Neverland.

Since long before the time of Peter Pan and Hook, before Wendy, John and Michael Darling and the Lost Boys, before the indian tribes appeared or the mermaids swam in from the sea, before even the trees grew or the snow fell upon the frozen peaks, there had been a hidden little nook on the island, a secluded paradise known as Pixie Hollow, the home of the fairies.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.
Every child's first laugh since has brought another fairy to Pixie Hollow, a place far removed from the land of humans, where they are rarely glimpsed even by the children with whom they are intrinsically linked.

But still, though they are not seen, they are there, providing the various miracles of nature as they have done since that first child's laugh. They paint the leaves their autumn colors and teach baby birds to fly, they bring the spring's fields of flowers and grow the mighty trees, they bring rain and hail, thunder and lightning, snow and ice, they make the rivers flow, the wind blow and the fire burn. They are responsible for the coming of all seasons and the very balance of nature itself. Rainbows, morning mist, the tides, summer's light and winter's frost, it is all the work of the fairies of Pixie Hollow.

Oh, and Pixie Hollow, what a wonderous place it is.

Teeming with life, energy and activity, Pixie Hollow is the very nerve centre of the entire world's natural order.

At its centre stands the Pixie Dust Tree, cared for by faires of the pixie dust talent, it constantly emits a flow of the wonderous golden dust that allows the fairies to perform their magical feats, as well as grants them the ability to fly.

Pixie Hollow itself is a land in which all four seasons exist simultaneously side by side, divided into quadrants wherein one quarter bears the deep greens, lush foliage and abundrant wildlife of spring, another, the bright light, strong heat and sun loving flowers of summer, another seems perpetually set ablaze by the magnificent reds and oranges of fall while the fourth quadrant is an icey, frozen land and home to the winter fairies.

All fairies have a duty to perform within Pixie Hollow and a special talent to help them on their way.

Some can shape water, guiding the flow of rivers, creating waves and decorating the land with morning dew, others are responsible for the raging wind and crashing lightning of storms that the humans fear and yet stand in awe of, and others still create the often misunderstood element of fire, a potent and wrathful force of nature that never the less, has its place in the great circle of life.

Yes, balance is one of the most integral aspects of the duties that the fairies perform in concert with nature and over the years, under the guidance of their wise ruler, Queen Clarion, they have proven time and again to be up to the task. But the force of nature is a heavy one, constantly in flux, and if the scales were to be tipped even slightly, that balance may before forced irrevocably out of order as nature presses inexorably onwards, waiting for nothing and no one.

It is in Pixie Hollow that our story begins, after ushering in summer on the mainland, the fairies have had two days rest and today is the day that everything winds right back up into full momentum in preparation for the Fall, three months away. What adventures lie in wait for the fairies in the near future? Only time will tell, and it will tell sooner than you may think...

~

Disney Fairies: A Winter's Tale

Chapter One: The Missing Pixie Dust

~

"For goodness sake, Terence!" came the low, gutteral growl of a large fairy whose accent closesly resembled that of a human scotsman.
He was holding a clipboard made of several small leaves all pinned together by a thorn to form each page and was irritably pointing at page three.
"I'm sorry, Fairy Gary" responded a much more slightly built male fairy with sandy blonde hair, the previously mentioned Terence.
"I just don't know where it wouldn've gone, the numbers must be wrong"
"You wrote the numbers, Terence" Fairy Gary responded quietely through gritted teeth.
"Wha-? No, gimme a look at that" Terence said, taking the clipboard from Fairy Gary and going over his math.

By this time, the entire dust factory had come to a standstill, the conveyor belts, made from long blades of grass sewn together with thin vines and made to move by rotating twigs capped with acorn husks had fallen silent as the dust fairies responsible for bagging up the dust into the fairies' daily rations quitened down to listen to the exchange between the pixie dust overseer and his subordinate.

