It was an average, peaceful day in Pixie Hollow. Everybody was going about their business as usual, preparing for the change of the seasons - it was currently Fall, meaning Winter would be next - and playing games in their downtime until the sun showed the first signs of setting. With another day done, the fairies and sparrowmen put away their tools and made for the Home Tree, where the Baking Talents surely had another wonderful feast prepared for everybody.
"GUYS, THERE'S TROUBLE!" Prilla burst into the Home Tree, fluttering above everybody whilst panicking. Her actions drew murmurs from the crowd, some concerned, some annoyed as they were just about to start eating. "BIG TROUBLE ON THE MAINLAND!"
"Prilla, dear," Queen Clarion said, floating up to meet the panicking fairy, "Take deep breaths." Prilla nodded, and took in a long, deep breath, held it, and then slowly released. She did this two more times, and seemed to calm down. "Now, please tell us calmly what's wrong."
"I just got back from the Mainland," she explained. Prilla was the only fairy who could visit the Mainland whenever she wanted, literally in the blink of an eye. She was a Clapping Talent fairy, the only one of her kind, and her job was to keep the belief in fairies alive in human children, as it was that belief that gave them - and Neverland - strength. "Everything was going well, I was even having so much fun I lost track of time, but then it started to get dark and the next thing I knew, there were monsters everywhere!"
Queen Clarion blinked. "Monsters, dear?"
"Yes! Ghosts and skeletons and witches and pirates-"
"Pirates aren't technically monsters," Zarina said.
"-And witches and demons and things I didn't even know existed! They were all out roaming the streets, knocking on peoples' houses and demanding sweets!"
The hall was silent for a few seconds, until finally somebody asked, "You sure that's what you saw?"
Prilla turned to Rosetta, huffing. "I'm telling you, they were all over the place! They were laughing and forming groups to attack peoples' houses. I got so scared I tried to fly away, but then the Devil itself showed up and stopped me! I Blinked back without thinking and rushed over here to tell you all."
More murmurs spread through the crowd, though now they were all ones of concern and fear.
"Monsters on the Mainland?"
"You think it's an invasion?"
"What should we do? We can't change the seasons if there are monsters everywhere!"
"What about the clumsies? If there are no more babies, that means no more fairies."
"Everybody, please calm down," Queen Clarion said, and gradually, the noise began to quiet. "I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation for everything that Prilla saw. I will send a team out to investigate right away. Prilla, I would like you to show them where you saw these monsters, but… will you be okay going back?"
Prilla fidgeted, twirling her fingers nervously. "Um, m-maybe? As long as I'm not alone…"
Clarion nodded. Nyx flew up to her side in an instant. "Commander Nyx will escort you there. Nyx, please take some Scout fairies with you. Not too many; we don't want you to stand out."
"Understood, Your Highness." Nyx whistled, and two Scout Talents flew up to join her. "We will find out just what is happening on the Mainland and report back post-haste." She turned to Prilla. "Fear not. We will keep you safe while we're out there."
Prilla smiled, feeling a little better. "Okay. I trust you."
With that, the four ate first as Terrance prepared extra Pixie Dust for their trip. When they were ready, they departed, leaving the Home Tree and then Neverland, flying towards the Second Star to reach the Mainland.
As they left, a purple-clad fairy that was late to dinner noticed the golden streak in the sky. She recognised it as a Pixie Dust trail, and wondered what was up. She wasn't curious enough to go check it out, however, as she was more hungry, so Vidia simply headed for the Home Tree to join the others.
"Sorry I'm late," she said as she entered, expecting to see everybody already eating. Instead, she was greeted to too many voices talking over each other at once, and found nervous fairies and sparrowmen ignoring the food that was being laid out for them. "What's going on?"
"Vidia! Where have you been?" Tinker Bell asked.
"I was in the zone. Lost track of time," Vidia said with a shrug. "Never mind me. What happened here?"
"Prilla came back from the Mainland, where she saw some monsters!" Rosetta explained.
