The junior planetary anthropologist should have been careful when she muttered, especially when she was holding her wand. The chain of events from her unguarded words had consequences that would ripple through history. Not that she cared.

Chapter 1. Unexpected Callers at Teatime

arie GottMothercus was tired. It had been a long day. Her day started with a note from old Professor Grimmicus. He reminded her not to leave any Zorconian devices where a native Oberlander might find them.

Grimmicus did not mention Glass Slippers, but Marie knew that he was talking about them. Any issues with the Glass Slippers weren’t really her fault. Marie had been busy, and Zorcon technology was supposed to be reliable. Reliability was the responsibility of engineers. Grimmicus had said that himself.

Marie smiled as she made tea in her kitchen. She was becoming known as the Fairy Godmother. She liked helping the locals and doing Good Deeds now and then. Maybe someday, Sol #3 would be known as Marie’s world. That would impress her friends.

Marie had graduated from Zorcon University. Sol #3 was her first mission as a planetary anthropologist. She was supposed to observe and learn. She was trained to follow the three L’s.  “Listen, Learn, and Leave it alone!”  Technically, she was not supposed to change things. 

“Listen” means listen to what is happening on Sol #3.

“Learn” means understand what is happening and report it to Zorcon.

“Leave it alone” means do not interfere with people and events on a primitive world.

Marie was listening and learning. Sometimes when she did a Good Deed, something went wrong. She would get things under control. But Marie was weary.

A nice cup of tea would be just the thing. She deserved it and she was going to enjoy it. Tea was one precious thing on Sol #3 that was unknown on Zorcon. She would miss tea when she moved on to her next planetary assignment.

Just then someone banged loudly on her cottage door. Bang! Bang! Bang! She ignored it and kept preparing her tea. Bang! Bang! Bang! Somebody really wanted something. Usually it was an animal coming to tell her about a crisis. By the sound of it, there was a big animal at her door. She went to answer it. Outside were three white horses.

They all brayed at once. Using her wand, the Fairy Godmother listened to their horse talk.

“The circus was too much work.”

“We want to settle down, and live quietly in houses.”

“Sorry to bother you at tea time.”

 Who were these horses? What was wrong? And why were they telling her about it?

Then she recognized them. They were the three former field mice that she had turned into horses to pull Cinderella’s coach to the Grand Masked Ball. Like the pumpkin coach and Cinderella’s wardrobe, they had changed back at midnight. The three horses had changed back into mice.  Later, when she restored a Froggy Shoe and everything else back to their magicked forms, the mice turned into horses again. Of course!

Using her wand, Marie learned the names of the three former mice. They were named Theodosius with the accent on the “dosh”, Theodorus with the accent on the “door”, and Theophilus with the accent on the “ah”. Such unusual names and pronunciations!  She should be careful not to put an accent on the “oh” and accidentally say “The-o´-dor-ous.” Field mice parents had odd senses of humor.

It seemed that there was more business to tidy up from the Grand Masked Ball. The horses told her their story. When they were turned into horses again, they could no longer live in the fields with their field mice friends. They needed something different to do.

In a way, the Fairy Godmother had caused their predicament. When she was busy doing a Good Deed for the Sleeping Princess, she had turned the former field mice back into horses.

The former mice had pulled the King’s coach. Pulling a coach is hard work and they got bored. So, they ran away to join a circus. The circus was hard work too. There were wagons to pull and performances to give. The former mice got tired and bored.  Apparently, they did not like to work.

It seemed that Theodosius was a bit of a troublemaker and Theodorus timidly followed along. Theophilus seemed to be the wisest of the three, although that was not saying much.

“Just turn us into people!” demanded Theodosius.

“Perhaps that would help,” suggested Theodorus timidly. “Like you turned Poochy and Pony into the coachman and footman.”

“If it pleases you,” offered Theophilus. “If we were people, we could settle down and live in houses.”

“We do not want to be horses or mice again,” they all said.

The Fairy Godmother was in a mood. Not a temper, but definitely a mood. The former mice had interrupted her teatime. They stood there and waited. They were not going away.

And weren’t they just like some demanding people? Some people make a mess and then expect others to clean it up! She decided that as people, these mice would fit right in. She would do the easy thing, and then enjoy her tea.

After a few waves of her wand and some magical phrases, the power generators at Zorcon pumped out energy and sent it to Sol #3. Cosmic energies danced. Wormholes glowed. Red sparkles surrounded the horses. The former mice changed into three brothers. Then they started talking.

 “This is going to be such fun!” cheered Theodosius, wearing a yellow cap.

“We’ll see,” mumbled Theodorus cautiously, wearing a red cap.

“Best be thankful and mind our manners,” said Theophilus, wearing a green cap.

The three brothers thanked the Fairy Godmother and started walking to Elf Village.

Marie thought to herself, “What a bother.” These brothers were very self-centered, especially Theodosius. She was tired of them. Nonetheless, she arranged for them to have a few gold coins in their pockets.

“Pigs!” she muttered under her breath.

That wasn’t a generous thing to say. She hadn’t really meant anything by it. But words have power. A Fairy Godmother should be careful what she says, especially when she is holding her wand.