"No no, see" Terence pointed with utmost certainty at the clipboard "I gave everyone their exact ration, no special requirements for extra, the pixie dust tree is providing the exact right number of smidges... I don't see how we could be short" he insisted, going over and over the calculations in his head and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Well we are short, Terence, three smidges short to be exact. That's one smidge for every week you've been handling this" Fairy Gary gave an exhausted sigh and fluttered away a few inches, rubbing his hands wearily on his chubby face.
"Look, Terence. You've never made a mistake like this before, that's why I let you handle the rationing this month but...maybe I should come back early, I've had a decent rest since the mainland and--"
"No!" Terence insisted at once "No no no, I can handle it, I'll find out where the dust has gone!"
Gary sighed again and looked hard into Terence's eyes, they were sincere.
"...Alright" he agreed after several moments pause "But!" he called, catching Terence before he shot out of the door "If the books aren't settled by sundown, that's...well, I'll be very disappointed. No go on"
"Right!" Terence said, nodding affirmatively before dashing out of the dust factory at top speed, the wind he left in his wake causing the orange kilt Fairy Gary wore to blow up most embarrisingly, causing a giggling uproar along the factory line.
"Get back to work you lot!" ordered Gary, struggling to hold down his kilt before disappearing sheepishly through the slab of bark that served as the door to his office.

"Aww man, how am I gonna figure this out? I just don't know what coulda happened..." Terence muttered to himself, straightening the little acorn shell he wore as a cap and ruffling his hair in concentration as he poured through the pages.

Fairy Gary was right, they were missing three smidges, a little bit here, a little bit there to add up to an entire three smidges! This was disasterous, without that dust, other fairies would struggle to perform their work and with one missing cog in the massive clock that formed Pixie Hollow's preparations, Fall could literally fail to arrive on time. But it was more than that, really. In truth, three smidges would certainly cause a hiccup in production, but it wouldn't destroy the world, what it would destroy was Fairy Gary's faith in Terence, it had taken so much to convince his mentor that he could handle this job, he couldn't mess up.

"Alright, I gotta find out where this dust has gone, but where to start...ugh geez, I gotta find Tink, maybe she can help" with that thought in mind, Terence fluttered up into the air and set off at once for the home of the little blonde tinker fairy.
"Aww man, no!" Terence moaned, coming to a halt in mid air and burying his head in the clipboard "She's over in the winter woods visiting Periwinkle..."
Losing his confidence and enthusiasm, Terence slowly fluttered back down to the ground and plonked himself dejectedly on a pebble just outside of the dust factory, resting his chin in his hands.
"What am I gonna do...?"

Ingrid groaned, pulling herself out of her own puddle of water. She frowned at herself, she'd never fully master her talent. Her wings were soaked, her clothing dripping, all in all it was a terrible first day back to work. She tried to wipe her hands on her dress, but they came back damp. With a dejected sigh she walked away from her little stream and made her way towards the Pixie Dust Tree. Her wings hung low and her steps were heavy, her lips in full pout mode. She would have crossed her arms over her chest, but they would only get wet again. Why did she have such a hard time with her talent? The other fairies her age were mastering their talents, creating beautiful things and serving a huge purpose. Ingrid had only just mastered her talent just enough to be allowed on the mainland.

Ingrid pulled a leaf down from a nearby plant and tried her best to dry herself off. It was a miracle that she wasn't sick all the time, being cold and wet during most of the day. She sighed to herself, and looked around, letting the leaf bounce back to its original place. Her eyes landed on Terence and she smiled, skipping over to him.

"Hey Terence!" She said cheerfully. With the wind from her skipping motion, one wing decided it was dry enough to spring up, but the other wasn't dry enough yet. Ingrid stopped, and looked under her arm at the lone wing. She moved it, trying to dry it quickly and it popped back up to join the other. Now that she had that taken care of she looked back at Terence and walked over to him, sitting down on a pebble near his. He looked a little down, kind of how she felt as well, but she wasn't sure what he could be sad about. He got to work in the factory. He probably had the funnest job ever.

"What's got you down?" She asked, stretching out. She crossed her ankles and leaned back, using her wings to kind of prop herself up. They fluttered at a pace that kept her from falling on the ground, but didn't raise her off of the pebble that she had sat down on. She lifted her arms and linked her fingers together behind her head, turning to look at Terence as she waited for his answer.