Vidia simply laughed. "Monsters? Seriously?"
"Seriously," Silvermist confirmed, nodding.
"By 'monsters', you don't mean like a cat or a car… or her own shadow, right?"
"She was terrified, Vidia," Tink said. "She said there were monsters everywhere, attacking peoples' houses."
"Uh-huh." Vidia looked around the room. "And where is she now?"
"She's gone back to investigate."
Vidia's eyes shot open. "What?! She saw monsters, and now she's going back there?!"
"She's with Nyx and the others," Rani said. "She'll be safe."
Vidia folded her arms, looking away. "Who said I was worried about that? I'm just surprised is all. I'd have figured she'd be too scared to go back."
"Everybody, please settle down," Queen Clarion said, floating above everybody. "The Baking Talents have worked very hard to prepare tonight's meal. Let us show our respect by taking our seats and enjoying every bite."
The fairies and sparrowmen calmed down, and began finding places to sit at the various tables. "Queen Clarion's right," Tinker Bell said. "Nothing good will come from worrying. C'mon, Vidia, let's-" Tink noticed that Vidia was nowhere to be seen. "Vidia?" She turned to her friends. "Where did she go?" She only got shrugs in response.
Hiding behind some bushes, four fairies watched as a trio of monsters - a witch, a skeleton and a leopard walking on two legs - marched down the dimly-lit street, laughing and boasting about how much candy they had.
"You were right," Nyx said, glaring at the monsters and clutching her spear tightly. "They're everywhere. Just what is going on?"
"This might be too much for us to handle," one of the accompanying Scout Talents said. "We should report this to Mother Dove."
"Let's gather as much information as we can, first," Nyx said. "We cannot fight them without knowing what we're up against."
"Do we have to fight?" Prilla asked. "Mmmmmaybe they're friendly monsters. They might be willing to listen to us."
"Be my guest," Nyx said, but Prilla stayed firmly where she was. "Exactly. For now, we'll just observe them from afar."
More monsters began to arrive, running around and cheering. The fairies hid as some got close to the bushes they were hiding behind. "I was scarier!" one monster boasted.
"Nuh-uh! I was!"
"Didn't you see how scared that lady was? She practically leapt out of her skin!"
Prilla stiffened. A person leapt out of their skin?! She didn't even know humans could do that!
"I scared that one guy to death!"
Nyx gritted her teeth. They were already claiming victims' lives? "Savages," she whispered.
Prilla dared a peak out of the bushes, and found one of the monsters - a werewolf - holding an eye in its hand. It brought the eye its mouth and took a bite! Prilla recoiled back into the bushes, holding her hands over her mouth to avoid throwing up. "T-They're eating people," she whispered, beginning to cry.
"This is worse than I feared," Nyx said. "Prilla, we'll continue monitoring things here. You return at once-"
"Meowwwwww."
The fairies each felt their blood freeze. Turning, they found a cat perched nearby, watching them with a delightful grin. The cat licked its lips and entered a crouching stance. It pounced, and the four fairies flew away to avoid it, and in doing so, they flew out of the bushes, their golden trails shining brightly in the dark.
The monsters noticed these trails and saw the fairies flying above them. "Whoa! Fairies!" one cried.
Another noticed Prilla, who had flown separately from the three Scouts, and ran towards her. Prilla flew away in a panic. "Wait! Don't run, little fairy!"
"Prilla, wait!" Nyx shouted, but as she tried to give chase, the cat attempted to catch her from below. The three were forced to fly higher, and when Nyx looked around for Prilla, she found that she was gone. Not even her trail could be seen anymore.
Prilla flew blindly through the dark streets - literally! Keeping her teary eyes closed, Prilla flew and flew as far as she could. She had no destination in mind, nor was she even thinking straight at all. All she knew was that she was scared, that the monsters were trying to get her, and that she wanted to go home! But she couldn't just Blink back like normal. She hadn't Blinked to the Mainland, after all, so if she wanted to go home then she would have to fly past the Second Star. But Nyx had the extra Pixie Dust.
