's time to make my appearance."
Snow walks into the room to find it packed with young eligible men. Nearly all of the unmarried nobility that is around her age is here, as well as many commoners from around the castle. How she is supposed to find true love in a ball like this, she has no idea.
She mingles with the guests for a little while, but doesn't really click with anyone.
After about an hour, Snow goes off to a corner and finds Red.
"So how's it going?" Red asks.
"Not so good," Snow says. "Most of the nobility here is as bad as the princes. They're only interested in me because I can make them king one day and there's been no spark with the ones that aren't nobility. Maybe I should just give up on true love."
"No," Red gasps, shocked. "Don't ever give up on true love. You can't put a timeline on true love."
"But I'm the crown princess," Snow says. "One day I'll rule the kingdom and I'll need a king by my side."
"You don't need a king," Red says. "You're more than capable of ruling without one."
"I know that," Snow says, "but there are a lot of sexist monarchs who don't believe a woman is capable of ruling alone. They'll think me weak and may invade. That would prove a mistake since my father has trained me in military tactics, but that would expend lives and resources for no good reason."
Red is about to respond when Queen Regina takes the dais.
"Good evening everyone," Regina says. "Welcome to the ball commemorating my stepdaughter's twenty-fifth birthday. I hope you're all enjoying yourselves. I'd like to propose a toast to the fairest of them all, Snow White."
Everyone raises their glasses and drinks. The king's guard, as is customary, checks it first for poison, and is shocked when he discovers it is poisoned.
Cora, the queen's mother, spits out her drink in horror.
"What wrong?" Snow asks in concern.
"Someone poisoned the drinks," King Leopold says in concern.
"Who would do such a thing?" Red asks.
"I would," Regina says coming down from the dais.
"You!" Leopold, Cora, Snow, and Red shout in unison.
"Yes," Regina says.
"But why?" Leopold asks. "Why would you want to kill all these people?"
"I don't want to kill them all," Regina says, "just you, my dear husband. Yours was the only drink that was poisoned. The rest of the drinks contained a magic potion that will place the others under my control."
"That's impossible," Cora says. "You have no magic."
"But I do," Regina says as she reaches into her mother's chest and magically removes her heart. "Rumplestiltskin, I have your payment."
As she says this, the strange man appears before them. "Ah the heart of a dark sorceress," Rumplestiltskin says. "One of the last things I need to complete my curse. I thank you for your efforts."
He bows and disappears.
"Take her to the dungeon," Regina orders.
The guards move to carry Cora off to the dungeons, but King Leopold intervenes.
"Wait," he says. "I command you to stop."
"Who are you?" a guard asks.
"My potion made them forget who you are," Regina explains. "As far as they're concerned the two of you never existed and I've always been queen. It's not just the guests and guards in this room who are affected either. I've been feeding the potion to guests at balls for years and I made sure that every member of your army... I mean my army drank it too. I would have fed the potion to the neighboring monarchs as well, but that increased my chances of detection. I may face some problems from them when they realize what I've done, but by then the two of you will be dead and I'll have cemented my hold on the kingdom."
"Why have you done this?" Snow asks, unwilling to believe this woman was the kind stepmother she had known all these years.
"For revenge," Regina says.
"Revenge for what?" Red asks, confused.
"I never wanted to be queen," Regina says. "I didn't know it at the time, but my power hungry mother set up that accident that allowed me to save Snow White's life. She spent her whole life in the quest for power and only married my father because he could give her a title. I wouldn't put it past her to have been responsible for your wife's death."
Leopold pales at this pronouncement. "But why didn't you just turn my offer down?" Leopold asks. "I wouldn't have forced you to marry me."
"No, but my mother would," Regina says. "My father truly loved my mother once, but once she got what she wanted from him, she turned him into her slave. He tried to shield me from her wrath when she got mad at me, but he was no match for her magic. Now her magic is gone and my father can be free of her cruel games."
"But that still doesn't explain why you want revenge on Leopold," Red says. "He had nothing to do with Cora's plans."
"I don't want revenge on Leopold," Regina says. "I want revenge on Snow White."
"My daughter has done nothing to you," Leopold protests, turning to his daughter to find her face had gone completely white.
"Oh yes she has," Regina says. "I was in love with someone when you made your proposal. His name was Daniel. Unfortunately, for me, he was a lowly stable boy. Not someone who could satisfy my mother's quest for power."
"Regina..." Snow begins.
"I planned to run off with him," Regina says. "Only Snow White found out about our plans. I explained the situation to her and she promised not to tell anyone. Only she lied, she told my mother."
"I was only trying to help," Snow protests, "I didn't want you to lose your mother, like I lost mine."
"Well maybe your mother was a kind person who actually loved you," Regina says. "Mine is a hateful hag, who did nothing but make my life miserable. Do you know what happened to Daniel because of you?"
"Your mother told me he didn't really love you and ran off after stealing a lot of gold from your storehouse," Snow says with tears in her eyes, as she realizes that what Cora told her wasn't true.
"That was a lie," Regina says. "She murdered him in front of me."
Leopold and Snow both gasp.
"Ever since then I wished that I had let you die, and made plans to kill you," Regina continues. "But then I decided that death would be too good a fate for you. I'm going to let you live and make you suffer. Your suffering will begin with your dear father's death."
Regina advances on the king, preparing to rip out Leopold's heart, when there is an explosion from behind her. She turns around in surprise to find the fireworks meant for the end of the ball, going off in the center of the room. She quickly uses her magic to extinguish the flames, and then turns back around to find Leopold, Snow, and Red gone.
"No!" she yells in fury, and then turns to her guards. "Find them at once. Don't let them escape the castle!"