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Maleficent had heard enough. Snow White had been right to be afraid. Something had to be done. Maleficent opened the door, startling the wicked queen, who turned around, ready for a fight. Maleficent raised her hand, using her magic to send the queen flying into the far wall of her chambers. An invisible force left the queen unable to move or speak. The wicked queen was trying to scream, but no sound came from her lips.
“You are a monster for treating your daughter so cruelly!” The evil queen was shocked to see that Maleficent wasn’t speaking to her but to her father’s reflection in the mirror.
“I condemn you to Hades, where vile and wicked things belong! I banish you from this mirror and from this house, never to revisit it again!” Maleficent cried.
The mirror shattered with an explosive crash that reverberated through the entire castle. She heard Snow White’s scream from the courtyard. The young princess ran into the castle and up to her mother’s rooms, where she found the queen crying in a heap in Maleficent’s arms.
Before Maleficent could tell Snow White that she and her mother were safe, everything around her melted away. It was the strangest sensation, seeing the queen’s castle slowly disappear and the courtyard in the Fairylands appear. The courtyard was cluttered with the eager faces of fairies waiting for the students to come out of exams. Maleficent desperately wanted to stay with the queen and her daughter. She wanted to be sure they would be okay. She wanted to comfort Snow White, to make sure the queen would recover. Surely this wasn’t what it was going to be like if she became a wish-granting fairy? She hoped she would have more time with her charges.
Maleficent blinked a few times, adjusting to her new surroundings. She must have been the first to finish the exam, because she didn’t see any of the other students. She stood there, trying not to fidget. She was unsure what to do next until Nanny ran up to give her a big hug. “You did beautifully, my darling! Just brilliantly. I am so proud of you.”
The Fairy Godmother cleared her throat. “Let’s save the comments until everyone has finished. No sense in getting her hopes up unnecessarily.”
Nanny flashed her sister a dirty look. “What do you mean? She did really well.”
The Fairy Godmother shook her head. “Of course you would think so, but I think she should have done things differently.”
“What should I have done differently? I saved the queen,” Maleficent said. But the Fairy Godmother didn’t answer her.
Just then, the Blue Fairy appeared next to Maleficent. “How did you do?” Maleficent asked. The Blue Fairy looked concerned she hadn’t done well, but Maleficent had a feeling that she had performed the exam beautifully. Soon all the fairies except Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had appeared. The Fairy Godmother refused to give anyone her results until they returned.
“I wonder if they’re okay. Should someone go check on them?” Maleficent asked.
“You would like that, wouldn’t you? To have them disqualified?” the Fairy Godmother snapped.
Maleficent was shocked. It was true she didn’t like the three fairies, but she wouldn’t want to see them unfairly disqualified. “What do you mean?”
Nanny put her arm around Maleficent’s shoulders. “If an instructor has to go into the story, then the fairy is disqualified.”
“Can another student go in to help? What if they’re in trouble?” Maleficent insisted.
The Fairy Godmother looked at her suspiciously but seemed to be considering the possibility when the three fairies finally appeared.
“Oh, my goodness! Finally! It was so dreadful. I can’t believe we made it out alive!” Merryweather said dramatically. Fauna and Flora looked as if they were stricken by some sort of ailment. Maleficent wondered what they had faced in their scenario.
“Are you okay?” she asked them, but the fairies didn’t thank her for her concern.
“It’s your fault! You attacked us!” Merryweather snapped.
Maleficent was shocked. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what we’re talking about, Maleficent!” Merryweather shouted.
“You tried to sabotage us, Maleficent!” Flora screamed.
“I did not!” Maleficent looked at Nanny, confused. “I swear I have no idea what she’s talking about!”
Merryweather pointed her finger accusingly at Maleficent. “You know what you did! You attacked us, trying to protect your evil birds!”
Nanny had never seen exams devolve into such chaos, but she did know her daughter had nothing to do with it. “The Fairy Godmother and I will look at your story, and we will figure out what happened,” Nanny said.
“I don’t think the One of Legends should be able to help decide, even if she is the headmistress!” Merryweather insisted. “She is Maleficent’s adoptive mother. She can’t be objective!”
Nanny looked at Merryweather, wondering where they had gone wrong with that one. How had she let those three fairies become so petty? Had she spent so much time trying to lift up Maleficent that she had neglected those three, leaving them to her sister? She suddenly felt responsible for those fairies and wondered why she hadn’t taken the time to guide them and set them on the path of goodness that she had thought was their fate. She searched within herself and through time to see how the three would end up. In spite of their pettiness, she saw goodness, kindness, and pure hearts. There would be squabbling, and perhaps a bit of bullying on Merryweather’s part, but she saw her pushing the other two because they needed guidance. She saw there was a child they would care for deeply, a child who would need their protection. She sighed with relief, knowing she hadn’t failed them entirely. However, that didn’t change who they
were today—three petty girls hurling insults at her and her daughter.
“Girls, please! I won’t be deciding who passes or fails. But I imagine you’d be very pleased if I did. I see an important task for you in the future, a task you will not be able to accomplish without wish-granting status,” Nanny said.
