It was a tradition in Iff for there to be exactly five fairies who bestowed blessings upon the new prince or princess at their first birthday ceremony. The fairies that the Queen had hired (naturally the Queen had hired them - bumblebees could have bestowed blessings upon the princess for all the King cared) had bestowed blessings upon the last six generations of Iff royalty, so naturally they were well known and well loved by the nation. The crowd cheered as they walked up onto the stage ... but wait. Something was wrong.

There were only four fairies.

The Queen blinked at the fairies as gasps and whispers ran through the audience. She counted them again. There was Nishi, small and dark, and next to her, Mina, with the straight blond hair and blue eyes. Nearby stood Norma, whose short, wavy brown hair made a kind of triangle around her head, and finally Azia, with wildly frizzy locks the color of autumn and frighteningly bright green eyes that reminded the Queen of Brinly.

But where was the fifth one? The Queen's head screamed. What was her name? Ura. That was it, Ura.

"Where's Ura?" the Queen called out to the four fairies, who were standing, rather bewildered, on the stage, as a confused audience argued and shouted at them angrily. "There're supposed to be five of you!"

"Sorry," Norma said, "she couldn't make it. She's suffering from an alarmingly bad case of heart-burn."

"Heart-burn?" the Queen shrieked. "Heart burn! That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. This is important! It's a tradition for there to be five fairies at a new princess's first birthday ceremony!"

"Begging your pardon, Your Highness," Mina said, "but you can't expect us to believe your princess is exactly traditional either! I mean, look at her, she's rather, well, scary, don't you think?" (At this point, Brinly screamed loudly from her horse-sized pen.)

"I quite agree!" the King declared from his throne.

"Let's just say it's a non-traditional birthday celebration," Azia suggested. "You know, it begins to get boring if it's always the same."

The Queen sighed.

"We can leave, if you want," said Nishi.

"No, no," the Queen said. "That's not necessary. Four fairies are better than none, I suppose. On with the blessings!"

The more liberal half of the audience cheered loudly, while those that were more conservative booed with an equal intensity. Having regained her composure, the Queen just smiled reassuringly at them all and motioned for them to be silent.

Nishi floated up to the princess's crib first (fairies are incapable of walking like normal people do). Her lacy wings fluttered delicately as she said, "Princess Brinly of Iff, I, Nishi, Guardian of the Learned and Scholarly, bless you with the Gift of Intelligence. May it aid you in your future decisions and guide you through troubled times."

The air filled with curling and twisting midnight blue smoke. As it cleared and settled to the ground, the crowd realized that the fairy had disappeared. Shouts of disappointment (from the conservative types who now saw that there were now only three fairies, even worse than just four) and cheers (from the liberal types who were happy that the celebration was getting even less traditional) ran through the audience. Again, the Queen stood up and motioned for silence.

Norma wafted to the center of the stage next. "Princess Brinly of Iff," she said in a soft voice, "I, Norma, Protector of the Caring and Kind, bless you with the Gift of Love. May it bring warmth and tenderness to your life."

"I bet she's going to disappear in a cloud of flowery pink smoke," said one of the audience members disgustedly to his friend.

And she did.

The third fairy, Mina, drifted next to the princess and smiled, showing perfect pearly teeth. ("Revolting!" the audience whispered.) "Princess Brinly of Iff," she said, "I, Mina, Preserver of the Lovely and Elegant, bless you with the Gift of Beauty. May you always be attractive and charming and may you always be admired and favored."

The crowd cheered and the King rolled his eyes as the fairy disappeared in a graceful wisp of pale yellow smoke.

Finally, the fourth fairy sailed up to the stand. Her forest green outfit shimmered in the sun. It greatly contrasted the straight white gowns of the other fairies. "Princess Brinly of Iff," she declared boldly, "I, Azia, Defender of the Creative and Capricious, bless you with the Gift of Uniqueness. May you always be your own, independent, and unconstrained person!"

And she disappeared in a cloud of vivid lime green smoke that glowed gold around the edges. The Queen smiled. She liked this Gift best of all.

At this point, the cook and her helpers began to trundle wheelbarrows full of food out to the waiting crowd. But as they began to unload platters and dishes onto the huge wooden banquet tables, the sky grew dark and a harsh cackling filled the air.

"This is absurd!" the royal astronomer exclaimed as the sun grew dark, blotted out by an obscure figure. "A solar eclipse isn't supposed to occur for another three years!"

That was because this wasn't an eclipse.

Deep reddish-purple clouds curled and filled the sky. The air tasted sooty when breathed in and it reeked of ashes.

Whatever it was in front of the sun swam closer to the astonished audience, and everyone gasped as they recognized the mysterious personage.

"Pandemonia!" the Queen shrieked. "The evilest of fairies! Oh, I knew it wasn't a good idea to only have four fairies, I knew it wasn't good!"

The King dove under his throne, muttering, "I was sure that girl was trouble from the moment I saw her..."

And then the figure was gone.

Slowly, the smoke began to dwindle, and the sky looked like it was recovering from a thunder storm - albeit a rather bad one. The audience seemed to be holding their breaths, unsure of what would happen next.

"Pandemonia?" the Queen whispered.