That was when Prilla realised that she had gone off on her own. She snapped her eyes open and stopped, looking around. No Nyx, or the other two Scout Talents that had come along. "Guys? Where are you?" she asked in a shaky voice. "D-Don't leave me all alone…" A howl pierced her ears, and Prilla wasn't sure whether it was the wind or something that wanted to eat her. A chill descended her spine, followed by more bone-chilling laughter from the monsters parading the streets. Beginning to sob, Prilla gently curled into a ball, still floating in the air as she buried her face into her knees.
A hand touched her shoulder, and Prilla unfurled and tried to fly away. Something was stopping her, though; a hand was grabbing her wrist, keeping her where she was! "No! Go away! I won't taste good! Please!"
"Prilla, calm down!"
Prilla gasped, recognising the voice. Turning around, she found Vidia standing before her, looking… well, as stoic as ever, but Prilla could see a subtle difference that revealed Vidia's concern. "Vidia…" Prilla hiccupped, and then leapt into Vidia's arms, bawling into her chest. "I was so scaaaaaaaared!"
Vidia rolled her eyes, gently embracing Prilla and patting her head. "Relax, you're okay now. Stop crying already." Prilla continued to cry for a few seconds, and Vidia groaned, now trying to push Prilla away. "Seriously, cut it out! We gotta get out of here before we're seen!"
Prilla slowly began to calm down, sniffing away the last few tears that she had. "B-But Nyx, and the others…"
"They'll be fine. They're Scout fairies, they do this kinda thing all the time." Not entirely accurate, but Vidia decided a little white lie would be in order here. "Besides, they've got the extra Pixie Dust, right?" Prilla nodded. "Then there's nothing to worry about. Let's just get you home, then I'll come back and let them know you're safe."
Prilla hesitated, and then nodded again. Taking Vidia's hand, the two began to fly higher into the sky, towards the Second Star. Looking back down, Prilla stopped suddenly, tugging Vidia's hand. "No… This isn't right. We can't just leave them here."
"I said they'll be fine. Worry about yourself-"
Prilla turned back, pouting as she stared into Vidia's eyes. "No! They're probably looking for me right now! We have to at least let them know I'm okay!"
Vidia groaned. "Don't give me that look right now…" Prilla pouted harder, furrowed her brows further. Vidia knew when she was beat, and gave a resigned sigh. "Alright already!" Prilla suddenly shifted back into an angelic smile. "That's not fair…"
"Right, then let's go and- Huh?" Prilla looked around, moaning. "Oh no…"
"What?"
"I flew too far. I don't know where we are right now, and it's so dark I can't tell where anything is. I can't see any of the usual landmarks."
Vidia hummed in thought. "What we need is a guide…" Vidia snapped her fingers. "I got it! Come with me!"
"Where are we going?" Prilla asked as the two flew through the London sky.
"To a friend of mine! Someone who knows this place inside out!"
"A friend? Of yours?" Vidia stopped for a moment to flick Prilla's forehead. "OWIE!"
"I'll let you off with just that, since we're in a hurry. Now c'mon!"
The two flew further through the city, Vidia keeping her eyes on Big Ben and using it to navigate her way to their destination. They soon started to descend towards small, quiet street tucked away from the hustling crowd of monsters. They approached a particular house. "This is it."
"Um," Prilla began, shifting awkwardly.
"What?"
"… Thank you. For coming here." Prilla blushed. "You must've been real worried about me, huh?"
Vidia joined her in blushing and quickly separated her hand from Prilla's. "D-Don't be stupid! I wasn't worried. I was just curious about these 'monsters', that's all." Vidia flew away before Prilla could respond.
"Heh, of course…" Prilla followed Vidia towards an open window. "Is this the place?"
"Yeah. She should be… Huh?"
