Holiday Advent Story 7

Once upon a time, a young girl named Molly slept in her comfy bed on a cold winter night. She was warm, happy, and dreamed of bright things.

“Molly,” whispered a voice.

Ignoring the voice, Molly rolled over in her sleep.

“Molly,” whispered the voice. “Wake up.” This was accompanied by small hands pushing against Molly’s back.

Molly woke and turned to see who was in her room. It was her friend, Amelia the fairy.

“Hi Amelia,” said Molly. “What do you want?” Molly’s voice was soft and filled with sleep.

Amelia stood on Molly’s bed her wings glowing a light blue. “You have to come quick,” said Amelia. “Tonight’s the night.”

“What night,” asked Molly.

“The night,” said Amelia. “The great dance happens tonight.”

“Oh,” said Molly her eyes starting to close.

Amelia dropped on to the bed. “Don’t you want to come to the dance?”

“Yeah,” said Molly dozing off.

Amelia jumped up and started shaking Molly. “Come on. You’re going to miss it.” Amelia gave Molly one final shove hoping to wake her friend. Molly slid backwards across the bed and slid onto the floor.

Molly, now awake, stared at the ceiling. “Why did you do that?”

“You’re going to miss the dance,” said Amelia. “Everyone will be there. The queen is coming, the lords of the forest will be there, and the Sugar Plum Fairy might show up.”

Molly stood up and moved to her closet to change clothes. She put on a nice dress her dad had bought her for Christmas. She grabbed a pair of winter boots and a jacket from the floor.

“You won’t need those,” said Amelia.

“It’s cold out,” said Molly. “I don’t want to walk through the snow in nice shoes. My feet will get wet.”

“We won’t be walking.”

“Then how do we get there.”

“On this night I have a special way of traveling.” Amelia walked to the window and reached out for Molly. “Take my hand.”

Molly walked to Amelia and clasped her hand. Amelia’s wings started to flutter and the light blue of her wings grew brighter. After a moment Amelia and Molly began to hover off the ground. The air around them began to shimmer and solidify. Soon they were floating inside a blue bubble. Molly kept her free hand close to her side afraid she might pop it.

After a moment the world outside the bubble began to shift and change. What was once Molly’s bedroom turned to a factory floor filled with workers. Then they were in a festival with fireworks, a circus, a field of wildflowers, and finally a grand ballroom.

The ballroom was massive. Larger than anything Molly had ever seen. The ceiling was vaulted and had six massive chandeliers hanging from it. Each chandelier was strung with poinsettias. After a moment Molly realized that the chandeliers were full of people. With a bit of staring she could just make out the fairies in side playing music; the band.

Around the edges of the room were pillars with ivy climbing up their sides. Chairs and tables circled the edge of the room. On each table was a large bowl of fruit, a small pot of honey, and a pitcher of milk for any guest who sought refreshment.

The crowd was equally fascinating. The majority of the people were fairies and pixies wearing fancy suits and dresses. Molly looked around and spotted some people that she had met before. There was Dee Dee and Skip, Lord Wolf and Lady Hawk dancing slowly in one corner while staring into one another’s eyes. Amber the Queen of the fairies was seated at a grand table in a high backed chair.

As Molly watched her a fairy in a green dress flew up to Amber and whispered something to her. Amber nodded to the fairy, stood and coughed gently. Though the cough was delicate and soft the sound of it echoed through the room taking everyone’s attention.

“We approach midnight my friends,” said Amber. “It is time.”

The dance floor emptied. Everyone moving politely but quickly to the edge of the room. Once the floor was clear Amber waved her hand and the band began a slow song.

After the song played for a moment a few fairies moved away from the crowd and onto the dance floor. Each fairy that walked onto the floor began to dance in step with one another. Slowly more and more fairies joined them until nearly fifty fairies danced in time.

As the fairies moved their wings changed color. As their wing color changed and changed again it began to create a pattern. The pattern continued to flow across the assembled dancers causing the colors to ripple and flow across the room. The color change spread out from the dance floor as fairies in the crowd began to copy it.

The music began to quicken in pace. As it did the fairies began to hover off the ground. As the music sped up faster and faster the fairies began to twirl in intricate patterns.

They began twirling around one another in different directions. Then some moved up and down while others moved side to side. At first the patterns involved three, then four, and so on until all fifty fairies were twirling in a wild display of aeronautics.

The fairies now floated up near the ceiling and had formed a large ball. As they spun crystalline bubbles began to float away from the dancers. Each bubble was bright and filled with shifting colors that matched the dancers. More and more bubbles began to float away from the dancers and into the crowd.

Suddenly the band began to hit hard crescendos. With each slam off the drums, the fairies flew away and back. Each time the drums hit they flew a little farther. One fairy was diving straight at Molly and she was getting close enough that Molly was starting to flinch. The drum went off one last time and the fairy ended up close enough for Molly to see her wink.

Then the fairies were gone; vanished as if stolen by a sorcerer. The only one left in the center of the circle was Terri, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

She wore a pink taffeta gown. Her wings glowed bright silver. She hovered in the center of the room waving to the people around her. After a moment she nodded towards Amber and curtsied. Amber nodded in approval.

Terri began to spin in place slowly. As she did she bent and dipped. Terri began to move around the dance floor. Each movement a made with grace. The music was still there but it had faded into the background. All that mattered was Terri and her dancing.

Molly had taken ballet for a year back when she was six. She had never seen anything as graceful and beautiful as Terri right then. The dance went on for ages and then ended way too soon. As Terri finished her final steps the crowd exploded with applause.

end

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy