* This story has been inspired and written for  Ever After Contest : April 2019 *

One hot summer day, Flamby Penny decided to visit her best friend Snippity Daddles and go camping. Snippity's 5-year-old sister, Lottie Daddles cried until the two girls agreed to take her along with them. 

The children traveled through picture-perfect villages on their pink bicycles. They had cookies and cakes for breakfast, pizzas for lunch and lasagna and ice-cream for dinner. They were having a time of their life.

One day, the children came across a huge, noisy waterfall. From the edge of the cliff, they could see the water gushing down the steep mountain into a crystal clear lake. White foam rose up like clouds making it hard to see anything below.

Flamby immediately shouted, "Let's take a selfie!" 

The ever-cautious Snippity said, "We must be careful. Let's not get too close to the edge." 

In her excitement to get the perfect selfie, Flamby paid no heed to Snippity and stepped close to the edge of the cliff. As to be expected, she lost her balance and tumbled down the hill, screaming all the way.

"Firemen to the rescue. Left. Right. Left. Flamby Rescue Begin," shouted Lottie and scrambled down the hill, following the wreckage left behind by Flamby's tumble. 

"Woah!! Wait up Lottie. Don't run off. We are neither firemen nor soldiers," screamed Snippity and ran after her sister.

At the bottom of the hill and on the edge of the forest, Flamby lay flat on the ground. Next to her was a stone plaque with the words 'Fairy Woods' etched on it. There was also a mile marker '1', indicating that it was only a mile away. 

Lottie clapped her hands and shouted, "Fairy Woods Adventure" and started marching into the woods. 

"Oye! Hold it. We need to get Flamby checked out. We must go back," said Snippity. 

"I'm fine. I'm fine," declared Flamby dusting herself and followed Lottie.

The children trudged into the woods. A wonderful porridge aroma drifted in the air. After the long bicycle ride and a mile-long walk, the hungry children followed the beautiful smell until they came across a little cottage. The door was wide open and despite Snippity's concerns of inappropriate behavior, the children went inside. 

There were three porridge bowls. Lottie immediately went and sat on the littlest chair. She gobbled up the porridge and smacked her lips. Flamby sat on the big, hard chair and began eating the steaming hot porridge. Snippity scolded the children for eating without permission. Watching them eat, Snippity broke down and sat in the soft chair with cushion and ate her bowl of cold porridge. 

With their tummy's full, the children then explored the upper level of the cottage and found three beds. Flamby fell asleep on the big, hard bed. Snippity fell asleep on the soft bed. Lottie fell asleep on the small, cozy bed. 

Deep asleep, the children didn't realize when the actual home-owners returned. They woke up to loud grunts and growls. Terrified, the children huddled together.

"Hey bears, I'm here for a visit. I brought some porridge," they heard someone shout. 

Cautiously, the children crawled downstairs and found 2 big bears and one small bear complaining to a golden-haired girl that someone ate their porridge. 

The Papa bear suddenly noticed the children and growled at them, "Did you eat our porridge and sleep in our beds?"

Terrified, the children scrambled out of the back door and ran as fast as their little legs could carry.

"Oooh, that was close," laughed Flamby. 

"This wasn't funny," snapped Snippity. 

The children continued to walk and came across a castle. Fascinated, Flamby and Lottie immediately decided to explore it. 

"No way, there are soldiers everywhere. If the bears complained to them, we might get arrested," objected Snippity. 

Flamby and Lottie paid no heed and began to explore the castle grounds with its magnificent structures and well-trimmed greenery.

An old lady appeared before the children holding a wand, "Why aren't you girls dressed for the ball? Oh, no matter. I'll dress you up. But remember, the magic will only be there until the clock strikes 12."

The old lady spun her wand and the girls were dressed in the prettiest silk gowns. She spun her wand again and the children found themselves in a huge ballroom. 

The party was in full swing. Children being children, they dashed towards the dessert counter and loaded their plates with cookies, cakes, marshmallows, pastries, and many more sweet treats. They began gobbling up the wonderful food as fast as they could. All of sudden, there was pin drop silence.

Everyone in the room parted to give way to a tall, regal lady with black horns on her head and dressed in black. 

"It's Malificent."
"Oh no, will she curse Cinderella's baby girl?"
"Let's get the newborn princess out before Malificent curses her."
"No that's not right, we don't have the parents' permission."
"Oh please, do you want what happened with Sleeping Beauty to happen again."
"Let's get her out then."

The quiet, squeaking noises continued on and on. They were being made by three bobbing lights – blue, red and green. On closer look, the children found that they were just fairies talking very fast.

The children ran to the three fairies and pleaded, "Oh please, take us with you. We are trying to get out of the woods." 

The fairies nodded and quietly read a spell. 

The children soon found themselves with the fairies and the little princess in a quiet part of the woods. 

The fairies introduced themselves as Flora, Fauna and Merryweather and pointed the path which would take them out of the forest.

Happily, the children began to skip down the path. Lottie stopped suddenly and clutched her sister's hand. 

"Oh, do you smell that", she squealed. 