Through the window was a rather pink bedroom, filled plush toys and dolls, and drawing of fairies. In the middle of the room was a large fairy dressed in green, about the size of a human child, twirling to the sound of classical music and waving a wand in the air. "Your friend is a… giant fairy?"
"That's no fairy," Vidia said, and flew into the room.
"Vidia, wait!" Prilla flew in after her.
Vidia flew before the bigger fairy's eyes, stopping to wave. The big fairy gasped. "Why Miss Vidia! What a pleasant surprise!" She noticed the other fairy beside Vidia and curtsied. "And you've brought a friend along. How lovely! How do you do? My name is Elizabeth, but my friends call me Lizzy."
Prilla glanced at Vidia, who nodded, and then nervously extended a hand towards Lizzy. "Um, I'm Prilla," she said, smiling. "Are you a… human?"
Lizzy could only hear the jingle-jangle of bells as the fairy spoke. She turned to Vidia, who flew over to a small house in the room, picking up a tiny notepad and pencil that were stored there. She flew back over to Lizzy, writing 'PRILLA' on the paper.
"It's so nice to meet you, Miss Prilla."
"Most humans can't understand us," Vidia said, "So Lizzy's father made this for us so we can speak to her. And yeah, she's a human." Vidia wrote something else on the paper. 'WHAT'S WITH THE GET-UP?'
Lizzy laughed. "Do you like it? Father made it for me! This year, I'm going to be a fairy for Halloween!"
Vidia wrote, 'HELLO WEEN?"
"You don't know?" Before Lizzy could elaborate, the door to her room opened.
"Lizzy, I do hope you're ready. It's already getting dark and-" The man who entered the room spotted the fairies and smiled. "Oh, it appears we have company. I do beg your pardon."
"Father, Vidia and Miss Prilla don't know about Halloween!"
Lizzy's father laughed. "I suppose they wouldn't. Halloween began as a Celtic pagan festival, after all, and is thought to be-"
"Ohhhh, Father! If you get into another one of your stories, we'll miss the trick-or-treating."
"Ah, quite right. In any case, perhaps you would like to join us tonight and see for yourselves what the holiday is all about?"
Vidia wrote, 'MONSTERS'.
"Monsters?" Lizzy asked. "Oh! You mean the trick-or-treaters!" Lizzy laughed. "They're not real monsters, they're just children in costumes. Did they frighten you?"
Prilla and Vidia exchanged looks. Vidia quickly wrote, 'NO', whilst Prilla nodded vigorously.
Prilla tried to say something, but it only came out as more jingle-jangling. Vidia wrote, 'FRIENDS, MISSING', and Lizzy gasped.
"Your friends are missing? Oh, we must go and find them at once! Isn't that right, Father?"
"But London is such a big place. However are we to find them?"
"Vidia, let me borrow that!" Prilla took the notepad and pencil from Vidia and began sketching something. She showed the crude drawing of a street to the father. She made sure to include as many landmarks as she could remember, including the shapes of the houses, the swings in the nearby park, and especially the candy shop tucked away in the corner.
"My, you're quite the little artist, aren't you?" Lizzy's father laughed. "Hmmm, I do believe I recognise this street! Come now, we haven't a moment to lose."
The Scout Talents reunited in the empty street, following the glows of each other's trails that shone brightly in the night. "It looks like we've managed to give them the slip," Nyx said, her Scouts nodding. "You were unable to find Prilla?" The Scouts shook their heads. "Darn. She must have flown too far away. This city is huge, and it's so dark that moving blindly would be bad."
"Should we split up? The monsters seem to have retreated for now."
"That would be even worse. The last thing we need is to lose track of each other, and we don't know when the monsters will come back. For now, let's camp out here and wait for daybreak-" Suddenly, a bright light shone over the area. The three fairies landed and hid behind a nearby bench, watching as a car pulled up on the street, a human adult stepping out.
"Is this the place?" the man asked.
"Yes, this is it!" a familiar voice said.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. With any luck, your friends are still nearby."
