"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost, 1916

-- --

Isabelle made her way into the forest behind her backyard. She didn’t have a destination in mind, she just knew she wanted to get AWAY. Away from the world that kept reminding her of the parts of herself she hated the most. Away from her family who could never see her for who she was. Away from the bullies who kept her hidden, and consequentially slowly killed her. She had to get away from all of that.

Walking down wherever that path took her, rocks, ponds, trees, whatever, it was what she needed. To release her energy, to distract her brain from the pain, anything. After a while, she actually did find the crunching of the forest vegetation under her feet to be quite meditative

She’d been walking for about 15 minutes, when she realized she was totally lost. Noticing the shadows growing a little bigger in the tree canopy, she figured it must be late afternoon and that she needed to get home soon, but she simply couldn’t tell where that was. Honestly, part of her didn’t want to go back. What was there waiting for her? She was slowly rotting away in the closet, much like some of the tree logs she passed by. In her small town, she couldn’t see any path towards acceptance and just…being one of the girls. It’d never happen here. She’d thought about what would happen if she could move out to the big city, but her lack of money and job prospects didn’t help matters. It really seemed there was no hope. Eventually she just sat down on a pile of leaves next to the dirt path and just cried.

That was, until she saw a very small, winged humanoid figure walking towards her.

“Excuse me, is everything alright, human?”

What? Who said that? A tiny hand waved.

“I am down here, human! Hello!”

Is that….a fairy? She’d really gone off the deep end now.

“Am…am I dreaming? Hallucinating?”

“No…though I can help with that if you want!” happily squealed the fairy “What is your name, human? Mine is Crystal Glitterstone!”

Isabelle shook her head, trying to get her head around what was going on around her. “I…I…I’m Isabelle, or at least I’d like to be”

“What do you mean “like to be”, human?”

“Well…I have a boy body and was born like this…and so everyone thinks I’m a boy….and it really hurts after a while…” she said, tears starting to leak out again.

“I do not do not understand…you’re clearly a girl. Why do your familiars not see that?”. Hearing that did fill Isabelle’s heart, just a little bit.

“You…you wouldn’t understand, Crystal. Humans hate each other for silly things like skin color, or voice, or being a girl who looks like a boy.”

“Humans are definitely strange. We do not get many around here. Though this does bring up an interesting question…”

“What?”

“Usually the only humans that can see us are little girls, due to their innocence and curiosity”.

Her tears started again “But…I’m not a little girl. I never was. I’ll never get to be one.”. Deep sobs racked her body. Crystal could only look on in deep sympathy. She tried giving Isabelle a few shoulder pats, when she realized.

Only little girls can see us. Even though this human doesn’t look like one, because they made her do all these “boy” things and bullied her, that little girl was still inside of her, and never got to come out. She could tell though - she was screaming to be let out. She may have looked tough and strong on the outside, but was just that small child on the inside, wanting to be loved, held and validated by parents in a way she never would.

Hold on - she could help! She stuck up a finger - she had the perfect idea. Flying in a loop around the sobbing girl, she tossed a sparkling dust around her. Isabelle was so caught up in her crying that she didn’t barely notice what was going on. Slowly but surely though, Isabelle found herself shrinking, getting smaller and smaller by the minute. Along with her shrinking, another process was starting - one where Isabelle’s body was being shifted and shaped by magic, much like clay on a potters wheel. Her body slowly began becoming less and less fit and limber, losing muscle and gaining baby fat all around. Her hair as well started growing out more, changing itself to a shocking orange color. Up front, Isabelle’s internals were shifting around as well - she surely wouldn’t be mistaken for a boy any longer. Finally, a set of crystalline wings came out from her back, before the entire process ended itself about a minute after it started.

Of course, because Crystal wasn’t accustomed to human clothing, what sat in front of her were a pair of giant panties, a bra, a colorful dress and large shoes that said “Chuck Taylor” on the side. Before long, she heard a high pitched squeal, followed by a rustling coming from the panties.

“W-w-where am I? It’s all dark…I’m scared!!” she yelped.

Crystal flew over to see her. When she didn’t see anyone initially, she dug into her now oversized underwear and picked her out, before placing her back down on the forest floor.

The small fairy child looked up “Is that you? Crystal?”

“Yes, it is, my child!”

“Why are you so big? Why are my clothes so big?” Isabelle began shaking again slightly.

“It is because you have become small, my child. As small as a young fairy girl should be!”

“I’m a fairy?”

“Yes!”

“And a girl?”

Isabelle’s expression grew immediately into a cartoonish smile, before a bit of hesitation entered her face. “Mommy is gonna be so upset…”

“Shhh…my child. A true mother should love her child unconditionally. Yours could never provide that for you, and so you remained the little girl inside waiting to be hugged and loved. I have now helped you. Not only are you a child again, but you are my child. The child of a mother who can show you the love and grace that a little girl should get that you never did by those mean humans!”

“You’re my new mommy?” Isabelle asked, with an odd head tilt

“Yes, yes I am my child” she replied, rustling her hair, which got a lovely giggle out of Isabelle.

She put her down for a second, and grabbed an orange leaf or two, and fashioned a makeshift dress out of it, which she then gave to Isabelle, who was glad to finally have something to cover herself up. Finally, Crystal grabbed her again and began flying off towards the small lake Isabelle had walked by earlier

“I cannot wait to introduce you to all the children of the village. They will love you!” Isabelle in her joy could only giggle. She was finally getting the life she’d always wanted, even if it did take a slightly different path.