Another fairy fluttered just some distance away from Ingrid. Orange-red wings flitting brightly, Crispin buzzed by overhead, taking a horizontal lying position as he floated. A tiny ball of sparking flames swirled around his body, exerting as much life as his toothy smile did. Summer had crawled in, and the young fairy had never felt better. The only troubling thing in sight was watching another fairy below him get herself soaked in water; though he missed whatever actions Ingrid was pulling off, all he noticed was the aftermath, and he couldn't help but feel some pity for her.

Perhaps she would need some warming up! Besides, Crispin never minded some company, even if he had never seen her before. He was always trying to impress someone as much as he was trying to impress himself. After Ingrid plopped herself beside Terence, Crispin soon plopped himself beside Ingrid.

If she didn't hear him first, she would feel a relaxing warmth creeping along her arm. Crispin reached out to her, holding the same small ball of flames in his palm as earlier. Though it still sparked and crackled, it was much less lively than it was earlier when it spun around his body. "Hey, figured you might need some warmin' up! I'm Crispin by the way, and I-- oh." Only after learning forward did he notice Terence as well, as he had missed Ingrid questioning him earlier.

Crispin moved himself between the two fairies and lifted his other arm, another spark of flames flowing gently in his palm. Both hands were kept relatively close to his own body, though still close enough to warm up Ingrid from her being soaked. "Whattup, Terence? It's not like you to be down." He leaned forward and nudged his shoulder slightly, smirking. "It's not Tink again, is it? C'mon. You can talk to me."

Having sunk deep into his own depressive thoughts over his current predicament, Terence found himself startled by the rather more cheery fairy who skipped up and greeted him with an ebullience that contrasted starkly with his own dismal gloominess.

"Oh, hey Ingrid" he replied sullenly, scanning her briefly and wandering at the cause of her damp wings, though he didn't have the presence of mind to inquire on the subject. Afterall, she was a water fairy, wasn't she? And Ingrid seemed to be drenched about half of the time he saw her, it wasn't that out of place.

Terence just shook his head and cast his eyes to the ground when Ingrid asked him about the cause of his woes, frustrated that he couldn't seem to get his mind set on the right course of action to set the situation to rights.
"Ugh, where do I even start" he sighed, shuffling his feet in the dirt "there's been a problem with--" Terence's response was suddenly cut short as he heard a third voice, his eyebrows knitting into a curious frown as he peered around Ingrid just in time to recognise Crispin as he greeted him.

"Nah, it's not Tink" replied Terence, waving off the comment regarding his unfortunately absent best fried as he eyed the flames that danced around Crispin's hands.
"It's just... Fairy Gary gave me an important job to do while he was away at the mainland. I've been in charge of Pixie Dust distribution but I've messed up somehow and three smidges are missing. I have no idea what's happened to it and if I don't find out where it's been going he's gonna cut my job trial short and never trust me again!" Terence's voice got more and more frantic as he related his story to the pair until he was standing on top of the pebble on which he had been seated and waving his hands about like a lunatic.

With his predicament off his chest, Terence sighed and his arms drooped as he dumped his clipboard down onto his little pebble seat and slumped down beside it.
"Sorry you guys...I'm having a bad day."

Propelled by experienced wings of silver, Iona flew with confidence above the gentle land below, basking in the warmth of summer. Familiarity was her one and only guide as her sapphire blue eyes glimmered along, from side to side, sighting the vibrant fairy folk that called Pixie Hollow their home. She could feel her wings tightening as her presence closed in on her destination, eager to meet up with a friendly face. Together, with Melina’s superior glass-blowing talents, they always found a way to create unique and beautiful works of art. Reminiscent thoughts flowed through her mind, keeping her ears oblivious to another female voice calling out.

“Iona, hold on a second!” An energetic, brunette haired fairy in a red dress leaped off the ground, and took off in hot pursuit. “Iona, please wait, I have something to tell you!” Knowing exactly where Iona was heading off to, she had no choice but to intervene before it was too late. This was far too important of an occasion to just let Iona casually fly on by.

Not until a final push and an urgent hand reached out to hold onto Iona’s did she halt to a hover. “Hey Abby, long time no see.” Iona looked upon the fashion talent fairy with concern, aware of that pleading glint in her eye. “You alright there, Abby? Why all the rush to see me?”