"Father, I'll help look for them!" another voice said. Nyx watched as a large fairy stepped out of the car.
"Lizzy, you stay close to me. I don't want you getting lost in the dark."
"Nyyyyyyyx!" the familiar voice called out. "Are you out there?! It's safe to come out!"
Nyx peered out from behind the bench, and found that it was Prilla calling out to her. "Prilla!" Nyx and the other Scout Talents flew to the found fairy, kneeling in the air. "I'm glad to see you're unharmed. Forgive us for taking our eyes off of you!"
Prilla held up her hands, surprised. "D-Don't worry about it! Everything kinda happened fast, and I took off on my own. It's not your fault at all." She then smiled. "I'm just glad to see you're all safe."
"Still, our conduct was unbecoming of us. We put your life in danger."
"Are they your friends, Miss Prilla?" Lizzy asked, startling the Scouts. "Oh! Please don't be frightened. My name is Lizzy. It's so lovely to meet all of you."
"Lizzy and her dad helped us find you," Prilla explained. "They know this city way better than us."
"I see…" Nyx saluted the girl, who she now could see was just a human dressed as a fairy. The other Scout Talents followed suit. "You have our utmost gratitude. Thank you for bringing our friend back to us."
Lizzy stared at the Scouts, confused. "Um…"
"It appears that they're trying to thank you," Lizzy's father said. "Perhaps for helping reunite them with their lost friend." Prilla nodded enthusiastically, jingle-jangling as she did so.
"Is that right? Well then in that case, you are most welcome. I just did what any friend would do."
"By the way," Nyx continued, turning to Prilla, "What did you mean by 'us'?"
"She means me," Vidia said, flying into view.
"Vidia? What are you doing here?" Nyx asked the Fast-Flying Talent. "You know the rules: no unauthorised visits to the Mainland."
"Apparently I'm doing your job looking after Prilla. Weren't you supposed to keep her safe? But you lost sight of her, huh?"
Nyx blushed, and scowled at Vidia, but she remained composed. "You're right. We failed in our duty… I'd fly backwards if I could. Still, that doesn't excuse your blatant disregard for the rules of Pixie Hollow."
"Oh, please don't fight," Lizzy said. She couldn't tell what the fairies were saying, but from their faces and their mannerisms it seemed that they were arguing. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her father.
"You should let them handle it," he suggested. "This is a matter between fairies. It's not our place to intervene." He looked over at a nearby clock. "And besides, it's getting late. We can still get a little trick-or-treating done before it's too late."
Lizzy was hesitant, but a nod from Prilla assured her that it would be alright. "Okay… It was nice to meet you, Miss Prilla and friends." With a final curtsey, Lizzy left with her father, waving goodbye to the fairies as they drove off.
"Um, please don't be too mad at Vidia," Prilla said. "She came here because she was worried about me, that's all."
"The rules exist to keep us safe," Nyx said, but then her expression softened, "But, I do understand the desire to protect someone you love. I myself would go to any lengths, cross any mountains, to protect Her Majesty or Mother Dove."
"Don't lump me in with you," Vidia said, gagging. "I was just bored and thought it'd be fun, that's all. And by the way? Those cheesy lines don't suit you, Commander Grouch."
"What was that?!"
"S-She's just joking! You know how she is!" Prilla insisted, before turning to Vidia with a glare. "Why do you always have to make things so difficult?!" she whispered. Vidia simply stuck out her tongue in response.
"In any case, now that we've found you, we must make haste back to Pixie Hollow and warn Queen Clarion about the monster invasion." Prilla and Vidia exchanged looks, and then laughed. "What's so funny?"
"About that," Prilla began.
"And so it turns out that the 'monsters' were actually human children all along. They were just wearing costumes. Halloween is a night where people dress up, and go to other houses asking for candy! They sing, 'Trick-or-treat, give us something good to eat!', and then show off their costumes, and then the human adults will give them lots of sweets!" Prilla turned to Nyx and the Scout Talents that had accompanied her. "Some of the sweets are given 'spooky' shapes, like eyeballs!" She and the Scouts giggled, and even Nyx couldn't help chuckling under her breath.
