Fairies

"As fairies, we get to spend very little time in your world."

- Nova to Dreamy

Fairies are a humanoid species featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. They are native to the Enchanted Forest, and first appear in the first episode of the first season.

The most prominent fairy, the Blue Fairy, is based on the "Fairy with Turquoise Hair" from Pinocchio.

Before the Curse
One of the smallest creatures in the Enchanted Forest are known as fairies. They resemble humans in miniature form, and can fly due to each having a pair of wings. They also have the ability to enlarge at will and hide their wings from view. Fairies are also known to inhabit Neverland and Wonderland.

The most well known fairy in the Enchanted Forest is the Blue Fairy, also known as the "Reul Ghorm", who is rumored to be able to grant one's wish if the person makes a wish on a blue star. She is called upon by Baelfire to help him with his father, Rumplestiltskin, because he has turned evil after killing a man with dark magic. The Blue Fairy tells him his father can never be the way he was but they can go to "a land without magic" where he cannot use his magic to harm people. She gives him a magic bean, the last of its kind, and by using it, the bean will take the both of them to a land that does not have magic. After his father's refusal to give up his power and ends up letting go of Baelfire as he is sucked into the portal, Rumplestiltskin frantically calls on the Blue Fairy. She tells him there is no way for him to get to that world without paying a great price, which is giving up this land in exchange for the next, and by saying this she accidentally admits there is a curse that can do what Rumplestiltskin desires, but takes comfort in the fact that he will never be able to pull it off. He vows to do whatever it takes to get Baelfire back, which begins the Dark One's extreme disdain for fairies and their meddling ways.

An unknown time passes, and a young man, Jiminy Cricket asks for Rumplestiltskin's help in getting rid of his pocket thieving parents, Martin and Myrna, from his life, and acquires a potion he must use on them. His parents pull a trick on a village couple by getting them to buy their fake "elf tonic", but instead they switch their usual fake tonic with Jiminy's potion. The couple drink the potion, which causes both of them to turn into wooden puppets. Jiminy is horrified, especially when the couple's son, Geppetto, arrives home to discover the state his parents are in. In his guilt, Jiminy wishes upon a blue star, and the Blue Fairy comes to his aide. She cannot give Geppetto's parents back to him, but grants his wish of allowing Jiminy to be a voice of conscious for the boy as he grows up. Jiminy turns into a talking cricket, and stays by Geppetto's side.

Many years later, Princess Snow White is preparing for her coming of age birthday ball. Snow White is haughty when she speaks to the castle servant, Johanna, in a most unkind manner. It is up to her mother, Queen Eva to reprimand her daughter with the understanding even servants deserve love and respect. She also properly instructs her that the upcoming birthday ball is not to glorify her as a princess, but for the people of the kingdom; for Snow White must show she is worthy to become a kind and benevolent ruler to them in the future. Snow White's morals are put to the test when her mother falls deathly ill, and she goes to seek the Blue Fairy for help. Before she has time to wish upon a blue star, the Blue Fairy shows up seemingly to answer Snow White's silent request. Unknown to the girl, the Blue Fairy is actually a nemesis in disguise, and offers Snow White the chance to redeem her mother's life by giving her a candle that will take away the life of someone in exchange for the restoration of another. Despite the opportunity, Snow White cannot bring herself to use dark means to harm someone else for her own gain, and her mother passes away shortly after.

Another time gap follows, and in another kingdom, King George's adoptive son, James, has died of a fatal battle wound, and in his grief, he asks to make a deal with Rumplestiltskin so he may bring James back to life. Rumplestiltskin does not possess the power to do so as "dead is dead", and instead offers to procure James' twin brother for him. In exchange, Rumplestiltskin wants information the whereabouts of the Fairy Godmother who is in service to his family. From that information, Rumplestiltskin reaches the Fairy Godmother in time just as she is in the process of fulfilling the wish of a housemaid, Cinderella, and obliterates her into dust via a fireball. Cinderella is horrified he killed her fairy godmother, but Rumplestiltskin makes up for it by retrieving the Fairy Godmother's wand and making a deal with her. He uses the wand to change her outfit into one befitting a woman traveling to the kingdom's ball to meet the prince, whose heart she later captures and ends up marrying.

The Blue Fairy's apprentice, Nova, is tasked with collecting fairy dust from the dwarves mines. She is crestfallen as she had hopes to be made a fairy godmother soon; hopes the Blue Fairy thinks is silly. Nova is exceedingly clumsy, and as she flies away, some of the fairy dust she carries spills down to the land below. The fairy dust falls on top of an unhatched dwarf egg in the mines, and causes the dwarf inside to dream about a red haired woman, and to be born early.

A year later, after Nova visits to gather enough fairy dust from the mine machine, the switch to turn it off becomes jammed. She is rescued with the help of a dwarf, Dreamy, and is in his debt again when the fairy dust pouch ends up on a moving conveyor belt headed for the furnace, but he gets it back in time for her. Dreamy recognizes her as the woman from his dream, though Nova has no idea what he is talking about. She takes a liking to him, and mentions on her way back she might make a stop at Firefly Hill. Despite hinting she wants Dreamy to come with her, he doesn't understand and only wishes her luck with her journey. She leaves disappointed.