Abby looked around with wandering brown eyes, before composing her racing thoughts. “Well, I just thought I would show you something before I lose you to those elusive sprites and elves again.” A frown followed, accompanied by a saddening twinkle in her eye. “Please… you just have to come see the outfit I made for you. The one you requested I make you.”

Iona remained in a confused hover, having no memory of asking to have one made. “What do you mean at my request? I don’t remember asking for a new outfit.” Her words trailed off quietly, thinking over whether this was indeed an oversight on her part.

“Of course you did, don’t you remember?” How awful that would be if Iona didn’t have any recollection. “Oh no, don’t tell us our big sister has grown so much that she is now of a forgetful age.” Abby turned around, away from Iona, in an attempt to hide a sarcastic smile. “Must be rough getting old… especially in the looks department. Could use some improvements if I say so myself.”

“Now, now. I am not old or forgetful. At least I think I’m not.” Now why did she have to go and put doubt in Iona’s mind. She placed her hands on her hips in disappointment. “What exactly do you mean by improvements?”

“I don’t know, just a little something. If you want to take a look for yourself, just follow me to my place.”

Seeing Abby flying back to her workshop, Iona followed along, still uncertain about the outfit she never requested. Even so, Iona ventured inside, curiosity taking hold as to what she had planned. “Abby, I’m here to take a look.” A quick glance caught her stepping forth from the back room.

“Iona, I am so happy you decided to come along. Please follow me into the dressing area. We have quite the number of things to do.” A hand motioned to step inside the other room. Not until Abby was done doing the final touch ups did she insist Iona take a look for herself. “So, what do you think, does it look good? Being the summer season, I thought you might want a change in attire.”

Standing in front of the mirror in silence, Iona took to studying her new appearance. What was she to say regarding all of these changes? Her naturally flowing blonde hair was no longer simply tied up haphazardly in a ponytail. Instead, a sophisticated French Braid greeted her sights. There was even a purple ribbon tied throughout the center of the entire braid, reaching down to her shoulder blades.

A smile widened on Iona’s face, feeling the comforting texture of an orchid around her slender frame; the long flowing sleeves draping down to her hands. The entire outfit matched perfectly, from her top, down to the very tip of her shoes. A white predominance covered her body in a calm embrace as it delicately intermingled with a purple elegance along the trim of each piece. Every exuberant flower petal displayed an iridescent transition between the contrasting pair of colors. Not even the flower petal skirt, the leggings, or the shoes could diminish its pleasing harmony.

“I take it that you like the outfit.” Receiving only a nod of approval in her direction, Abby felt relieved. “Good, because there was never a request for me to do this for you. After all you’ve done to help me, I thought I owed you something in return. I know how much the Orchid is your favorite flower and you absolutely love the color purple. Tried to make it is as perfect as possible. Even the buckle on your skirt has the symbol for wind.”

Iona looked back at Abby and grinned from ear to ear, realizing her own fallacy, believing that she could forget such a thing. What a crazy fairy Abby was. “I am actually impressed that you do listen to me that much. And here I thought you were too distracted to lend me an ear.”

“Hey, that’s what sisters are for. Even if they do have their moments.” Once again, her words softened, bracing for sarcasm’s return in her direction.

“You know, you’re right… this dress is beautifully done. Thank you so much.” Iona followed up with a tightening hug. “Even if you did kind of fool me to get me here.” Teasing words furthered the playful antics.

"Missing smidges? That sounds pretty--hey, whoa, whoa, it's cool, Terence, calm down!" Crispin jumped up as well, motioning with his hands for the fairy to sit again. Not that Crispin was really in the position to tell others to calm down, as usually he himself was the overtly excited one - but otherwise it seemed to work, as Terence flopped back down onto the pebble.

Crispin took a deep breath, then exhaled loudly, a stream of warm vapor also escaping his lips. (His breaths and body temperature were always unconditionally warm.) "Hokay, I can't imagine how tough working in the factory is. But three smidges is bad. Pretty bad. I mean, hoo, Fairy Garebear only recently gave you this super important task and you're mucking up already. I'd be pretty worried too!"

The pyro fairy began to laugh, until he realized his demeanor wasn't exactly helping the situation. "Well, I take it he doesn't have a clue where they've been going either then? No leaks, no trails?"