As Prilla explained the story of Halloween, fairies and sparrowmen listened with great interest. It was late in Pixie Hollow, usually the time where everybody would be fast asleep in their beds, but Prilla's monster scare had caused such an uproar that nobody felt safe going to sleep. Upon the group's return, they practically demanded to know what was happening on the Mainland. Even Queen Clarion could not hide her curiosity.
"So this whole time, there was never anything to be worried about?" Tinker Bell asked as Prilla's story came to an end. "This was all just a big misunderstanding?"
"But what about that 'Devil' you said you saw?" Terrance asked.
"Turns out it was just a big balloon!" Prilla said, giggling. "Some humans go out of their ways to make their houses as scaaaaaaary as possible! Some put up fake cobwebs and big, fake spiders. Some put out balloons shaped like monsters. Lizzy said that some people even turn their houses into 'haunted houses', and people go in them to get scared!"
"Why would anyone wanna intentionally get scared?" Rosetta asked.
"Clumsies are so-" Iridessa began.
"-Strange," Rani finished. "But… maybe it's more fun than it sounds? At the very least, dressing up in costumes for and eating lots of candy for one night sounds wonderful!"
"Yeah, and I can totally get the whole 'scare' thing," Fawn said. "It's like a prank, but everyone's in on it!"
"We should try it," Silvermist said, clapping her hands together. "I once read a book about a water monster called a 'kappa'. I bet it would make a scaaaaaaary costume."
"It's already rather late," Queen Clarion said, and as if to punctuate her point, numerous fairies began yawning around her. "Let us all get some much-needed sleep. We can discuss this tomorrow over dinner."
"Queen Clarion, you look pretty… excited," Tinker Bell noted, seeing the smile spread across the Queen's face.
Clarion giggled. "Why yes. I already have a few costume ideas in mind." The fairies and sparrowmen laughed along with her. "But it will have to wait. Now that we know there is nothing to fear, I think we can all rest easy."
"Ya got that right," Rosetta agreed. "Ah'm gonna get to bed and drop like a-"
"-Rock," Rani said, yawning and rubbing her eye. "G'night, everyone."
"Good night."
"G'night!"
Fairies and sparrowmen dispersed, crossing paths this way and that as they returned to their homes.
"Oh, and Vidia?" Queen Clarion began as Vidia began to fly away. Vidia froze, turning to face the Queen with a nervous look. "Thank you for bringing Prilla back safely."
"You're uh… not mad that I left without permission?"
"I'm happy that you all returned safe, and that there is nothing to worry about. I'm content to leave it at that."
Vidia breathed a sigh of relief. "Heh, whatever you say. Y'know if you're this easy-going, I might just break the rules more often!"
Queen Clarion simply giggled as Vidia flew away. She wasn't concerned; she knew that Vidia's taunts and provocations were more often than not her way of masking her true feelings.
"Vidia!" Prilla called, stopping the Fast-Flyer on her way back the her sour plum tree. "Trick-or-treat!"
Vidia folded her arms. "Didn't Queen Clarion just say we'll do that later?"
"I know, but I'm too excited! I wanna give it a try right now."
Sighing, Vidia simply said, "Fine. I don't have any sweets so, trick." With a smile, Prilla leaned in and gave Vidia a peck on the cheek. Vidia's face quickly reddened, and backed away with a start, covering the spot where Prilla had just kissed her. "Wha-"
"Eheh! Gotcha!" Despite her laughter, Prilla, too, was blushing. "That was thanks for helping me when I got separated from the others! Good night!" Covering her face, Prilla quickly turned and flew away.
Vidia watched the fairy leave and gave an exasperated sigh. "… I hope you realise I'm gonna pay you back for that." With a grin, Vidia turned to leave, scheming the perfect trick to play on Prilla as revenge.
