Once Upon a Rewrite (Book 1)

Ch.1 Birthday

(Before the curse)

Once upon a time, at Ever After High, a boarding school for the next generation of fairytales, it was a beautiful weekend day and the students were doing their usual activities whether they were talking with their friends, doing their thronework, and even going to the Village of Book End. There in the Hocus Latte cafe, Raven Queen, daughter of the feared Evil Queen was doing her thronework on Princessology. It was her third year at the school, and a lot has changed since the event of the summer snow day. Princessology wasn't even supposed to be on her schedule. But once again, a lot has changed over the years.

For Raven, it was interesting to take a class she never thought she would be scheduled for, especially since her classes were chosen for her to fit her wicked destiny as the next Evil Queen. Princessology wasn't that hard of a class, after all, she technically was a princess. And today she was supposed to write a short essay about what it means to be a true princess. It sounded like an easy topic, but today, Raven was just not feeling the motivation to write as she stared at the blank page in front of her.

It wasn't long until Apple White, daughter of the loved Snow White and Raven's roommate came in. Apple was as beautiful as her fairest mother, but instead of having ebony black hair, Apple's hair was blonde. Though it was something that nobody seemed to care about at this point.

"Hey Raven," Apple greeted as she sat in front of her roommate "What are you doing?"

"Princessology thronework" Raven muttered while tapping the end of her quill pen on the table.

Apple gazed down at the blank page in front of her roommate.

"You haven't even started your essay," she stated.

"I know" Raven sighed.

"But the topic is not even hard. You should know what you want to write about."

"I do, it's just- oh never mind."

But Apple knew better, something was on Raven's mind.

"What's wrong?"

Raven let out a deep sigh while setting down her quill "Today's my mom's birthday."

"...Oh," Apple responded a bit surprised as if she had forgotten that even the most feared villains have birthdays too.

"You know when I was young," Raven began to say, "Whenever it was my mom's birthday, she would make me eat a piece of Dark Forest cake, and you know what happens if you eat Dark Forest cake."

"Oh my goodness," Apple's eyes widen, "Were the nightmares that bad?"

Raven frowned, "What do you think?"

"Oh," Apple winced, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was a long time ago. All I do now is tell her Happy Birthday."

"Have you spoken to her yet?"

"Not yet, it won't be until after supper. You know, during this time, I feel bad for my mom, it must feel so lonely to celebrate your birthday in Mirror prison.

"I bet," Apple agreed, "But at least your mom will be grateful that you remembered her birthday."

"Yeah" Raven sighed.

At that point, Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty, and Madeline Hatter, daughter of the Mad Hatter entered the cafe.

"Hey girls," Briar greeted as they went up to their friends "What's up?"

"Well," Apple began before glancing at Raven, "Can I...?"

"I'll tell them," she offered while turning to their friends, "Today is my mom's birthday."