Giving Fantasia: The Taking Fantasia Sequel

Chapter 3: A Very Unhappy Birthday

Chapter 3: A Very Unhappy Birthday

Wendy let the shadow lead. Being Peter Pan's spiritual essence, it loved taking charge. And Wendy did not mind; she hadn't slept well since the nightmares started. Escorted by Peter's shadow, she could relax.

And she could sightsee.

Wendy looked down. The Underworld was not her home. But it was her handiwork. And it was impressive.

Wendy allowed herself a moment of uncharacteristic vanity. She'd made the Underworld beautiful. It was the one advantage of her loneliness - Wendy obsessed herself with work, which was good because there was a lot of work to be done.

A lot of work. And it started with clean up. Wendy was a fundamentalist (and a little clueless) so she began with the basics: broom and dustpan.

At first it was just her and B.E.N, a copper robot charged with bio-electronically-navigating the Underworld. B.E.N's brother, Big B.E.N, was an enormous clock tower powered by pixie dust. Wendy's next project was feeding Big B.E.N's energy through the Underworld.

It was a large order. She needed help. And help came. Wendy hired the seven dwarves to rebuild the cities. Yes cities - there were miles of them. Then, swallowing her pride, Wendy invited Tinkerbell and her pixie relatives to engineer the pixie dust.

News spread, and technically savvy Fantasians flocked to the Underworld: Milo Thatch, Audrey Ramirez, Belle's father Maurice, Quasimodo, Ludwig Von Drake, an Italian demolitions expert named Vinny Santorini and his French geologist partner named Mole. Adventurers followed, just to explore: John Smith, Pocahontas, and Jane Porter. Traffic became so busy, she hired a white rabbit to direct Fantasian tourists. Wendy even heard rumors that her old professors, Master Cogsworth and Dr. Doppler visited the Underworld by order of the king.

But Wendy never saw them. It was always after the fact she heard a friend had passed through. Somehow, something always came up.

Like the dragons.

The Underworld was chalk full of dragons, and Wendy quickly learned why. Dragons liked gold. And since pixie dust was pure gold, the dragons were there to stay. They had no intention of leaving the Underworld; so Wendy ensured the dragons were well mannered.

It was a chore and a half, and still a daily pursuit. Dragons were tough. But nothing - nothing - compared to the shadows.

The shadows were everywhere. And they were out of control. According to Headmaster Mickey, the previous Underworld guardian - a grey magic sorcerer named Yen Sid -experimented with shadows. When Yen Sid passed, the shadows turned wild.

Wendy exhausted herself chasing, catching, and taming shadows. It was difficult without her thimble. At times, it was painful. After all, she was still a novice shadow worker, and once she caught them, Wendy was unsure what to do with the shadows.

Initially, Wendy used Peter's shadow. Like a sheep - dog, Peter's shadow corralled the wild ones. However, the system failed as the number of shadows grew.

That was when Wendy discovered the applications of pixie dust. It happened quite by accident. Wendy had been chasing a particularly nasty shadow when it rounded in full attack. Surprised, Wendy had dropped her pixie dust (it was faster to fly after shadows) and blocked with her needle. As pixie dust fluffed onto the shadow, the needle hit and the thread stuck. As Wendy pulled back, she sewed pixie dust onto the shadow. And, miraculously, the shadow behaved.

Wendy ran with it. She had no idea why it worked, but suspected the pixie dust neutralized the shadow. It made sense: pixie dust operated via happy thoughts, and happy thoughts helped Wendy control shadows without her thimble. Either way, it worked.