That night at a tavern with his seven other dwarf brothers, Dreamy can't stop thinking about Nova to the point they begin to notice and think he is becoming sick. The lead mine dwarf, Bossy, brushes it off because according to him, dwarves don't get sick. From a nearby table, a young woman, Belle states that Dreamy is clearly in love. After Dreamy tells her the story of how he and Nova met and her stop to Firefly Hill, Belle makes it known to him Nova was obviously asking him to go there with her. He decides to follow her advice.

Over a period of time, Dreamy and Nova fall deeply in love, and make a plan to run away together. On the night they are to leave, Dreamy hurries to Firefly Hill where Nova is waiting. However, Bossy and the Blue Fairy stop him on his way there, and try to deter him from leaving his mining life behind. They say there is no place in the world for a dwarf and fairy to be together, and he belongs here where he should as a dwarf. The Blue Fairy pushes that if Dreamy leaves Nova, she can finally achieve her dream of being a fairy godmother. Their convincing works, and Dreamy breaks up with Nova. He returns to the mines a changed person; shown by his designated pick ax breaking and receiving a new one with the name "Grumpy" on it.

Even so, Grumpy does not stop being in love with Nova. He goes as far as to sell his mining wages so he is able to buy a diamond to propose to her. Grumpy learns the diamond he bought was a stolen one, and though he is no thief, he accepts the charges of thievery and gets thrown into King George's prison dungeon.

Ex-princess Snow White is on the run from the Queen due to false accusations, and she is wanted for a hefty sum of money. She learns to steal jewelry from roadside travelers, and with it she sells them to trolls at the Troll Bridge and receives money in return. She has plans to gather up enough money to go to another world where the Queen can't find her. Through unknown means, Snow White acquires valuable fairy dust in a pouch around her neck.

One day, she steals from the wrong person, and is captured by a prince who demands she give back his jewels or he will offer her up to the Queen. She dubs him "Prince Charming" and is forced to lead him to the Troll Bridge where she sold his jewels. Along the way, he notices her absentmindedly twirling the item she wears on her neck, and takes it. Snow White is alarmed, and asks him to be careful as it is fairy dust, and it's the kind that isn't good. Per her words, the dust " transforms the most fearsome of adversaries into a form that’s easily squashed". Later, when Prince Charming is trapped by the trolls, she uses the fairy dust to turn them into harmless bugs.

Through a series of events of Grumpy and his now six brothers--as Stealthy passed away--befriend Snow White and want to help her get back Prince Charming after he is kidnapped by King George. Grumpy vaguely mentions about the Blue Fairy owing him, which supposedly helping them with this task pays off the debt. They storm and infiltrate the castle, but become surrounded by guards. The Blue Fairy and her army of fairies dive in to powder them with fairy dust and cause the guards to pass out unconscious.

Following many battles that Snow White and Charming have against King George and the Evil Queen to fight for the kingdom, King George's forces fall and the Evil Queen is captured alive via the Blue Fairy throwing fairy dust on her. The war council decides the proper punishment for the Queen's deeds is death. On the day of the execution, the Queen gives her last public statement, and despite that her words are full of malice, Snow White is full of remorse and cannot allow the execution to go through. The Blue Fairy readies numerous arrows that will fire and pierce the Queen to death on command, and just before they hit their target, Snow White calls the death sentence off.

The Evil Queen is exiled from the kingdom, and Snow White and Prince Charming marry. Unexpectedly, the Evil Queen interrupts their marriage ceremony and declares she will destroy everyone's happiness.

During sometime before or after this, the Blue Fairy rescues the wood carver Geppetto and his talking wooden puppet, Pinocchio, from a whale and the raging seas. Pinocchio sacrificed himself for Geppetto's safety, and becomes a regular wooden puppet. Because Pinocchio's actions were selfless, the Blue Fairy bestows him a gift by turning him into a real human boy. She warns he will only stay that way if he remains kind, selfless and honest.

Many months pass, and Snow White is nearing the end of her pregnancy. The Queen's threat still worries her, and to put her mind at ease, she and Prince Charming go to speak with a man known for his prophecies, Rumplestiltskin. He tells them the Queen is planning on casting a curse that will rip away everyone from this land into another, and the only hope is their unborn child who will become their savior. As part of the death, Rumplestiltskin wants their child's name, and Snow White gives the name Emma.

The Blue Fairy comes to Geppetto again asking for his help in carving a magic wardrobe from the world's last enchanted tree. She informs him of the impending curse, and the wardrobe can indeed protect two people from harm. In fear for his son's life, Geppetto asks that Pinocchio he protected from the curse, or he won't help to make the wardrobe. The Blue Fairy agrees, and is forced to lie to the war council about the wardrobe only having the power to protect one person from the curse rather than the actual two. It is decided the still pregnant Snow White will have to be the one to go into the wardrobe.

But, instead, Snow White goes into labor earlier than anticipated. The Blue Fairy goes back on her deal with Geppetto and insists he must allow both Snow White and her infant daughter, Emma, to go through the wardrobe. She is adamant that as Emma grows up, she needs someone to guide her to grow into the role of savior. As soon as the Blue Fairy leaves, Geppetto won't stand to follow her instructions, and sends Pinocchio into the wardrobe first. Shortly after, Emma is brought into the wardrobe by Prince Charming, and the approaching curse engulfs the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest.

Trivia

 * There is an unknown, large number of fairies.
 * Only female fairies have appeared in the series.
 * There are evil fairies in the Enchanted Forest and the fairy dust they use has the color of black instead of the usual pink.