I do not own the rights to anything Disney.

Snakes and Ladders

Prologue

Snakes and Ladders: An ancient game that originated in India known as Moksha Patam which contrasts karma and kama, or destiny and desire. It can also be used to teach morality, good vs. evil. The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility, while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, and theft. The morality lesson of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will inherit rebirth to lower forms of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes as a reminder that a path of good is much more difficult to tread than a path of sins.

-Abridged entry from Wikipedia

This story, does not take place 'Once Upon a Time' nor in a 'Far Away Land'. Instead, it occurs much more recently, and closer to home. However, it does begin many years ago- seventeen to be precise.

There once were two little girls. These girls were sisters, identical twins in fact. Both loved each other very much, and shared a deep love for fairy tales as well. Every night, their parents would read aloud tales of princesses, evil sorcerers, witches, and knights before the twins would fall asleep and dream of their own adventures.

To celebrate the twins' fourth birthday, their parents decided to take them to the Most Magical Place on Earth: Disney World. On the night of their birthday, while watching the fireworks display, something rather unusual occurred- a falling star. Remembering the song, 'When You Wish Upon a Star', and the stories their parents told them about falling stars, both girls made wishes. One wished she could go to the real Disney World and not the theme park. The other wished that her sister's wish would come true.

Contrary to popular belief, magic does exist in the 'Real World'. It's not as common as it once was, but it does exist for those who believe- including two little girls who made wishes upon a falling star.

When the girls returned home, they made a startling discovery. Behind their house was a small wooded area that they played in frequently, before the trip to Disney World and before the wishes. In the wooded area, was a bridge that crossed over a small creek. After the trip and the wishes, the bridge had become magical. Whenever one crossed it, they would leave one world behind, and cross into another. The bridge, though small, was a true bridge; bridging the gap between the Disney World and the 'Real World'.

The Disney World had always existed; it didn't suddenly pop into existence due to a little girl's wish upon a star- magic wasn't that powerful. There are multiple universes out there existing next to our own on another plane of existence. The physical laws governing each world vary greatly- in some magic is as common as dirt, in others it doesn't exist at all, and in others such as ours, it's extremely rare.

Just because something appears as fiction in our world, doesn't mean it can't be real in another. Sometimes worlds can overlap and cause a person to feel what is called deja vu, if they already did something similar before in another world. The worlds can also influence dreams, and ideas. Say, one world might be full of magic and another might get a little too close and turn the other's reality into fiction.

Such was the case for Walt Disney. His animation studio (along with most of Hollywood for that matter) happens to be located in an area where the boundary between worlds is rather thin, and certain ideas get through. There is a reason why Hollywood succeeded as the film capital of America rather than New York, where it started with Thomas Edison.

If it exists in fiction, then there is probably a world for it (which could be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes and interests). It's the difficulty of figuring out a method of traveling between the worlds that prevents people from believing in other worlds outside their own. For two little girls though, that difficulty was overcome with wishing upon a star.

Every day they'd race over the bridge and into their own Disney World. At first the inhabitants weren't sure what to think of the two little girls that would appear and disappear in their world. Eventually the two girls were determined to be 'mostly harmless', and were soon accepted.

Then a certain prophecy came to light. One concerning two sisters from a foreign land (foreign to Disney at least). It was said that one would grow up to be a horrible villain, bringing about a great darkness to the land, and it would be left to the other, a hero, to fight her with the Sword of Destiny. During the struggle, only one would emerge alive and victorious. Whether it would be the hero or the villain, was unknown, as was the identity of the first speaker of the prophecy.

Not everything was rosy and sunny as one might believe in a Disney World. The villains were constantly rebelling against the heroes, invading their lands and fighting against their rules and order. In return, the heroes were driving the villains off of their own lands, and creating harsher laws. As such, the idea that the girls could be the key to ending the struggle was attractive to both sides.

Knowing that one would be a great hero and the other a great villain, the two girls were watched closely for signs of which was which by heroes and villains alike. However, not even the most powerful genie, fairy godmother, or sorcerer, could determine anything from ones so young. Oblivious to the watchful eyes surrounding them, the girls continued to play and have adventures, even when they started school.

Like most stories about heroes, there comes a time of turmoil and difficulty in one's life and the girls were no different. Growing up and being told magic and other childhood dreams are fiction is hard enough, but being told that while knowing of a magical world just a step away is even harder. To settle the matter, the girls tried to show their parents and friends the bridge as a means of proof.

The attempt while noble, failed. In order to cross the bridge to the magical World, one must believe that it exists. Since everybody around the twins had long since stopped believing in magic and fairy tales, they couldn't cross. Because they couldn't cross, they mocked the girls and told them magic didn't exist and it was time to grow-up.

The peer pressure affected both girls differently. One decided to grow-up and lost her faith in fairy tales and all things Disney. She stopped visiting the other world and it soon became nothing but a distant memory of a game she and her sister would play when they were younger. The other clung to the belief in magic and fairy tales, and continued her visits to the World despite the naysayers around her. It was this girl, the heroes and villains were sure, who would bring about a new age of peace.

But this story isn't about that girl, the one who believed. It's about her sister, the one who didn't.

**Author's Note**

I know that there are plenty of 'girl gets trapped in real Disney World' out there. Some are amazing, some are cliched, and others never get past the first couple chapters. For the longest time I've been hesitant to do ones for fear of it turning out to be either cliched or never making it past the first couple chapters. However, certain plot lines wouldn't leave my brain alone until I wrote one and this is the result.

Choosing the title was the hardest part. This story will involve themes concerning good vs. evil, destiny vs. free will, cause and effect what makes a hero or a villain. While the title is a bit unusual for a Disney story, I felt it also summed up the story the best.

I'd also like to point out that since the Disney World that appears in this story is its own world and dimension with its own history, not all Disney movies/characters will be featured. No movies that take place in modern day or revolve around animals will be included as much as I would love to do so.

There has to be some sense of logic and order to the world, and having animals walking and talking about like they're human while others are regular animals doesn't make sense, nor does having 21st century technology exist in the same time as Sleeping Beauty, Hercules, etc... Also expect to see characters and details from the animated feature films only- no sequels, no Pixar, no TV shows.

Movies/characters that will be featured: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Emperor's New Groove, and Tangled.

I also plan on updating every other Sunday.

Since this chapter was more about setting the story up, I decided to go ahead and upload the next chapter.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy the story.