Cinderella and the Magic Box (short story)

 was the third short story in Time Lord Fairy Tales.

Publisher's summary
Cinderella has lost all hope of attending the royal ball with her stepmother and stepsisters, when a strange man in a blue box arrives and begins to grant her every wish. But, at the palace, Cinderella soon discovers not all the guests are as noble as they seem...

Plot
As a child, Cinderella was separated from her mother after she caught a fever. Many years later, Cinderella's father remarries with his new wife being a widow with 2 daughters. Not long after his new marriage, however, Cinderella's father dies as well, leaving all his wealth to be inherited by her stepmother. Cinderella is now forced to cook and wash for her stepmother and stepsisters, but she is still able to keep herself happy during these hard times.

Outside the kitchen window, Cinderella sees the castle where the lords and ladies of the kingdom live, occasionally seeing the carriage of Lorde Darke passing through town.

Years later, Cinderella has grown into a beautiful young woman, much to the chagrin of her stepmother and stepsisters. The annual ball is happening at the castle and Cinderella is hoping to leave her stepmother's house and live in Lord Darke's residence.

One day, an invitation to the ball arrives, but Cinderella's stepsisters do everything they can to keep it a secret from Cinderella. Ultimately, Cinderella does end up finding out about the ball due to everyone in the market talking about it. Bunton, the butcher's son tells Cinderella that he's sure that she'll be going to the ball as all of the most important men and women have been invited, but Cinderella isn't so sure.

The ball is to celebrate the visit of the Prince of Arbesk who was Lord Darke's rival. Bunton tells Cinderella that the prince is visiting as a gesture of goodwill and peace between the 2 provinces, but he is not entirely convinced that this is the case. He tells her that he met Lord Darke during one of his meat deliveries to the castle and talks about rumours that he eats his meat raw with blood still dripping from it.

Returning from the market, Cinderella asks her stepmother about the ball to which the stepmother laughs and tells her that it is not for people like her as it's only for important people like her and her daughters. The stepmother orders Cinderella to stay and clean the entire house.

On the day of the ball, Cinderella helps her stepsisters get ready for the ball by giving them dresses, braiding their hair and watching them enter the carriage with their mother. The driver smiles at Cinderella, having known her since she was a child.

While mopping the house, Cinderella feels something on the back of her neck, then hears a strange scraping noise. To her amazement, a blue box appears in the kitchen, from which emerges a man with a bow tie. Curious about the new arrival, Cinderella asks if he's the Prince of Arbesk, to which the man replies that the Prince will be at the ball where Cinderella should be too. Cinderells tells the man that she's not invited, but he tells her that she IS invited, calling her "The most important guest of all.". The strange man invites her inside the blue box so that she can have a quick bath and find a new dress.

Cinderella steps inside the blue box that is much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. After her bath, the man leads her to the wardrobe where Cinderella picks out a billowing blue dress. The man gives her a special pair of shows that are made of Midnight Crystal which is much tougher than glass and adapts to the shape of the wearer's foot. He then produces his Sonic Screwdriver and gives it to her so that she's ready to use it at Midnight so it will save her life.

When she steps outside the blue box, Cinderella is surprised that she's already outside the castle. The man reminds her to use the Sonic screwdriver at exactly midnight. Cinderella asks if the man's going to be at the ball too, but the man tells her that they'd spot him immediately due to the artron energy. After she receives an ornate mask from the strange man, Cinderella steps into the ballroom.

At the ball, Cinderella sees loads of people, including Lord and Lady Darke. Everyone soon begins to stare at Cinderella, and someone walks up to her offering to dance with her. Cinderella soon finds herself dancing for the first time in years and remembering the dancing lessons her father would give her every week. The dancing soon makes Cinderella stop noticing the other guests watching her.

Later, Lord Darke prevents Cinderella from dancing with her partner and tells him that he cannot keep the most beautiful woman for himself. He then offers Cinderella the chance to dance with him and tells her that he's just as good a dancer as the Prince of Arbesk. As Cinderella is brought onto the dancefloor by Lord Darke, Lady Darke decides to dance with the Prince.

Cinderella notices that Lord Darke's hands are icy cold, and he seems to be particularly interested in her neck. As midnight looms closer, Cinderella tries to reach for the sonic screwdriver, but Lord Darke's dancing prevents her from doing so, then Lady Darke smiles, revealing loads of razor sharp fangs.

Hearing a scream, Cinderella sees everyone on the raised platforms smiling with sharp teeth, then both Lord and Lady Darke try to bite their victims' necks. Cinderella manages to free herself from Lord Darke's grasp and pull out the sonic screwdriver. Activating it, Cinderella finds out that Lord and Lady Darke and all the other guests are weakened by the light and soon disintegrate into piles of dust.

After a moment of silence, everyone at the ball starts panicking, including Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella goes in the opposite direction, but as she goes down a small flight of stairs, she twists her foot and loses one of her shoes. She decides to lose the other shoe and run out of the castle barefoot.

Cinderella soon encounters the man who gave her the sonic screwdriver congratulating her for using the screwdriver at the right time. He explains that the screwdriver emitted a simple sonic resonance that interfered with the vampires' molecular transformation as they were changing, thus resulting in their deaths. The prince soon shows up to give Cinderella back her lost shoe. The strange man tells the Prince that Lord Darke was planning to turn him into a vampire and then send him back to Arbesk so he could turn all of the nobles into vampires as well.

The Prince takes Cinderella's hands in his and tells her that he has found something much better than peace in the provinces. The strange man explains to Cinderella that the prince is asking her if she wants to become a princess, then leaves in his blue box. Cinderella looks happily at the prince and realises that her luck seems to be changing for the better.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Cinderella
 * Cinderella's stepmother
 * Cinderella's stepsister
 * Lord Darke
 * Lady Darke
 * Prince of Arbesk
 * Vampires

The Doctor

 * The Doctor wears a bow tie.
 * The Doctor gives Cinderella his sonic screwdriver to use.
 * The Doctor declines going to the ball with Cinderella, believing the vampires would likely identify him by his smell of Artron energy.

The TARDIS

 * The Doctor's TARDIS has a bath.

Places

 * The prince is from Arbesk, a country which was the rival of Lord Darke for an eternity.

Vampires

 * Vampires have deep black eyes and long fangs.
 * A sonic screwdriver's resonance can interfere with a vampire's molecular transformation.

Material

 * The Doctor gives Cinderella a pair of shoes made of midnight crystal, which Cinderella misidentifies as glass. Midnight crystal is tougher than glass, as well as softer.

Miscellaneous

 * The castle holds a masked ball.

Continuity
to be added