Faybelle arrived at the playing field and swooped down. Ben followed her as Big Chill and swooped down with her and hit the Omnitrix symbol, becoming Ben again.
Ben heard a collective gasp coming from six girls with wings. They were fairies as well.
"Is that him, Faybelle?!"
"It's Ben Tennyson!"
"Is that really him?!"
"Of course it's him!"
"Quit pushing me!"
"You quit pushing me!"
Faybelle raised a hand to silence them.
"Wow, you're good." Ben said, impressed by the immediate silence.
"I know." Faybelle said. "Now, ladies. This is in fact, Ben Tennyson. And he's officially under my wing. If you catch my drift." She winked at her comrades.
The fairies giggled and snorted. "We so totally catch it, Faybelle!"
"You're one of us, Ben!"
"Fableous!"
"He's so cute!"
"I think he's cuter!"
"Ben! Ben! He's the best! He is better than all the rest!"
Ben grinned ear to ear as these lovely fairies fawned over him. "I forgot what a friendly place Ever After is. So, I'm one of you guys?" he asked Faybelle.
"Sure, you were the very first person to ever invite me to a party." Faybelle's wings fluttered merrily. "And that makes you a favorite in my book."
"It did?" Ben vaguely remembered that. He gave Faybelle his ticket to the Enchantment in the Forest Dance. And because of that, Faybelle was truly grateful. "Why is being invited such a big deal to you?"
Faybelle's eyes went dark. "Because I'm cursed to not be invited to things. It's not just because I'm a villain and nobody likes me, it's because I'm cursed to be left out."
Ben felt sympathy for Faybelle. He would hate feeling left out too.
"But you," Faybelle said, her peppy voice returned. "are special! Against all odds, you actually gave me an invitation! You have no idea how awesome that feels!"
Ben smiled seeing Faybelle happy. "Glad I made your day, Faybelle."
Faybelle looked around. "And in other news, it looks like our wingless members are late again." she said in an irritated voice.
"Wingless members?" Ben questioned.
"That's right." said Faybelle. "It's sad to say that we have wingless members on my squad. If we were an all fairy squad, we would do all kinds of mid-air formations that would bring the crowd to their feet every time!" She sighed. "Unfortunately, we had to get saddled with three grounded members, so we have to do land based routines." She rolled her eyes.
"Here they come." a fairy pointed to the wingless students coming to the field.
Ben was surprised that one of them was a boy. A boy with a buff build and brown hair that was shaved on one side. There was a fair skinned girl with auburn hair that touched the ground and a dark skinned, flaxen haired girl.
"Sorry we're late, Faybelle." the flaxen haired cheerhexer said. She spotted Ben. "Who's your friend?"
The long haired girl screamed. "No way! You're Ben Tennyson, the alien changeling! I've never seen a real changeling before! What's it like to change forms? Oh! I'm Holly O'Hair, the next Rapunzel!"
"Take a chill potion, Holly." Faybelle said. "We don't need you creeping him out."
The six fairies agreed. "Yeah, Holly."
"Don't creep him out, Holly."
"Take a chill potion, Holly."
Ben held his hands up. "It's okay. I'm not creeped out." he insisted. The hero eyed Holly's ridiculously long hair. "So...you're the next Rapunzel?"
Holly nodded.
"Cool, you fit that roll pretty well." said Ben.
"Thanks!" Holly smiled wide.
The flaxen haired girl came up to Ben. She was a head shorter than the rest of her squad. "I'm Nina Thumbell, daughter of Thumbelina."
"Hunter Huntsman." the boy introduced.
"Okay, enough with the chit chat." Faybelle interrupted. "We're here to practice, people!" the young Dark Fairy glowered. "And there's still one more member that's hextremely late!"
"Over here!" a voice chimed from the air.
Everyone looked and Ben saw a fairy with blue hair flying towards them.
Upon seeing this fairy, Faybelle and her six fairies groaned with disdain. "Farrah."
