As the wind howled outside, a prince sat in his chair in the dining hall awaiting his supper. But before the food could be brought out, a knock sounded from the front doors of the castle. "Lumière!" he roared, a gold colored earth pony with a candelabra for a cutiemark popping up beside him moments later.
"Yes, master?"
"See who is at the door, and unless they are royalty send them away."
"Right away, master."
The golden pony vanished before reappearing in front of the large wooden doors to the castle. With a sigh, he opened the door to reveal an older looking pony, presumably an earth pony, with a tattered navy cloak over her back and the hood pulled over her head. Lumière looked at her and quickly determined that she was not royal in any sense of the word. "I'm sorry, but you must leave." he said, turning to head back into the castle.
"I wish to speak with the prince, and only the prince." As the earth pony before her was about to protest, she cut him off. "I will not leave until I speak with him."
"Fine, wait right here." And with that, the golden pony vanished.
In the dining hall the prince was enjoying a fine meal when the golden pony returned. "Who was it?" he questioned, taking another bite from his lovely garden salad.
"I do not know, master, but she will not leave until she speaks with you."
The prince turned to look at the earth pony, anger evident in his eyes. "Did I not tell you they were to be sent away if not royalty?" he hissed.
"Yes, master, but she insisted."
With an inaudible sigh, the prince stood up from the table and slowly walked out of the dining hall. As he made his way to the front of the castle he was constantly mumbling about servants being unable to properly do their jobs. When he finally arrived at the doors, he opened them to reveal an older mare in a cloak. Her coat was a dusty brown with dried mud caked on in layers around her hooves. Her mane was knotted in such a mess that it was difficult to tell how long it truly was, though it was at least long enough not to be hidden by the hood, and it was a dirty blond with nearly as much mud caked into it as there was around her hooves. Her eyes were a pale green similar to that of pea soup, a most revolting color.
"What is it?" he grumbled, staring at the pony as if he wanted to burn her that instant.
"I wish to stay the night in exchange for a single rose." She pulled out a blood red rose with her teeth, placing it in one hoof as she continued. "It is so cold out, and a blizzard is on the horizon. It will reach me before I can make it to the village. Please, might I stay just one night?" she pleaded.
"No, you may not, you repulsive creature. Now leave."
"Do not be fooled by appearances, my prince. True beauty is not found on the outside, but within."
"Right. As if I would ever call you beautiful, you mule. Now go, before I have you forcibly removed."
Before the prince could call the guards, her cloak fell around her hooves. Her dusty coat slowly changed color until it was a brilliant sky blue, aided of course by her glowing horn. Her mane untangled itself and curled perfectly until it reached almost to the steps, a stunning waterfall of light pink falling around her shoulders. As her horn continued to glow, her appearance made one final change: her eyes. What was once a sickly, disgusting green became the color of amethysts, easily matching the color and shade of her magic.
As the prince stood silent for a moment, she grasped the rose in her magic and pulled it back towards her. "I'm sorry. Would you like to come in and stay a while? We have dinner laid out a-"
She cut the prince off by raising the hoof that had once held the rose now suspended in the purple glow. "My prince, my dear, sweet prince... No. You did not show me compassion and kindness. How can I ever love one like you?"
"But I didn-"
Again, he was cut off. Except this time, it was because he was trapped in a magical aura. It surrounded him and clamped his mouth shut as the unicorn performed a spell. "You will become the monster you are inside. This rose will bloom for many years to come. If by the time the last petal has fallen you have found love and are loved in return, the spell will be broken. If not, you will remain a hideous beast until the end of your days." And with that, a shimmering rose and a transformed prince fell to the ground as she teleported away into the cold night.
The next morning, the prince awoke to find an eerie silence over the entire castle. Last night was a blur after he had opened the door; he couldn't even remember who the visitor had been. As he stood, the silence only served to aid in his thought process as he struggled to figure out what had happened the night before. When he reached the mirror and saw a snow white dragon with pale yellow spines instead of the unicorn he was accustomed to seeing, it all came rushing back. "Lumière!"
It was taking the earth pony much, much longer to reach the prince than he had expected it to. When a golden candelabra appeared in the doorway with a simple 'Yes, master?' he knew why. The enchantment the unicorn had used had not only affected him, but the entire castle if Lumière was any indication. This could not be good. "What has happened, Lumière? Is everyone like this?"
"Yes, master. Each and every one of us has changed, though not as much as you."
The candelabra looked almost wary of him, and it didn't take him long to figure out why. Ponies hated dragons. These were not times when pony and dragon could live in peace, not that he believed there would ever be such a time. The task of finding love now seemed even greater than before. After all, who could love a beast?