He brought a finger to his chin, stroking it with his lips and brows contorted. In the meantime his feet slowly lifted as well, as his wings brought him airborne again, though still in close proximity with the other two fairies. Then he seemingly began to pace while hovering, though his wings did all the work as he remained still as a statue.

"Nuts," he said, now stroking the air beneath his chin. "You have someone else you can ask for help, yeah? Orrr what about you?" He shifted his eyes to Ingrid next, his smile warm. "Got any ideas?"

"Missing fairy dust!?" Ingrid yelped, her wings stilled in her shock and she fell backwards, hitting the ground with a thump. She sighed, laying there for a second before she picked herself up and wiped off her dress. It was nearly dry now thanks to Crispin. She smiled at him, and then it faded as if she'd just forgotten that pixie dust was missing. She looked over at Terence, her eyes wide and then back to Crispin, who was pacing in the air.

"But, who would take fairy dust?" She asked, climbing over the pebble she had been sitting on. She sat down again, this time she didn't lean on her wings though. That had been embarrassing. Though she was used to embarrassing herself so, it didn't phase her much. She rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands as she studied the dirt as if it had the answer. She looked up at Crispin.

"I have no idea, I mean, it's crazy, how would we even find it?" Ingrid asked, "Assuming you let me tag along...." She mumbled to Terence, thinking that he wouldn't because of her tendency to mess things up. She wouldn't be surprised if he said no, she couldn't be much help anyway. He'd probably get Tinkerbell to help him, or someone who knew what they were doing with their talent. Ingrid was useless. Her wings drooped slowly, a frown on her face. Even if he didn't ask her to go along, she could look here for the missing fairy dust. She could investigate a little, but that was no fun. Besides, who would answer her questions? She was just a water fairy, and not a very good water fairy.

Having been calmed down by Crispin, Terence had sat quietely with his head slumped down onto his arms, feeling miserably hopeless. He had a big issue to resolve before days end and he had no leads at all, nowhere to even begin looking. He could find no glaring error or oversight in his records. He had been meticulous with it, obsessive even and, while he was loathed to admit it, the only way he could account for those missing smidges was someone taking them.

Terence hated the thought of suspecting one of his colleagues, he thought he could trust all of them and it actually brought him shame to even contemplate one of them endangering the entire season of autumn by making off with three smidges of pixie dust.

Forlornly Terence just sat there, feeling utterly defeated until he suddenly became aware of the two fairies before him conversing over the situation.
"Wait..." he muttered uncertainly, raising his head up and glancing hopefully at Ingrid and Crispin "You guys are gonna help me?"
Terence's drooping wings suddenly perked back up, fluttering a little as his frown was replaced with a smile as he dared to hope that, with a little help, he may be able to discover the identity of the thief and recover the lost pixie dust after all.
"Of course you can tag along, Ingrid!" Terence said with a chuckle as he used his wings to flitter up into a standing position "Both of you can, I'm gonna need all the help I can get on this."

Picking up his discarded clipboard and dusting it off on his pants, Terence tapped his chin with it as he considered the questions of the fairies.
"Look, guys, I've got no idea who would take the pixie dust. I mean, who would risk the coming of fall like that? I don't wanna ask anyone at the pixie dust factory...I guess everyone there is a suspect now so..." Terence's wings drooped once more at the thought of one of his colleagues being the culprit, he considered the entire factory to be his friends "Oh! But hey, what about Iona! I dunno, she...knows stuff, right? I've got some pretty good advice from her before. Let's try and find her!"

This was excellent, things were already falling into place! With this new idea in mind, Terence fluttered up and took off over the nearby forest of tall grass.
"Come on, you guys!" he called back at Ingrid and Crispin, waving his hand in a beckoning motion as he disappeared among the foliage.

Crispin grinned toothily as Terence was filled with newfound hope. The pyro fairy's smiles always glistened with the innocence of a child, probably the same as the one who brought him into this world. He hovered behind Terence and smacked him on the back in a 'way to go!' manner, rougher than was necessary. "Of couuurse we're gonna help you! What kind of fairies would we be to turn that down?"

