"Mirror, Mirror, tell me true, oh, what shall We do?" the Queen asked standing in front of the polished
crystal.
Her reflection moved independently from her own movements.
"The child is a child yet. Without Prince Charming, she cannot beget."
"Yes, Charming, heh, heh, heh!" laughed the Queen. Then she commanded, "Show him to me!"
The image in the mirror quivered hesitating, it wanted its rhyme.
The Queen sighed and said, "Mirror, Mirror, hear my plea, the image of Charming, let me see."
The mirror positively glowed as the reflection in the glass shifted.
"I cannot believe my uncle sometimes!" exclaimed the prince as he strode down the stone stair and into the
royal paddock. He sounded exasperated.
"Well, sire, every young prince must have his quest and adventures," said his page in a conciliatory tone.
"Quest? What quest? He just wants me out of the kingdom until that Princess Snow White is of age, and we can
be wed. Seriously, she's like ten years younger than me, though mother and father were worse," he chuckled.
The Queen sighed. She knew only too well about the prince's mother who had been placed under a dark fairy's
potent spell of sleeping death for nearly a century. Then the prince's father comes along and breaks the
spell. Technically, the prince's mother was over 100 when he was born and her consort was only 20. At least
that was the story. She stared at her looking glass and frowned. It had been unable to penetrate the magical
aura that surrounded Prince Charming's mother, and the Queen found that disquieting. How could she a mere
mortal be shielded from the all-seeing and all-knowing mirror. The mirror's unsatisfactory answer was "Fairy
Magiques Old and Powerful Conspire To Confound The Image and Knowledge which you desire".
She reached for a book. There had to be a spell or way to break through that murky aura. She opened it
casually and a piece of gossamer wing fell out. She had forgotten about the fairies she had pressed between
the book's pages. A crushed dried out green and yellow fairy crumbled and tumbled out of the book. The queen
set the book down gently, and swept up the fairy dust and put it into a bottle from the same shelf as the
book.
The mirror hummed. It wanted to say something. She ignored it, and continued to study her grimoire. The
humming grew more incessant. The image of the prince mounting up on his majestic white stallion, while his
page followed with two pack mules. They were leaving the castle. That was good. Her ally had done well, the
prince's fate would be sealed when he crossed the last bridge and entered the Dyre Wood. The mirror hummed
louder.
"Alright!" the Queen exclaimed, "Mirror, mirror, tell me, do, What ever it is that you're dying to!"
"Not your finest rhyme, my queen this time. But it will suffice for your humble device," answered the mirror.
"Well? What is it?" She bit her lip and glaring said, "Tell me, whatever it is you're dying to!"
"Just this oh Corinth's fairest, the spell you seek you'll find in that book ne'erest."
"Never?"
"The spell book powerful as you are fair, cannot reveal what you seek within it, because it is not there."
"Alright," she said alamming the tome. "No spell or cure in this book exists to penetrate Sleeping Beauty's
Mists. But somewhere in time or space, there does exist a way or place?"
"Tis true your highness, there is a way. To penetrate the mists, and the rival royal family slay."
"Reveal it now, ere I loose my bow," the Queen said raising a black ebony quiver.
"Right you are oh, noble queen, but things so delicate are not mean," the Mirror answered.
The image of the prince dismounting as he leads his horse under low boughs as he and his page enter the Dyre
Wood.
"Sometimes the meanest is the keenest, behold!" the Queen cackled with glee as the page filled a goblet with
the liquor the Queen had supplied the prince's uncle.
"Your highness is hot and thirsty? We are far enough from the castle and onlookers, let me help you out of
that doublet and give you some fine wine."
"My uncle really believes that enemies plot against me, and that by going off on a quest, I will be safe from
assassins?" Prince Charming said lifting off his heavy gold brocade doublet, and setting it across his horse's
saddle. He takes the goblet from the page who stares expectantly waiting for his master to drink.
"And what's up with the king and queen? They've been shut up in the blue tower for nigh on a fortnight, and do
not even emerge to bid me farewell?" the prince sounds angry and swirls the wine in his goblet spilling some
carelessly. The Queen and the page both wince as this happens. The prince is oblivious, he continues, "I'm
surprised uncle didn't enlist the fairies to hide me. Perhaps as a stout oak or noble stallion - that's what
fairies do don't they? Transform people into things, I mean?"
"Yes, and the fairies have always taken a special interest in your family and kingdom, sire. Now drink, you're
spilling the nectar."
The prince took a deep drink and looked up from the cup. He spoke, "Nectar - as in fairy nectar? How hast
thou poisoned me and why?"
"For your own good sire," the page said undoing more of Prince Charming's garments.
"What am I to be?" the prince roared.
"Well,your uncle said," here the page paused as he struggled to recall verbatim the Viceroy's words. "He said,
"In short speed, this potion will transform young Charming into a fine steed," that's what he said." The page
sighed in relief as he removed the prince's surplice. The prince's shoulders and torso were growing, as were
his now gangly limbs. Fine hairs were covering all his bare skin and rapidly growing coarser.
Prince Charming tossed the goblet and its contents on the ground, and started to stroke his stallion's muzzle.
"Well, looks like it'll be just us two studs in a bit, boy," the prince said to his horse.
The page interrupted, "No, sire. Not two studs. Only one. Your uncle explained it thusly, ahem," and he
deepened his voice and quoted, "You cannot have two stallions, they would fight, and we can't geld the prince,
so this potion will transform him into a mare."
"A mare?!" exclaimed the shocked prince.
"Yes, sire, and it looks like your gender is changing before your species," the page said staring at his
master's swelling breasts and deflating codpiece.
"NO!" the prince shouted covering his chest.
The page quickly pulled down the hose and codpiece to render the prince's nether regions naked.
The scent of womanhood caused stirrings in the page's loins, and he licked his lips. The prince was quick to
notice the gaze and demeanor of his page change, and the tenting outward of the lad's jerkin.
"Don't even think about it!" ordered the prince in a high pitched voice.
"If you weren't so comely I wouldn't. Besides, your uncle means for your stallion to stud you, so why
shouldn't I have a go too?"