Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-24846659-20140813193020/@comment-24674051-20141029205242

Just playing devil's advocate, did time travel of any sort actually occur? We saw Snow and Regina and the Apple in the past. We saw the apple dropped by Snow. We saw what appeared to be the same apple rolling into the portal created by the hat. But did they really "time Travel", or is it more likely that they just recovered a magical apple from where it has been left?

I would guess no animal in thier right mind would touch that apple (assuming that animals can sense magical danger), and being magical, it could survive for years without biodegrading.

As for the magical aspect, they explained that in context. There were some magical items possessed by Regina that retained their magical qualities (the "ring" given by Daniel, her potion ingredients, the magical hearts in her collection), though these were starting to lose their magical qualities as well. She sacrificed that last bit of magic that she had (Daniel's ring) to power the hat. No explanation needed.