The most delicious aroma of chocolate and cinnamon wafted through the woods. In a trance, the children stepped off the path and followed the delicious aroma. 

They soon came across a cute cottage made completely of sweets. The building was made from chocolate wafer coated with chocolate and nuts. The window sills were made of eclairs. A beautiful creeper crawled over the side of the house. The creeper had pink flowers and green leaves made from sugar candy.

"I know, I know. It's the house from Hansel and Gretel. The witch will catch us now," squealed Lottie. 

"You don't have to worry about the witch," said a small, thin girly voice. A little fairy with blonde hair and big, blue eyes flew up to them. 

"Go ahead and try," she said slyly. 

"You're Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. You aren't going to get is into trouble are you," interrogated Snippity. 

"Me? Never. I wouldn't," said Tinker Bell with wide-eyed innocence. 

"Oh come on Snippity. She said it's okay," said Flamby. 

The children began to break up small portions of the house and eat. Tinker Bell brought some tea and the children were having a lovely tea party.

"Is someone being naughty?" a loud voice boomed. 

"Bye girls," waved Tinker Bell and flew away. 

A tall fairy wearing a blue dress appeared before them. 

"It's the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio," whispered Flamby. 

"Oh no, I don't want my nose to grow big," cried Lottie and covered her face. 

"Were you eating without permission?" yelled the Blue Fairy. 

"Uh no mam," mumbled Flamby. 

"NO! NO! The child says no and has chocolate all over her mouth. I'm sending all of you to the old women in the shoe," shouted the Blue Fairy.

The children found themselves in front of a large house shaped like a shoe. The children realized that this was the school for naughty children. 

After going inside, the children found fairies with their wings clipped instead of naughty children. The poor fairies looked sad and miserable. All of them were tiny little things, the size of a thumb. Their little wings had been clipped at the back preventing them from flying. All their clothes made from flower petals were in tatters. They were thin and malnourished. They were truly in a very sorry state.

The old woman announced that it was time for supper and took them into the dining room. The fairies and children quietly formed a single, straight line to serve themselves.

The old woman eyed the children crossly and said, "You children ate enough. No food for you". 

She snatched the plates away from them. There were fresh bread and rich soup with lots of meat. When the fairies placed the food on their plate, the bread turned stale and dry. The soup turned watery and the meat turned into vegetables. However, when the old woman served herself, the food remained the same. The children watched flabbergasted and wondered terrified whether they too were going to get stale bread and watery soup for their next meal.

After supper, the old woman forced all the fairies and the children into the classroom. She wrote three questions on the board. 

She said, "Whoever gives me the right answers, will be free to leave the school." 

She then left the room.

The questions were:
1) How can you make a fish eat a cat?
2) How do you make milk from yogurt?
3) How many liters of meat is there on a chicken?

The children looked at the questions with quiet stupefaction and said quietly, "There are no answers for these questions." 

"Yes, there are no answers. That is why we will never be able to leave the school. The evil school teacher has locked us up here and we can't fly out because our wings are clipped. How did you get caught though?" the fairies whispered. 

The children told about the grand adventure that they had. 

"Flamby, I'm sure you didn't fall from the cliff and Tinkerbell pulled you down," said the fairies. 

"How would you know that?" asked Snippity suspiciously. 

With sheepish expressions, the fairies replied, "Well, that's what we would have done. We are known for our mischief and tricks."

"How did you get stuck here?" asked Lottie. 

"We were living happily in our fairy woods. One day the fairy tale characters came and captured us. Silly characters confused Fairy Woods with Fairy Tale Lands. They put these clips and we can't reach them to open them up," cried the fairies. 

"Did you try to remove each other's clips instead of your own?" asked Snippity. 

The fairies looked at each other. 

"Can you do that," they asked with excitement and began to try. Soon, all the clips were removed, and the fairies began to fly all over the room. 

"Thank you. Thank you. You saved us," laughed the fairies. 

"Your welcome. Be safe," said the children sadly. 

"Why are you sad?" asked the fairies. 

"We can't fly away. We are stuck here," replied the children.

The fairies rolled their eyes and together flew the children out of the window. They flew all over the woods until they reached the stone plaque which had 'Fairy Woods' written on it. 

"Go on now. We won't play any mischief on you since you helped us so much. Come and visit us soon," grinned the fairies. 

The children waved and began to make their way up the hill to their bicycles. Not too soon, they heard screams and shouts. There was a thundering, loud noise growing closer and closer to the children. A thick, cloud of dust was rising and getting closer as well. Soon, the children were able to make out different fairy tale characters running together. Their dresses were either torn or had something funky spilled on them. Their hair was pulled in different directions. Some characters were covered in something green and slimy. 

"Let's go back to our land. The fairies have escaped and are back to their mischief," shouted the characters.

The children narrowly escaped the stampede, grabbed their bicycles and made their way back home. When the parents saw their children, they were surprised to see the pretty dresses the children were wearing. The children then realized that the magic from Cinderella's godmother had not disappeared and their grand adventure was after all not just a dream.