The fairy named Farrah landed on the field. "Sorry I'm late everyone!"
Ben observed this new fairy girl. Her baby blue hair was long and wavy. A lock of her hair was pale lavender. It seemed like her presence made Ben feel immediately humbled. Her blue eyes shined like jewels.
"What took you?" Faybelle sniped. "Doing party tricks with pumpkins?" Her minions snickered.
But Farrah smiled. "Actually, I was on my way to practice when a coach broke down outside the school! I had to get my wand and went back to fix it! By the time I realized it, I was late!"
Farrah noticed Ben staring at her. "Oh! Hi! Are you trying out for the squad?"
"Farrah! That's Ben Tennyson, the friendly changeling!" Holly told the fairy.
"Really?! You are!" Farrah said, her eyes twinkled and she did a little curtsied. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Ben was about to speak until Faybelle clapped her hands together. "Okay! Enough with the meet and greet!" Faybelle grabbed her pom poms. "Alright, Ben. Sit back and watch my team show you how it's done! I've come up with the perfect cheer for when we play Gingerbread High next week!"
"This should be good." Ben sat on a bench and watched Faybelle perform for her team.
As Ben watched, he was actually impressed. Faybelle and her team were like a well oiled machine. They performed their pivots, turns, and kicks in perfect sync.
"We're Ever After High and we're here to say!
Today is not your lucky day!
We're gonna take it home and be the winner!
Ever After eats gingerbread for dinner!
Goooo...Ever After!"
Ben gave them a courtesy clap. It was a nice little cheer. After a few more drills, the team took a break. Faybelle checked her MirrorPhone. "Okay, team! That's enough for today!"
As everyone gathered their things, Ben just couldn't take his eyes off the blue haired fairy.
"Hey, Faybelle." Ben said. "Who was that girl?" He thumbed over at Farrah, who was walking off with Holly and Nina.
"Oh, that's Farrah Goodfairy." Faybelle said as she adjusted her ponytail. "Just forget about her."
"Why?" Ben asked.
"Because she's of no importance." Faybelle replied. "But you are. Right, girls?"
"Yeah! Totally!"
"You're one of us, Ben!"
"That little Goodfairy stinks."
"But Ben doesn't stink!"
But Ben seemed unsure. "Uh, thanks I guess."
Faybelle waved off her followers. "Shoo, ladies. We need some alone time."
The fairies flew away under Faybelle's command.
"Walk with me, Ben." Faybelle put an arm around Ben and they walked towards the school. "You see, we fairies have more enhanced senses that mere mortals and I can sense that you don't realize how big the opportunity I'm giving you is. We are more alike than you think."
"Is that so?" Ben said.
"Of course, when I was just a little nursery rhyme, I always wondered if people will treat me like a freak just because I'm the Dark Fairy's daughter. Did I ever feel alone? Afraid? Wondering to myself, 'will I ever be treated with the respect I deserve?"
Ben was silent.
Faybelle threw her head back and laughed. "Of course I didn't. Because I'm not the kind of kid who lets people walk all over me. The kind of kid who gets knocked around, talked over, and pushed down!"
She glanced at Ben. "Like you."
"Like me?!" Ben blurted. "What are you trying to say?"
Faybelle looked directly into Ben's eyes. "That this alien problem of yours won't go away, y'know. Sure, you can quit being a hero, but what will happen in your next career path? Are you going to let other people hold you back? You being their little puppet and cutting your strings later? Are you going to be a tool for the rest of your life?"
Faybelle had a point. All these years, Ben was a tool. Always doing the hard work and breaking his back for a universe that doesn't deserve his help.
"At some point, you're going to have to stand up for yourself and be your own boss!" Faybelle concluded. "I say out with the old Ben, in with the new."
Ben opened his mouth to speak, but the young fairy gently stroked Ben's cheek. "I promise, Ben. You and I gonna make a great team."