He looked to Ingrid next and winked playfully - not so much a flirty gesture as was one that was reassuring. He could sense her lack of confidence from a distance away, and Crispin was the type of fairy that always pestered downers until they smiled. Even if he inadvertently worsens their mood.

Terence fumbled with suspecting his own colleagues of this blatant thievery, before coming up with an alternative to a direct investigation: another fairy named Iona. Crispin grinned widely at her name. The two have never met face-to-face, but being all over the place was one of Crispin's traits, and he'd seen her fly about and do her thing multiple times. He was always captivated by the sheer skill of storm fairies, and Iona's expertise had intrigued him even further. She had control over a dangerous skill that Crispin unfortunately lacked at times. With Terence's suggestion, Crispin would finally get to meet this fairy! Two twigs, one pebble!

Soon enough the trio took off into a neighboring forest. Terence waved back at the two, close to disappearing from sight ahead. The pyro fairy licked his lips. "Is that a challenge? You're game, Terence!" While still flying forward, he reeled back his torso and arms to the side, as if ready to take off sprinting. Then he burst forward, eventually flying passed the acorn-head. Crispin looked at him over his shoulder, bringing his thumb to his nose and sticking out his tongue. "Last one there is a rotten--ooph!"

He collided right into a thick trunk. On cue his wings comically crumpled and withered, before shooting up again with life as Crispin pried himself off the wall. "I'm good! I'm good!" He continued moving on, though buzzing a bit more erratically.

Ingrid nodded excitedly as Terrence said she could come along and hurried after them, her wings fluttering madly. Oh, how exciting! They were going to meet Iona and ask her for help too, it was like an adventure. As much as Ingrid wanted to find the fairy dust, she secretly hoped it was a long investigation. She was so happy to help that it wouldn't be much fun if they found the fairy dust right away would it? As long as they found it in a few days, everything would be alright.

She hung behind the other two fairies, bringing in the rear and tried to warn Crispin of his impending obstacle but he was going so fast that she couldn't say anything before he slammed into the tree. She giggled, trying to hide it as he peeled himself away from the stopping force and continued flying. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh to too loud. She was further behind them though, she hoped he wouldn't see her. She tried to compose herself, putting on a straight face, but as she watched Crispin fly in a rather eccentric fashion she couldn't help but let a few giggles escape her lips.

Iona stepped forth from Abby’s workshop, having bid her a temporary farewell. A spirited glance above searched the skies around her, eager to move along, back to Melina’s place where creativity could roam free once more. Iona lifted her feet gently off the ground and let her wings guide her merrily ahead, in no particular direction at all. At least that was what natural instinct desired, though a curious eye followed no such order. Iona’s altitude carefully lowered, spotting several irregular movements amongst the tall blades of grass below. If she wasn’t mistaken, the fellow wearing the acorn shell hat looked an awfully lot like a close friend, by the name of Terence.

Acquiring an enthusiastic grin at the amusing discovery, she eased her pursuit and quietly dipped beneath the thickened vegetation. Wishing to close in unnoticed, she remained silent and focused, setting her sights on the first in this unlikely trio of fairies. First glances revealed a female water-talent fairy in a deep blue dress, trailing behind. With curiosity taking hold, Iona pushed herself forward, wishing to see what was actually happening just up ahead. Nearing in on the water fairy, Iona glanced over to her side and waved. “Hi there. You wouldn’t be Ingrid, would you?” A cheerful smile accompanied her softly spoken words. “I’m Iona, but don’t tell those two up ahead, ok.” Her words fell to a whisper.

Playfulness lingered strongly by, her wings feeling pleasantly light as she rode the tranquil air before her, flying closer still. Not until her eyes glimpsed to see a male fire-talent fairy did she react. A finger was placed to her lips, encouraging silence for all but a moment. Leaving Crispin with only a suggestive wink, Iona swiftly ascended above the grassy forest and followed with a daring back flip, getting caught in the thrill of the moment. Momentum on her side, Iona successfully reached Terence and made her eager approach.

“Hey there Terence!” Iona shouted aloud from up above. “I just happened to spot you from up here, on my way to Melina’s.” She kept on pace, alongside Terence. “Been a little while, but I thought I would see what you were up to lately. I see you brought a couple of friends along for the ride.”